Notes on the scientific Mysteries of Antiquity

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N O T E SO N T HB

S C I E N T I F I C AND R E L I G I O U S

M Y S T E R I E S OF A N T I Q U I T Y ;

T H E G N O S I SA K D

SECBET SCHOOLS OF THE MIDDLE AGES;

M O D E R N R O S I C R U O I A N I S M ;A N D T HE

V A B I O U S B I T E S AND D E G R E E S

O P

F R E E A N D A C C E P T E D M A S O N R Y .

B Y J O H N YAK K E K , J UN K . ,

P.M., P.M^M., P.Z., P.G.C. and M.W.S.—K.T. and R.O.,K.T.P., K.H., and K.A.R.S.

P.M.W., P.8.G.C., and P.S.Dai., A. and P. Rite.

Member of the Rosicrncian Society; and of the Masonic ArchasologicalInstitute; Honorary Fellow of the London Literary Union; of

Lodge Ko. 227, Dublin ; of the St. Amand Encampment of K.T.,Worcester; of the Rochdale Chapter of H.M.—K.H ; and ofth e Bristol College of Rosicrucians. Past Grand M areschalof the Temple. Member of the Royal Grand Council ofAntient Bites—time immemorial; Keeper of the Ancient

Royal Secrets; Grand Commander of Misraim, ArkMariners, Red Cross of ConstantiQe, Babylon, andPalestine; and R. Grand Superintendent for

Lancashire. Sovereign Grand Conservator ofthe Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry,

83 .*. and last degree; and DeputyRepresentative for Lancashire ; &c., &;c.

LONDON :J O H N HOGG. 14, Y O B K S T R B B T , G O T BM T G A B D B N .

E. W B I O L B T AMD S O N S , B O C H D A L B ;

J O H N H B T W O O D , 143, D B A N S G A T E , M A M C H B S T B B ; W. G I L L I M G , LnrBBPooL;J . G UBST, BlBMIMOHAM ; J . B O B B B T S O N A N D Co., 3, G B A F T O N S T B B B T , D U B L I N ;

J O H N M S N Z I B S AN D CO ., 12, H A N O V B B S T B B B T , E D I N B U R G H ; AND

3 2 , WB8T G B O B G B S T I U B B T , G L A S G O W .

1 8 7 2 .



E . W S i a L E Y A K D SO N S , F B I N T E B S A N D P U B L I S H E B S , B O O B D A L B .

A L L B I G H T S A B E B E S E B Y E D .



P B E F A C E .

T H E writer does not presume to pnt forward the following pages

as any approach to a complete work upon the snbject of which they

treat; they are but the mmt-gwrde to pioneer the way for a larger

corps of facts. The attention of Masonic Students and industrious

members of old Lodges, Chapters, and Conclaves, is again called to

the desirability of collecting and publishing any information or new

facts which can be obtained, either from old works on the recondite

mysteries of antiquity, or from the records of Freemasonry in its

various degrees, as it is only thus that we can obtain a correctknowledge of our order, and eliminate the tru th. Until this is done

it is impossible to dogmatise and unsafe even to theorise. We have

especially a dearth of information in England upon the earlier phase

of Bosicrucianism, and later, of the progress of high-grade Free

masonry, owing to the secret character of both, and the fact that no

minutes of proceedings were kep t. The best authorities obtainable

have been consulted in this compilation, which is the resu lt of a few

leisure hours snatched from affairs of commerce, and a free use made

of their labours on this peculiar and interesting subject, the wholebeing in manuscript before the appearance of a recent work on the

Banoruoians, The sublime depths of th e m ysteries of antiquity have

been sounded but by few minds in the lapse of ages, and those who

have leisure to follow upon their tracks will meet with an ample

reward. The object of these pages is merely to point the w ay ; a sign

post in a strange land.

43, QvorUm Boad,

Manckestsr, November 8*A, 1871.

%* The "M asonic ArchiBologicalABsooiation" resumed its leotnres in London,recently, and is now engaged upon a series in elucidation of this subject.The society deserves extensive m asonic support.





NOTES ON THE SPEC ULAT IVE MY STERIES.

C H A P T E R I .

T H B S C I B N T I P I C A N D R E L I G I O U S M Y S T E B I B S O P AKTIQITITT.

J T may be proper to premise tha t the re was in existence amongst

all the civilized nations of antiquity, an exoteric form of religion

and an esoterio interpretation . T he one constituted the religious

belief of the vulgar, and the other the secret teachings of a philo

sophical association, to which none bu t candidates prep ared in

mind and body were admitted.

The mo st notable of these my sterious fraternities were those

of M ithras in P er da , of Isi s and O siris in E gypt, of the Gabiri in

Samothrace, of Bra hm in India , of Bacchus or Dionysus i n

Syria, of Eleusis in Greece, of the Druids in Britain, of Balder in

Scandinavia, of Vitzliputzli in America, &c., &c., &c. ^

The ceremonial observances of these orders are supposed to

have originated in the repre sentation of tha t con test between good

and evil, which is figured to us in the biblical legend of the serpent

tempter, leading on to the destruction of Abel by h is broth er

Cain, a s the Talm udical legends say, by a blow upon the forehead

with a s ton e; all these rites referred to the death and resurrection

of some mythic personage, and in some cases accurately cor

responded in time and duration to the three days ceremonial of

the C hristian Church in honour of the Saviou r,— "He that should

come"—and of whom these ancient mysteries seem to have been

prop hetica l. Such a wide diffusion of these rites, as tha t whichwe have enum erated, points to their establishment in the cradle

1.—The Iroquois Indian s have a secret brotherhood, hold ing festivals in hon ourof the Great Spirit, whose praise they celebrate as the father of earth, air,water, and fire.



6

the priest, who was called Mag, Magius, Magiusi, and afterwards Magiand Magician.—Ennemofer's History qfMagic.

