Inaugural Address To The Masonic Archæological Institute, Upon Friday, 29th January, 1869.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS TO THE MASONIC ARCH ? OLOGICAL INSTITUTE , UPON FRIDAY , 29 TH JANUARY , 1869 .

Bv H YDE CLAUKE , Corresponding Member of the American Oriental Society , Member of ihe German Oriental Society , of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen , of the Society of Engineers of Vienna , of tho Byzantine Philological Society , Tclloxo of the Ethnological Society , of the Statistical Society , $ c . ; B . D . G . M ., of Turkey . IN laying the foundations of a new institution it is

useful to consider our motives , so that we may ascertain how far we have practical scope for our exertions . Freemasonry exercises an attraction not only on its own members within , but on others without , ou those who become candidates , on those who abstain from doing so , on the student of ancient mysteries , on the

political inquirer . It is not so much because it has of itself the aspect of mystery that it is sought and inquired into , but because it is regarded in its connection with a phase of the human mind , recognisable in all ages . It is this which gives the human interest to

Freemasonry , because it responds to a feeling of man exhibited in all ages . Hence there is an archaic character communicated to Freemasonry , because , if not the descendant , it is the representative of ancient institutions , like some dynasty ruling over a groat and

ancient empire , still called a Pharaoh or a Ccesar when the blood of the Pharaohs and Cassars has long departed , and a name alone remains . There will be those eager to believe that a dynasty can never wholl y perish , but that some descendant , some female offspring , will preserve the ancient line . There are others , again ,

who deny to the new monarch all claim on the pristine stock . The ancient kings of Persia were reputed and believe to have transmitted their royal descent to the kings of Parthia , and afterwards of Armenia ; and these , again , to have given origin to the family of Basil the Macedonian , Emperor of Constantinople . Basil ,

also , in the female line , claimed alliance with the house of Constantino the Great , as Constantino did with the Gracchi and the . ZEmilii , and hence with the founders of the Roman State . How much of this is true it is left to the individual believer or doubter to decide , for the evidence is so remote that tho result is a matter of i ' nilh .

So it is at present with regard io Freemasonry . It is affiliated on ancient systems , and a line of descent is provided for it by means of Rosicrucians , Templars , oriental societies , colleges of Rome , and mysteries of ancient temples , carrying back its claims to the remotest times , and to the ori gin of society and of

nations . Amid much that is not only uncertain , but must be impossible , there are still in the present constitution of Freemasonry many elements , undoubtedl y old , belonging certainly to the middle ages , aud suggestive of something farther back than the seventeenth century . It may be like a meditcval or

Byzantine fortress in the East , made up of fragments of all ages , built up together haphazard—here a stone from a Christian basilica , bearing a cross , there tho bench of a theatre , again a marble with archaic carvings of undefinable date . In determining the constitution of the fabric oi Freemasonry , there must be , and there will be ,

diversity of opinions ; but for the very purpose o £ exercising this diversity of opinions many men areprepared to assemble , each expecting to arrive at some definite result . "Whether any absolute result will be achieved remains to be seen ; but the honest search after truth always furnishes its own reward . The very course of Freemasonry in the last century and a half has been unfavourable to researches .

Quits reorganisation in England with a Grand Lodge , and its diffusion abroad , it started with great pretensions to antiquity , perhaps justified by its real claims , but ,, at all events , exaggerated by the false schools of archaeology ruling in the first half of the last century , aud not yet extinct . With some men to suggest a coincidence is to establish identity . The adoption of

any geometrical symbol , as the triangle , for instance ,, which is common to the sentiment of all ages , becomesa means of establishing a connection with all nations-. and systems that have ever used a triangle , or that , have ever had reference to the number 3 . It is quitesufficient that in any part of Freemasonry such

reference to 3 should be adopted and developed to enable the credulous and the enthusiastic to establish identity with any sect or body or society of Mussulmans or Chinese who make symbolic use of the same number . Credulity is catholic and universal . The Mussulman Dervishor the Chinese member of a

, Triad is equally ready to acknowledge the common * claim of the Masonic symbol . It is a kind of compliment to himself and his society that the member o £ some other Dervish or Triad Society should be present from the far west . Neither can understand the language or system of the other ; but each votary

isready to believe that if he could understand thoroughly it would be found all right , and that the respective systems can be conciliated on some ancient aud commoa basis .

It is not alone the flux of time which has so encumbered Freemasonry , but each country in wliich it has been practised has contributed something to these adventitious appendages . It is indeed injurious to * Freemasonry that many are drawn to it by the promise of these outside trumpetings of mystery and

marvel , and of which the initiate finds no performance . For him there are no explanations or applications of the Cabbala , no direct elucidation of the Eleusinian mysteries , no light thrown on Templar history , no realization of the Rosicrucian system . Not finding what he looked forthe aspirant is disappointed with

, what exists . In vain he tries degree after degree , lured by the lavish praises of professors , who hint at its perfections before initiation and dilate upon them afterwards . The neophyte has not attained to that perfect , faith in the idol , and the ceremonies received with somuch applause by their votaries do not charm

themore by their repetition , but pall the more , and , in the end , he leaves in disgust . The ceremonies themselves , often curtailed , insufficient even when given in full , seldom satisfy the-, ardent inquirer in the prosecution of his studies , nor does he find any private help . The best-informed

persons are commonly those best practised in the performance of the ceremonies , and least acquainted with them , brimful of faith and admiration , and never able to go beyond some stereotyped formula , which , to the educated man , of itself requires explanation . As to