Lecture On The Origin, Nature, Object, And Tendency Of Freemasonry.

from the Great Architect of the Universe , and practised it in the Garden of Eden . This idea is an evident absurdity , for how could a society Avhich Masonry necessarily is , exist Avith only one member ? for Ave know that our mother Eve ( if Masonry

then bore any resemblance to what it is now ) , could not have been a participator in its privileges , still , if these advocates for the remotest antiquity of the Craft , would content themselves with stating that the principles inculcated by

Freemasonry , have been recognised as truth from the beginning of time , they would undoubtedly have right on their side , for Ave can have no doubt , that adoration of and obedience to his Creator , and a reverence for truth and justice were amongst the first lessons learnt by Adam in Paradise .

Others attribute the formation of the society to the would-be builders of the Tower of Babel , and state that Avhen God thought fit to stop that impious enterprize , by confusing the tongues of the projectors , they , finding that language failed as a

medium of communication , organised another system of intercourse , and thus laid the foundation of the Craft ; we knoAV , however , that this view is not consonant Avith Masonry as known to us , as all its leading features have reference to a

much later period . The most generally received opinion is , that Masonry originated with the building of King Solomon's Temple , when , the employment in that vast undertaking of a multitude of workmen of all nations , necessitated the adoption of some means of intercommunication other than

the ordinary one of language , this idea bears the impress of reason , but is incapable of actual proof . I Avill only refer to two other periods suggested as eras of the origination of Masonry , namely , one which has been in some quarters favourably

received , the time of the Crusades , the other suggested by parties inimical to the Craft , the period immediately subsequent to the execution of King-Charles the II ., this latter notion is happily capable of refutation , and in a manner most interesting to

us as a lodge , for Ave know , from the diary of that eminent antiquary Eiias Ashmole , that he Avas made a Freemason at Warrington in 1646 , a period antecedent to the accession of Cromwell to almost regal power , and when , from the fact of there then

being a lodge held in so comparatively unimportant a place , as Warrington , Masonry must have had a prior " existence of many years . Before leaving this part of my subject I cannot refrain from stating , that I believe much undeserved ridicule

has been brought upon the Graft by the injudicious , and , in some instances , absurd advocacy of unfounded theories as to its origin and univeiT-ality We have or have had amongst us enthusiasts AVIIO have found , or rather have imagined- that they

have found Freemasonry existing amongst savage tribes , AVIIO had never had any intercommunication Avith civilised communities , and others Avho have discovered a verisimilitude between the Croft and the rites and ceremonies of the secret or

select societies of the Greeks , Romans , Brahmins , Druids , and others , as to the former , whilst totally disbelieving' the actual existeuce of the institution amongst the unenlightened savages , I can without difficulty understand that individuals

unacquainted Avith one another ' s language , and able to converse only by signs , might casually meet and attempt to communicate , and there might , amongst the eccentric gesticulation , Avhich would necessarily occur , be accidental resemblances

sufficient to lead an ardent and active imagination to suppose the existence of Freemasonry ; as to the verisimilitude in the latter instance , I accept it , to the same extent that I believe that all phases of religion , however erroneous , have features in

common , and are corruptions and distortions of truth , and have , in fact , a common origin . In Avhatever age Freemasonry may have originated , I verily believe that , at the present time , there is no Masonic body in the Avorld , out of England ,

that can trace its origin from any older source than the Grand Lodge of England , instituted at the revival in 1717 , and , although satisfied of the Craft having existed for centuries antecedent to that date , I consider any man injudicious and

unwise Avho seeks to impose upon the community at large his OAVII theory of its origin ; and , in dismissing this portion of the subject , let us content ourselves with knowing ' , that the institution is t undoubtedly , ancient , as "having subsisted from time immemorial . "

We noAV pass to the important consideration ci the nature of Freemasonry , or in other words , I have to answer the oft-reiterated question , " What is Freemasonry ? " We have a stereotyped answer , "It is a system of morality , veiled in allegory ,

and illustrated by symbols . " This answer is undoubtedly correct , so far as it goes , but I hope to be able to show—and if I do not succeed the fault must be mine—that Freemasonry is more than this ; in giving this stereotyped answer to the uninitiated , I have been met Avith the remark that