4.—A similar deluge is recorded at Maha^Balipore, near Sadrass, in India.An Article upon the Ark, in the " Rectangular Review," (1671, No. 3, p. 42 4 , )in which it is interpreted metaphorically to signify the seven propertiesof nature, identifies Noah with Osiris. Manv ancient nations have suchtraditions of a great flood, but writers probably exaggerate, for the ancientEgyptians have not yet been proved to possess sach history. The ark

was borne in the Egyptian, Dionysian, and Jewish mysteries. The Brahminsdeclare that every pyramid is a resemblance of the holy mount Meru—theresidence of Iswara and his consort Isi, who were saved in the ship Argha^ a form of the latter, and with Iswara converted into doves. Some aoootmtesay that seven companions were thus preserved by Menu. These admit ofan astronomical explanation, for the Sun and Moon were represented bythe Egyptians by ascending and descending Ships, or Arks of Osiris andIsis; and at times the pyramids, viewed from the bottom, fonned a seat orpedestal for these luminaries.

of our race, after which they were developed to suit the views and

policy of the different races or families dispersed therefrom, and in

the lapse of centuries re-acted upon each other.

The purpose or effect of these remarkable associations was

the conservation of Arts and Science—Ârithmetic, Geometry,Music,2 Theology, Theosophy, Theurgio Magic (probably Mag

netism aiid Clairvoyance), Astronomy (withAstrology), Medicine

and Chemistry (or Alchemy). Fortified as the knowledge of these

hidden mysteries of nature and science was by peculiar secret

ceremonies, known only to the priests and the initiated, the

select character of the fvatemity was preserved on the principle,

Give not that which is holj^ «nto the dogs, neither cast ye your

pearls before swineand the teaching was everywhere veiled inallegory and symbols, but the priests in the end, abusing the con

fidence reposed in them, allowed the mass of the people to fiGJl

into a gross and brutalising idolatry, from which they were saved

by the promulgation of Christianity.

We are inclined to assign the palm of purity and antiquity to

the mysteries of our Aryan forefathers, who formed a civilized

nation to the north of Persia. The Cabiric mysteries of Samothrace

were very ancient, and are believed to have preserved the Baby

lonian or Chaldean tradition of a great flood, recorded in Genesis

3.—Oenesls I T . ]9-34V. ascribes the invention of the worldly arts to the elder lineof Adam, or that of Cain; bat the higher mysteries to Seth, the successorof the Spiritual Abel whom Cain slew.

3.—Maguisiah, Madachneie signified Wisdom or the office and knowledge of



«B that of Noah, and here the astrological pa rt was most developed.

They possessed also a<Lay divided in to 24 equal part s, and planetary,

names for the seven days of the week. Berosus th e historian records

that prio r to all th is, OanneS'composed a book of the generation ,

of all things whieh he buried in the city of the Sun, at Sippaca*

and that the same was recovered after this flood. Dr. Anderson

observes in his History of M asonry, in 1723, tha t the learned

mathematicians of those parts, who were called Magi, cultivated-

both Geom etry and Masonry unde r the patronage of the Kings and

great men of the east.

Th e In dia n gymnosophists are believed to practice nine deg rees,

the last terminating in Nirtvana, or absorption in the deity, being

therefore well .advanced in th e spiritual or theurgic pa rt. Th e

symbo l of initiation in P ersia and Ind ia is a cord of seven th reads

knotted thrice three, or according to the degrees possessed in the

Brahm inical hierarchy. Th e nearest resemblance to the Brah m-

inical mysteries, is probably found in the very ancient " Paths''

of the De rvishes, which are usually governed by twelve officers,

the oldest ** C ou rt" superintending the otliers by righ t of seniority.

H er e th e M aster of the "C o u rt " is called "Sheik" and has

his deputies, "Caliphs" or successors, of which there may bemanyp The order is divided into at least four columns, pillars^

or degrees. Th e first step is tha t of " Hum ani ty," which supposes

5.-~A8 for instance in the brev et degree of a Master Mason.6.—The Bek tash Derviohes often initiated the Janizaries. The ir ceremon y is

as follows, and they vieax asmall marble cube spotted with blood. Beforerec ept ion a year's probation is re qaired, darin g wh ich fialse se cre ts aregiven to test the candidate: he has two god-fathers and is divested of allme tals and even cloth ing; from the wool of a sheep a cord is made for hisnec k and a girdle for his lo in s; he is led into the centre of a square room,presen ted as a slave, and seated npon a large stone with twelve e sca llop s;h is arms are crossed upon his breast, his body inclined forwards, his right

toe s exten ded over his left foot; after various prayers h e is placed in aparticular m aimer w ith hi s hand in a peculiar way in that of th e She ik,who repea ts a verse from the Koran. " Those who on giving th ee theirhand swear to thee an oath, swear it to God, the hand of God is placed intheir ha nd ; whoev er violates this oath will do so to his hurt, and towhoever rem ains faithful God will give a magnificent reward." Pla cingthe hand below th e chin is their s ign , perhaps in memory of their vow.All use tit le doub le triangles. The Brah mins inscribe the angles with th eirtrinityjand they po ssess also the Masonic sign of distress as used in F rance .Bee The Mystical Princ iples of Islamism,^' by Joh n P . Brown.



8

attention to the written law, and annihilation in the Sheik

The second is that of the "Path," in which the *'Murid'* or

disciple attains spiritual powers and " self annihilation into the

''Peer;* or founder of the" Path." The third stage is called'

"Knowledge," and the "Murid" is supposed to become inspired,called " annihilation into the Prophet." The fourth stage leads

him even to God, when he becomes a pa rt of the D eity and sees*

h\m in all thing s. Th e first and second stages have received

mo dem sub-divisions, as " Integ rity," " Virtue ," " Temperance,'*

" Benevolence." After th is the Sheik confers upon him the g rade

<rf " Caliph," or H ono rary M aster, for in the ir m ystical lan guag e

" the man m ust die before the sa int can be bom ." I t will be seen

tha t this kind of mysticism is applicable to Christ as founder ofa "Pa th . "

I t is however to E gyp t th at we mu st look for the most com plete

developement of every branch of this sublime and m ysterious a sso

ciation ; its hiero pha nts being perfect masters of Architecture,^

Geom etry, M usic, Astronomy, Medicine, Chemistry, and Theo logy.

As ha s been well observed, she clothes the dogmas of the m yth ic,

or first Zoroaster, with images if not richer at least truer and

chaster than those of India . The Emerald Tablet of HermesTrismegistus is the whole of magianism in a single page:—

1.—I speak not fiction but w hat is certain and most true .

2.—^What is below is like that wh ich is above, and wh at i s

above is like tha t w hich is below for performing t h e

miracle of one thing.

