A History Of Freemasonry.

A HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY .

BY THE EDITOR . IN the last magazine appears an able article reprinted from The Voice of Masonry , in which English Freemasonry is said to be derived from the operative Germanic guilds .

Of this fact , however dogmatically stated , I am aware of no proof whatever . Bro . Findel originally claimed the Masonic Poem as a proof of the Germanic connection , on account of the legend of the " Quatuor Coronati , " as identical with the legends of the German Steinmetzen . But it has been shown that no argument can safely be built up on this fact , as the " Quatuor Coronati" were part and parcel of the " Communis Religio , " in that , canonized

in the seventh century in England , their day had been observed , according to the Saruin Missal , in the eleventh century . They were canonized in the seventh century , a church was built at Rome in their honour , and they are mentioned in early hagiologies . I am not aware of any published evidence of the " Steinmetzen " of Germany which precedes the Masonic Poemcertainly of quite early fifteenth

cen-, tury , if not late fourteenth date . The earliest so far published is 1462 , though there are said to be some at Treves , so far unpublished , of earlier date . Bro . Shaw used to like to say that our good Bro . Findel had " put the cart before the horse , " and that the German Stonemasons took their ideas from England , inasmuch as there is earlier evidence of the legend of the " Quatuor Coronati " belonging to the Masons in England than in Germany . On this

point much may be said on both sides , perhaps . The incorporation of the Freemasons in the thirteenth century by the Pope lias yet to be proved . The earliest use , so far , of the word "Freemason" is in the contract to build Fotheringay Chapel , Wm . Horwood , Master Mason , 1435 . An earlier use may yethoweverbe found . The word does not occur

, , actuall y in the Act of Edward III . What the earliest use in Germany of the word Freemason is , I do not know ; but certainly , so far as is proved , not earlier than the ei ghteenth century as " Freimaurer . " The word " Freemason " does not occur in the original German Constitutions , though "Mason" does . This is a " fact " to be noted .

Previousl y to the thirteenth century the word is generally Ctenientarius Latomus , Le Macon . We may thus observe that here is really and truly the great difficulty of Masonic Students and Historians , the looseness and incorrectness of " Masonic Scribes . " The amount of " skeepwalking" in Masonic essays is positively painful to contemplate . The same story is repeated over and over again with an air of gravitand an appearance of correctnessand yet all the while

y , without "collation" of MSS . or verification of authorities , and when looked into clearly proves to be a complete myth . Hence we must always bear in mind that Freemasonry has its mythical as well as its realistic period , its age of " gold " and its age of " brass , " that we have a pre-historical epoch to deal with , in some respects a recent and a late , and that our " Crux " consists mainly in this to-day , to separate critically what

is true from what is false ; what is fact from what is legend ; what reall y took place from what "is said" to have happened . There will probably always be various theories as regards Masonic history . It is unlikely that we