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Ernest And Falk.

ERNEST AND FALK .

CONVERSATIONS FOR LREEMASONS . BY BRO . GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING . TllANSI . ATI- 'I ) BY BRO . KENNETH R . H . MACKENZIE , F . S . A KNOWN AS CRYPTONYMUS .

CONVERSATION . —v . ERNEST . At last they are gone . What twaddlers ! And did you not remark , or would you not remark , that the one with the wart on his chin , be his name what it will , is a Freemason .

His knocks were so frequent . FALK . I heard him well . Even in his speech I noticed what perhaps you did not so well remark . He is one of those who fight in Europe for the Americans .

ERNEST . Not his worst trait . FALK . And is beset with the fancy that Congress is a lodge—thai * there , with armed hands , the Freemasons have founded their Empire . ERNEST . Are there also dreamers nf this

kind : > FALK . They must exist . ERNEST . How tlo you discover this ' FALK . From one peculiarity—one day to bc come familiar to you .

ERNEST . By God ! if 1 knew that I had thus been deceived by the Freemasons ! FALK . Be without care . The Freemason patientl y awaits the rising of the sun—and leaves

the li ghts to burn as long as they will and can . To put out the lights , and when they are out , to notice that the ends can bc lig hted once more , or that other lights shall be set up—is not the business of the Freemason .

ERNEST . I think so likewise . That which costs blood , can certainly be worth no blood . FALK . Excellent ! Now ask—what you will I am bound to answer . ERNEST . In that case my questions will be

endless . FALK . But you cannot find the beginning . ERNEST . Did I understand you , or not understand you when we were interrupted ? Did you contradict yourself , or did you not ? For

certainly , when you say Freemasony has existed from Eternity , I understood you to mean—thus —that not alone its Essence , also its present constitution had existed from time immemorial . FALK . Were there only any relation between

them ! In its Essence , Freemasonry is as ancient as social arrangements . It was impossible that they could not bc co-existent—even if society is

not an efflorescence of Freemasonry . For the flame created by the burning glass still is derived from the Sun . ERNEST . It seems even to dazzle me in that

way—F ALK . But whether they are mother and daughter , or sister and sister ; their relative fates have ever correspondingly reacted on each other . Wherever social polity existed , tliere in all

places has also existed Ireemasonry , and viceversa . It has ever been the surest symbol of a strong , healthy , political constitution , when Freemasonry has shown herself side by side with it ; iust as it is the infallible mark of a weak and

timorous state , when it will not openly tolerate that which in secret it is obliged to tolerate , whether willingly or no . ERNEST . By which I am to understand , Freemasonry !

FALK . Certainl y ! For fundamentally She does not depend upon oulward combinations , so easily degenerated into civil institutions ; but upon the sentiment of minds having sympathies in

common . ERNEST . And who can care ii command these ! FALK . At the same time Freemasonry has ever , and in all places , been obliged to submit and

bend according to civil authorities ; the latter being ever the stronger . According to the forms of politics , so also has Freemasonry been forced

to assume various forms ; but each new form naturall y received its new name . How can you imagine that ( he name of Freemasonry could be older than that predominant mode of State

Ernest And Falk.

idea , according to which it has been accurately modelled ? ERNEST . And in what consists this predominant idea ? FALK . That is left for your own investigation

—enough that I tell you that the name of Freemason , a limb of our secret brotherhood , was never heard before the beginning of the current century . * It certainly appears in no anterior printed book , and I should like to see the man who

could show it me m any written and more ancient document . ERNEST . YOU mean—the German name . FALK . NO ! no ! also the original Freemason , as also all the translations modelled upon it—in

whatever language it may occur . ERNEST . Nay !—only reflect— -in no printed book before the beginning of the current century ? In none ? FALK . In none .

ERNEST , let I have myself—FALK . Indeed ? Has some of the dust , which is continually thrown about , got into your eyes , then ? ERNEST . But the passage

in—1 ' . In the Londmopohs ? Eh ? Dust ! ERNEST . And the Act of Parliament of Henry VI ? FALT , Dust ! ERNEST . And the great privilege granted by

Charles XL , King of Sweden , to the Lodge of Gothenburg ? FALK . Dust * ERNEST . And Locke r FALK . What Locke do you mean ?