3.—Ând as all th ing s were produced from one by the m ed ita

tion of one, so all things are produced from this o n e

thing by adaptation.

7.—rIt is said tbat t he following well known symb ols are found in the an ci en tarch itecture of Egypt:—^The po int with in a circle; the triple tan; the s qu ar e;the level ; the f ive p ointed star; the triangle; the ladder; the trowel, & c.Di odo m s specia lly informs us that the tools of carpenters were used in t h esacred or hieroglyphic w riting, as distin ct from the comm on or do m at ic ,and he m entions the hatchet, pincers, mallet , c i i isel , and square.



-4.—Îts father i s the Su n, its mother w as the Moon, the w ind

carried it in its belly, its nurse is th e earth.

-5.—It is the cause of all perfection throughout the whole

world.• 6.—Its power is perfect if it be changed into the ea rth.

7.— Separate the e arth from the fire, the sub tle from the gross,

gently and with judgment.

- 8.—It ascends from earth to heaven and descends again to

the earth , thu s you w ill possess the glory of the whole

world, and all obscurity will fiy away.

'9.—^This thing is the fortitude of all fortitude, because itovercomes all subtle thin gs, and pen etrates every solid

thing.

10.— Thus were all things created.

11.—Thence proceeds wonderful adaptations which are pro

duced in this w ay.

12.—Therefore am I called H erm es Trismeg istus, possessing

the three pa rts of the philosophy of the w hole world.

13.—^What I ha d to say concerning the operation of th e Su n

is com plete.

The doctrine of Hermes or Thoth, cannot be lost to those who

ha ve the keys of symbolism. Th e architectural ruins of E gyp t

a re like scattered pages of a grea t book, whose capital letters w ere

temples, whose phrase s were cities, punctuated with obelisks and

sphinxes. Th e geography of Eg ypt under Sesostris is Apentciele,

that is to say a symbolical resume of all the Magian dogma ofZoro aster, recovered and formulated by Herm es^ Th e absolute

8.—^Tbe Greek s identified He rm es with E no ch , and the Latins with M ercnry.Th e nam e, in Hebr ew, has been translated " initiate." Cornelius Agrippasays further, that he gave laws to Eg ypt, was the first observer of the s tars,and the author of Theology. The name " Thoth " is supposed to be derivedfrom "Th ouod h '—a column—because he inscribed h is knowledge upoitcolu m ns. Sanconiatho men tions two pillars dedicated in the early ages



10

liieroglyphic science had for it s bas is an alphab et in which all th&

gods were letters, all the letters ideas, all the ideas num bers, and

all the num bers perfect signs. W ith this Moses formed the great

secret of his Cabala, symbolised by the carr}ing away of tlie sacred

yases. This alphabet is the famous book of Th oth, said still toexist under the form of the pack of cards called the Tarot.^

T he " Mysteries " we know w ere practised in a secret sub terra

nea n u nder the Temple of Solomon, at Jerusa lem , where rour and

twenty elders adored the Sun, with their faces towards the east,

the image of jealousy was erected northward of the gate of the

altar, and their ceremonial degeneracy denounced by the prophet

Ezekiel.^^ B ut the veneration of the Jew s for the sacred fire,

light, first principle, or holy spirit of the Persians and Egyptians,is indicated in the Abrahamic sacrifice of bumt-ofiering and

shown in numberless passages of their scriptures.

We will commence a short recital of the gorgeous ceremonials

of these esoteric receptions, with a description of those of M ithra s

in Per sia. Th is rite consisted of seven degrees.ii The candidate

underw ent a purification by water and fire, fasting. Anointed

with oil, crowned with olives, and clothed in enchanted armour,

he commenced the advance through the rigorous trials of seven

to fire and wind. Freq uent re ference is made to the se colum ns in theMason ic Con stitution as well as in the secret cerem onials. It is assertedby Godfrey Higgin s in his AtuKoljfpsis that the monogram of Hermes wasthe triple-tau of a R.A.M. Sancon iatho further informs us that th eEgy ptians had corrupted their ceremonials by a mixture of historical andcosmical afi'ections. The relation of this Ph oen ician historian resem blessomewh at the M osaical narrative, whilst th is latter is almost identical w ithwhat Ber osu s, the C haldean, relates of the generation of all thin gs, and ofthe deluge.

9.—Hi*toire de la M aaie by Eliaph«ts Levi.— The J ew s also speak of a cele stial andmystical alphabet. (Kircher's iEd ipus Egyp tiacus.)

10 .—Phi lo , howe ver, whilst extoll ing the Esse nian system of th e Jew s, says th at

Moses purposely removed initiations from his code, and he adds:—" Letno o ne, therefore, of the d isciples or followers of Moses either be initiatedhim self into any my sterious rites of worsh ip, or initiate anyon e else * *• • for, if these things are virtuous, Why do ye , O ! ye men who areinitiated, shut yourselves up in dense darkness and limit your benefits tojus t three or four men w hen ye migh t benefit all men ?"

II .—T he seven labours of Bustam, the Pers ian Her cules , i s suppo sed to al le-

forise the adventures of the se cavern s. ,Vide the " Histor y of Initiation,'y the Be v. Dr. Ol iver.



11

oayerns, his entranoe to the first of which was opposed by a drawn

sword, from which wounds were often acquired. These cavems

were styled the Ladder of Perfection, and were connected witit

each other by winding passages, and accessable by a narrow

portal; in these he was exposed to the fury of wild beasts, therage of the elements, fire and flood, from which he must issue

passionless and pure. In the seventh cavern or Saoellum,

brilliantly lighted, decorated with gems, and the signs of the

Zodiac, darkness was changed to light, and the aspirant beheld

the Archimagus seated on a splendid throne: here the obligation

of secrecy—^the infraction of which was certain death—^was ad

ministered to the neophyte; he was baptized, anointed on the

forehead, received bread and wine, a crown was presented on the

point of a sword which he refused saying " Mithras is my crown,"

and finally he was armed and declared " a Soldier of Mithras."

This was the first or lowest degree of the order, tlie second was

styled that of the " Lion," and the remaining five degrees were

named from animals sacred to Mithras, whose birth was cele

brated annually on the 25th December.

