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Article HINTS TO BRO. T. B. WHYTEHEAD. ← Page 2 of 2 Article HINTS TO BRO. T. B. WHYTEHEAD. Page 2 of 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Hints To Bro. T. B. Whytehead.
cannot have too many Masonic degrees , and that the more degrees a man possesses the more scientific he is , and as our brother holds tho high Grand office of " Chief Adept " in the Rosicrucian College , hence , bv annually repeating
the Rosicrucian story , ho finally comes to believe that a " renowned " Rosicrucian Society existed in tho Middle Ages . Tho present object of tho Rosicrncians , however ,
Bro . Whytehead says , is not for the purpose of finding the philosopher ' s stone , but to search " for the true history ancl origin of Masonry ; a mystery which rebuked tho wisdom of some of the most learned and talented men of the last
century , and which is even now apparently a long distance from disclosure , " and , after referring to our old Masonic histories ancl to the " Old Charges , edited by our learned Bro . Hughan , himself a member of our
Rosicrucian Order" ( I hope , however , that Bro . Hughan did not pay anything for his Rosicrucianism ) ; ancl , after intimating that the Old Charges are very old , he then pays the following compliment to Bro . Gould . Ho
says : — " Bro . Gould ' s History is , as far as actual information is concerned , absolutely exhaustive . It is in itself an entire Masonic library , and is by far the most able work on
the Craffc thafc has yet made its appenrance . But Gould has dealt with his whole subject , I think , somewhat too much from his own professional standpoint . It is the business of the lesal mind to reduce to its lowest ; ebb of
credibility every statement that is arrayed before it , and reject as unworthy of credence everything that cannot be absolutely ancl irrefragably proved by facts or figures . Now , although this is a very proper frame of mind in
which to approach a mere question of right and wrong , . . . yet I scarcely think it is the best spirit in which to attack the problem of the early and unwritten history of Freemasonry . "
And after demolishing his " man of straw , " viz ., who denies any history to Freemasonry before 1717 , * Bro . Whytehead favours us with an entirely original idea of the unwritten history of Freemasonry . He says : —
" I believe with Bro . Carson , of Ohio , that up to that period ( 1717 ) Freemasonry has been essentially Christian in its teachings , and that what was known of builders , which had previously died ont through tho process of
natural decay ancl lack of useful objects for existence . ( Now for tho original . ) It was , I suspect , these guilds who learned a certain portion of the ancient Christian mysteries from their employers of the Benedictine Order ,
and adapted them to their own purpose . Ifc was they who added to those mysteries the Hiramic legend , and fche symbolism of Solomon ' s Temple , and converted into the
stoneworker s allegory what had previously been an exposition of the story of the fall of mankind , the sacrificial redemption of the human race , and tho doctrine of resurrection . The true
mystery had been handed down to the Benedictines , and preserved by them , from the early Christians , and before that date had been kept secret and inviolate from tbe foundation of the world by successive patriarchs and prophets ,
whose ' schools , ' as they are termed in the old Testament writings , were merely what we should term in our own phraseology Lodges or Colleges for the instruction of the chosen initiates . "
We see now what kind of a history of Freemasonry would suit Bro . Whytehead's notion . To be sure , he frankly admits that he cannot prove what he believes ; but what of it ? Whether he can or cannot prove it , he is
determined to believe that it is , and ought to be , Masonic history , and that Bro . Gould was guilty of an unpardonable sin for not engrafting Bro . Whytehead's notions into his history of Freemasonry . It is natural to one whose mincl
was cast m a theological mould to like only those histories which chime with his religious dogmas ; ancl such histories have been written again and again , both by religious ancl Masonic zealots . Now , one who believes in the existence
of a Rosicrucian renowned Society in the Middle Ages , and who is infatuated with a "thousand ancl one" Masonic degrees he has taken , very naturally prefers Dr . Oliver for his Masonic historian . And such is the case with Bro .