ERNEST . Ihe philosopher—his letter to the Earl of Pembroke- —his remarks upon an inquiry , written in the very own handwriting of Henry VI ? FALK . That must be a very recent discovery —I do not know it . But Henry VI . again !

Dust ! and nothing but Dust ! ERNEST . Impossible ! FALK . DO you know any milder term for twisted words , for supposititious forgeries . ERNEST . Could they have dared to flaunt these undisturbedly in the eyes ofthe world ?

FALK . Why not ? the wise are too few—that they are able to confute each folly—immediately on their promulgation . Enough that there was no prescription respecting tham . Certainly it would be better if no follies were enacted before

the public -, for the most contemptible part of the matter consists in the fact—that no one takes the trouble of contradicting them—wlureby , in course of time they attain the reputation of being a very serious and sacred thins * . For a thousand

years men will say , " could such things have been published to the world , had they not been true ? These credible men were not confuted in those days , and would you presume to doubt them now ?"

ERNEST . Oh ! History ! History ! What art thou ! FALK . The bald rhapsody of Anderson , in which the history of architecture is foisted in as the history ofthe Order- —might pass ! For once

in a way , might serve—and the jugglery would only be too apparent at the same time . But th . it we shonld continue to build on tin ' s marsh }* foundation—that people should not hesitate to affirm in print , what they would be ashamed to

state to a serious man by word of mouth—that they should be content to allow a jest to continue , which should long since have been droppedshould have tolerated a forgery—upon which , if an ignoble social interest is concerned—the

pillory stands ERNEST . Yet if it were true , that there was more than a play upon words in this ? If it were true , that the secret of the Order has endured from antiquity under the homogeneous

mechanical art ? FM . K . If it were only true " r ERNEST . And is it not true ? For how otherwise would the Order have selected the symbols of this art ? Precisely this one ? Why not some

other . FALK . And so it has . ERNEST . It has ? Yet another cause—than the one assigned ? FALK . Quite another . * J v * 1 - " . —Cr . v . -ru-NYM' . ; -,

Ernest And Falk.

FALK . The question is certainly grave . ERNEST . Such a fact must have a reason for its existence . ERNEST . Am I to guess , or may I enquire ? FALK . Had you asked me another question , long expected by me—the solution would not be

very difficult . ERNEST . Another question—you had long expected ? FALK . For when I said to you that that which is called Freemasonry—was not always called Freemasonry , what question would be more natural and immediate ?

ERNEST . Than to ask what it was formerl y called—very true—then I ask that question now . FALK . What was Freemasonry called—before it was called Freemasonry , you say ? Masoncy . ERNEST . Certainly , Masonry in English . FALK . In English not Masonry , but Masoney . Not from Mason , the builder—but from Mase , the table .

ERNEST . Mase , the table ? In what language ? FALK . In the language of the Anglo-Saxons , and not in that alone , but also in the language of thc Goths and Franks , hence originall y a Teutonic word , from which there are still some derivatives existing , or recently existing , such as

Maskopie , Masleidig , Mi ' . sgenosse ( table companion ) . Masoney itself was even common in Luther ' s time ; although its really good meaning had then become somewhat corrupted . ERNEST . I know nothing either of its proper , or corrupted meaning .

FALK . Yet you know the custom of our ancestors of debating the most important matters at the board . Mase , therefore , the table , aud Masoney , a closed assemblage . And when the . closed assemblage degenerated into a drinking boose , the meaning in which the word Masoney is used by Agricola is easily understood .

ERNEST . Would the word lodge have fared better some time since ?

1 ' ALK . But bclore the Masoneys partly so degenerated , and fell in the public esteem—they stood in hi gher credit . There was no court in Germany , small or great , without its Masoney . The old song-books , and chronicles testify to this . Special buildings , either adjoining to or in the neighbourhood of the castles and palaces of the sovereign ,

were thus designated—and in more recent times have given rise to so many groundless speculations . What can I quote more in their honourthan to say that the society of the Round Table was the oldest and ori ginal Masoney—their common origin ? ERNEST . The Round Table ? That ascends into very fabulous times .