All the rites were universally governed by three chief officers

inacc

(H:dance

with the oracles of Zoroaster, which says'*

The

xoind of the father decreed that all things should be divided into

three."

The doctrines taught in these mysteries, as we learn from the

Zend Avesta, approximated to the later views of the Christians.

The Gbreat-cause, or Unbounded time, created Light in the begin

ning, and out of this ZAght, or Sacred-fire, or Ethereal-spirit,

proceeded Ormuzd, the principle of light, who was the creator of

the world and of Amenti or Paradise; he produced also thesuperior Genii who surround his throne, and the inferior Genii

or guardian angels of the world whose chief is Mithraa But the

Great-cause also created Ahriman the principle of darkness, who

created the bleak regions and the evil Genii under him. From



12

these two opposing principles of Gk>od and Evi l, which the y

sometimes compared to th e attraction and repulsion of tiie magn et,

proceed perpetua l strife and war— creating Black and Wh ite, love

and hatred, trut h and falsehood, light and darkness. So also the

Ho ly M agi invoked the angels of Ormuzd an d of Mithra s, but th ewicked sorcerer invoked th e evil Genii of Ah riman es. M ithra s

was supposed to have h is residence in the Su n, hence he was

sjnnbolised by that luminary, or by the sacred ever-burning fire

of the tem ple ; he is identical with M ichael the A rchangel, one of

the Chief Princes— alluded to by D aniel the Archimagus of the

Persians—ûpon whom the ancient Heralds conferred the title of

Premier Chevalier,^^ either from the supposed identity of these

chivalric ceremonies with th e m ysteries, or, as is more likely,from S t. Ju de 's relation of the successful war in heaven against

datan or Ahriman.•

Of the Egyptian M ysteries we have a sho rt description in th e

Metamorphosis of Apuleius: they were divided into " Lesser " and

" Greater," and the aspirant underwent a purification and feist of

many days. Th e first degree was tha t of Isis, celebrated at the

Ve rnal Eq uinox . The aspirant after a figurative descent into

H ad es, or the abode of departed sp irits, was tried by the fourelements—earth, air, fire, and water; he was then admitted into

th e magnificently illuminated apartm ent of the initiated ; took an

oath of secrecy, had the symbols of the doctrines explained, aind

12.—The He ralds , like the Cabalists and the F reem asons, had their legend s."O libion , the son of Asterial, being of great courage and strength , wasmade captain of a thousand of J apheth's line , and to him it may jusU y b eascribed to have been the first who received the honour of knighthood, forbefore he went to battle his father made him a garland of preciousston es, in token of chivalry, with which he gave him his bless ing andwith the faulchion of Japheth (wh ich Tubal made before the flood),

while O libion was knelt , smote h im l ightly on his r ight shoulder nin e t im es,charging him to keep as many virtues pertain ing to true chivalry. Asterialalso made a target of olive tree with th ree ooruers, in token tbat he waschief of the blood of Noah's three sons; by the olive tree he understood towin victory, the lower point, towards the ground, allusive to hi s cu rsedkinsm an. H am ; the risht com er. Japh eth; and the left , Shem." Som every ju dic iou s remarks n ereon w ill be found in " Th e Orders of Chivalry.**By Br o. Lawrence—Archer, dOo, Captain H.M 's. Service^ A work jus tpublished by Quaritch, of London.



18

W 9B entrusted, invested, proclaimed, a n d feasted. Goddess at

Queen Isis , was represented by the moon—^that lumina ry being

described as both male and female—she represents the produc

tive powers of nature, and deohires, *' I a m all that h a s been,

ihat is, or shall be, and no mortal hath ever withdrawn myv&l—^the fruit which I brought forth became the sun."

Next followed the Mysteries of Serapis celebrated at the

Su m m er Solstice, we hav e he re no detailed description. Clement

of Alexandria states, however, that the worshippers of Serapis

w ere obliged to wear on the ir person, in a conspicuous situation,

the name of I-ha-ho, which signifies Ood the Eternal,

The third ceremony was the Mysteries of Osiris, celebrated atth e Autum nal Eq uino x. Herodotus eiq^ressly informs us th at

in these rites '* they go throu gh a representation of his sufferings."

T h e ceremonial was practised dramatically upon the aspirant, and

represented the murder of the Good King Osiris, by his EvU

bro the r Typhon, and seventy-two conspirators—sym bolising th us

th e perp etual strife between good and evil. The legend, as handed

down to us, states that Typhon, or Set, placed the body of Osiris

i n a coffin and threw it into the Nile, where it was eventually

found reposing upon the lotus plant by his sorrowing cons(»rt

lBis . i3 Again recovered by Typhon he cuts up the body into

fourteen piece s; the se are again collected by the faithful Queen,

13— "The accident by which the body of M.H. was fonnd after h is death, seem sto allnde in some circamstances to a beaatifol passage in the 6th Book ofVirgil Anchites the great preserver of the Trqfan oame, could not havediscovered bat by the help of a bough which was plucked with great easefrom a tree Bu t there is another story in Virgil which stands in nearrelation to M.H ^neat com ing iot o that country (Thrace), and aceiden>tally plucking up a shrub that was near him on the side qfa hill, discoveredthe murder of Polydorus."—Dr. Anderson's Dtfence qf Ma sonry. T he ivgwa s used in the m ysteries of Bac chus, the myrtle in those of Geres, the

erica or heath in the Osirian, the lettuce in the Adonisian, the mistletoe i nth e C elt ic , and the lotus or waUrMly in those of India and Egypt.

