Table Of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Footsteps of Freemasonry 407 Consecration of a Rose Croix Chapter at Southampton 4 68 A Kind Word to the Brethren 4 6 9 CORRESPONDENCE : — What is Freemasonry ? 4 6 9

Ancient Grand Lodge of York 470 Professor Rawlinson and the Ten Tribes 470 Libelling the Prime Minister 471 The Royal Order of Scotland 4 / 2 CRAFT MASONRY : —

Metropolitan 473 Provincial 473 ROYAL ARCH : Provincial 474 KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Scotland 475 The Grand Mark Lodge of England 475 Freemasonry in Trinidad 476 Freemasonry in Ital y 477

Masonic Tidings 477 West Lancashire Masonic Reilef Committee 47 S Artemus Ward 47 S Masonic Meetings for next week 478 Advertisements 465 , 4 66 , 479 , 4 80

Footsteps Of Freemasonry;

FOOTSTEPS OF FREEMASONRY ;

OK , FREEMASONRY IN RELATION TO AUTHENTIC HISTORY . By W . Vis EH HKI . OWE . M . D ., J . D . 1322 . lion . Sec ., Sphyux Lodge of Instruction .

( Continued Jroni pngr 382 J In endeavouring to trace the Footsteps of Freemasonry , it has ever been far from my intention to suppose or leach that it existed of old under

its modern name and denomination . Thus we speak of the British Constitution as existing before the " glorious Revolution , " and though it

did not always bear that name , yet the traditions , laws , and customs , which we summarise by that appellation , modified only by time and circumstances , have existed from time immemorial .

It is , as the French term it , the " analogue " of what formerly existed , and , as the crocodile may be said to be the " analogue" of the Saurian monsters of the geological periods , and is the form

under which their type has descended to our times , so is our Freemasonry the "analogue" of those ancient associations which formed , in fact , " the basis and superstructure " of Roman society .

The more Freemasonry is contemplated , the more wonderful does it seem , and a critical consideration of the ritual , will soon convince the most sceptical that , however modern may seem its

form , yet that its essentials have been handed down from ancient times . This may have been done ignorantly , by men who neither knew nor comprehended their meaning , for it is only when

we compare it b y the li ght of history with the habits , institutions , and philosophical sects of the ancient Romans , that we can detect its true and ptoper significations . We may , indeed , put the

converse , and ask what have we which they had not , even to the very signs . In fact , ancient Freemasonry was the same as the modern , minus the traditional history . I fearlessly assert that the

men who , in modern times , have moulded its forms and dictions , were altogether incapable of inventing the scaffolding on which it hangs , and

I believe the question of its ancient existence to have a most important bearing on the well-being and influence of our institution .

Footsteps Of Freemasonry;

But to digress—it must not be supposed that all secret fraternities in ancient times were of an amiable and philosophic character , as may be gathered from Livy ' s account of the destruction

of the order of the Bacchanals . In this instance it occurred to an unscrupulous Greek brother to invent a new order ; we thus find in the testimony of Livy , that inventors of new orders even then existed .

Into this order at first only men , but subsequently , the young of both sexes , and at that immature age when the passions are least under control , were initiated . Instead , however , of

pursuing virtue , they fell to vice , and such vice as brings all heathendom before our eyes . No nation ever more excelled in virtue than did Rome in its earlier and better peiiod , never

did a people , not even Sodom itself , sink to such a state of depravity and sensual indulgence as did that nation within a generation of its Augustan age . The Bacchanalian order , however , revolted even

then , and , convicted of vice , perjury , and conspiracy , its doom was signal , for by order of the Senate it was stamped out in ignominy , violence , and blood .

It was probably the signal success ot violence in putting down this association , that induced the Emperors in the next age to try the same dealing with the Christians , but how different was the

result , —different as is vice from virtue . It may not however be uninteresting to the Masonic brother to bear in mind that the first systematic persecution , ( for it extended through all Italy , ) and by

its success probably the forerunner of that of the Christians , was caused by a new order invented and developed in folly , sin , and shame . There are few pursuits more interesting than to trace the sequences of history .

