Outline Of A Masonic Lecture On Masonry In Japan In The Seventeenth Century.

opportunity to gain great influence with the administration of Nabornager , Hide-yoshi , ancl Iye-yasn , 1575 et seq . The astute natives would soon perceive that here was a powerful coalition , that admitted to its ranks men of various creeds ; that held " charity ancl good works " as its leading tenet ; that the members were liberal , intelligent , and good members of society ; andthatmoreoverthe strict secrecy that surrounded

, , , the society gave greater power to the principal leaders . Here was something that might be judiciously used as an offset to the scheming priests , a medium between the borrze and the Jesuit , and is it not most probable that this alone would induce the far-seeing Iye-yasu to attempt

to penetrate the secrets of the craft , with a hope to mould its influence to his own ends ? Finding it impossible to have full sway , that the craft was not so p lastic as to be induced to prostitute its power to tbe political uses of a tyrant usurper , no doubt it would likewise become a mark for persecution , ancl become involved in the general downfall and expulsion of Christians . A large number would however still remain . Unlike Christian worship , Masonry does not call for public observance of its ritesand for generations

, the craft would continue to exist , men would be able to make known to one another that there was a common bond between them , although hitherto perfect strangers , or know how to make known their prior claim to help in time of need , ancl many of the Japanese tales of those troubled clays contain passages that fully bear out my theory on this point .

By carefully studying the punishments introduced about this time ,- , the professor of Christianity will recognize that crucifixion became the most degrading species of judicial torture and execution , at the time that the Takngawa regime persecuted and uprooted Christainity , degrading the emblem of the creed to the lowest depths . A Master Mason will likewise study judicial suicide and some other modes of capital punishment with no little interest . What applies to crucifixion miht

g as well apply to the penal code of the Craft : an attempt might have been made to degrade the Order , but it may have been partially foiled by some influential craftsman who would be eager to remed y the evil caused by some brother to the Order . ( Further particulars cannot be put in writing for judicious reasons ) .

There are numerous stories of the Japanese during the latter part of the seventeenth ancl begining of eighteenth century of mysterious documents carefully preserved in secret by the natives—precious heirlooms . Several of these are matters of history , and there is evidence to support my theory that these documents were most likely the more important vouchers of the Masonic Lodges , warrants , lists of affiliated brethren , etc ., and in some instances the certificates

of ancestors . In a country like this , where the risk of fire is so great that every person considers seven years the average duration between being burnt out of house and home , besides the thorough system of espionage , it would be most difficult to preserve secretly any large collection of documents—this is even proved by the great rarity of bona fide Buddhist or of Sinto documents of old date .

Had the documents I allude to have been other than those connected with the proscribed creed , there would have been no occasion for concealment , ancl there could hardly have been any paper of importance connected with religion that would have created so much commotion as that document found on the person of an old woman who was crucified at Osaka during the early part of the present century . Not having the qualifications in Masonry , and , therefore , not the experience necessary to pursue this subject as deeply as I could wish , I must leave it for the present in the hands of the elder brethern . ( The above wets written in Japan some time bach . —0 . P . )