The Moral And Religious Origin Of Freemasonry.

existent Masonry simply owes its . origin to the first moral and reli gious inspiration which made iteslf understood upon this terrestial orb . Now , if the moral origin of Masonry is henceforth incontestabl y fixed , it remains for us to ascertain in what manner and at what precise epoch its material institution was established . It is now twenty-two years since I have had the honour of being a member

of the two rites—Scottish ancl French . I have likewise been initiated into the mysteries of the Knights of the Order of Christ—an Order which is but the immediate continuation of that of the Templars , ancl which was , in its inception , the master-key of the Masonic Institution ; and I have never ceased to inform myself , by reading works upon Masonry , as to the causes which have constituted that Order . The result of my studies upon this

subject has led me to the conviction that the greater portion of our books have been simply written in frivolity and caprice , where elsewise we do not meet with the seal of ridicule and of fable . Here is the historic truth of our institution : —

After the fall of the Order of the Knights Templar , those who were not devoured by the stake or decimated by the axe dispersed amidst the various parts of Europe , concealing their existence from the eyes of all , ancl grieving over the catastrophe of their assassinated brethren . However , those unfortunate proscribed ones soon began to unite in small communities , ancl to assemble in places impenetrable to the profane . It was then that the organisationthe statutesthe mysterious watchwordsthe batteriesthe signsthe

, , , , , steps , the touches ( attouehements ) , and , in fine , that which constitutes the materiality and the ceremonial of Freemasonry , was co-ordinated , and when the first lodges of this new Order were constituted . It is , then to the Templars—to the hunted and persecuted remnants of the proselytes of James Burg Molay—that we owe our existence ; or , if it may be better expressedit is that we Masons of to-day who are the Templars of

, the bye-gone . Nevertheless , it is doubtful if we should have been able to constitute ourselves into perfect communities , if , in the time even of persecution he whom , in our mysteries we designate Cirus , had not shielded us with his royal protection . This Cirus is no other personage than the magnanimous Denis , king of Portugal , who , rejecting with indignation the Bull which the avaricious and

sanguinary Clement V . had forwarded to him from Poictiers in 1308 , refused to repair to the " general convocation" then being held at Vienne , in Dauphine ( France ) , wherein was decided the extermination of the Order of the Kni ghts of the Temple . Denis , who conjoined to goodness of heart a wisdom most profound , limited himself to the sequestration of the property of the Templars , with the design of restoring it in better times , and secretly protected the Kni ghts , whom he advised to keep scattered , and on their guard against the fanatic fury of the Roman See ancl of the people excited everywhere against them .

In this condition of affairs he concluded with the kings of Castile and Aragon ( who had at first given way to the torrent ) a treaty , by which those sovereigns mutually engaged , in case of a final demolition of the Order , not to permit the Pope to dispose of the goods or property of the Templars in their States . The wisdom of this treaty made itself felt when , in 1312 , the Pope bestowed the possessions of the Templars upon the Hospitallers of St . John of Jerusalem .

The opposition of these three combined kings macle a marked impression on Clement V ., and he thereupon macle an exception in favour of those rnonarchs . This blow averted , and some other difficulties obviated , the real intentions of King Denis began to be manifested . From the time of the Bull of abolition there was nothing to do in the matter of extermination or execution in Portugal , because the Knights of the Temple had disappe ^ ifi |^ rg > .