Godfrey Higgins On Freemasonry.

GODFREY HIGGINS ON FREEMASONRY .

BY WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAN . THE title page of the book about Avhich Ave desire to say a few words is as folloAvs : ' Anacalypsis ; an attempt to draAv aside the Veil of the Saitic Isisor an Enquiry

, into the origin of Languages , Nations and Religions . By Godfrey Higgins , Esq ., F . S . A . F . R , Asiat . Soc ; F . R . Ast . S ., of Skellow Grange near Doncastle . Res verbis , et verba accenduni lumina rebus . London : Longman , Rees , Orine , Brown ,

Green & Longman , Paternoster ROAV 1836 . " It is an exceedingly scarce work , owing to the author having under-estimated the number of his readers , and a copy rarely occurs for sale , for which reason the price

asked by the booksellers is generally much beyond the means of ordinary students . The first number of a reprint has lately been published , and deseiTes success , The sale , however , is so SIOAV , and the publication of the various parts ( some sixteen ) partaking of the same character , that Ave fear several years must elapse before the

edition is completed . To enable the reading portion of the Craft to have au adequate notion of the Avork , Ave have examined the two large A olumes most carefully , transcribed all the references to Freemasonry , and patiently weighed the various statements affecting the Craft and

its History ( which are scattered in rich profusion over the volumes ) , so Ave hope the present sketch of the contents Avillnot prove either uninteresting or Avithout value to our numerous readers . Strange to say , but little is known of

the . " Anacalypsis" by Masons generall y , and no extended notice of the work has hitherto been Avritten by a member of the Craft I Doubtless its theological , astrological and abstruse character has had something to do Avith its being avoided by the

general run of Masonic students , and yet there is scarcely a book Avhich has been written , not on Masonry exclusively , which will better repay a diligent and thorough perusal . The Preface is by the author , and in it his life is graphically described . He was led through a severe illness to turn his attention " to serious matters , "

and extended subsequently "his enquiries into the origin of nations , languages and religions , forming the resolution to devote " six hours a day to this pursuit for ten years . " Instead , however , of so doing , he says of himself , " I belieA'e I have , upon

the average , applied myself to it for nearl y ten hours daily for almost ; twenty years . In the first ten years of my search , I may fairly say , I found nothing which I sought for ; in the latter part of the twenty , the quantity of matter has so

crowded in upon me that I scarcel y knoAV IIOAV to . dispose of it . " * The first volume is daled May 1 , 1833 , though the title-page bears the same year ( 1836 ) as the second volume . The latter the author did not five to see printed , for he died on

the 9 th of August , 1833 , a few days after having placed the M . S . in the hands of his son and executor , for the editor and printer , Mr George Smallfield , of London . In fact , the learned author only lived to revise the first four sheets of the second volume . There Avere but 200 copies of the " Anacalypsis " issued , as Bro . Higgins felt that " ' a taste for deep learning among

us is fast declining , " and that " a few philosophers are all that I ever expect to read my Avork . " Of Freemasonry , he says , "The designed effect of all Masonic initiation is to render a man more virtuous—consequentlymore happy . A perfect Masonif

, , such a thing could be , must be a perfect Buddist , a perfect Jew , a perfect Christian , a perfect Mohammedan . " We cannot but agree with this definition , for Avhilst Freemasonry is unsectarian , its oldest charge under the modern

system , forcibly acknowledges the foregoing by declaring that the Fraternity should " seek , by the purity of their own lives , to demonstrate the superiority of the religion they may proj'ess . " Also that a "Mason is particularl y bound never

to act against the dictates of his conscience . " Were all craftsmen actuated by such motives , Ave need not fear any opposition to our Society from loithout , for so long as Ave are pure within , no other danger can permanently affect us . But Ave must speak of the Avork before us , and so present our next extract : —