Godfrey Higgins On Freemasonry.

gospel Christianity . It is the Christianity 0 f the Chaldees , of the Patriarchs , of Abraham , and of Melchizedek . Every narfc of Christianity refers back to Abraham , aud it is all Freemasonry . " The foregoing is a sample of . his

assertions as to the Craft , and whilst he may have had a different vieAV of the subject than the words appear to exhibit , Ave can only go by Avhat is Avritten , and' from that standpoint , many of his notions are , to our mind , most crude and visionary . After quoting the earliest . veil-recorded lodge of Freemasons , according to Hammer's account , and Avhich we do not understand ,

Bro . Higgins says : " The striking similarity between Masonry and Pythagoreanism has been well pointed out by Mr . Clinch in his Essays on Masonry , " and states that the best account ¦ which he has seen of Masonry " is in the Encyclopaedia Londinensis in voce

Masonry : though , as every Mason must see , it is not correct , and particularly respecting the York Masons . I think it may be discerned that there were several lodges of Freemasons in Britain , Avhose origin cannot be traced , but perfectly independent of each other , though now united under under one head—the Duke of Sussex—the

old lodge at York , now extinct , being clearly the oldest , as far as can be traced . . . . Popular prejudice has supposed Freemasonry to have been invented in Scotland and to have travelled thence to . France Avith the Stewart refugees . That the Scoth refugee Masons might establish

lodges in France , I think very probable ; but they were not then new ; though perhaps not numerous or much known . I have no doubt that the Masons were Druids , Culidei , or Chaklei and Cassideans . The Chaldeans are traced downwards to

Scotl and and York , and the Masons backwards from this clay to meet the Culidei at York . It has been observed that the Masons , and particularly the Templars , always held their lodges or chapters under the crypts of the cathedrals :

° f this I entertained no doubt . FUOM A MASONIC DOCUMENT NOW IN MY POSSESSION , I can prove that no very long time ago , the Chaldees at York Avere Freemasons ,, that they constituted the Grand Lod ge of England , and that they held their meetings in the crypt , under the grand cathedral of that city . ' The circulw

hapter house did very Avell for ordinary business , but the secret mysteries were carried on in the cryps . " ( Pp . 717-8 , vol . 1 . ) It is much easier to make statements than to prove their accuracy , and so the author of the foregoing would findwere he

, alive in the present day , and called upon to submit the evidence said to exist relative to the use of the Crypt of York Cathedral by the Chaldees of that . city , and as to the constitution of the Grand Lodge of England , for Ave knoAV that the one in London

was not formed until A . D . 1717 , and the rival Institution at York not before A . D . 1778 . The " Assembly" of the Ancient Freemasons at York City , of course , is quite another matter ; the " Old Charges , " from

the 15 th century , being quite sufficient proof of that fact , but we submit that neither Bro . Higgins nor any other brother has any right to call such a meeting by the name of a Grand Lodge , and even Avere it so ( Avliich it Avas not ) , that of itself Avould not confirm the statement

as to the use of the Crypt by the Chaldees , of Avhich not a particle of evidence exists . The only time that the records speak of the Crypt of the Cathedral being used by any masonic body at York , was during the latter part of the last century .

All the early assemblies of the ancient lodge Avhich are recorded , and the meetings subsequently of the Grand Lodge from A . D . 1775 , Avere generally held in the private houses of the members . Particulars as to several of these lodges may be

found in our " Masonic Sketches and Reprints . " In the foIloAving quotations from the " Anacalypsis , " Bro . Higgins refers to the minute of the meeting in the Crypt , Avhich is the only one knoAvn to be recorded , and which is to be found in

the volume Ave discovered in London , and Avhich has been sent by the Grand Lodge of England to the " York Lodge , " as the major portion of the documents of the extinct Grand Lodge , is more carefully treasured by the members of the latter bod

y in the seat of that ancient lodge . It commences in 1778 and ends A . D . 1781 . " After I had been led to suspect , from various causes , that the Culdees , noticed in the Notitia Monastica , in the last chapter , and there stated to have been found in