Whytehead . Oliver , who could write what the elder Dr . Disraeli called " a history of events which never happened , " is Bro . Whytehead ' s ideal historian , but Gould is altogether too prosy and matter-of-facfc for Bro . Whytehead ' s taste
Hints To Bro. T. B. Whytehead.
and , although evidence is wanted to prove his " unwritten history , " yet ho is not going to give it up , for he imagines that he will find evidence in tho inscriptions on tho old monuments .
Now I have patiently waded through some seven or eight volumes of " Tho Records of the Past , " which aro filled with inscriptions taken from the old monuments . I have read Max Muller ' s Sacred Books of tho Hindoos ,
Rawlinson s " Religions of tho Antient World , " tho Hibberfc Lectures , and other works on the same subject , and I nowhere found a Society resembling our Craft in all those books . However , as I have not exhausted all the
authorities upon the subject , I will nofc discourage Bro . Whytehead from further pursuing tho inquiry . But I must advise him not to publish another word upon the question at issue until ho is prepared to prove that the patriarchs
and prophets derived the doctrine of redemption from Adam , that the said docrine was kept as a secret , and why they kept it secret . He must also prove that the early Christians had mysteries , that the Benedictines derived
mysteries from tho early Christians , and communicated those mysteries to tho Masons . He must further explain how it was that the said mysteries of tho early Christians were confined in tbe Middle Asres to the Order of
Benedictines only ? Aud why the Benedictines imparted their mysteries to Masons only ? He must also prove that the Hiramic legend was known to Masons before 1717 , ancl thafc Solomon ' s connection with the Craffc was known before
the Matthew Cooke MS . was written , and that Symbolic or Speculative Masonry existed before 1717 . Should Bro . Whytehead succeed in proving all I require , I shall be foremost in congratulating him upon the event .
I will concede , without further question , the antiquity of the Rosicrucian Order , the vision of Constantine , thafc a wolf spoke to a priest , thafc a cross in Dublin spoke to the Dublinites , that a pious mill would not grind on Sunday ,
ancl that a blackbird laid its eggs in the palm of the reverend Irish St . Keivin . Besides which , if Bro . Whytehead proves that his faith in the unwritten history of
Masonry was well founded , he will deserve a crown of laurels , and will surely bo proclaimed by every Grand Lodge in the world , not only as a " Chief Adept , " bufc as the greatest Masonic historian that ever was . BOSTON , U . S . 26 th April 1886 .
Ifc is announced that H . R . H . the Mosfc Woi'shipful Grand Master of Euglaud has just appointed tho Right Hon . Lord Henniker Grand Master of the Province of Suffolk , in the room of the late Lord Waveney .
We congratulate Bro . Thomas Vincent , P . M . 1861 , P . P . G . Sword Bearer Surrey , on his re-election to the office of Churchwarden of the united parishes St . Margaret with St . Magnus , London Bridge . This is the eleventh time that Brother Vincent has received simila ? honour at the hands of his fellow parishoners .
Another of our old friends has passed away , in tho person of Bro . J . R . Foulger P . M . of the Domatic Lodge , No . 177 , whose sudden death occurred on Saturday last .
An inquest was subsequently held , when medical evidence was adduced , showing the cause of death to have been heart disease . Bro . Foulger will long be remembered as a competent and painstaking Preceptor .
The Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution held their regular monthly meeting at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday , under the presidency of Bro . Edgar Bowyer , Past Grand Standard Bearer .