Am ongst the Templars and some other m odem rites of F reemasonry,s peculia r ceremony i s known at the burial of a brother, which had itson gi n in these ancient rel igions. Each Egyptian province is s l id to havebe en separated from it s burial place by a lake, and no mum my was allowedto be ferried across by the sacred boatman (Charon), until 4 2 assessorshad assembled upon the beach and sat in juds em ent npon his past l i fe ,and upo n approval, the cor pse was convey ed to Its res ting place.



ufHlth the exception of the missing emblem of generation. Osiris

retamed from the abode of spiritB and gave his aid to H o r n s ,

who eventnally overthrew Typho n. Os iris, "Son of the Sun,"

h e " whose name is secret," like thePersian Mithras, is repre-

sentod by the Sun, whose bright beams give light, warmth, andfertility, and the whole legend was constructed, or rather perhaps

reformed, on an astronomical ba si s: Typhon being considered on

this hypothesis to represen t winter, which destroys the fertilizing

powers of the Sun. He has also been considered to represent

th at destroying flood which carried away the human race outside

the Ark. Plutarch, describing these mysteries says:—"God i s

a male and female intelligence, being both life and light he

brought forth another intelligence, thecreator of theworld;" andOrpheu s, who is supposed tohave introduced the mysteries into

Greece, sings:—"Jove is a male, Jove is an unspotted virgin.*"

Th e Brahminical doctrine in the Sama Veda says:— " the wiU to

create existed with the Deity as his bride." The Yerihad,

Aranyaka, and Upanishad teaches the same:— " he caused

himself to fall in two and thus became husband and wife." The

Chinese in their Mundane Egg, divide all nature into male and

female. 1 ^ Indeed, Lanci interprets the sacred name, J.H.Y .H .,

HO-HI-he-she,i* but Elohim may represent the Gods of Gene

ration, whilst Jehovah corresponds with the Persian Ormuzd,

There were probably other degrees known only to the Priests,

as Apuleius relates that after receiving the foregoing hebecame a

Pastop hori, w as received into the College of Priests, and exposed

his bald head to the multitude. It is possible that a higher

revelation here took place, as we find a correspondence to the

14.~-Compare also their dragon with 81 scales , Tomiting floods; and their mythof me fire and water d n ^ n with the Symbolism of St. J o h n , in theBevelat ions . The Chinese have a very ancient brotherhood called the" Triad Society," bnt known previously as the " Coelesto-terrestialSociety." Its professed design is benevolence , and the order is ruled bythree '* brothers." They have certain initiatory ceremo nies, with sisn s andtokens ; and the candidate takes an oath under the Arch of Stee l . Onesign is to take up anything with three fingers.

15—Maekejf't Lexico n of ^rteuuu ^nry.



15

Persian doctrines in Cfieph the creator, and Ptha the organiser,

which la tte r they represented as a pure ethereal fire. Buto, or

Athyr, also creates Typhon, Set, or the eyil principle, who

marrying N'ephthys, or Perfection, gives rise o the present m ixture

of good an d evil. Th ese good and evil principles a s in Pe rsia ,

had th ei r a ttendant Angels or Demons,' the former num bering

865 prin cip al gods. T he imm ortality of ihe soul was inculcated,

and D r . Oliver informs us th at t he perfectly initiated candidate

was na m ed Al-om-jah from the name of the D eity, and was

instructed in the hist(^ of the creation of the world, and the

descent of the my steries from Adam, Seth , and En och . T h e

writer " Hermes," preserved by Stobseus, teaches the Darwinian

hypo thesis of t he progress of the hum an soul, as an eman ationof the one universal soul, from the lowest reptiles upwards, and

its retrogression, if by an unholy life, the human soul is not

perfected. If the King of Egy pt had been bred a soldier he was

obliged to conform to these mysteries, study their science, and

become chief Pontiff, but the heir was not allowed initiation into

th e higher m ysteries till he came to the throne . Th e dress of

the Prie sts was an under garm ent like an apron, and a loose upper

robe secured by a girdle round tlie loins,

16.—The sacred word of the Brahm ins is represented by A .U.M .; P ers ian s,H. O. M .; the Ba dh ists u se O-mi-to; the B ra ids ased O.-I-.W.; and theÂm erican Indian s, it is said, To-he-wah, and Boh-wah-ne-yoh.

17.—The Egyptian myste ries are thu s described in " Cr-ata Nepoa, or the M ysterie»of the An cient Egyptian Priests."—1770. >^

1.—The aspirant was referred from Heliopolis. to Memphis, and thenc»to Th eb es, where h e w as circu mcise d, and left in a subterranean ca ye msom e m onth s to his own reflections. H e was afterwards brought to aca re m , supported by He rm es' Pillars, where he had to learn by rote allthep roye rbs oarred upon the pillars; and then the Thewiophorus, whosedutyit was to prepare and co ndu ct the candidate, blindfolded him , bound h ishan ds, and conducted him to the door of an inhabited cavern—opened aftercertain k nock s and questions—w hen be was conducted round the Birantha

in an artifioial storm of wind, rain, thunder, and ligh tnin g; and if h eshewed no signs of fear, Meniea, the expounder, explained the rules of theCrata Nepoa, to which he promised obedie nce. H e was then made tokneel on his bare knees before the Hierophant, and with sword point athi s thro at, he took t he oath of fldelity, calling su n, m oon, and stars, asw itne ss. The bandage was then removed from bis e yes , and he waaplaced between two square pillars, where lay a ladder of seven steps,behind wh ich wer e eight doors of different metals. H e was exhorted togovern h is passio ns and fix his th ough ts upon Ood. As a symbol of thewand erings of the soul he was required to ascend the ladder. Th is degre e



16

The mysteries of Eieusis in Greece are thus described by an

ancient author, preserved by Stobnus: " The mind is affected

and agitated in death just as it is in initiation into the Grand

Mysteries; and word answers to word as thing to thing, for

Teleutao is to die, and Telestos, to be initiated. The

first stage is nothing but errors and uncertainties, laborious

wanderings, a rude and fearM march through night and dark

ness. And now arrived on the verge of death and initiation

ever3rthing wears a dreadful aspect, it is all horror, trembling,

sweating and affiightment. But this scene once over a miraculous

and diyine light displays itself, and shining plains and flowery

meads open onall hands before them. There they are entertained

with hymns and dances; with the sublime doctrines of faithfulknowledge and with reverend and holy visions. And now be-

oome perfect and initiated they are free and no longer under

called PastophorU explained the hidden mysteries of nature and the hieroglyphics. The word Amour signified secrecy, and with it were given a gripand a peculiar apron called Xyton.

2.—Proof of proficiency being given as Pastophori^ the aspirant, afteralong fast, received the degree of Nsocoris. He was brought into a darkapartment—£ndym»ot»—where his sensibility was put to various proofs;after which he was conducted by the Thesmophorus into the assembly, anddrenched with water by the Stolicta (water bearer); he was scared bynumerous innoxious serpents, one of wnich being thrown round his body;he was led to two pillars, east and west, between which stood a griffin—

symbol of the sun— before which was a wheel with four spokes to representthe seasons. He was here taught the use of the rule, level, calculations,l eometry, and architecture.

