The Moral And Religious Origin Of Freemasonry:

THE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ORIGIN OF FREEMASONRY :

OF ITS MISSION AND THE POSITIVE EPOCH OF ITS MATERIAL INSTITUTION . By Count S . de Giorgi Bertola , Knight of Christ and Member of Freemasonry according to the French and Scottish Rites . TRANSLATED BY N . E . KENNY . ( Continued from page 246 . J

THE catastrophe which subjected this sublime institution to the most sensible changes was the tragic fall of the unfortunate Knights of the Temple , who had brought it from Palestine and Egypt—scenes witnesses of their perilous labours and of their heroic constancy . At that unhappy ancl evermemorable epoch it received another form ancl change of direction . It became in their hands an instrument of vengeance , as a means to recover that which they had lost .

If we must admire anything in the abuse which they made of the mysteries of initiation , it is the ingenious mode by which they made use of it in part to apply to their designs . It is no longer the Initiated—they have become Masons . Their object is to rebuild the Temple—in other words , to re-establish the order of the Templars . The Temple of Solomon served them for an emblem , and it is upon this allegory , admirably sustainedthat has been based the fable of Hiram

, , and of all his workmen ancl architects , which is to be found repeated in all the grades of Masonry—to wit , especially in Apprentice ancl Companion . Many high grades even have undergone alterations , but it is easy still to perceive the primitive object of the initiatory institution through all the changes which their fiction hacl necessitated .

The colour of the Lodge—the Sun , the Moon in the first two grades —• evidently appertain to the initiation in the grand mysteries , ancl recall the study of astronomy , which formed one of the principal occupations of the initiated . The columns , J . and B ., appear , to belong more particularl y to the Temple of Solomon , of which the Templars hacl guard , and whence they derive their designation . It is , however , still doubtful if these columns do not take their origin from the initiatory institutioncredence to which be assumed

, may from the inscription which they bore , ancl which signifies that in order to free them it is necessary to possess courage ancl wisdom—qualities otherwise essential for Freemasons to prepare themselves for triumph in the future . The word " Orient , " used to designate the place which the Venerable Master occupies , as well as the principal dignitaries , ancl the Brethren holding hig h grades , applies equally to and constitutes the analogy between the ancient and reformed mysteries .

All the temples were at one time aligned or laid out ( tournes ) with a western aspect—that is , from east to west . It was in the east that initiation took its birth ; so likewise was it that iu this region of the world the Order of the Templars was instituted ; ancl it is thence ( the East ) that the brothers established throughout Christendom received the instructions of the chiefs of the Order . The answer to the three questions of morals demanded from the

reciienp dary Mason was the same as that for the neophyte initiated in the ancient mysteries . Bat the primary mysterious allegories do not present to the mind of the Mason arrived to the degree of Kni ght of the Temple anything more than the