We may also here notice that 111 this new society , the slave-born were not excluded , anil it became a rule to initiate none over twenty years .

We all know the importance our " constitutions ' attach to botli these points , and it is not impossible that the follies and destruction of this ordei

may have allbrded a warning never forgotten . There is another subject I wish to refer to . In a previous article a quotation from Cicero ' s Oration for Murena was given , describing Cato as

squaring the conduct 01 his life b y the " right rule of reason , " and but for want of space in that communication , should have dwelt upon its importance . Indeed , it is a very important fact for

us to ascertain that men , not being operative masons , did actually profess to govern their lives symbolically by the square , level , anil plumb rule , and used them as emblems . The literal

translation of what Cicero says is , that Cato regulated his life by the " normam , " that is , the mechanic ' s square , and the duties of his oflice , by the " perpendiculum , " that is , the mechanic ' s plumb rule .

The very learned l'ortroyalist commentator on this passage remarks that these were not onl y proverbidl phrases amonst the Greeks in common life , but that the Stoics especially adopted these

mechanical emblems , and used them commonly in their teachings . Here , then , we have , undoubtedly , the highest

and clearest authority for the use of the square , level , and plumb rule , and all seem to have been included under the term of " norma , " in philo-

Footsteps Of Freemasonry;

sophical teaching , and it is perfectly clear that as speculative masons , we are not indebted to our operative friends for their tools . The same may be observed of the early

Christian writers , some of the most eminent being either stoics or platonists , and who carrying into their new calling their accustomed figures of

speech , called the Bible the "Sacred Canon " literally the "Holy Level or Plumb Rule . " This does not indeed prove them to have been masons , but shows the phrases of the two bodies had one

common origin . I think we have already pretty clearly shown whence our emblem of the Apron is derived ,

that it is not servilely copied from the working mason , but that it is borne in memory of primeval times , precisly as our ritual expresses it , as a badge of innocence and bond of friendship .

I may here also , in passing , mention a fact accidently omitted in its due place , viz ., that our division of the day into three parts is essentially

Roman . It was expressly so divided by the "Laws of the twelve tables , " and for nearly 500 years remained the unchanged and only practice , the hours were subsequently added .

Although 1 have not at all , myself , investigated the fact , and by no means vouch for it , "Masson " is said to be a Coptic word , signifying Brother . Research would be interesting .

In attempting to chronologise our system , I should say that Freemasonry , up to and including the first part of the third degree , is essentiall y Roman in its character , and resembles the

societies which existed there under the Republic , having been founded b y Nuraa . Secondly , under the Empire , B . C . 2 S , and for

a generation previously , i . e ., after the conquest of Greece , Grecian ideas penetrated , pervaded , and modified this equally with all other institutions . From this influence also arose our

philosophy , and the introduction from the Stoic teachings of our Geometrical emblems . I believe also that these institutions were finally arranged about the second century of the Christian era .

I will request permission to make an extract from a very great authority , the German writer Tenneman , who remarks " the political , religious , and moral conditions of the Roman empire

during the first century of the Christian era were not such as to animate and sustain a spirit of philosophical research , but a mania for the

strange , and extraordinary neglect of the popular religion and superstition , and extinction of all noble sentiments prevailed ; consequently the endeavours of the wise and reasoning ; amongst

them were directed in various wafs : 1 st . To maintain and modify the schools already existing . antily . To revive the neglected doctrines of

their forefathers , as for example the " Pythagorean philosophy" ( so much identified with Freemasonry ) .

3 . To combine the various systems of Plato , Aristotle , ike ., ( not forgetting even Zoroaster and Hermes ) and to trace the former ones back 10 the ancient dogmata , or teachings of

Pythagoras . 4 thly . To combine also in one the spirit of "eastern and western philosophy . " It was at this period , likewise , at the commencement of the second century , that Adnii . v