FALK . Be the history of King Arthur as fabulous as it may—the Round Table is not fabulous . ERNEST . Arthur is said to be its founder . FILK . By no means ! Not even according to tradition . Arthur , or liis father , had adopted it from the Anglo-Saxons—as the term Masoney

shows . What is more easily to be understood than that the Anglo-Saxons imported no custom into England , which they did not leave behind them in their native country , lt is also seen in several German peoples of that era , that there was a tendency to form small confidential circles , in and beside the "Teat * social institution .

ERNEST . B y this you would infer ? FALK . Al ! this which I now so hastily . say , perhaps without necessary precision , I will undertake , the next time I am in town with you

among in ) - books , to demonstrate to you in black and white . Only listen to mc now—as people listen to the first rumour of some great event . It raises the curiosity more than it satisfies it . ERNEST . Where ( lid you leave off " ?

1 * u . K . Masoney therefore was a German custom transplanted b y the Anglo-Saxons into England . The learned are undecided who the Mase-Thonas were—in all probability the nobles of Masoney—which struck snch deep root in this new soil , that it it endured throughout all succeeding changes of Government , and from time

to time appears in the most flourishing condition . The Masoneys of the Templars in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries stood in great repute . And such a Templar Masoney existed in London , to the end ofthe seventeenth century , despite of the annihilation of the Order . Here also the time arrives at which the index of written history is wanting—but a carefully preserved tradition , pos-

“The Freemason: 1872-05-11, Page 3” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 29 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fvl/issues/fvl_11051872/page/3/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS Article 1
FREEMASONRY AND ISRAELITISM. Article 1
AIDS TO STUDY. Article 2
Obituary. Article 2
ERNEST AND FALK. Article 3
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Article 4
FREEMASONRY IN CONSTANTINOPLE. Article 5
THE AMERICAN KNIGHTS TEMPLAR. Article 5
Untitled Article 6
Untitled Article 6
Untitled Article 6
Untitled Article 6
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Article 6
REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS. Article 8
Mark Masonry. Article 10
Knights Templar. Article 10
Scotland. Article 11
Masonic Tidings. Article 11
Poetry. Article 11
MASONIC ODE. Article 11
METROPOLITAN MASONIC MEETINGS. Article 12
Untitled Ad 12
Untitled Ad 12
Untitled Ad 12
Untitled Ad 12
Untitled Ad 12
Untitled Ad 12
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4 Articles
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3 Articles
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Page 4

3 Articles
Page 5

Page 5

4 Articles
Page 6

Page 6

7 Articles
Page 7

Page 7

3 Articles
Page 8

Page 8

4 Articles
Page 9

Page 9

3 Articles
Page 10

Page 10

5 Articles
Page 11

Page 11

6 Articles
Page 12

Page 12

8 Articles
Page 3

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Ernest And Falk.

ERNEST AND FALK .

CONVERSATIONS FOR LREEMASONS . BY BRO . GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING . TllANSI . ATI- 'I ) BY BRO . KENNETH R . H . MACKENZIE , F . S . A KNOWN AS CRYPTONYMUS .

CONVERSATION . —v . ERNEST . At last they are gone . What twaddlers ! And did you not remark , or would you not remark , that the one with the wart on his chin , be his name what it will , is a Freemason .

His knocks were so frequent . FALK . I heard him well . Even in his speech I noticed what perhaps you did not so well remark . He is one of those who fight in Europe for the Americans .

ERNEST . Not his worst trait . FALK . And is beset with the fancy that Congress is a lodge—thai * there , with armed hands , the Freemasons have founded their Empire . ERNEST . Are there also dreamers nf this

kind : > FALK . They must exist . ERNEST . How tlo you discover this ' FALK . From one peculiarity—one day to bc come familiar to you .

ERNEST . By God ! if 1 knew that I had thus been deceived by the Freemasons ! FALK . Be without care . The Freemason patientl y awaits the rising of the sun—and leaves

the li ghts to burn as long as they will and can . To put out the lights , and when they are out , to notice that the ends can bc lig hted once more , or that other lights shall be set up—is not the business of the Freemason .

