Antiquity Of The Craft.

trines ; perhaps , as much as the regard of the initiates for their lives and liberty , or of their obligation , would admit of , certainly more than I shall group together in this lecture . H . C . Agrippa , in his work " on the Vanity of

Science , " published in A . D . 1527 , says , ch . 90 , of alchemy : "I could say , moreover , very many things of this art , yet not very much against me , had I not sworn ( as they are wont to do which receive orders ) to keep silence I mean , that is

to say , that I have almost rashly uttered the name of the thing whereby I should be a sacrilege and forsworn , yet I will speak with circumlocution but somewhat more obscure , that none but young beginners in the art , and they which be trained up

in the mysteries thereof , may understand it I deem this art , for the familiarity which I have with it , especially worthy of the honour with Thucydides defineth an honest woman , saying that she is best of whose praise or dispraise there

is very little communication . " The "Rose Croix" symbol , if not directly of crusading origin , as some think , is as early as the suppression of the Templars . It is clearly figured ¦ a few years after that event , by that pure and matchless poet , Dante , who died A . D . 1321 . A learned Mason will find it difficult to read El

Paradiso of Dante without feeling that Dante was illuminated with Masonic li g ht . Traces of the Rosicrucian and Masonic symbols are frequently found in his inspired pages . The mystic cross , described in the foutteenth canto , blazing in

mantling crimson rays , and anon scintillating * ' from horn to horn'' a boreal lig ht that gave iorth ravishing melody , is strikingly Rosicrusian , especially when we join to it the description , in the thirtienth canto , of his initiation and

perfection through that river of light which enabled him to see in heaven that goodly light , " the Rose , " the amplitude of whose pure li ght was more extended than the sun , and by means of which the Creator is visible to the elect initiates on their

more than millions throned around that mysterious dwelling of joy . The student will not confound the universal rose ¦ of light with the " raea mystica" described in the twenty-third canto . The instruction from the

centre of the sainted circle given by King Solomon , and many other passages , that for Masonic reasons , I prefer the reader shall examine instead « f my citing them , will gratify the Blue Mason ,

while the Kni g hts Templar cannot refraiu from thinking that the bitter denunciations iu the purgatory and hell of Philip the Fair and Clement V ., the arch persecutors of their ancient crusading brothers , together with the significant care he

takes to say that among the dwellers in " the rose , " will not be found Bertrand de Goth ( then reigning as Pope Clement IV . ); that God will not endure him long in his holy office , but thrust him down into hell with Simon Margus , —all , to

say the least , show a startling nearness to similarities and sympathies too curious to be merely accidental .

In Nicholas Flamel ' s MSS . of about A . D . 1380 , and in his description of the symbols in the book of Abraham the Jew , which he had voyaged into Spain to obtain instruction in , many notable symbols are repeated , and on his charitable edifices numerous others are described to have been carved .

Paracelsus , a century later , declares the Kabbala to be one of the four p illars of medicine ; and Cornelius Agrippa , a little latter , besides acknowled ging his membership of a society , wrote learned treatises on the doctrines of the Kabbala and its

application to science , which , at the beginning of the following century , were followed by Behem ' s extraordinary metaphysical works . The scientific writers of this century abound in references to the secresy of the organisation of the fraternity who

professed all known and occult arts and sciences , and we readily recognise the Rosicrusian character of their doctrine , so the Hermetic alchemy of that age combined all known science and speculative theology . Architecture had a broader

signification with them than is now accepted ; Agrippa informs us that it included all mettalurgy : which may explain partially why we , as Freemasons , perpetuate the fame of the first artificer working in metals , and of the most distinguished architect

therein . The transmutation of metals , whether by aid of the " Quintessence" or of the " Hol y philosophers' stone , " was an important part of the Hermetic art . * In 1610 Valentine Andrews published a work on what he termed the discovery of the Brother-