An Analysis Of Ancient And Modern Freemasonry.

Genealogist and Pastor of a Presbyterian Church , Piccadilly ( who was styled Bishop Anderson ) , and George Payne a learned Antiquarian . Freemasons can certainly boast of having one of the most learned men of the early part of the 18 th

century , a member of their society . Dr . Desaguliers was initiated in Antiquity Lodge , then held at the Goose and Gridiron about the year 1712 . He was a Protestant and French refugee , but his fame rapidly got the victory over his circumstances ,

and his name was soon known all over Europe , and his notoriety as a philosopher and mathematician was such that Buckle in his " History of Civilisation , " Part ! l , considers him to have been the first that popularised natural philosophy .

According to Bros , the Rev . Dr . G . Oliver , Anthony Sayer , George Payne , Elliott and others , were also a party to the renovation of the Order in 1717 . The "Freemasons' Calendar" for 1777

says that " The ancient York Constitutions were entirely dropt at the revival of the Grand Lodge 24 th June of 1717 . In Captain George Smith ' s use and abuse of Freemasonry , 1783 ( page 60 ) , we read , " That on the accession of George the

1 st , the lodges resolved under a new Grand Master ( to be annually elected as in former times ) to revise the communications and Festivals of the

Society . . . and at the first meeting it was resolved that the privileges of Masonry should not be limited to architects and operative Masons . " This view is likewise shared by Dr . Oliver , but its aim has been shown many times since , to have

been an erroneous one , and the resolution super " fluous , as for years before this date , gentlemen were admitted members who were in no way connected with operative Masonry . Bro . Alexander Laurie in " History of

Freemasonry , " A . D . 1804 ( also Bro . W . A . Laurie ' s 2 nd ed . 1859 ) , says in opposition to Dr . Robinson , " that persons were early admitted into the Order who were not architects by profession , " and in support thereof quotes a record from the minute

book of St . Mary's Chapel Lodge , Edinburgh , wherein it is stated that " Thomas Boswell , Esq ., was made a Warden of the lodge in the year 1600 . " This noted Masonic historian observes of the revival in 1717 that the " motive which suggested

this institution was certainly laudable and useful , but every person must be aware that the four lodges were guilty of a considerable impropriety in omitting to request the countenance of the Grand Lodge of York . " One of the best (

probably the best ) , authority on York Masonry , Div Henry Beaumont Leeson is reported to have said . " That when the York Masons were invited to join * the Grand Lodge of 1717 , they found certain , lodges combined together , who were the

representatives of the ancient guild of Masons . " ( FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , 1862 . )* 'The Grand Master of Grand Lodge of Kentucky , in his address tothe Grand Lodges of the United States , on itsconstitution A . D . 1800 , mentions that in the reign ,

of George II ., the lodges in England having from , some neglect gone greatly into decay , it was deemed necessary to promote the welfare of the-Craft , that a Grand Lodge should be established , in London , although no Grand Lodge had never before been established there . " ( Dr . Morris . - *' valuable " History Grand Lodge of Kentucky , "

page 39 . ) Dr . Kloss seems to doubt much goooi : having resulted from the desire expressed for thebrethren to bring to Grand Lodge any old writings-, and records concerning Masons and Masonry , ' - * and questions whether " any very especial

mystery" was discovered thereby , and if so , such " would have to be proved by original documents , which has not yet been done" ( " History of Freemasonry in England , " page 28 ) . Bro . Findel in . his learned . "History of Freemasonry , " A . D 1866 ,

well observes oi this period , ' " Then it was that .. Freemasonry , as it is understood at the present day , dawned into existence . Retaining the .-spirit of the ancient brotherhood , their fundamental laws , as well as their traditional customs ,,

yet were all united in resigning architecture and operative Masonry to the station to which it belonged .

Thus the idea of Freemasonry is as sublime and . magnificent as it is true to itself , rooted and . grounded in the very being * of man . " Page 1467 ,, Thus we see it is no easy task to unravel the intricate web of Masonic origin , and discover how ,,

when , and where the modern idea first arose . The foregoing statements are in several respectsconflicting , and yet offered by some of the most enlio-htened and intelligent Masons of this and the last century . Until the publication of tbe Book , of Constitution , A . D . 1723 , there was not a printed work of any kind that mentioned three degrees of .