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Article THE HISTORICAL DEGREES; ← Page 12 of 15 →
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The Historical Degrees;
day they wenjt to the place , but saw no remains of the arches ^ nor could they learn that any one of those who had descended had escaped to tell the tale . They carefully examined the spot , but found nothing except a few pieces of marble inscribed with hieroglyphics , by which Solomon discovered that these fragments formed a part of one of the pillars of Enoch . "
In our brief account of these degrees , of course we leave the Brethren to form their own conclusions as to the value of any part of them ; but since we know the source of this fourteenth degree , and ; as its contriver ' s name is rather conspicuous in the Masoniq history of the last century , the introduction here of a notice of a remarkable individual will hot appear out of place . The Chevalier Ramsay was born at Ayr , in Scotland , in 1686 ; and in early life went to Erance , where he became the intimate friend and associate
of the celebrated Tenelon . He is said to have been a man of inost extensive erudition , and to have cultivated most of the known sciences . Being of a restless and ambitious disposition , he engaged actively in political intrigues , aiid particularly devoted himself to
the cause of the exiled princes of the house of Stuart , and conceived the idea of making use of the Masonic association to subserve the interests of their party . With this end in view ; he endeavoured to obviate the objections of the Erench noblesse to the mechanical origin of the institution , at which their pride revolted , by asserting that it arose in the Holy Land during the crusades , as an order of
chivalry . His theory was that the first Freemasons were a society of knights , whose business it was to rebuild the churches which had been destroyed by the Saracens ; that the infidels , with the view of preventing the execution of this pious design , sent emissaries among them , who , disguised as Christians , hecaine confounded with the builders and paralyzed their efforts ; that the knights having
discovered the existence of these spies , became in future more careful , and instituted signs and words for the purpose of detection ; and that as many of their workmen were newly converted Christians , tjhey adopted symbolic ceremonies with a view of instructing their
proselytes more readily in the new religion . Einally , upon the Saracens gaining the upper hand , the Knights-Masons were compelled to abandon their original occupation ; but being invited by the King of England to remove into his dominions , they had accepted the offer , and in this secure retreat devoted themselves to the cultivation and
encouragement of architecture , sculpture , painting , and music . In 1728 , Ramsay attempted to lay the foundation of this new , and according to his idea improved , system of Masonry , and proposed to the Grand Lodge of England to substitute in place of the three ancient degrees others of his own invention , hut which he pretended
had been practised for time immemorial in the Lodge of St . Andrew , at Edinburgh . His views being rejected in London , he carried them to Paris , where they were adopted , and gave rise to those degrees since known by the name of the Ancient Scottish Rite , but which form what ia termed the Ancient and Accepted Rite ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Historical Degrees;
day they wenjt to the place , but saw no remains of the arches ^ nor could they learn that any one of those who had descended had escaped to tell the tale . They carefully examined the spot , but found nothing except a few pieces of marble inscribed with hieroglyphics , by which Solomon discovered that these fragments formed a part of one of the pillars of Enoch . "
In our brief account of these degrees , of course we leave the Brethren to form their own conclusions as to the value of any part of them ; but since we know the source of this fourteenth degree , and ; as its contriver ' s name is rather conspicuous in the Masoniq history of the last century , the introduction here of a notice of a remarkable individual will hot appear out of place . The Chevalier Ramsay was born at Ayr , in Scotland , in 1686 ; and in early life went to Erance , where he became the intimate friend and associate
of the celebrated Tenelon . He is said to have been a man of inost extensive erudition , and to have cultivated most of the known sciences . Being of a restless and ambitious disposition , he engaged actively in political intrigues , aiid particularly devoted himself to
the cause of the exiled princes of the house of Stuart , and conceived the idea of making use of the Masonic association to subserve the interests of their party . With this end in view ; he endeavoured to obviate the objections of the Erench noblesse to the mechanical origin of the institution , at which their pride revolted , by asserting that it arose in the Holy Land during the crusades , as an order of
chivalry . His theory was that the first Freemasons were a society of knights , whose business it was to rebuild the churches which had been destroyed by the Saracens ; that the infidels , with the view of preventing the execution of this pious design , sent emissaries among them , who , disguised as Christians , hecaine confounded with the builders and paralyzed their efforts ; that the knights having
discovered the existence of these spies , became in future more careful , and instituted signs and words for the purpose of detection ; and that as many of their workmen were newly converted Christians , tjhey adopted symbolic ceremonies with a view of instructing their
proselytes more readily in the new religion . Einally , upon the Saracens gaining the upper hand , the Knights-Masons were compelled to abandon their original occupation ; but being invited by the King of England to remove into his dominions , they had accepted the offer , and in this secure retreat devoted themselves to the cultivation and
encouragement of architecture , sculpture , painting , and music . In 1728 , Ramsay attempted to lay the foundation of this new , and according to his idea improved , system of Masonry , and proposed to the Grand Lodge of England to substitute in place of the three ancient degrees others of his own invention , hut which he pretended
had been practised for time immemorial in the Lodge of St . Andrew , at Edinburgh . His views being rejected in London , he carried them to Paris , where they were adopted , and gave rise to those degrees since known by the name of the Ancient Scottish Rite , but which form what ia termed the Ancient and Accepted Rite ,