Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Address On The Subject Of Freemasonry,
AN ADDRESS ON THE SUBJECT OF FREEMASONRY ,
As Originating in the Order of Knights Templars . BY BRO . J . c v A , M . M . THE origin , the birth , and the progress of our order in the earliest ages are hidden by a nearly impenetrable veil of mystery : not that they are designedly made secrets of bFreemasonsfor they continue an
y , enigma to those who have obtained the hi ghest degrees in the order . It is very probable that the persecution which the order suffered in the 17 th century is the cause of all the uncertainty and difficulty of fixing upon any precise date for its ori gin . In the year 1685 many old anil valuable manuscripts were destroyed , to prevent them coming into the hands of the uninitiated , by which it is certain that the oldest and most authentic accounts of the introduction of our order into land were
Eng destroyed ; an event which may justly be considered as an irreparable loss to the order , as it cannot be . disputed that England is the country where , in its present form , it was first introduced and acknowledged . If we admit that the order of Freemasonry was in existence before the 11 th century of the Christian era , so may we also believe that which has been handed down to us by tradition , that in the year 287 St . Alban founded the first Grand Lodge in England ; that in the year 926
King Athelstan granted a charter to the Freemasons ; and that Prince Edwin founded a Grand Lodge at York at the same time when the constitution was revised by Edward the Third , in 1358 . But whatever may become of the feelings of those who believe that
scarcely 300 years after the birth of Christ the order should have bloomed in England , —whatever may become of the feelings of those who derive its origin from the remotest periods of antiquity , —those who wish to honour the first parents of mankind and the inhabitants of Paradise as Freemasons , —those who from the stores of their own warm imaginations wish to prove , that in the infancy of the world mankind were indebted to our order for the formation of the first cities and
buildings , —the whole of these and various other ingenious theories of the origin of our order , are uncertain and unproved ; and it thus appears that there is nothing left for the man who devotes his attention to the subject , but to derive its origin and to trace its progress from some one of those great events which have occurred in the world , and from which its origin may be derived with the greatest degree of probability .
Our order , which has for its object the universal happiness of mankind , and which regards as the first and chief means of obtaining that object , the preparing and making universally known true knowledge or light , must in all inquiries into the date of its origin , be traced back unto antl tested by some one of those great actions , institutions , or events , which may either have given birth to the order itself , or have brought about those events without which the order never could have
been brought into existence . Proceeding from this foundation , we may inquire into and gain a knowledge of what are the most likely actions , institutions , and events , to have produced our order , and thus to fix upon the date of its institution . And when with the eye of experience
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Address On The Subject Of Freemasonry,
AN ADDRESS ON THE SUBJECT OF FREEMASONRY ,
As Originating in the Order of Knights Templars . BY BRO . J . c v A , M . M . THE origin , the birth , and the progress of our order in the earliest ages are hidden by a nearly impenetrable veil of mystery : not that they are designedly made secrets of bFreemasonsfor they continue an
y , enigma to those who have obtained the hi ghest degrees in the order . It is very probable that the persecution which the order suffered in the 17 th century is the cause of all the uncertainty and difficulty of fixing upon any precise date for its ori gin . In the year 1685 many old anil valuable manuscripts were destroyed , to prevent them coming into the hands of the uninitiated , by which it is certain that the oldest and most authentic accounts of the introduction of our order into land were
Eng destroyed ; an event which may justly be considered as an irreparable loss to the order , as it cannot be . disputed that England is the country where , in its present form , it was first introduced and acknowledged . If we admit that the order of Freemasonry was in existence before the 11 th century of the Christian era , so may we also believe that which has been handed down to us by tradition , that in the year 287 St . Alban founded the first Grand Lodge in England ; that in the year 926
King Athelstan granted a charter to the Freemasons ; and that Prince Edwin founded a Grand Lodge at York at the same time when the constitution was revised by Edward the Third , in 1358 . But whatever may become of the feelings of those who believe that
scarcely 300 years after the birth of Christ the order should have bloomed in England , —whatever may become of the feelings of those who derive its origin from the remotest periods of antiquity , —those who wish to honour the first parents of mankind and the inhabitants of Paradise as Freemasons , —those who from the stores of their own warm imaginations wish to prove , that in the infancy of the world mankind were indebted to our order for the formation of the first cities and
buildings , —the whole of these and various other ingenious theories of the origin of our order , are uncertain and unproved ; and it thus appears that there is nothing left for the man who devotes his attention to the subject , but to derive its origin and to trace its progress from some one of those great events which have occurred in the world , and from which its origin may be derived with the greatest degree of probability .
Our order , which has for its object the universal happiness of mankind , and which regards as the first and chief means of obtaining that object , the preparing and making universally known true knowledge or light , must in all inquiries into the date of its origin , be traced back unto antl tested by some one of those great actions , institutions , or events , which may either have given birth to the order itself , or have brought about those events without which the order never could have
been brought into existence . Proceeding from this foundation , we may inquire into and gain a knowledge of what are the most likely actions , institutions , and events , to have produced our order , and thus to fix upon the date of its institution . And when with the eye of experience