The Grand Orient Of Italy.

improved educational facilities . Then thero is the revolt of certain students of the Universities , and other matters , all of which are ascribed to the atheistic teachings of Freemasonry . Really our

contemporary gives the Order credit for greater power than we imagined it to possess , but as the greatest of all crimes it can just now ascribe to Freemasons is a desire to educate the masses , we think there is

little need for regret at tlie hands of tho English Craft . We , in this country , do not take the interest in public affairs which is accredited to the Freemasons of Italy , but we can and do appreciate the

efforts of our brethren in all climes where they are directed towards the enlightenment of mankind—and that may safely be regarded as the universal aim of Freemasonry .

Masonic Art And Science.

MASONIC ART AND SCIENCE .

THERE are hosts of Masons who firmly believe Freemasonry to have originated at the building of King Solomon ' s Temple . Others , not so modest , go back at once to Anno Mundi 1 , and , leaving mother Eve mnsing all by herself nnder an apple tree , perceive Adam npon a high hill , teaching his sons how to open and close a Lodge , and to confer the three degrees correctly and in full .

As is well known among reading Masons , the Rev . Dr . James Anderson , one of the most scholarly Englishmen of parts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries , and Worshipful Master of one of the four Lodges in London who , in A . D . 1717 , formed the mother Grand Lodge of

the world , in an official but graphic history , unhesitatingly traced Masonic light and knowledge , if not tho organised institution itself , from the creation of the world , through Adam and his posterity , Noah and his sons , the Jewish

hierarchy , tho Assyrian , Roman and Grecian philosophers , tho Roman collcgias and medieval guilds ; through Asia and Africn , into Europe—fostered and patronised in every country and clime by kings and princes—on , up to the socalled revival in A . D . 1717 , as already mentioned .

This history , after laudation by one of his contemporaries , Dr . J . T . Desaguliers , an English philosopher of groat renown , and a high official of tho British Government of that time , was unanimously adopted by the first Grand Lodge in A . D . 1728 , and has never been challenged until

in comparatively recent years . Modern sceptics , however , whoso name is legion , and who comprise many of the leading lights of tlie present Grand Jurisdictions of the world , havo become too wise to believe in the quaint and simple but metaphorical and effective logic of Bro .

Anderson ; and , disregarding his types and figures , and symbolical allusions to geometric science , treat everything literally , and poke no end of fun at what they term his fancy and imagination . Aye , modern wisdom has suddenly discovered that there exists no record-evidence of

Speculative Masonry anterior to A . D . 1540 , nor of distinct or discrete degrees , previous to the end of the first decade of the eighteenth centnry ; and , from this absence of external proof , the remarkable conclusion has been drawn that therefore there could not have been any , either of the former or the latter .

According to the logic involved in this phenomenal mode of reasoning , we would be forced to conclude that , because there may not exist any record of the date of the birth of the Hon . John M . Pearson , therefore our beloved and good-looking Grand Master of Masons in Illinois was

never born . Quito in keeping with this logic is the following argument of Bro . Hughan , of Torquay , England , the renowned Masonic arcbseologist , who , by the way , is only voicing the prevalent style of reasoning among all the learned antiquarians . After stating that " there is no

evidence which proves the antiquity of three separate degrees beyond the last century , ' "' he naively says that " three grades there were undoubtedly in those early times

—viz .: Entered Apprentice , Fellow Craft , and Master Mason , " and innocently adds that these " three positions or grades of the operative regime , even when speculatives were admitted , are clearly exhibited in the old records . "

Now , to a man np a tree , it would certainly seem that no Entered Apprentice , of either Operative or Speculative Masonry , can become a Fellow Craft by continuity , as a

Masonic Art And Science.

boy grows into a man , or a sapling into a tree ; but , that there must be an oud to his apprenticeship and a beginning to his term as Craftsman , and an end of the service of that character before he can become a Master . The length or

brevity of timo of service in either of the three degrees , or of an existing or non-established ceremony at tho changes , which aro necessarily distinct and discrete , can mako no difference or in any way merge all three into

one . Neither is it strange , nor cause for wonder , that few or no records were kept of thc secret work of the ceremonies , especially when it is considered that much of the modern publicity of monitorial work and printed instrnction was in ancient times entirely prohibited .

Now , if this argument be correct , then the very fact that theso " three positions or grades of the operative regime , " while " speculatives were admitted , " are " clearly exhibited in the old records , " must constitute conclusive evidence

that Speculative Masonry was ingrafted into the operative science , and that the three separate degrees were worked as early as the middle of the sixteenth century , although , perhaps , not lust in its present form .

Moreover , what are such grades , positions , planes , or steps , one above another , but degrees ? To indulge in a dispute upon this question must be thought superfluous , as it surely would be unprofitable to the thinking mind . Again , there is a feature in all the modern histories which ,

to the end in view , is quite significant , and which is not only corroborative of my side of this question , but which attests the well- marked degeneracy , in many quarters , of the symbolic character of the Institution , to the level of tho modern mutual aid associations .

Although every profane seeking admission to the degrees is informed that " Masonry consists of a course of ancient hieroglyphic moral instruction , taught agreeable to ancient usages by types , emblems and allegorical figures , " and that

"Masonry is founded in geometry , not one of the learned brethren has attempted to trace its origin through its symbolism . You may search tho elaborate and withal noble and valuable works of Findel , Gould , and Hughan , and others of the modern authors , from beginning to

ending , and you will fail to find any distinct allusion to—much less explanation of—the " art and science " of the Craft so often mentioned in this connection by Bro . Anderson , as bearing internal evidence of their hoary age . So that

when you compare these modern histories with the work of Bro . Anderson , and reflect upon the fact that tho Masonic art must be the knowledge of its symbolism , and the Masonic science its logical and orderly application , you will readily seo that Anderson treated of the substance and

his critics only of the form . Thafc this is true , and that both the antiquity and universality of Masonry is deeply hidden , but surely traceable throughout the esoteric

framework of the degrees and of fche Lodge , by fche application of the key of tbe forty-seventh problem , and of correspondences , can be clearly demonstrated to the satisfaction of any thinking Mason who will give ifc his attention .

Of course you will readily see , for obvious reasons , that neither time nor space suffices , now and here , to give more than a cursory and very general view of the truth of my

assertion ; but in what little I shall produce I will endeavour to clear away as much of rubbish as is necessary to bring the outline of the structure unmistakably within your mental vision .

All Masons know—because it is taught them—that a Masonic Lodge represents the universe , whose ground-floor is the earth , as the heavens are its covering . It is supported by wisdom , strength and beauty , because Masonry consists of three discrete degrees , of which the highest is

inmost or the first , the middle one interior or the second , and the lowest the exterior or the third . But as the Mason is a part of the whole—aye , a universe in miniature—the three degrees are loithin and not without him . They are the celestial in his inmost , the spiritual in his interior , and the natural in his exterior , or in ultimates .

To the profane , before he becomes a Mason , all three degrees are closed within , and only the outmost of the natural , which is the sensual , is open . To the Entered Apprentice , who has been admitted to the natural degree , both the higher or inner degrees are closed , until he

advances into them by orderly succession , and during that process their numbers , to him , are reversed , so that the third is first and the first is third ; and this is what is meant in the first great light , by the words : " The first shall be lasfc and fche last first . " This would be