The minutes were confirmed , and the Secretary reported fche death of a male annuitant . Tho Warden ' s report was read , and then a letter referring to one of the male candidates was considered . After full discussion , ifc was
decided that his name should be removed from the list of approved candidates . The retiring members of the Committee were nominated for re-election , and several other brethren were also nominated . The draft of the annual
report , to be submitted to the subscribers at the annual meeting on the 21 st inst . was then considered , and approved , after which a vote of thanks to tho chairman brought the proceedings to a conclusion .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Hints To Bro. T. B. Whytehead.
cannot have too many Masonic degrees , and that the more degrees a man possesses the more scientific he is , and as our brother holds tho high Grand office of " Chief Adept " in the Rosicrucian College , hence , bv annually repeating
the Rosicrucian story , ho finally comes to believe that a " renowned " Rosicrucian Society existed in tho Middle Ages . Tho present object of tho Rosicrncians , however ,
Bro . Whytehead says , is not for the purpose of finding the philosopher ' s stone , but to search " for the true history ancl origin of Masonry ; a mystery which rebuked tho wisdom of some of the most learned and talented men of the last
century , and which is even now apparently a long distance from disclosure , " and , after referring to our old Masonic histories ancl to the " Old Charges , edited by our learned Bro . Hughan , himself a member of our
Rosicrucian Order" ( I hope , however , that Bro . Hughan did not pay anything for his Rosicrucianism ) ; ancl , after intimating that the Old Charges are very old , he then pays the following compliment to Bro . Gould . Ho
says : — " Bro . Gould ' s History is , as far as actual information is concerned , absolutely exhaustive . It is in itself an entire Masonic library , and is by far the most able work on
the Craffc thafc has yet made its appenrance . But Gould has dealt with his whole subject , I think , somewhat too much from his own professional standpoint . It is the business of the lesal mind to reduce to its lowest ; ebb of
credibility every statement that is arrayed before it , and reject as unworthy of credence everything that cannot be absolutely ancl irrefragably proved by facts or figures . Now , although this is a very proper frame of mind in
which to approach a mere question of right and wrong , . . . yet I scarcely think it is the best spirit in which to attack the problem of the early and unwritten history of Freemasonry . "
And after demolishing his " man of straw , " viz ., who denies any history to Freemasonry before 1717 , * Bro . Whytehead favours us with an entirely original idea of the unwritten history of Freemasonry . He says : —
" I believe with Bro . Carson , of Ohio , that up to that period ( 1717 ) Freemasonry has been essentially Christian in its teachings , and that what was known of builders , which had previously died ont through tho process of
natural decay ancl lack of useful objects for existence . ( Now for tho original . ) It was , I suspect , these guilds who learned a certain portion of the ancient Christian mysteries from their employers of the Benedictine Order ,
and adapted them to their own purpose . Ifc was they who added to those mysteries the Hiramic legend , and fche symbolism of Solomon ' s Temple , and converted into the
stoneworker s allegory what had previously been an exposition of the story of the fall of mankind , the sacrificial redemption of the human race , and tho doctrine of resurrection . The true
mystery had been handed down to the Benedictines , and preserved by them , from the early Christians , and before that date had been kept secret and inviolate from tbe foundation of the world by successive patriarchs and prophets ,
whose ' schools , ' as they are termed in the old Testament writings , were merely what we should term in our own phraseology Lodges or Colleges for the instruction of the chosen initiates . "
We see now what kind of a history of Freemasonry would suit Bro . Whytehead's notion . To be sure , he frankly admits that he cannot prove what he believes ; but what of it ? Whether he can or cannot prove it , he is
determined to believe that it is , and ought to be , Masonic history , and that Bro . Gould was guilty of an unpardonable sin for not engrafting Bro . Whytehead's notions into his history of Freemasonry . It is natural to one whose mincl
was cast m a theological mould to like only those histories which chime with his religious dogmas ; ancl such histories have been written again and again , both by religious ancl Masonic zealots . Now , one who believes in the existence
of a Rosicrucian renowned Society in the Middle Ages , and who is infatuated with a "thousand ancl one" Masonic degrees he has taken , very naturally prefers Dr . Oliver for his Masonic historian . And such is the case with Bro .
