Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review.
Various theories have been started , numerous " ideas " have suggested themselves to ardent minds , clever views have been propounded as to the origin and perpetuation of Masonic history ; but still to-day the cautious Masonic student , though he considers all , accepts none
as absolutel y the one safe explanation of a most remarkable fact in the history of the work , so much so as to reject all others . It has long been clear to many students , that it is not safe to trust to one " line of march , " to uphold one , —only one , —source of Masonic life and annals . Two , three , four , concomitant and synchronous
causes may , after all , be sought for and accepted , as completing the exjslanation and the secret of the true progress and marvellous preservation of Freemasonry in the world . All these various smaller streams have , as it were , comin g from nearly an identical source originally , diverged considerably in their onward currents , and have at length
converged , to render possible a safe and satisfactory explanation of true Freemasonry in its various forms and general or special outcome , its actual appearance , and its friendly synchronous accompaniments as it has contrived to live through dead and buried generations , to expand and at length spread over the whole surface of the globe . For instance , it would be impossible to explain Masonic symbolism without considering the Hermetic emblems ; just as it would be useless to account for the
Rose Croix , or the Knights Templar , or Oriental Societies without keeping before us the Masonic Gilds , the Roman Collegia , the Building Societies , and the Ancient Mysteries . There is a whole field of stud y not yet explored , to be found in Alexandrian and Mithraic gems , in Greek emblems , and in Latin inscriptions . The Hermetic MSS . and
the printed works of occult literature teem with Masonic emblems , and we are still comparatively ignorant of the history of the Gilds . Therefore , any attempt to deduce our Masonic history as the outcome from any one of these single lines , must end , as all previous efforts so marked have ended , in unreliable data and in uncritical
literature-It is said to recall to-day how much valuable time has been spent , and fair ingenuity hopelessly exercised on " cruxes" which are "" cruxes" still ; on facts which turn out to be fictions ; on quotations which cannot be verified , on extracts which cannot be proved , on assertions in which nothing is asserted , but what is the subjective
opinion of the writer , on conclusions in which nothing is concluded but a "begging of the question " by the author . And therefore it is that for some time past our English Masonic band of students has been insisting on evidence and facts ; on a critical collation of MSS . ; on & careful verification of authorities on all the indicia ? which distinguish history from tradition , and certainty from legend , and truth from fiction ; on , in fact , a reasonable , a readable , a scientific , and a reliable
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review.
Various theories have been started , numerous " ideas " have suggested themselves to ardent minds , clever views have been propounded as to the origin and perpetuation of Masonic history ; but still to-day the cautious Masonic student , though he considers all , accepts none
as absolutel y the one safe explanation of a most remarkable fact in the history of the work , so much so as to reject all others . It has long been clear to many students , that it is not safe to trust to one " line of march , " to uphold one , —only one , —source of Masonic life and annals . Two , three , four , concomitant and synchronous
causes may , after all , be sought for and accepted , as completing the exjslanation and the secret of the true progress and marvellous preservation of Freemasonry in the world . All these various smaller streams have , as it were , comin g from nearly an identical source originally , diverged considerably in their onward currents , and have at length
converged , to render possible a safe and satisfactory explanation of true Freemasonry in its various forms and general or special outcome , its actual appearance , and its friendly synchronous accompaniments as it has contrived to live through dead and buried generations , to expand and at length spread over the whole surface of the globe . For instance , it would be impossible to explain Masonic symbolism without considering the Hermetic emblems ; just as it would be useless to account for the
Rose Croix , or the Knights Templar , or Oriental Societies without keeping before us the Masonic Gilds , the Roman Collegia , the Building Societies , and the Ancient Mysteries . There is a whole field of stud y not yet explored , to be found in Alexandrian and Mithraic gems , in Greek emblems , and in Latin inscriptions . The Hermetic MSS . and
the printed works of occult literature teem with Masonic emblems , and we are still comparatively ignorant of the history of the Gilds . Therefore , any attempt to deduce our Masonic history as the outcome from any one of these single lines , must end , as all previous efforts so marked have ended , in unreliable data and in uncritical
literature-It is said to recall to-day how much valuable time has been spent , and fair ingenuity hopelessly exercised on " cruxes" which are "" cruxes" still ; on facts which turn out to be fictions ; on quotations which cannot be verified , on extracts which cannot be proved , on assertions in which nothing is asserted , but what is the subjective
opinion of the writer , on conclusions in which nothing is concluded but a "begging of the question " by the author . And therefore it is that for some time past our English Masonic band of students has been insisting on evidence and facts ; on a critical collation of MSS . ; on & careful verification of authorities on all the indicia ? which distinguish history from tradition , and certainty from legend , and truth from fiction ; on , in fact , a reasonable , a readable , a scientific , and a reliable