Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.

arguments of its supporters , has so far nothing but crude hypothesis and intolerant assertion in its favour , and seems destined to land us as a Fraternity , ere long , again on the shore of a most unlearned and unreasoning exposition of our archaeology , our usages , and our history .

If it be true , we may as well bring to an end at once those studies and investigations which of late years have been undertaken by so many able brethren , in order , from the unerring records of the past , to erect a lasting edifice standing on

sure foundation , perfect in its parts and honourable to the builders , which shall be able to resist alike successfully the attacks of criticism , and offer a satisfactory and reasonable history to our Brethren and the world of our ancient and

beneficent Order . 3 . But the third view remains for our consideration , namely , that our Freemasonry may be safely traced through the mediaeval and early guilds , direct in the first instance to the Roman Collegia , and then even much further back , in

harmony with our own ancient traditions . Bro . Dr . Findel puts the whole question most fairly , when admitting that a " certain connection existed " between the mediteval guilds and the Roman colleges , he goes on to ask , whether the former be a " direct continuation " of the latter

—whether " thereexists sufficient historical proof to justify the tracing back the Fraternity of Masons to the building corporation of Rome " ? And though he has thought well to answer "both these questions in the negative , and to say

that " attempts to trace the history of Freemasonry further back than the middle ages have been up to the present time most decided failures , " I think he has allowed his preference of his own view to blind him somewhat to the result of the

csearches of those able brethren who advocate ¦ he connection between the medieval guilds and die Roman Collegia , and that he has not given sufficient weight to the evidence which may be adduced in support of this larger theory of Masonic history .

It is impossible to hope to find to-day historical evidence of a perfect uniformity of ritual and ceremony , of customs and usages , in which some set so much store , between the present and the past . Indeed , if that be requisite , Bro . Findel's argument in respect of the German Steinmetzen utterly breaks down , for he himself admits that

a " complete insight into the customs in use among the Fraternity of stonemasons into their origin and progress will most likely never be vouchsafed to us . " * Nevertheless he goes on to contend that they were the forefathers of modern German Speculative . Masons , and in all essential particulars identical .

1 would only adopt my learned brother's own admission and argument , and apply it to the view I am now advocating . In common with those who maintain the same

view of Masonic history , ! ' I contend that the evidence we are already in possession of , to link us on to the building colleges ofthe Romans , and thence to Grecian communities and Egyptian mysteries is very clear and very striking , and cannot any longer be disputed or cavilled at .

There is a very great body of evidence , which requires to be carefully considered and respectfully treated , and cannot , as it ought not to be hastily dismissed , without due weight being given , to what may be incontestably proved , in favour of any favourite hypothesis or preconceived opinionofwhat the History of Freemasonry can safely be supposed to be .

That they are many difficulties in the way of a perfect development of this last theory , no one can deny , but they are not really greater than attend on Bro . Findel ' s more limited view , and such a difficulty , after the lapse of centuries , must be reasonably expected , as well as from the

peculiar condition of the Masonic system ! I hope , in the next chapter , to put before my brethren what is really the amount of reasonable evidence , or even any view at all of Masonic history , as regards the ancient building colleges and sodalities , up to the fall of the Roman Empire .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . " FREEMASONRY AND JUDAISM . " { To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Bro . Buchan has done me the honour to bestow some time and labour upon the columns I have been permitted to contribute to THE FREEMASON , on the Israelites and Anglo-Saxons . Permit me to offer

a preliminary remark on the mistake into which Bro . Buchan , XV . B ., and others have fallen , in referring to my papers under the title of Freemasonry and Judaism . I fear that after all the pains I have taken to point out and maintain

the distinction between Jews and Israelites , an important one—though both the seed of Abraham —they lose sight of that distinction , as does a writer in the Observer , who supposes that I am desirous to prove that all Englishmen are Jews . I have no reason to be other than well satisfied

with tlie tone and spirit in which Bro . Buchan comments upon what appears to him to be my errors . He has brought out two or three points on which we are heartily agreed—at all times a good work among brethren . He has also more fully than heretofore brought out some of

the points on which we are at decided * antagonism . Our points of agreement are , I am sorry to say , but few ; they are enough , however , to enable us to stand upon the same platform , and cordially to take each other by the hand . He opens his letter by affirming that " It matters not

whether we be Jew or Turk , Hindoo or Christian , Trinitarian or Unitarian , all are alike to Freemasonry , and justice to itself demands that within its pale all be put upon the level—agreeing to differ and differing to agree . " That I accept as one of the fundamental principles of

our common Craft ; and I believe I hold it fast , and act consistently with it . Bro . Buchan ' s closing admonition is no less deserving our acceptance and observance than his opening proposition " The path of duty lies in working while it is called to-day ; or , as Ecclesiastes has it , *

