Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.—No. 3.

As regards " their method of instructing / the principles of their operative system have no doubt passed out of memory , as have also the principles of the masters of the mediaeval guilds . But as no one can safely question , and Bro .

Findel does not himself , the existence of the mediaeval guilds , or their identity with our modern . Order , though all traces of those plans and their system of procedure have long since perished utterly , and are practically altogether unknown , so

I do not think we can fairly question , on account of the absence of such special and convincing testimony , the general identity of the Grecian with the later building societies , or the clear continuation of the same great order in the world .

All that we can expect to do to-day , is to trace as far as we are permitted by the change of times and conditions , the general similarity in the usage of certain well-known forms and common symbols , and as far as is possible to educe , from

contemporary or later historians , some few scattered hints of their technical system or mystical teaching .

With regard to the Jewish and Tyrian Masons , I will admit at once , that there is very great difficulty as regards the connection of the former though in the case of the latter the same evidence may be adduced on the whole , as has been in

respect of the Grecian brotherhoods . But yet , I confess , I do not think , whatever others may do , that the difficulty as regards the Jewish Masons is insuperable , though it is confessedly very great . One leading objection to the whole theory of a

Jewish confraternity of actual Masons , with secrets and mysteries , arises from the well known fact of the direct prohibition of all such secret awoppvTa to the Jewish people .

And yet Moses , we are especially told , was "learned in all the wisdom ofthe Egyptians / ' and had doubtless been initiated by the priests into their highest and most sacred mysteries . The unity of God , the immortality of the soul ,

the accountability of man , the fictitious nature of all existing popular superstitions being the great great secret of the mysteries , all this may have been legitimately handed down through a Jewish building confraternity , for with the building

societies undoubtedly in all countries the mysteries of the time and locality were in some form or other bound up . Hence it is more than probable that our Masonic traditions are perfectly correct , which connects

Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.—No. 3.

Moses with our Order . For it has often struck writers , whether Masonic or not , how very difficult it is to account on ordinary grounds for the union of Jewish and Tyrian workmen at the building of the First Temple at Jerusalem . Knowing the

repugnance of the Jews themselves to foreigners , aud the direct prohibition of contact with nonbelievers , especially in sacred works , there seems no a priori objection to the unchanging tradition of our Order , that Jewish and Tyrian Masons

were bound together by one common organisation , and were members of one comprehensive operative brotherhood . If it be true that they had all found a common origin in the building societies of Egypt , and that

all the operative sodalities of the world were members ofthe one same great confederation , under the attractive' condition of secresy in art and primcBval truth , we should find , I think , a satisfactory solution of the whole question . And there is another consideration , which we should carefully bear in mind .

It has always struck Masonic students as a very remarkable fact , that the traditions and history o f our Order , as well as our carefully preserved ceremonies and ritual , have such an Hebrew colouring and character .

Whence has this arisen < Some have contended that the Jewish confraternity have substituted a veritable history for the figurative teachings of the earlier mysteries , while others have asserted that the Jewish element and

teaching were absorbed by the building colleges at Rome , and that henceforth there was interwoven with all their oral ritual ancl ancient observance the characteristic tradition of Hiram , the great architect of the first Temple , which would entirely

harmonise with the aim and sympathies of the building sodalities as they gradually became entirely Christian . Be this as it may , the undying testimony of our traditions links on Freemasonry to the Temple at

Jerusalem , and we cannot discard it without shaking the very foundation on which Freemasonry rests . One thing is indeed most clear , that the marks of the Jewish as well as the Tyrian Masons , are

the same with those of later times ; that they are evidently all belonging to the same great family , and are identical with the usages and customs of the operative order everywhere . Some of our most cherished Masonic symbols ,