Thoughts On The New History.

THOUGHTS ON THE NEW HISTORY .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . I MAILED three articles under the above heading : the second and third were published , ancl the first did not probably reach its destination . I hesitated for some time whether to rewrite it or not , but I find , like the Bourbons , our high degreers " never learn anything , and never forget anything ; " that they still hanker after a Masonio " histon / of events which have never happened . " Thus , our

Boston Bro . Charles L . Woodbury has recently published an article in the Vi ice of Masonry which is on a par with his oration on Egyptian Masonry which wns reprinted three years ngo iu this journal . And the FREEMASON of 11 th August opens with a leader on Mnsonic archaeology , in which tho anthor begs , prays and hopes for a history of Freemasonry which will conglomerate " the mysteries , the

secret societies , tho Roman Collegia , the building corporations , tho monastic fraternities , the mediroval guilds , tho compagnage , the operative Lodges , the knightly orders , and the Hermetic association . " I suppose the " secret societies" meant the Fehmgeriohte , the Assassins , the Jesuits , & c . The writer says , "Neither can wo safely forget * * . * the fact of contemporary Hertneticians * * * of whioh

even Ashmolo was certainly a member in some form ; ' and because Ashmole was a member in " some form , " though no one knows xohat form , therefore Ashmole might have Hermotised Freemasonry . What curious reasoning ! Briefly then , I venture to assert , that if such a Masonic history appeared it would deservedly be called the hotch patch history of Masonry . I therefore determined to

reconstruct the lost article . Ever since the 1723 Constitutions appeared , a succession of Masonic scholars ( their name is legion ) continued to assert that either Freemasonry descended from the ancient mysteries , or the mysteries descended from Masonry . And after their peculiar fashion they demonstrated that every old sect—Pagan , Jewish , or Christian , who

possessed a secret , were brothers of tho Masonic Fraternity . And an awfully learned Boston brother came to the conclusion that becanse somebody said that the early Christians had a secret , therefore , not only were the two saints John Masons , but all the apostles were also Masons ; and he had no doubt that the apostles shifted the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday inside of a tyled Masonic Lodge .

It is curious that while some of our Masonic writers can reason like philosophers on some subjects , yet no sooner do they take the pen in hand to write on Masonry , when all reason and commonsense seems to forsake them . I could name a score of them , but I shall here refer only to two Masonio scholars . First , Bro . Woodbury , above referred to , who is not only a scholar and a distinguished lawyer , bnt

he is the best read man I know of among our American Masons . But whatever he has written about Masonic history is nothing but imagination and assertion . And second , Bro . Simon Greenleaf , Past Grand Master of Maine , Professor of Law in tho Harvard College , and author of " Law of Evidence , " considered a standard work , not only ™ in America but also in England . In a note on page 2 of

Bro . Gould ' s History , the reader will find "Law of Evidence" referred to with approbation . Lawyers who have received instruction from Bro . Greenleaf , in College , speak in the highest terms of his reasoning powers . But in 1820 , Bro . Greenleaf published a Masonic book ; and if the reader has access to the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE of 20 th of January , and will read an article headed " Crazy and

Partizan Masonic Writers , " he will see that Bro . Greenleaf ' s reasoning on Masonry was no reasoning at all . I have read all the authors who wrote about the ancient mysteries , wherever I could lay hands on their books , including Clemense of Alexandria , and I repeatedly urged our Masonic scholars for information as to where I conld find the alleged connection between Masonry

and the ancient mysteries , without receiving a satisfactory answer . The truth is , Pagan writers who refer to the mysteries keep the secrets to themselves , and the early Christian writers , like our high degreo lecturers , merely guessed and asserted without knowing anything about the mysteries . I have repeatedly protested against the writings of our Masonic luminaries ; but what chance has one who is not

classically educated when coping with a D . D ., an M . D ., an LL . D ., or some other kind of a learned Masonic tweedledee ? In answer to a commonsense argument the deluded believers exclaim : — " Have you examined the whole range of classical literature ? and don ' t onr Doctors know moro than you do about ancient history ? " In short , the mass of the Brotherhood who have taken the high degrees st ck

to their belief , becanse their Doctors say it is so . At lasfc our Bro . Gould , in whom is fortunately combined great patience , scholarship , and common sense , and I have no doubt that he made a more thorough examination of the literature which treats of the ancient mysteries than all the Masonic high degree Doctors did together . Well , Bro . Gould says , " As to the real object of the mysteries nothing is

certain . And again , " Of the instruction communicated in tbe inner mysteries no record whatever has come down to ns . " We see , now , that our awfnlly learned connectors of Freemasonry with the ancient mysteii . es have , for the last hundred and sixty years , made much ado about nothing . Bro . Gould devoted fifty-six quarto pages of his history to the

ancient mysteries ; and besides the authorities referred to in the work itself , the two hundred and sixty-eight foot-notes will refer the reader to more authorities . I think Bro . Gould has proved himself a marvel of patience ancl industry . If , however , onr brethren of the so-called , high degrees think that Bro . Gould was nujusfc to their

claims , then let them write a history of Freemasonry to their heart ' s content , or let them point out wherein Bro . Gould wrongs them and not continne , by their wild assertions and innendoes , to hold out false hopes to their deluded dupes that the legends invented by Masonic quacks iu the last century for manufacturing high degrees were baped on historic facts . In the second Chapter Bro . Gould treats on the " Old Charges . " in the last paper I discussed tho ages of the two oldest MSS . ^ but

finding , since then , that Bvo . Gould treats upon that subject in the next volume , I shall leave that to a future consideration . That these old MSS . were a subject of interest to me for many years I beg to refer the reader to the FREEMASON , vol . iv . pp 378-9 , of 17 th June 1871 , wherein I pointed out that these Old Charges were the bond fide rituals of the pre-1717 Masons ; and on page 217 of the same volume