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do , do it with thy might , for there is no work , nor device , nor knowledge , nor wisdom in the grave , whither thou goest . '" I agree with him , too , in feeling that " there is surely nothing unmanly , or unmasonic , in admitting that we are wiser to-day than we

were yesterday " —provided always the fact is so . I regret that it is only in these two or three points in Bro . Buchan's letter that he and I are agreed . His philosophy appears to me to be as superficial and erroneous as is his biblical and historical reading ; andintheexpressionofopinon

there seems to me to be an exhibition of credulity not exceeded by what he attributes to those who , myself included , substitute idle dreams and the vagaries of the imagination for substantial truths . Bro . Buchan deals very tenderly with my errors and prejudices touching the Bible

which he attributes to the same cause that induced his own former errors in religion , from which he is now , as he feels , happily emancipated . He says , " instead of examining it ( the Bible ) in an impartial and thoroughly independent manner , we have been altogether guided ,

hitherto , by our early training and belief , thus getting only a one-sided view . " 'I'llis , he thinks , I' is little creditable to either of us . " Bro . B . 's investigations and thought have , he says , " led him up" to a departure from this thraldom ; while I , alas ! am still " cabiivd , cribb'd ,

confined , bound in '' by the dreams and fables of childhood . But I cannot accept his apology for my errors and prejudices ; for if he has been investigating and thinking , so have I ; but while his investigations and thinkings on this subject have led him out of those errors in which he was

entangled by early training and belief , my investigations and thinkings have led me out of what I had imbibed by early training into my present , and , according to Bro . B ., erroneous views touching the Bible and what pertains to it . My

early training gave me the same notions ofthe Bible as those now held by Bro . B ., after his conversion . Whether I have , as he has , investigated in " an impartial and thoroughly inde-

Original Correspondence.

pendent manner , " I will not positively assert . I believe I have done so ; at all events , that was what I desired ; and I have endeavoured to give a reason for the faith that is within me , in the writing and publication of many hundreds of pages , forming some bulky volumes , on biblical literature , embracing the genuineness

andauthenticity of the books of the Bible ; the integrity of the text ; the value of the various readings found on a collation of ancient MSS . and early versions , & c . These investigations were for the satisfaction of my own mind ; and the publication of theirresults has been in the hope of aiding others , who , like myself , had been led by such writers as those which the end of the

eighteenth century produced , to think as Bro . B . now thinks , that " The Bible , as we now have it , is simply , in great measure , a mere collection of Hebrew pamphlets , full of interpolations and alterations of the works of the original authors .... being full of mistakes , and

one version full of mistranslations ; while , also , many fables have crept into it . " I should be sorry to think that Bro . B . has not " examined in an impartial and thoroughly independent manner" all the various branches of biblical studies , so as to be quite justified in

pronouncing his judgment upon them . I will only say for myself , that fifty years of investigation have led me to conclusions the very opposite of those enunciated by Bro . B . ; that I read history by a different light , and estimate the value of evidence upon principles different from those by which

Bro . B . appears to be guided ; so that , while he holds the Bible to be a mere collection of Hebrew pamphlets put together by whom , nobody knows , corrupted in the text , interpolated with fables , and inspired only as Shakespeare , Luther ,. Milton , Newton , Scott , Watt , Gladstone , and

others , have been , I have evidence which I believe noamount of science , sophistry , criticism , ridicule , or Positivism can invalidate , that it is "The Book , " full of sublime truths , Divine teachings , and marvellous prophecies , the progressive fulfilment of which is so plainly written

on the page of history , that " he who runs may read ¦ " and that he who , after comparing the pages of prophecy with the pages of history , can regard their agreement as only so many " resemblances , " or casual coincidences , must have an amount of credulity by far exceeding what he

fancies to prevail amongst believers in the Bible . I have read a good many strange and fanciful things about the human soul , but it appears to me that Bro . Buchan has " capped the climax . " He defines it to be ( i ) " the action of the brain , " or ( 2 ) " human consciousness . " As if action and

the consciousness of action were one and the same thing ; or ( 3 ) " a mere matter of cause and effect . " The consciousness being , I presume , the effect of the cause ; that is , "the acting of the human brain " originated by some self-generated power , which is , also , the seat of

consciousness . Such teaching , it is to be supposed , is much more satisfactory , because more comprehensible and more in accordance with the lights of science than the Mosaic statement , that God the Creator breathed into the material body of man " the breath of lives , and he became a living soul . "

I am obliged to Bro . B . for the correction of an error on page 43 6 , where it reads that the Anglo-Saxons , like theancient Hebrews , reckoned their day from evening to morning , instead of , from evening to evening . It is evidently a

clerical error , as there is a reference to the passage , Lev . xxiii . 32 , where the words are , "from even to even . " It should bc observed , however , that it was probably only the sacred day of the Hebrews which they thus reckoned .

I must decline , at present , though with all respect to those who differ from me , to discuss any isolated passages in my papers on Free masonry and Israelitism . They will soon be brought to a close , and then will he the time for refutation and defence—if they be susceptible of it . WILLIAM CARPENTER .

( To the Editor of The Freemason . ) DEAR SIR , —Would some learned brother Mason inform me , through the medium of your