Freemasonry Considered.

FREEMASONRY CONSIDERED .

ZONDON , SATURDAY , MAT 11 , 1867 .

Bx ANTHONY ONEAL HAYE . II . In viewing Masonry as I am doing I am aware that I shall meet with little support or countenance from the members of the high grades . This I

never expected , and am prepared to meet with bitter opposition to my statements ; but the inexorable point of fact is the shield behind which I take my stand , and my own conviction is that an honest statement relative to the known origin

of the high grades would recommend them to those brethren fond of light amusement , with money to spare , and without scruples as to the taking of questionable oaths , such as the modern Templars . Furthermore , if every grade above

the Royal Arch * were declared to be totally unconnected with Masonry , and non-Masons admitted , we might , perhaps , come with more

leniency to view the fripperies of Knights Grand Crosses , Sovereign Princes of Rose Croix , Grand Pontiffs ,. Royal Axes , Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret , Puissant Sovereign Grand Commanders , and even the Misraim members of

Chaosf , a true name . But as Masonic , or springing from Masonic principles , they never can be entertained . What makes their claim to be considered a part of Masonry the more ridiculous is , the manner in which they attach themselves to

great societies , and great names of the past . The Royal Order loudly claims its institution at the hands of Robert the Bruce , the Thirty-third at the hands of Frederick of Prussia . It would take some one from the dead to make any sensible xaan . believe the truth , of either claim . Tradition and unsupported assertions will not do .

"The Rose Croix degree , " says How , in his Masonic Manual , " is alluded to in the works of Henry Cornelius Agrippa , a man of great learning and talent , of a noble family at Cologne . He was born in I 486 . His works were printed , A . D .,

1550 . " How , as usual with a certain class of Masonic writers , here makes a most ludicrous and almost unparalleled mistake . Agrippa does not make any allusion to the Rose Croix degree , but to the Society of Rosicrucians . Any one , by

consulting his works " De Incertitudine et Yanitata Scientiarum , " a title not inapplicable to the present subject , and " De Occulta Philosophia , " will satisfy themselves on this point . The Rose Croix is likely the oldest , as without doubt it is the most

interesting and beautiful of the high grades . It derives its name from " Rose "— " Cross , " and every member of the Order knows why . On the other hand , the Rosicrncian Society was one of scholars

alone , numbering among them Albertus Magnus , Aponi , Paracelsus , and others . They derived their name from Ros ( dew ) and Crux ( cross ) , the & being the Alchemic symbol for light , and dew being supposed the universal solvent . In 1614 appeared

" Fama fraternitatis , or Brotherhood of the Illustrious R . C . ( Rosy Cross ); to the Rulers , States , and Learned of Europe . Printed at Cassel , by William Wessel , " a work full of gross absurdities , and as like the Rosicrncian teachings

as a candle is to the sun . From this Society of the Rosy Cross may have sprung the present Rose > J < , ancl I am very strongly of opinion that it did . Much of the gross absurdity that characterised the former has been swept away ,

although a strong tincture of the old leaven remains . In this case the Rose > i * must be considered the oldest , as it has been considered the most important of all the high grades .

The Rosicrncian Society , as a society , never ' pretended to possess unnatural secrets . They were for the most part schoolmen , expert chemists , and profound thinkers . Their successors went astray from the purity of their teachings ,

confounding emblems with realities , and searching after the philosopher ' s stone and the water of life . These later Rosicrucians may have been the instruments of starting the Rosy Cross Brotherhood , although I much doubt it . Even with their

perversion they could scarcel y have fallen into such grave mistakes , because they were men of great mind , and clear , save on two points , perception . God never breaks his immutible and etern