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Article ESSAY ON MODERN PSEUDO-MASONIC RITES.* Page 1 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On Modern Pseudo-Masonic Rites.*
ESSAY ON MODERN PSEUDO-MASONIC RITES . *
" It is declared and pronounced that pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees , and no moi-e : viz . those of the Entered Apprentice , the Fellow Craft , and the Master Mason ( including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch ) . But this article is not intended to preventany Lodge or Chapter from holding a meeting in any of the degrees of the Orders of Chivalry , according to the constitutions of the said Orders . " —ARTICLES OF UNION , Art . 2 .
THE few lines which head this Essay , and form as it were its text , will sufficiently explain the precise subject it professes to treat of . Twice has the writer endeavoured to lay before the Masonic public concise accounts of Adoptive Masonry , which is certainly the most harmless and pleasing of Pseudo-Masonic Rites , aud twice has he been amply rewarded by the approbation of his Brethren . It is therefore hoped that it may not be deemed an idle or an unprofitable task to penetrate more deeply
into this rich vein of Masonic lore . There are few histories so varied and so interesting as that of spurious Masonry in modern times ; few , of which so much might with advantage be recorded , and of which so little has been written . All well informed Freemasons anxiously study the various deviations from the Order in ancient times , and seek with eagerness for the many points of resemblance between it and the mysteries of EgyptEleusisthe Dionysian Architectsand the Essenes ;
, , , while they seem in general to be totally ignorant of the thousand and one institutions which in modern times have cloaked their vanity , vice , or frivolity , under the venerable name of Freemasonry . From the very fact of the little knowledge we have of tbe mysteries of the ancients , how far inferior in point of interest must that branch of our subject
be , compared to that which treats of Rites which have all existed within this age , and most of which at this day are in being ? Here , however , it were hopeless to attempt more than to take a cursory view of some of the many Orders and Rites which have of recent times been superadded to Masonry ; and , where it can be done , to give a short historical sketch of them , and to conclude with a few suggestions on the uses to which some of these degrees might be applied . Thus , were it
not for the narrow bounds which the writer in a periodical must not transgress , lest he exclude articles far more worthy of insertion than his own , how profitable and pleasing might the history of a single degree be made . What could be more truly interesting than to follow some one Order , the origin of which could not be traced , from land to land , to see it as it migrated gradually lose its primitive simplicity , at times changing its nameat times totally altering its natureancl perhaps forming the
, , basis of a new and spurious system , and ever , chameleon-like , assuming the hue of surrounding objects ? There cannot be a doubt that a philosophical history of Modern Pseudo-Masonic Rites would be a practical analysis of the human mind , working under all kinds and degrees of excitement on an edifice the foundations of which the lapse of ages had rendered unalterable , but whose superstructures , from their simplicity ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On Modern Pseudo-Masonic Rites.*
ESSAY ON MODERN PSEUDO-MASONIC RITES . *
" It is declared and pronounced that pure Ancient Masonry consists of three degrees , and no moi-e : viz . those of the Entered Apprentice , the Fellow Craft , and the Master Mason ( including the Supreme Order of the Holy Royal Arch ) . But this article is not intended to preventany Lodge or Chapter from holding a meeting in any of the degrees of the Orders of Chivalry , according to the constitutions of the said Orders . " —ARTICLES OF UNION , Art . 2 .
THE few lines which head this Essay , and form as it were its text , will sufficiently explain the precise subject it professes to treat of . Twice has the writer endeavoured to lay before the Masonic public concise accounts of Adoptive Masonry , which is certainly the most harmless and pleasing of Pseudo-Masonic Rites , aud twice has he been amply rewarded by the approbation of his Brethren . It is therefore hoped that it may not be deemed an idle or an unprofitable task to penetrate more deeply
into this rich vein of Masonic lore . There are few histories so varied and so interesting as that of spurious Masonry in modern times ; few , of which so much might with advantage be recorded , and of which so little has been written . All well informed Freemasons anxiously study the various deviations from the Order in ancient times , and seek with eagerness for the many points of resemblance between it and the mysteries of EgyptEleusisthe Dionysian Architectsand the Essenes ;
, , , while they seem in general to be totally ignorant of the thousand and one institutions which in modern times have cloaked their vanity , vice , or frivolity , under the venerable name of Freemasonry . From the very fact of the little knowledge we have of tbe mysteries of the ancients , how far inferior in point of interest must that branch of our subject
be , compared to that which treats of Rites which have all existed within this age , and most of which at this day are in being ? Here , however , it were hopeless to attempt more than to take a cursory view of some of the many Orders and Rites which have of recent times been superadded to Masonry ; and , where it can be done , to give a short historical sketch of them , and to conclude with a few suggestions on the uses to which some of these degrees might be applied . Thus , were it
not for the narrow bounds which the writer in a periodical must not transgress , lest he exclude articles far more worthy of insertion than his own , how profitable and pleasing might the history of a single degree be made . What could be more truly interesting than to follow some one Order , the origin of which could not be traced , from land to land , to see it as it migrated gradually lose its primitive simplicity , at times changing its nameat times totally altering its natureancl perhaps forming the
, , basis of a new and spurious system , and ever , chameleon-like , assuming the hue of surrounding objects ? There cannot be a doubt that a philosophical history of Modern Pseudo-Masonic Rites would be a practical analysis of the human mind , working under all kinds and degrees of excitement on an edifice the foundations of which the lapse of ages had rendered unalterable , but whose superstructures , from their simplicity ,