Masonic Portraits (No. 26). An Ancient Briton.

stantmo , an 18 Mason , is K . T . and VIII . of tho Mystic Order of Rosicrucians , ancl is a Mark Master of distinguished ability . He is a Life Governor of all the Masonic Charities , has served the Stewardships of the Girls' School and the Benevolent Institution , and has brought to tht

treasuries of those foundations subscriptions which havr rarely been exceeded in amount by an individual . He yields to none in his zeal for Masonry , and in social life lu is a great favourite . His conversational powers are considerable , ancl ho bears the stamp of a man who has travelled and has seen the great world .

Masonry And Masonic History.

MASONRY AND MASONIC HISTORY .

ONE of the greatest misfortunes under which Freemasonry has laboured , one of the principal reasons why it has brought upon itself so much ridicule , has been the audacity with which many of its teachers have manufactnred for it a history extending over the whole period of the world ' s duration . When the earlier writers of the

present speculative period of the Craft ventured upon the task of demonstrating that Freemasonry had existed through all times , that , if not Adam , at all events the Patriarchs , ancl subsequently King Solomon , sundry of the prophets , the two St . Johns , with other ancl less

important saints of a later creation , were Grand Masters of the Order ; when they laid it down that among the earliest works on which the Masonic body was engaged was the building of the Tower of Babel , that the secrets of the art were engraven on a monument of stone , ancl have been

preserved—the secrets , not tbe stone—from before the flood till comparatively modern times ; when they sought to prove , or , be ifc said rather , when they assumed off-hand that every worthy school of philosophers , ancient and modern , had somehow contributed to tho establishment of

an Order of speculative Freemasons ; when , we say , our early historians endeavoured to prove thus much , they committed a grave and serious error , the consequences of which are felt even now , ancl will bo felt for generations to come . Not , as we take it , that they ever seriously intended these

statements of theirs to be accepted as statements of fact . They were so anxious to make it manifest that the system of Masonry had always existed that they must needs clothe ifc with all the paraphernalia of dates , personages , and occurrences , the result being , as we have indicated , that the

outer , or what we call the profane , world has laughed at us ever since , while even the most enlightened Craftsmen are fain to admit there are not unreasonable grounds for this ridicule . With all due respect to those able brethren who did so much towards the revival of our Order , and

those almost equally illustrious members who immediately followed them , we of this generation flatter ourselves we are somewhat wiser . We are not less firmly persuaded than they were that our system has existed through all ao-es

, but we do not , as they did , go the length of connecting it with well known historical personages . We do not , at least till modern times , quote chapter ancl verse from the world ' s annals for its various institutions . We do not trace a

regularly connected history of it as we trace a history of Great Britain , of France , or of Germany . We believe that when men , by nature gregarious , became practically so , when they formed themselves into communities and built themselves habitations , then that system of morality

which we call Masonry became essential . It could no longer be each man for himself , but each for the whole body . Man , to a certain extent , and very properly , lost a part of his individuality . He was henceforward a member

of a society , the welfare of which depended on the concurrence in feeling ancl action of the component members . In order to secure this concurrence it became necessary to lay down certain rules of conduct which all should equally observe . These rules were so framed as to secure the

greatest amount of general , with at the same time the least detriment to individual , happiness . Thus it was that men no longer followed indifferentl y the bent of their own inclinations ^ but so shaped them as to avoid conflict with the inclinations of their fellows . Hence laws ancl a

o-overnment became necessary , the former to regulate the conduct of members towards their fellows , and the latter to enforce such laws in the general interest . No doubt a variety of motives , prominent among them being the innate love of their own species , induced men , in the first instance , to herd together . Bat once societies of men were established .

Masonry And Masonic History.

the necessity for sinking the individual in the general interests became apparent . Then thero gradually aroso the sense that men dwelling together should not only not

ict indifferently to each other ' s welfare , but should strive by every means in their power to be of service to their neighbours , snch service not being detrimental to their own interests or those of their families . In time differences

irose as to what was that common interest before which ill separate interests should shrink into comparative insignificance . Then came other difficulties ancl other changes , so that at last the simple rules which sufficed for the orovernment of societies in their earliest infancy were found

of little or no use at all . A system of laws , therefore , which shonld strictly define the inter-relations to each other of the several members of a society became necessary , and this system was still further enlarged , as societies multiplied ancl began to struggle among themselves for supremacy .

This , as regulating tho usages of individuals and communities towards each other , and the ethics or morality which must govern such usages , may be described appropriately as a system of morality , ancl this system it is which for more than a century and a-half has been

denominnted Freemasonry . The two main principles enunciated in this morality are a reverence for the Supreme Being , who created all things , ancl a love of our neighbour ; ancl though , in the course of ages , these principles havo been again ancl again ignored or forgotten , though they have

been again ancl again perverted to other than their legitimate purposes , ancl have been made to assume different aspects under different conditions , so that even the most strenuous believers in their virtue could hardly have recognised . them , they still remain the chief influence for

good over all mankind . In the sense that Freemasonry is neither more nor less than this very system or code of morals which has thus prevailed everywhere , to a greater or less extent , we are right in ascribing to it an origin which is almost co-existent with time itself .

Ancl this Freermsonry , how has it beeu handed clown to us , and by whom ? By the wise ancl prudent of all ages ancl countries . These recognised the grand yet simple truth that a love of God is tho primo element in all religions , ancl that a love of man is at the root of all systems

of government . They went even further than this . They proclaimed it as an absolute truth , that this love of God , without which there could be no true religion , was yet independent of the forms and ceremonies of religious worship , and that the love of man , to the promotion of

which all laws are directed , was in no wise dependent on any form of government . This is tho grand truth which has been handed down to us from the remotest antiquity ,

by the snges of India and of Egypt , the philosophers of Greece ancl Rome , tho inspired writers of the Jews , the fathers of the Christian Church , in the book of Mahomet . This is the one universal article of faith which has been

held of all men—that is tosay , of all who have had any faith to hold—since the world began . This , indeed , is the catholic or universal faith—there is ono God whom it is the duty of man to worship , and who wills that men should love one another . This is the one common ground on which all

men , having in them a true sense of religion , are agreed . This is the faith of Masonry , or rather this is Masonry ; and hence it is that Masonry is a body to which men of every variety of religious persuasion may fitly belong . Wo believe in God , but we bind no man as to his particular

mode of worshipping Him . Aud so , too , with the different forms of Government which prevail in different countries . Obedience to the laws of onr country or of the country in which we are momentarily residing is enjoined on all of ti 8 Masons , and most willingly do we render such obedience .

The end of all government , bo it monarchical , oligarchical , or democratical , is to secure the greatest possible amount of good for the governed . It matters not if we are the

subjects of a king or the citizens of a republic , it is equally our duty to observe those laws which have been enacted for the common good , ancl at the bottom of this di ty tow ards the state or community in which we live or aro

sojourning is the duty we owe to our neighbour . This is Masonry in its civil aspect . But we have digressed somewhat from the original purpose of our article . Wo began by pointing out that

Masonry had endured much ridicule by reason of the over zeal of many of its teachers , who , not content with tracing the great truths it inculcates to tho earliest times , must needs clothe it with all the external pomp ancl circumstance of an actual and authentic history . The legends