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Article MASONIC ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 4 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities.
wished to express by it the GrEisrisBAiiSHiP of the Jesuits : and also to indicate that it was the Generalship and not the General , which the emblematic letter G designated , he announced in the title a division of Gr into all its branches , from its origin to the present time : it is then to express the history of the Generalship of the
Order of Jesuits from the origin of the Society of St- * Ignatius down to the Conquest of Freemasonry , that we find in the sixth line of the title the words "All its Branches , from the original to the present time . " " Constituted Regular Lodges" again , taking the initial letters C , E , L , and the numbers 3 , 17 , 11 , denoting respectively ttoeir places in the alphabet , gives , by adding these numbers together , 31 ,
and by adding together the 3 and 1 of this number , we obtain 4 , which refers to the profession of the four vows of the Jesuits . If chance only had given such a result , the words of the title "As ifc is delivered in the Constituted Begular Lodges , " would be but nonsense . This line of the title means then , This is the History of the
Generalship , or chief command of the Order , such as our authorities ' have given to the Lodges regularly constituted by them , an # consequently under their orders . " If the meaning conveyed in this assertion was not that intended by Samuel Prichard , he could only have told a lie ; for no explanation ever has been given in Lodge , to any Mason , of all the branches of Ereemasonry from its origin to the present time ( 1788 ) .
Another proof that Samuel Prichard could not have intended a lie ( and must therefore , as I have asserted , have intended these passages to refer to the Jesuits ) , is that he has placed on the back of the title page an attestation sworn before a magistrate , affirming that he had told the truth . The editor of " Freemasonry Dissected" attributes the work to a pretended late Samuel Prichard , formerly a member of a Constituted Lodgoe C , 3 L , 11 . Three and eleven makes 14 , the
number corresponding to O , the initial letter of the word Ordo . This signifies that this Samuel Prichard was formerly a member of the Order of Jesuits . If he had nofc been admitted a member of this Order , he would never have been able to write the preliminary discourse , —he would never have been able to take his oath that his " Masonry Dissected" was " a true and genuine copy in every particular . "
This preliminary discourse just alluded to seems to contain only ridiculous and unintelligible assertions ; but in this instance also the letter kills , and the spirit gives life . This introduction and Catechism or Dialogue , were compiled with an ingenuity and subtility which are scarcely conceivable , so skilfully has he made use of the most intricate emblematical combinations , to conceal in them the true origin of the
influence of the Jesuits m Iree-Masonry . By comparing the general history with the signification hidden under these multiplied numbers , we shall discover that the primitive institution in question could only have reference to the intrigues of those Popes whose utmost pursuit or study was that of " the Art and Science ' ''' of subjugating to themselves kings and empires ; and in
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities.
wished to express by it the GrEisrisBAiiSHiP of the Jesuits : and also to indicate that it was the Generalship and not the General , which the emblematic letter G designated , he announced in the title a division of Gr into all its branches , from its origin to the present time : it is then to express the history of the Generalship of the
Order of Jesuits from the origin of the Society of St- * Ignatius down to the Conquest of Freemasonry , that we find in the sixth line of the title the words "All its Branches , from the original to the present time . " " Constituted Regular Lodges" again , taking the initial letters C , E , L , and the numbers 3 , 17 , 11 , denoting respectively ttoeir places in the alphabet , gives , by adding these numbers together , 31 ,
and by adding together the 3 and 1 of this number , we obtain 4 , which refers to the profession of the four vows of the Jesuits . If chance only had given such a result , the words of the title "As ifc is delivered in the Constituted Begular Lodges , " would be but nonsense . This line of the title means then , This is the History of the
Generalship , or chief command of the Order , such as our authorities ' have given to the Lodges regularly constituted by them , an # consequently under their orders . " If the meaning conveyed in this assertion was not that intended by Samuel Prichard , he could only have told a lie ; for no explanation ever has been given in Lodge , to any Mason , of all the branches of Ereemasonry from its origin to the present time ( 1788 ) .
Another proof that Samuel Prichard could not have intended a lie ( and must therefore , as I have asserted , have intended these passages to refer to the Jesuits ) , is that he has placed on the back of the title page an attestation sworn before a magistrate , affirming that he had told the truth . The editor of " Freemasonry Dissected" attributes the work to a pretended late Samuel Prichard , formerly a member of a Constituted Lodgoe C , 3 L , 11 . Three and eleven makes 14 , the
number corresponding to O , the initial letter of the word Ordo . This signifies that this Samuel Prichard was formerly a member of the Order of Jesuits . If he had nofc been admitted a member of this Order , he would never have been able to write the preliminary discourse , —he would never have been able to take his oath that his " Masonry Dissected" was " a true and genuine copy in every particular . "
This preliminary discourse just alluded to seems to contain only ridiculous and unintelligible assertions ; but in this instance also the letter kills , and the spirit gives life . This introduction and Catechism or Dialogue , were compiled with an ingenuity and subtility which are scarcely conceivable , so skilfully has he made use of the most intricate emblematical combinations , to conceal in them the true origin of the
influence of the Jesuits m Iree-Masonry . By comparing the general history with the signification hidden under these multiplied numbers , we shall discover that the primitive institution in question could only have reference to the intrigues of those Popes whose utmost pursuit or study was that of " the Art and Science ' ''' of subjugating to themselves kings and empires ; and in