The Moral And Religious Origin Of Freemasonry:

saw nothing contrary to the teachings of that gospel for which they had so often shed their blood . The Lost Word , Found Again , in these grades , and preserved with such precious care on the Pedestal of Science , is the secret of these grades , ancl those of Masonry , which were suddenly secreted at the moment of the arrest of the Knights Templarand afterwards found bthose who escaped from

-, y suppres sion and torture . The grades of Knight of the Orient and of Prince of Jerusalem are the exact and faithful history , under ingenious emblems , of the state of misery and captivity in which lived the unhappy Templars during their proscription . The grade of the Sovereign Prince Rose t- ' - which , with some kind of reason is the last one of modern Masonry , is the emblem of the fall and of the

re-establishment of the Order . It is utterly wrong for even malignity to insinuate that this grade had for object to turn into ridicule the mysteries of the Christian religion . The truth is that the New Law is in this instance but an allegory , just as the Old Law was made use of in preceding grades . What is called the first point of the Rose-Croix ( Rosicrucian , commented on b y Lord Bulwer Lytton in one of his wondrous novels ) represents the moment of the

fall of the Order , and the consternation which prevailed amongst the Kni ghts . The Cross is the symbol of torture and punishments ; the Rose is the image or emblem of the Grand Master , who , like the pelican , sacrificed himself for his children . The second point configures the resurrection of the order , re-established under Masonic forms , which , like the Phoenix , was reborn of its ashes on the mountain of Heredom . I have said that with a show of reason the grade of Sovereign Prince

Rose f . - . is the last one in modern Masonry ; I ought rather to have said that in what regards the morals and the mind of the ancient institutions ancl of existing Masonry , this grade is in effect the last ancl most sublime . All the other grades are but the complements or subsidiaries of the materialism of the Order . Thus , the grade of the Knight of the Sun was amongst- the adepts of old the school of the natural sciences ( physiology ) the degree of initiation in which

, was involved , before the eyes of the initiated , the great book of Nature , wherein they studied its laws , and essayed to penetrate its secrets through the decomposition of bodies or substances ; and that study , by inspiring the neophyte with admiration for the author of so many wonders , disposed him to His recognition and gratitude . It was this precious grade which subsequentl y gave place to the estrangements and mysticisms of alchemy .

The other grades are but allegorical recitals of the various events , the most marked , in the history of our Order ; the knowledge of that secret history , if this history were made known , would justify this assertion , which in this instance is by no means conjecture . Their apparent incoherence should be attributed , on the one hand , to the ignorance in which we are involved with regard to most of those occurrences ; ancl , on the other , from default of that unity which should of right and necessity exist between the members of a numerous bod

y , dispersed over two hemispheres , ancl ever restricted to profound secrecy . Besides , their explanation would add nothing to the knowledge we derive from the high grades , ancl , above all , from that of Kadosch , which may , with just title , be designated the key of the administrative mechanism and the Masonic regnlationary rule . We know the primitive object of our mystic association ; we are aware in

what points unfortunate circumstances caused it to deviate from the princip les of the primitive institution . But these circumstances exist no longer for us : time has clone us justice . Our grades shall serve as tests which the prosely tes will pass through , as our ancestors passed through events which are now recalled ancl retraced ; we shall respect those grades as a memorial of the byegone , yet regard them concurrently as depositories of the learning of the sages , ancl shall make them subserve to the perfecting- of social order ,