3.—Âfter this, the Neocoris received the degree of Melanephoris, in aohamber decorated with embalmed bodies in coffins; in the midst was thatof Osiris covered with blood; above the entrance, "Gates of Death."Some instractions by question and answer as to the death of Osiris was

Stven: he was thrown down, wrapped in linen, and conducted by anotheroor into the abode of spirits to be judged. After the removal of the

bandages, he was instructed in the rules, and commanded never to thirst/or blood or revenge, support his brethren in danger, never to allow a deadbody to remain unburied, and to look for a resurrection of the dead andfinal judgement. He was also instructed in history, geography, astronomy,and a higher system of hieroglyphics.

4.—After some study he was initiated in the degree of Christophoris,by being conducted through a dark passage, where he was seized byhorrible beings, blindfolded, arms bound, and a halter placed round hisneck. He must then drink a very bitter drink called Zize, put on the bootsof Arabis, and mantle of Orkus, and as a judge of the wicked, armed with asword and the shield of Isis, to destroy an artificial gorgon placed in thecave. He now became a judge in the land, and was registered as such.The symbols were indicative of wisdom, and the word was Jao, the nameof the great lawgiver.

5.—H9 then received the degree of Balahald and was conducted intothe assembly by the Balahala Horus, and into a cavern from which pro-



17

restraint, but crowned and triumphant they walk up and down

the regions of the blessed, converse with pure and holy men, and

celebrate the sacred mysteries at pleasure." 1 ^

It is supposed that there were four steps in the "Lesser

Mysteries" of Ele usis , of which the three first w ere limited to

purification and prepara tory ceremonies. Th e initiate took the

oath of secrecy standing upon the skins of the animals slain in

sacrifice and was named MystcB, It is conjectured that this

rite repr esented t he search of Ceres for he r daughter Proserp ine,

rav ishe d by Pluto and carried to the infernal shad es, and tha t in

the higher mysteries the tragic end of Dionysus, or Bacchus,

who w as torn to pieces by the Tita ns , arose in splendour and

descended into the regions of the dead, was celebrated. T hefourth step in the " Lesser Mysteries" and the sixth step in the

"Greater Mysteries" were the principal ceremonials, and the

whole took up nine days.

The first day was occupied in preparatory ceremonies; on

the second the Mystce marched in procession to the Saronic

gulf; the third was a fast in honour of Ceres; the fourth an

offering to G eres and Proserpine; the fifth was a torch-light

procession to the Temple of Ceres; the sixth was in honourof Jaechus, the son of Ceres; on the seventh the Epopt<B

return ed in procession to A the ns ; the eighth day was sacred to

oeeded fire and where he beheld the hundred-headed scaly m ons terTyphon, which represented fire, and indicating that Horw or industrymi ght d« riye many benefits therefrom. The word was Chymia. th einstruct ion being in chemistry.

6.—^The obligation of secrecy was renewed, and he was instructed inastron om y; he was then con ducted to the porch of the O ods, was instructedin the origin of theology, and taught a priestly dance reoresenting thecourse of the heayenly bodies. The word was Ibis, symbol of w atchfulness .

7.—In this degree the whole of the mysteries were more clearly ex

plained, and he was styled A»tronomu$, which degree conferred a yote inelect ion of a king. They th en all withdrew secretly to som e square builthouses cal led Manneras, supported by pillars, adorned with s ph inx es andcoffins, where sum ptuou s chambers represented hum an life, A drink,CimmeUas, was giyen, and a cross wh ich he was constan tly to carry asem blem of stability. He was clothed in a striped dress, a square hea ddre ss, an d could peruse all the sacred books which were in the Am mo nitish

1 8 . — B ^ op W a r b j i r t on ' B Divine Legation,



18

.Slsculapius, the God of medicine, and on the n inth and last day

was poured upon the earth a libation of wine towards the rising

and setting Sun, whilst the initiated looked alternately to heaven

and the n to earth . Th e principal ceremonial of the G reater

M ysteries took place at midnight of the sixth day of this mag nificent festival. Th e H era ld made the usu al proclamation, " F a r

hence the profane." Th en the Mysta took the greater oath of

secrecy in the vestibule of the Tem ple of D emeter, was clothed

in a fawn skin and sahited with the words, " May you be happy,

may the good Dem on attend you." At this point the assemb ly

was enveloped in darkness, lightning flashed, thun der rolled, an d

mo nstrous forms appeared. Th e scene was suddenly chang ed

and the MysUs was led by the H ieropha nt into the inner Tem pleor Sanctuary of Demeter, where he beheld an adorable light, and

wh ilst hi s ears were saluted with the most harmo nious sound s

and his eyes beheld the most enchan ting visions of Elysium , h is

head was crowned with myrtle, he was clothed in white, the

symbols were explained, and he was declared to be bom ag ain .

The proceedings closed with the words, Konx Ompax, H e w as

now termed JEpopta, I t is believed th at th e words, Konx Ompaa

ar e traceable in the Sanscrit, and are used by the Bra hm ins a s

Kamska Om Paksha. The first is the most ardent vow, Om is

th e mysterious nam e of the De ity, Paksha means change, turn,

vicissitude, &c., though it appears to have been used in the

sense of silence, whence t he L ati n word Pax and the French

Paix, Th e entrance of the candidate through intricate pa ssa ge s

and through darkness, was emblematical of the wanderings of

th e soul through th e mazes of vice and error before in iti at io n.

The noises and spectres surrounding him typified the various

diseases, calamities, and evil passions incident to that mentalbondage from w hich he was about to be emancipated, and e x e m

plified the punishmen t of the guilty in a future state. H i s

admission into the full splendour of the rites and the disp ersio n,

of the shades of nigh t before the brilliant Suil of th e M ys te rie s,



10

TepreBented thedispersion of the clouds of mental error before

ihe Sun of t ru th .

