Freemasonry: Its History, Principles, And Objects.

though , in course of time , and through man ' s love o change , the simple truths known to aud enunciated by Adam , wore gradually distorted by perverse interpretations and overland , and embroidered , as it were , with fanciful creations of man ' s own brain ; and thus arose superstitious systems , which became tho creed of the unthinking crowd ,

whilst the genuine knowledge , preserved among the chosen few , was afterwards only communicated to those who had been tried and found worthy of being initiated into the " Mysteries , " which , however , themselves were already a degree removed from the first revealed truths concerning the Deity and the Seven Properties * of Eternal Nature , since tho "Mysteries" represented only

their images , namely , tho phenomena of outward temporal nature , instead of thc realities of the inward eternal nature , of which this visible universe is the material manifestation . S . Allegorical and Secret Doctrines of Freemasonry . — Members of the Craft , who can discern tho secret moaning of the allegorical teaching of the lodge , need not be

told that when we assert Masonry to be " a science embracing all human and divine knowledge , " we simply state a positive fact . Gladly as we would prove it to other members , such particularly as have attained to the highest degree—viz ., that of Eoyal Arch Masomy ( and there only the grand secret of Masonry can be imparted ) , yet in these pages , addressed to the general reader as

well , we dare not do so ; but this we will say that to understand the secret laws of moral and physical existence , to apprehend the perfect analogy ancl inimitable principle inherent in all that over was , is , and shall be , in time ancl space , there is but one way , and that is to search the meaning hidden under Masonic symbols , the

esoteric doctrines of Masonic teaching . We shall refer to this subject again hereafter ( 22 and ' 26 ) . 6 . The Dionysiacs . —But to return . Tho knowledge possessed by the first men had now ceased to be universal property , and was imparted to those only initiated into the " M ysterics ; " and , from being purely speculative , had also become operative , lor the clerical colleges , whore the

initiation took place , wore also the repositories of all science and secular knowledge . Of the secret associations , presenting many points of resemblance with the Masonic fraternity , that ; have existed from a highly remote period , the most ancient arc thc Cabiric mysteries , referable to a period closely approaching the Deluge ; and of thc ancient associations , the one most closely

resembling thc Masonic Society in its operative period is that of the Dionyshic artificers of Ionia . " Te know , " says Professor Robinson , in the article " Arch" in the " Edinburgh Cyclopaedia , " " that the Dionysiacs of Ionia were a great corporation of architects and engineers , who undertook , and even monopolized , the building of temples and stadia , precisely as the fraternity of Freemasons

monopolized tho building- of cathedrals and conventual churches in the Middle Ages . Indeed , the Dionysiacs resembled in many respects thc mystic fraternity now called Freemasons . They allowed no strangers to interfere in their employment ; they recognized each other by signs and tokens ; they professed ' certain mysterious doctrines under tho tuition and tutelage of Bacchus- } - to

, whom they built a magnificent temple at Teos , whore they celebrated his mysteries at solemn festivals , and they called all other men profanes , because not admitted to these mysteries . " 7 . Ancient Masonic Colleges . —Tho next link in the chain connecting Freemasonry with antiquity is tho

" Collegium Muriorum , " an incorporation of Masons at Borne . Having been founded in those primitive times , when tho State and the exercise of religion were an inseparable whole , the Boman . collegia were , at one and the same time , besides unions for art purposes , civil institutions , and religious societies . This peculiarity , so useful towards the progress of mankind , they retained

until the decadence of the Roman empire , transmitting their principles and ceremonies to the corporations of Masons of the Middle Ages ( 9 ) . Since the Roman collegia held their meetings with closed doors , they became refuges for political parties , and . mysterious doctrines of all kinds . The emperors of the first centuries endeavoured to control the collegia as much as possible ; but at a later

period they obtained great influence , and numerous privileges ( 10 ) . Many of those building corporations came into Britain with the Romans , whose conquests usually were accompanied by the arts of civilization ; and the name of the Emperor G ' arausius , and his steward Albanus , the first British Christian martyr , are commonly mentioned as patrons of the Craft ; but we have no good

authority to believe that Freemasonry was introduced into these islands before the time of St . Austin , who with forty other monks , among whom the sciences were preserved , was commissioned Ixy Pope Gregory to baptize Ethelbert , King of Kent . About this time , also appeared those trading associations of architects , who travelled over Europe , patronized by the see of Rome . The

difficulty of obtaining expert workmen for the many pious works i-aised at that time in honour of religion , made it prudent to encourage by peculiar privileges those bodies of men who had devoted themselves to the study ancl practice of architecture ( 11 ) , Ib is certain that the Freemasons alone constructed all the ecclesiastical buildings in the pointed and Norman styles previous to the fifteenth century , a circumstance that affords

unchallengeable proof of their presence wherever and whenever they were erected . But there is other proof . Before speculative was divorced from operative Masonry , the men of tho Craft lefc their signs on the buildings they erected , ancl engraved on tho most endurable tablets the symbols of their science , and on many ancient buildings these marks have been detected . * The fraternity enjoyed

peculiar privileges , and ranged in bands or lodges from country to country , or from one part of the country to another , as their services were required , for the erection of sacred edifices . They lodged in simple huts near the buildings on which they were engaged , under the command of a chief architect , or Master Mason , and every squad of nine Craftsman was under the immediate

superintendence of a warden . These Masons and artificers , as they went from town to town , practising their trades , meeting and conversing with one another , learned to regard each other as brothers , or citizens of the world , without regard to difference of language and country ; thus indeed , fulfilling the true objects of Masonry , which are to break down the barriers of race , custom , language ,

and prejudice , and make all men brothers . 8 . Masonic Architecture . —The architecture that prevailed during tho Saxon monarchy -was a rude and clumsy imitation of the Roman . That of their Norman successors exhibited a vast improvement ; but in tho early part of tho twelfth century an entirely original , most picturesque , and highly symbolical style of architecture

began to make its appearance , the characteristic- of which was tho lofty pointed arch . This style happily blending with , and , as it were , grafting itself on , tho Norman , gradually developed itself in beauty and effect , until it reached a culminating point ; in thc thirteenth century , and then began to deteriorate and decline , until it was entirely superseded by an abortive attempt to restore the classic architecture of Greece and Rome in tho sixteenth century . 9 . Masonic Architecture continued . —Tho performances