ERNEST . I think so likewise . That which costs blood , can certainly be worth no blood . FALK . Excellent ! Now ask—what you will I am bound to answer . ERNEST . In that case my questions will be

endless . FALK . But you cannot find the beginning . ERNEST . Did I understand you , or not understand you when we were interrupted ? Did you contradict yourself , or did you not ? For

certainly , when you say Freemasony has existed from Eternity , I understood you to mean—thus —that not alone its Essence , also its present constitution had existed from time immemorial . FALK . Were there only any relation between

them ! In its Essence , Freemasonry is as ancient as social arrangements . It was impossible that they could not bc co-existent—even if society is

not an efflorescence of Freemasonry . For the flame created by the burning glass still is derived from the Sun . ERNEST . It seems even to dazzle me in that

way—F ALK . But whether they are mother and daughter , or sister and sister ; their relative fates have ever correspondingly reacted on each other . Wherever social polity existed , tliere in all

places has also existed Ireemasonry , and viceversa . It has ever been the surest symbol of a strong , healthy , political constitution , when Freemasonry has shown herself side by side with it ; iust as it is the infallible mark of a weak and

timorous state , when it will not openly tolerate that which in secret it is obliged to tolerate , whether willingly or no . ERNEST . By which I am to understand , Freemasonry !

FALK . Certainl y ! For fundamentally She does not depend upon oulward combinations , so easily degenerated into civil institutions ; but upon the sentiment of minds having sympathies in

common . ERNEST . And who can care ii command these ! FALK . At the same time Freemasonry has ever , and in all places , been obliged to submit and

bend according to civil authorities ; the latter being ever the stronger . According to the forms of politics , so also has Freemasonry been forced

to assume various forms ; but each new form naturall y received its new name . How can you imagine that ( he name of Freemasonry could be older than that predominant mode of State

Ernest And Falk.

idea , according to which it has been accurately modelled ? ERNEST . And in what consists this predominant idea ? FALK . That is left for your own investigation

—enough that I tell you that the name of Freemason , a limb of our secret brotherhood , was never heard before the beginning of the current century . * It certainly appears in no anterior printed book , and I should like to see the man who

could show it me m any written and more ancient document . ERNEST . YOU mean—the German name . FALK . NO ! no ! also the original Freemason , as also all the translations modelled upon it—in

whatever language it may occur . ERNEST . Nay !—only reflect— -in no printed book before the beginning of the current century ? In none ? FALK . In none .

ERNEST , let I have myself—FALK . Indeed ? Has some of the dust , which is continually thrown about , got into your eyes , then ? ERNEST . But the passage

in—1 ' . In the Londmopohs ? Eh ? Dust ! ERNEST . And the Act of Parliament of Henry VI ? FALT , Dust ! ERNEST . And the great privilege granted by

Charles XL , King of Sweden , to the Lodge of Gothenburg ? FALK . Dust * ERNEST . And Locke r FALK . What Locke do you mean ?

ERNEST . Ihe philosopher—his letter to the Earl of Pembroke- —his remarks upon an inquiry , written in the very own handwriting of Henry VI ? FALK . That must be a very recent discovery —I do not know it . But Henry VI . again !

Dust ! and nothing but Dust ! ERNEST . Impossible ! FALK . DO you know any milder term for twisted words , for supposititious forgeries . ERNEST . Could they have dared to flaunt these undisturbedly in the eyes ofthe world ?

FALK . Why not ? the wise are too few—that they are able to confute each folly—immediately on their promulgation . Enough that there was no prescription respecting tham . Certainly it would be better if no follies were enacted before

the public -, for the most contemptible part of the matter consists in the fact—that no one takes the trouble of contradicting them—wlureby , in course of time they attain the reputation of being a very serious and sacred thins * . For a thousand

years men will say , " could such things have been published to the world , had they not been true ? These credible men were not confuted in those days , and would you presume to doubt them now ?"

