Oration On Freemasonry, Its Mystery And History, What It Is And What It Is Not.

years before our era , soon after the Babylonish captivity , under the superintendence of Zerubbabel the Prince of the people , Haggai the prophet , and Joshua the high priest This , too , was the era of the finding of the long lost book of the law . To the affiliated ancl noble Christian orders of the Kni ghts of the Temple , and to the Sovereign Princes of the Eose Croix , I need only now refer . The present organic form ancl embodiment of the Craft appears to many to have been derived chiefly from the Collegia Arlificum and the Collegia Fabrorum , instituted at

Eome about seven hundred years before Christ by the wise and almost prophetic King , Numa Pompilius , who was said to have been deeply versed in the mysteries of Py hagoras . He highly honoured and rewarded these colleges of Artificers , ancl Lodges of skilful craftsmen , endowing them with the exclusive privilege of erecting public temples and monuments at Eome . Their ri ghts and privileges were afterwards recognised ancl defined by the eighth of the twelve tables of the Roman law . At a still later period , they were even more highly honoured ancl distinguished by the " divine " Augustus . These colleges of fraternal architects bad their own jurisdiction , their own worship ;

were regularly organized , were presided over by masters , wardens , and other officers , and were composed largely of learned Greek artists , who surrounded the secret tenets of their profession with the mysteries of their country , enveloped them iu the symbolism of their worship , and elaborated their esoteric instructions by employing symbolically the implements of architecture ; ancl when at the dawn of the Christian era the Jewish architects were welcomed ancl protected at Eome , they erected synagogues and

were admitted into the colleges of artificers , they , too , took a leading pait therein , and instructed the craftsmen in the Hebrew mysteries . Wherever the Roman legions carried victorious the Roman arms , thither accentpanied them colleges of these skiff til constructors , and for more than 1 , 000 years after the dismemberment of that mighty empire did these and succeeding fraternities of architectsdispersed throughout most of the countries of Europeerect those magnificent

, , pakces , temples , and cathedrals , from Rome to York and Kilwinning , which have been , and many of them still are , the wonder and admiration of the world , an tl which in these clays of boasted enlightenment and progress have often been imita ed , seldom equalled , ancl never excelled .

Let no one hastily come to the conclusion that , during these long centuries of alternate light and darkness , no mystic or other noble cognate fraternities continued , or sprang into existence , preserving ancl caref idly communicating the true light of human and divine wisdom .

During the latter part of the seventeenth century these secret fraternities of operative Freemasons fell into decay almost everywhere throughout Europe , with the exception of the " mother land ; " but in the beginning of the eighteenth century , and almost immediately after the completion of the last great work of the ancient ancl accepted fraternity of operative Masons , under the superintendence of Sir Christopher Wren—St . Paid ' s Cathedral of London—the formal action was taken of changing the

fraternit y from operative to speculative Freemasonry ; and retaining all the ancient customs , constitutions , laws , principles , truths , symbols , and landmarks of the order-. The honest inquirer asks , WHAT IS SPECTOATIVB FREEJiASositY ? I mi ght weary you with definitions , and yet , like one of old , you might exclaim : " The half was not told me , its wisdom and goodness exceedeth the fame which I heard . " First , negatively , it is not a system of religion , but only a handmaid of the truth .

It interferes not with any of the churches or theological sects into which mankind are often too unhappily divided . It is not a system of national government or of party politics . A genuine Freemason is a peaceable and loyal subject to the civil power wherever he resides or works . Base is the intent of him who would lead any to believe that our charitable Order has aught to do with statecraft , or intermeddles in the least with political partizanshi p . It is not a Platonic or Utopian dream of a universal society ; but , ever recognising the frailties and weaknesses of man , it seeks , through the good and the true of all