I called attention to extracts made by Mr . Thomas Riley , from the old City of London Records , showing that , up to the year 1356 the Loudon Masons had no code of laws whatever , and consequentl y there could have been no Masonic organisation np to that year ; but , on the 2 nd February 1356 , in order to put a stop to fights and quarrels between the operative masons , the Mayor , Aldermen , and

Sheriffs summoned twelve of the most skilful masons for consultation , who agreed to promulgate some eight or ten regulations for the government of the London Masons . Now , if the Masons of the English metropolis had no code of laws before 1356 , it is highly im . probable for the Masons in the provincial towns to have had any such a code ; and unless positive proof is adduced to show the existence of

a Masonic organisation at an earlier period we may assume that no Masonic brotherhood existed in Englaud iu 1356 . In 1360 , the Statutes indicated the existence of Masonio and Carpenteric secret societies : for the Statute aaye— " That all alliances and covins of masons and carpenters , and congregations , chapters , ordinances , and oaths betwixt them made , or to be made .

shall bo from henceforth void and wholly annulled . " Whether these secret congregations were confined to London , and what kind of ordinances these societies had , I know not . The series of Masonio MSS . described by Bro . Gould in the second chapter are , however , valuable to the Masonio student for several reasons . For , first , they disabuse our mind from the notions promulgated by the late

Dr . Mackey and other awfully learned Masonic scholars , that " our ancient brethren were philosophers : " for the legends in those MSS . prove conclusively that our ancient brethren were a simple-minded and . credulous set . True , they talked about the " seven sciences , but the mere verbiage did not make them philosophers . And , second , those MSS . prove the continuity of tbe Masonio organisation in

England for a period of near five hundred years . The oldest MS . is the poem , or the "Halliwell Constitution . " It is probable that the original code was written in' prose , and a priest who was attached to tho fraternity made it into rhyme , adding thereto three legends—the seven sciences , Noah ' s flood , the building of the tower of Babylon by Nabogodonzor seven miles high , so that

in case of another flood , the people might ascend to the upper storey , which was above the high flood mark ; and he also added a genuine Roman Catholic sermon , enjoining the brethren to be shrived , to cross themselves ; & c . Now , with regard to monkish legends , we all know that monks in those days were great inventors of cock and bull

stories , and these stories they invariably ascribed either to an un . known old " boke , " or to tradition . Hence , when these stories cannot be traced by our antiquaries , either to a boke or to an old tradition , it is safe to credit the said monks as the inventors of that story or stories . Now our poet begins his first story about how Euclid founded a Masonic fraternity in Egypt thus :

" Whose wol botbe wel rede and loke , He may fynde wryte yn olde boke . " And his second story about the origin of the Masonio Craft in England he introduces thus :

" Thys craft com ynto Englond , as y so say , Yn tyme of good Kynge Adelstonus day . " The third story is about the four holy martyrs . This story he refers to a book called " the legent of scanctorum , the names of quatour coronotornm . " The conclusion I therefore come to is , that the two first stories were manufactured by his Reverence ; and the

third he copied from some old book of Christian martyrs , which was probably invented by an earlier monkish writer . Tho second MS . is known as the " Matthew Cooke MS . " It seems , at the first glance of the two oldest MSS ., that the author of No 2 had a copy of the poem before him , aud would have written his book also in poetry , but , being unable to rhyme , he therefore did the next

best thing he coukl by writing bis lines in irregular lengths , ' and made it look like " blank verse . " But , be that as it may , the author copied from tho poem tho Euclid and Athelstan Legends , the Seven Sciences , and took advantage of the hints given in the poem about Noah ' s Flood , tho Tower of Babel , & c , by introducing Biblical personages into the Masonic brotherhood of whom the poet never

dreamt : —thus we have in this MS . Lamach , Jabal , Jubal , Tubal , Enoch , Abraham . The MS . says , that the sciences were engraved by the antediluvians , Bros . Enoch and Co ., on two stones . One of these stones could not burn , and the other could not sink ; that many years after the Flood one of these stones was discovered by Bro . Pythagoras , and the other by Bro . Hermgs . The fashion of

giving Charges to Masons began with Bro . Nunrod , when he sent a company of Masons to Bro . Asur . When Bro . Solomon was in Egypt he taught Euclid the seven sciences , and the Euclid legend shows that Euclid was tho founder of Egyptian Masonry . The Jews having learned Masonry in Egypt , David was therefore a Mason , and so was Abraham . Each of these distinguished brethren gave Charges

to the Masons . The MS . also alludes to Solomon ' s " Master Mason ' as having been the son of the King of Tyre . All these histories tho author supports from authorities of some unknown old Chronicles . Next comes the legend thafc Charles Martel was a Bro . Mason , next Bio . Sfc . Alban is introduced , next comes Bro . Athelstan and his son Edwin , all of whom loved Masons well and gave them Charges ; and

last , most strangely , the story of Euclid is repeated , only the name is changed into Eaglet . Bro . Gould describes and compares forty-nine old Masonio MSS . One of the same class of MSS . has , since the publication of the naff history , been discovered by Bro . Sillitoe . of Manchester . These MSS ., all in all , may be compared to a family that we know ; that the Halliwell poem is the great grandfather of the family , the Matthew Cooke