Sufficient we think has been said to shew the general nature

of all the se my steries, and it is therefore useless to follow their

ceremonial coincidences further; they had all one origin sindvaried only in language, differing not further tha n do the modem

rites of Freemasonry, Hence it is said that Saturn, Jupiter,

Neptune, Bacchus, Dionysus, Adonis, Hu, Schiva, Brahma,

Balder, Fohi, Atys, Cadmillus, Mithras, Manes, &c., are bnt

other names for Osiris; whilst Venus, Astarte, Juno, Ceres,

Pessinuntica, Minerva, Diana, Bellona, Hecate, Bhamnusia,

Proserpine, Cerdeiven, Frea, Rhea^ Siva, &c. are same as Isis .

Diodorus distinctly states that the rites of Osiris and Bacchus

are the same, and that those of Isis extremely resemble those

of Ceres, with the change of name only. Strabo that the D ruids

of Britain perform the same rites to Ceres and Proserpine

as are used in Samothrace; and Dionysius, the African, that

they celebrated the orgies of Bacchus. The duality of the

Deity seem» to have been taught in all the mysteries, and as

the symbols had originally no impure signification, some have

supposed the gross Phalic worship to be figured to us in the

•curse of Ham. The rites were promulgated in Persia byJZeradhnst, in "Egypt by Hermes, in Samothrace by Dardanus,

i n India by Brahma, in China and Japan by Buddha, in Israel

by Moses, in Greece by Cadmus the Egyptian, in Boetia by

Prometheus, in Crete by Minos, in Messene by Caucon, in

A r g i s by Molampus, in Athens by Erectheus, in Etruria by

Philostratus, in the city of Arene by Lyc us, in Th race by O rpheus,

i n Ita ly by Pelasgi, in Cyprus by Cinyras, in Gaul and Britain by

<7omer, in Scandinavia by Sigge or Odin, in Mexico by Vitzliputzli , and in Peru by Manca Capac. Tru th and the Gods, in

these mysteries, were symbolised by a cubical stone, and the

do ctr ine of the imm ortality of the soul taught, though at t imes

<}onpled w ith a corrupt system oi transmigration.



20

The colleges established by Moses, the Jew ish lawgiver— a

man learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians—are supposed

to have taught the doctrine of a future state, which the great

lawgiver concealed un der guarded language, in order to str en gth en

the hands of the judges, and to have continued through theoccupation of the H oly L an d, being similarly organised to t h e

Other religious mysteries. W e find in the writings of the prop het

Sam uel, and in the Second Book of Kings, references to the Beni

Hanahiim, or sons of the prophets. These were the disciples of

th e Habb is or wise-men of Israe l, who underwent a course of

esoteric instruction in the secret schools of the Ndbiim o r

prophets, like the disciples of the Magi in Persia. T he se

esoteric doctrines were afterwards symbolically embodied in th e

Tem ple of Solomon, in the same way as existed in Eg ypt. T ho se

who were carried captives on the destruction of the first tem pl e

founded a similar fraternity on the Euphrates and on the restora

tion by Cyrus, Zerrubbabel is supposed to have carried the

secret institution to Jerusalem , as three Grand Lodges existed a t

Sora, Pompheditha, and N ahard a. W e find also amongst the Je w s

th at these M osaical colleges went by the name of the E ssene s, o r

Holy, i» supposed to be connected with the military fraternity of

Maccabees,^ as also with the Kasideans, who were bound by

path to keep the Tem ple in repa ir. This fraternity consisted of

two classes (operative and speculative)—the handicraft br ot he rs ,

19.—^Philo {Fra^mentSt o. 8, p. 782, a.) so styles and derives them. H e sa ys .,somewhat in contradiction to the passage before quoted : " It is not law fulto divulge th e sacred my steries to the uninitiated till they are purified b ya perfect p urification "— for wanting capacity of m ind th ey will blam e w h atis sacred—" now, to diTulge sacred my steries to uninitiated people is t h eact of a person who violates the laws of the privileges belong ing to th e-priesthood." The present "C hristian s of St. John ," or "M enda eans'* o fSyria, seem to bear resemblance to the Essenes.

30.—The word is derived from the initials of Macomicah Bealim Jehovah—^my

trust is in the Lord Jehovah. As Cadmus, the Egyptian, led a colony i n t aGreece, about the time of M oses, so we find thi s warlike fraternity cl ai m ing brotherhood with the Greeks, who reply (1Mac. x i i c ) , ** I t i s fou nd-in w riting tha t th e Lacedemon ians and Jews are brethren, and that th e yare of the stock of Abraham." Th is is worthy of note, when we co m e t o -me ntion a Cabalistical work of 1655. The trials of the E gyptian i ni ti a te sare supposed to be sketched in the xvii . ch. of the Apocryphal book called." Wisdo m/of Solomon ." The Greek '^mvsteries were, l ike the J ew is h ^thrown open b^ the Cretans to all the world.



21

tmd those who devoted themselves to Contem plation, Cabalism,

and M edicine. At sun-rising they invoked the assistance of the

Deity, to enlighten their minds, and at sun-set they returned

thanks in the same way. Candidates remained in a state of

probation for one year, and though enjoined all the customs of

the association, were not admitted to its meetings. I n the second

period th e asp iran t received the w aters of purification. After

two more years he was united in full fellowship, and took a

solemn oath as regards his duty to God and his neighbour,

secrecy, and the preservation of the ancient landmarks, the

transmission of their books, and especially the names of the

angels. The reception was almost identical with that of the

Tem plars of the m iddle ages in E urop e, and similar to the presentdegree of an Entered-A pprentice Mason. Th ey were arrayed in

white garments, fastened with a girdle, and when listening to the

secret instructions of their chief, they stood with the right hand

on th e breast, a little below the chin, and th e left let down by th e

side. W e are informed by the Cabalists tha t Adam derived a

book from the angel Hazael, and with it entered into conversa

tio n w ith sun and moon, knew how to summon good and ev il

sp irits , interpr et dreams, fortel events, hea l, and destroy. Handeddown through Seth, Enoc h, and Moses, from father to son, th is '

book came into possession of Solomon, and by its aid he was

m ad e acquainted with many potent secrets. The Cabalists used

th e double triangles , inscribed with the holy nam es, and called

it th e seal of Solomon. W e find in their writings the doctrine

of Emanations, and a duality like that of the other ancient

m ys te ri e s: the elemental spirits of fire, air, water, and e arth, an d

an hie rar ch y of angels. The ir holy scriptures were interpreted^sotericaUy, for under the letter, by the application of certain

2 1 . — T h e Book of Razael mentions several sisns as transmitted from Adam toSo lom on , that of d istress being derived from the expu lsion from the gar-d e n of E de n. It would appear, however, that the five sign s of the E ng lishB .A . are not found in a ll ntu als , but we may look upon them , at least , asintaroduotions from som e lectu re, and then ce appropriated as landm arl^.

