Ad00902

"MASONICFACTSANDFICTIOiS," COMPRISING A NEW THEORY OP THE ORIGIN OF THE ; ' ANCIENT" GRAND LODGE . NOW IN- PREPARATION , By H . SADLER , Grand Tyler and Sub-Librarian of the Grand Lodge of England . ABOUT 200 PACES , DEMY OCTAVO , WITH ILLUSTRATIONS , SEALS , AUTOGRAPHS , & C . Price to Subscribers , 6 s ; Carriasre Free in the United Kingdom , 6 s 6 d . Prospectus and Specimen Page can be had of Messrs . SPENCER & CO ., 23 \ Great Queen Street , London , W . C .

Ar00903

gmaaM-wgW ^ ^ jjWJJfffr mttm m ^^^^^^ A

The History Of Freemasonry.*

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY . *

r 11 HE completion of any work of history is always a _ L matter of satisfaction and congratulation , both for writer and reader , especially if the work be distinguished by the abiding characteristics of truth , honour and conscientiousness . There are , as we all know , " histories and

histories , but he who speaks the words of " truth and soberness , " with tbe praiseworthy aim , moreover , of substituting the soundest conclusions of fact for the often more popular but fallacious theories of imagination and

unreliability , deserves the approbation of all thinking students , and may fairly be enrolled amongst those true labourers in art , history and science who have done

honour to themselves , and compiled their useful and pleasant pages for the furtherance of intellectual culture and historical certainty amongst men .

To Bro . R . F . Gould the whole body of Masonic students and of searchers after truth—and indeed all investigators of history and archaeology , Masonic or non-Masonic , —owe a great debt of gratitude for the completion of his able , lucid , and conscientious work .

Whatever else may be advanced by any against Bro . Gould ' s method or ( Bro . Gould's conclusions ) , —there will always be honest differences of opinion amongst honest readers , —no none can allege that he has in any measure

failed either in the " role " or aim of the historian ; but , on the contrary , has succeeded where others have notably failed , and in his great and completed work has left us

a striking example and a standing model of intellectual expression , admirable arrangement , and epigrammatic power .

We may not , in truth , accept all his "deliverances ;" we may , it is probable , not concur in all his conclusions ; "we may demur , it is very likely , to some of his most startling " nihih ' sms ; " we may regret this pretty legend , or

that fairy tale , which in sternness and pitilessness he has swept away ; and we may reluctantly exchange much of the glamour and romance of Masonic traditions for the more naked and common-place dulness of uncompromising

reality . And yet who can blame Bro . Gonld P He was writing as an historian , as a student anxious for students , as one seeking to establish truth on safe ground and staple

foundations , and who could nofc conscientiously pamper in any way to the tastes of the fastidious , or the fads of the sciolist . His motto , and a very good one by the way , has ever been

Fiat juatitia mat coclnm , magna est Veritas et prrovalebit . He has , therefore , exhausted the claims of all possible origin , and probed the sources of all reliable evidence . His labours may appear to some to take too wide a field , bat "they were rendered absolutelv necessary by the com-

The History Of Freemasonry.*

plex history of Freemasonry itself , which , the more we seek to draw it out , to analyse it and to measure it , is bound np with other complex systems , whether of thought , materiality , secrecy , or mysticism ; and requires , if justice

is to be done to it and its reality , and its far extending range clearly demonstrated , to be traced up to its actual or hidden origin , to those causes and those conditions which have been its potent factors through the onward march of time . Amid manv other admirable works and

efforts to-day for the same good end , and the same good cause , whether original or compiled ; when we consider the satisfactory and thorough results of honest and painstaking energy , as represented by the valued and valuable

manifestations of student-endeavour , for which we are indebted to a Hughan , a Murray Lyon , a Kloss , a Findel , a Lane , a Carson , a Fort , and a Clifford McCalla ; this " magnum opus" of Bro . Gould comes before us in its

completed character as a subject of befitting commendation , and of always grateful remembrance . If doubt still rests on some portions of our annals , if we are still unable fully to pierce the haze which hangs over hasty entries and

incomplete minutes , if the evidence of past generations seems to point to carelessness and irregularity , and habitual inaccuracy and unconcern , we must admit that Bro . Gould has made a most admirable and artistic use of evidences

which are of the most chaotic , statements which are most haphazard , and a juxtaposition of assertions which are most incongruous . For the first time we have a happily delineated panorama

of tho world-wide spread of Freemasonry . Wherever its tents have been set up , wherever its assemblies met , there the historian follows its records , and discovers their commencement and progress , their prosperity and

their adversity ; the inevitable weaknesses which have marred their programme , and yet at the same time their onward and triumphant march , which in some striking instances has cheered the hearts of tbe brethren , aod

honoured the name , and emblazoned the fair banners of Freemasonry . How many anxious students , in both hemispheres and in all jurisdictions , taking up Bro . Gould ' s six volumes to-day , will find what the Germans term a

" stand-punkt" place from which to begin "denovo "honest researches , modest or striking lucubrations ? How many a later seeker after Masonic reality ancl Masonic truth will thank Bro . Gould for the anxions toil , the thoughtful studies , the elaborate investigations of years ?

It will be impossible , in this short notice , to go over the salient points even of this Sixth "Volume , to do justice to its interesting chapters , or even the invaluable aids to all honest inquirers of the Masonic truth and reality afforded by the whole work .

But , as a striking illustration of the peculiar force of Bro . Gould ' s writing , and as an example of his antithetical and epigrammatic verbiage , in which so much is summed up in a few most forcible and telling words , we take the following little gem , fromp 425 , Vol . VI .

"With the names of Daniel Coxe and Henry Price the generality of Masonic students will be'familiar . The former received a Deputation as Prov . G . Master , but there is hardly a scintilla of evidence to show that he ever exercised any authority under it .

"The latter , on the other hand , exercised all the authority of a Provincial Grand Master , though no absolute proof is forthcoming that he was at any time in lawful possession of a Deputation . "

Those who know the ground and facts which these apparently simple words cover will realize at once the force and clearness of a writer who is able to set before us , in ¦ short yet weighty sentences , what constitutes in fact the

sum aud substance of many and seemingly unending controversies . The rival claims of Philadelphia and Boston are hardly settled , nevertheless , by Bro . Gould ' s exhaustive

treatment , and though there is much that is inexplicable in Franklin ' s apparent ignorance of Daniel Coxe ' s patent , and his correspondence with Price , which to us at this distance of time seems utterl y unaccountable , we still think

the presumption remains in favour of Philadelphian claims . But these inquiries serve and suggest a sad commentary on the reckless confusion and imperfections of our then Grand Lodge office arrangements , and wo are afraid that

the Colonial brethren had indeed good cause to complain of tlie almost cruel neglect of their interests ancl wants by good old Mother Country Grand Lodge . In conclusion , though other and later discoveries may nffoct the validity of some of Bro . Gould ' s most striking