ERNEST . Oh ! History ! History ! What art thou ! FALK . The bald rhapsody of Anderson , in which the history of architecture is foisted in as the history ofthe Order- —might pass ! For once

in a way , might serve—and the jugglery would only be too apparent at the same time . But th . it we shonld continue to build on tin ' s marsh }* foundation—that people should not hesitate to affirm in print , what they would be ashamed to

state to a serious man by word of mouth—that they should be content to allow a jest to continue , which should long since have been droppedshould have tolerated a forgery—upon which , if an ignoble social interest is concerned—the

pillory stands ERNEST . Yet if it were true , that there was more than a play upon words in this ? If it were true , that the secret of the Order has endured from antiquity under the homogeneous

mechanical art ? FM . K . If it were only true " r ERNEST . And is it not true ? For how otherwise would the Order have selected the symbols of this art ? Precisely this one ? Why not some

other . FALK . And so it has . ERNEST . It has ? Yet another cause—than the one assigned ? FALK . Quite another . * J v * 1 - " . —Cr . v . -ru-NYM' . ; -,

Ernest And Falk.

FALK . The question is certainly grave . ERNEST . Such a fact must have a reason for its existence . ERNEST . Am I to guess , or may I enquire ? FALK . Had you asked me another question , long expected by me—the solution would not be

very difficult . ERNEST . Another question—you had long expected ? FALK . For when I said to you that that which is called Freemasonry—was not always called Freemasonry , what question would be more natural and immediate ?

ERNEST . Than to ask what it was formerl y called—very true—then I ask that question now . FALK . What was Freemasonry called—before it was called Freemasonry , you say ? Masoncy . ERNEST . Certainly , Masonry in English . FALK . In English not Masonry , but Masoney . Not from Mason , the builder—but from Mase , the table .

ERNEST . Mase , the table ? In what language ? FALK . In the language of the Anglo-Saxons , and not in that alone , but also in the language of thc Goths and Franks , hence originall y a Teutonic word , from which there are still some derivatives existing , or recently existing , such as

Maskopie , Masleidig , Mi ' . sgenosse ( table companion ) . Masoney itself was even common in Luther ' s time ; although its really good meaning had then become somewhat corrupted . ERNEST . I know nothing either of its proper , or corrupted meaning .

FALK . Yet you know the custom of our ancestors of debating the most important matters at the board . Mase , therefore , the table , aud Masoney , a closed assemblage . And when the . closed assemblage degenerated into a drinking boose , the meaning in which the word Masoney is used by Agricola is easily understood .

ERNEST . Would the word lodge have fared better some time since ?

1 ' ALK . But bclore the Masoneys partly so degenerated , and fell in the public esteem—they stood in hi gher credit . There was no court in Germany , small or great , without its Masoney . The old song-books , and chronicles testify to this . Special buildings , either adjoining to or in the neighbourhood of the castles and palaces of the sovereign ,

were thus designated—and in more recent times have given rise to so many groundless speculations . What can I quote more in their honourthan to say that the society of the Round Table was the oldest and ori ginal Masoney—their common origin ? ERNEST . The Round Table ? That ascends into very fabulous times .

FALK . Be the history of King Arthur as fabulous as it may—the Round Table is not fabulous . ERNEST . Arthur is said to be its founder . FILK . By no means ! Not even according to tradition . Arthur , or liis father , had adopted it from the Anglo-Saxons—as the term Masoney

shows . What is more easily to be understood than that the Anglo-Saxons imported no custom into England , which they did not leave behind them in their native country , lt is also seen in several German peoples of that era , that there was a tendency to form small confidential circles , in and beside the "Teat * social institution .

ERNEST . B y this you would infer ? FALK . Al ! this which I now so hastily . say , perhaps without necessary precision , I will undertake , the next time I am in town with you

among in ) - books , to demonstrate to you in black and white . Only listen to mc now—as people listen to the first rumour of some great event . It raises the curiosity more than it satisfies it . ERNEST . Where ( lid you leave off " ?

1 * u . K . Masoney therefore was a German custom transplanted b y the Anglo-Saxons into England . The learned are undecided who the Mase-Thonas were—in all probability the nobles of Masoney—which struck snch deep root in this new soil , that it it endured throughout all succeeding changes of Government , and from time

to time appears in the most flourishing condition . The Masoneys of the Templars in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries stood in great repute . And such a Templar Masoney existed in London , to the end ofthe seventeenth century , despite of the annihilation of the Order . Here also the time arrives at which the index of written history is wanting—but a carefully preserved tradition , pos-

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