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Article HISTORY OF MASONRY. ← Page 4 of 8 →
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History Of Masonry.
though it became ' afterward the temple of Venus and Bacchus ; and also the lesser cities of old Syria , as Apamia , Bersea , Seleucia , Laodicea , Edessa , Pella , & c . [ Before Christ 304 . 3 But Masonry flourished most in EGTFT , where the Grecian architecture was highly admired , and where Ptolemy Soter , another of Alexander ' s generals , had set up his throne . Euclidthe famous : geometer of Tyrewho had in his travels
collec-, , ted the scattered elements of geometry , came to the court of Ptolemy Soter , and was by him encouraged to teach that noble science ; especially to the children of the great lords and estates of the realm , who , by continual wars and decay of the sciences in former reigns , were reduced to . the want of means to get an honourable livelihood . For this purpose , says an old record of Masonry , - Euclid having
received commission , he taught such as were committed to his charge the science of geometry in practice , to work in stone all manner of worthy work that belongeth to building of altars , temples , towers , and castles , and all other manner of buildings , and gave them a charge in this form : ¦ ¦ , " FirstThat they should be true to their king , aud to the lord they
, serve , ancl to the fellowship whereof they are admitted : and that they should be true to , and love one another : and that they should call each other his Fellow or Brother ; not servant , nor knave , nor any other foul name : and that they should truly deserve their , pay of their lord , or the master of the work that they serve . " Secondly , That they should ordain the wisest of them to he the
master of the work ; and neither for love nor lineage , riches nor favour , to set another that hath but little cunning to be master of the lord ' s work ; whereby the lord shouklbeevil served , and they ashamed : and also that they should call the governor of the work Master , in the time that they work with him . " ' And many other charges he gave them that are too long to relate ; -and to all these" charges he made them swear a great oath , that men used at that time . ¦ . - ' -.
' Aud he ordaine'd for them a reasonable pay , whereb )* they might live honestly ; and also that they should come and assemble together every year once , to consult how they might work best to serve the lord , for his profit ,, and to their own credit ; and to correct , within ¦ themselves , him that had trespassed against the Craft . c And thus was . the Craft grounded there ; and that worthy clerk Euclid gave it the name of Geometry , which now is called Masonry . '
He accordingly digested his elements of geometry into such order , Improved and demonstrated them so accurately , as to have left no room ibr any others to exceed him in that science ; for which his memory will ever be fragrant in the lodges . According to the old constitu-ciions , Ptolemy , Grand Master , with his Wardens , Euclid the geometricianand'Straton the philosopherbuilt his palace at Alexandria ,
, , and the curious Museum or college of the learned , with the library of Bruchiurri , near the palace , that was filled with 400 , 000 manuscripts , or valuable volumes , before it was burnt in the wars of Julius Oa-mi-,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
History Of Masonry.
though it became ' afterward the temple of Venus and Bacchus ; and also the lesser cities of old Syria , as Apamia , Bersea , Seleucia , Laodicea , Edessa , Pella , & c . [ Before Christ 304 . 3 But Masonry flourished most in EGTFT , where the Grecian architecture was highly admired , and where Ptolemy Soter , another of Alexander ' s generals , had set up his throne . Euclidthe famous : geometer of Tyrewho had in his travels
collec-, , ted the scattered elements of geometry , came to the court of Ptolemy Soter , and was by him encouraged to teach that noble science ; especially to the children of the great lords and estates of the realm , who , by continual wars and decay of the sciences in former reigns , were reduced to . the want of means to get an honourable livelihood . For this purpose , says an old record of Masonry , - Euclid having
received commission , he taught such as were committed to his charge the science of geometry in practice , to work in stone all manner of worthy work that belongeth to building of altars , temples , towers , and castles , and all other manner of buildings , and gave them a charge in this form : ¦ ¦ , " FirstThat they should be true to their king , aud to the lord they
, serve , ancl to the fellowship whereof they are admitted : and that they should be true to , and love one another : and that they should call each other his Fellow or Brother ; not servant , nor knave , nor any other foul name : and that they should truly deserve their , pay of their lord , or the master of the work that they serve . " Secondly , That they should ordain the wisest of them to he the
master of the work ; and neither for love nor lineage , riches nor favour , to set another that hath but little cunning to be master of the lord ' s work ; whereby the lord shouklbeevil served , and they ashamed : and also that they should call the governor of the work Master , in the time that they work with him . " ' And many other charges he gave them that are too long to relate ; -and to all these" charges he made them swear a great oath , that men used at that time . ¦ . - ' -.
' Aud he ordaine'd for them a reasonable pay , whereb )* they might live honestly ; and also that they should come and assemble together every year once , to consult how they might work best to serve the lord , for his profit ,, and to their own credit ; and to correct , within ¦ themselves , him that had trespassed against the Craft . c And thus was . the Craft grounded there ; and that worthy clerk Euclid gave it the name of Geometry , which now is called Masonry . '
He accordingly digested his elements of geometry into such order , Improved and demonstrated them so accurately , as to have left no room ibr any others to exceed him in that science ; for which his memory will ever be fragrant in the lodges . According to the old constitu-ciions , Ptolemy , Grand Master , with his Wardens , Euclid the geometricianand'Straton the philosopherbuilt his palace at Alexandria ,
, , and the curious Museum or college of the learned , with the library of Bruchiurri , near the palace , that was filled with 400 , 000 manuscripts , or valuable volumes , before it was burnt in the wars of Julius Oa-mi-,