Whytehead . Oliver , who could write what the elder Dr . Disraeli called " a history of events which never happened , " is Bro . Whytehead ' s ideal historian , but Gould is altogether too prosy and matter-of-facfc for Bro . Whytehead ' s taste
Hints To Bro. T. B. Whytehead.
and , although evidence is wanted to prove his " unwritten history , " yet ho is not going to give it up , for he imagines that he will find evidence in tho inscriptions on tho old monuments .
Now I have patiently waded through some seven or eight volumes of " Tho Records of the Past , " which aro filled with inscriptions taken from the old monuments . I have read Max Muller ' s Sacred Books of tho Hindoos ,
Rawlinson s " Religions of tho Antient World , " tho Hibberfc Lectures , and other works on the same subject , and I nowhere found a Society resembling our Craft in all those books . However , as I have not exhausted all the
authorities upon the subject , I will nofc discourage Bro . Whytehead from further pursuing tho inquiry . But I must advise him not to publish another word upon the question at issue until ho is prepared to prove that the patriarchs
and prophets derived the doctrine of redemption from Adam , that the said docrine was kept as a secret , and why they kept it secret . He must also prove that the early Christians had mysteries , that the Benedictines derived
mysteries from tho early Christians , and communicated those mysteries to tho Masons . He must further explain how it was that the said mysteries of tho early Christians were confined in tbe Middle Asres to the Order of
Benedictines only ? Aud why the Benedictines imparted their mysteries to Masons only ? He must also prove that the Hiramic legend was known to Masons before 1717 , ancl thafc Solomon ' s connection with the Craffc was known before
the Matthew Cooke MS . was written , and that Symbolic or Speculative Masonry existed before 1717 . Should Bro . Whytehead succeed in proving all I require , I shall be foremost in congratulating him upon the event .
I will concede , without further question , the antiquity of the Rosicrucian Order , the vision of Constantine , thafc a wolf spoke to a priest , thafc a cross in Dublin spoke to the Dublinites , that a pious mill would not grind on Sunday ,
ancl that a blackbird laid its eggs in the palm of the reverend Irish St . Keivin . Besides which , if Bro . Whytehead proves that his faith in the unwritten history of
Masonry was well founded , he will deserve a crown of laurels , and will surely bo proclaimed by every Grand Lodge in the world , not only as a " Chief Adept , " bufc as the greatest Masonic historian that ever was . BOSTON , U . S . 26 th April 1886 .
Ifc is announced that H . R . H . the Mosfc Woi'shipful Grand Master of Euglaud has just appointed tho Right Hon . Lord Henniker Grand Master of the Province of Suffolk , in the room of the late Lord Waveney .
We congratulate Bro . Thomas Vincent , P . M . 1861 , P . P . G . Sword Bearer Surrey , on his re-election to the office of Churchwarden of the united parishes St . Margaret with St . Magnus , London Bridge . This is the eleventh time that Brother Vincent has received simila ? honour at the hands of his fellow parishoners .
Another of our old friends has passed away , in tho person of Bro . J . R . Foulger P . M . of the Domatic Lodge , No . 177 , whose sudden death occurred on Saturday last .
An inquest was subsequently held , when medical evidence was adduced , showing the cause of death to have been heart disease . Bro . Foulger will long be remembered as a competent and painstaking Preceptor .
The Committee of Management of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution held their regular monthly meeting at Freemasons' Hall , on Wednesday , under the presidency of Bro . Edgar Bowyer , Past Grand Standard Bearer .
The minutes were confirmed , and the Secretary reported fche death of a male annuitant . Tho Warden ' s report was read , and then a letter referring to one of the male candidates was considered . After full discussion , ifc was
decided that his name should be removed from the list of approved candidates . The retiring members of the Committee were nominated for re-election , and several other brethren were also nominated . The draft of the annual
report , to be submitted to the subscribers at the annual meeting on the 21 st inst . was then considered , and approved , after which a vote of thanks to tho chairman brought the proceedings to a conclusion .