On e of the higher degrees of the Essenian C olleges transmitted th esao red nam e In the same way as is now done in th e degree of a B.A.M., a ndPyth agoras used it as the basis of his O.B.



22

rules, corresponding with the hidden teaching of the other

mysteries, to words, letters, and numbers, important allegories

were discovered. I n common with the Pe rsians, Egyp tians, and

Indians, they believed in the power of the wiU, for good or evil

and the mag ical value of certain sacred words. I t is impossible,within reasonable limits, to enter into the mysteries of the

Caba listical Tree, and its relations with the names of the Deity.

But the worshipper was to invoke equally the holy names

El i , 2 2 Ja h, Jehov ah, Elohim, El, El-hai-sadik, Jehovah-Sabaoth,

Elohi-Sabaoth, Shaddai, and Adonai, which answer to the ten

Sephiroth, of which the three first were a later addition upon th e

old ladder of seven steps, viz.:—the crown, wisdom, intelligence,

strength or power, mercy, beauty, victory or eternity, glory, thefoundation, the kingdom. One of the most interesting of th e

cabalistical books is tha t of E noch, 2 3 where will be found the

nam es and offices of t he ange ls, t he concealment of the sacred

name; and the trinity of manifestations, or procession of the

Persians, is thus alluded to :— " I n that hour was the Son of Man

" invoked before the Lord of Spirits, and his name in the p resen ce

" of the Ancient of Days." From our Lord Jesus these an cient

doctrines passed to the apostle St. Jo hn , who embodied them i n

,the Apocalypse, under hieroglyphic figures, analogous to those of

the ancients. 2 *

22.— JesuB , when on the cross, mode nse of thianam e when he cried ** JEli, Elilama, sabacthani," and we f ind that the nninstructed Jews imagined h e w a scflJliog upon Elias. Melchisedek us es the name Elion , whom the P ho a-necia ns represented as the creator of the world

^.—B ook of Enoch. Translated by Dr. Rd. Lawrence, Bishop of Cashel, 1038.2 4 . —" The Bible is the true key and interpreter. John, not the les s t h a n

M oses,E lias , E noch , David, Solomon, Daniel , Jeremiah, and t h e r e s t o f t h eproph ets, was a ma gician, cabalist, and diviner."— (Paracelsus.)

The resemblance of the m achinery of the Apocalypse to the a n c i e n tmysteries has been noted by the learned brother. Doctor Oliver, w ho s a y s

that a writer in 1797 speaks of the '* process of spiritual m asonry."'* First we are presente d with the representation of a can did ate f o r

admission knocking at a door after some delay he is invited to e n t e rby a voice from w itnin, saying, * come up h i ther ' he beholds a p e r a o nsplendidly arrayed occupying a throne in the east , canopied by a p r i s m a t ioarch when he looks round he beholds many other persons sea ted a n darrayed in white raiment The G.A. of the U. is seated on the t h r p n eas Ezekiel has described him in the tabernacle or tem ple; near to U i otabernacle were four-and-twenty eld er s. . . . they had on their heads c r o w n s



28

One of th e most celebrated remodellers of th e ancient

mysteries—the founder, as we should now say, of a rite—^was the

philosopher Pythagoras (B. B .O . 686, D . 506), the son of a Sidonian

sculptor or operative m a s o n . H e was ini tiated by the

Egy ptia ns , after being sent the round of the delta of cities, and

was instructed for many years respectively at Heliopolis,

M em phis, and Theb es, in the different grades. I t w as even

asserted by the ancient fathers of the Christian Chu rch th at he w as

initia ted by the prophet Ezekiel, bu t this probably is inferred—

ow ing to the general sameness of the mysteries : so closely does

his system resemble modern Freemasonry, that various docu

ments and rites have assumed the absolute identity 'of the two

of Kold. The candidate is represented as turning to see who it was thatspo ke to him, for he stdd * I am Alpha and Om ega, the first and the last,' andbein g turned he saw seven gold en cand lesticks, and in the midst of themon e like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to his feet, andffirt about with a golden g ir d le . . .H e had in his right hand seven stars 'A sacred book is then produced wh ich is sealed with seven seals every oneof wh ichm ust be broken before the secrets can be disclosed attendedby his angel guide, as the process of unsealing the book advances, severalsymb ols are displayed a bow, a white horse , and a crown, as emblemsof v ictory, triumph, and royalty; and also a balance and a cho enix, emblem sof jus tice and hospitality, and at len gth a blazing star and threemonsters or assassins, who destroyed one roan out of every three by inflictin g a deadly wound in the forehead. T he candidate receives thesacred book he is desired to swallow to dige st the con tents as anattestation when the O.B. is sealed . The uncontbminated twelve

tha t had receive d the divine mark in their forehead prese nting them -se lv es before the throne of the O.M. bearing sp rigs of palm tree as token.of their inn oce nce . Th en follow the hea ling of the wounded forehead andraising of the dead Light is introduced, the heav ens are open ed, andth e great red dragon are ex pe lle d .. . . . .T he regenerated candidatehav ing overcome escapes the * depths of Satan' and is presented withs white stone, in which a new name is written which is no other thanth e sacred name, which ha I been lost, bnt now was found, the destroyersare apprehended and subjected to condign punishmen t. Th e empire ofligh t is established and it requires neither the sun nor the moon toshine in it ."

S5.—One of th e Apocryphal g ospe ls asser ts that Jean s practised our handicraft,and a somewhat curious allusion to operative masonry is to be found inanother , the Book of Maccabees (I I B., i i c , 29-30 v.) , " For as the masterbuilder of a new hoa se mu st care for the whole buildin g; but he that un-dertak ethto set it out and paint itmus tsee k out fit things for the adorning

of i t , even so I think it is with us . To stand on every poin t and go overthings at large, and to be curious in particulars, belongs to the first authorsof the story. Bu t to use brevity and avoid much labouring of the work ist o be g iven to h im that will make an abridgement."

The " Vision of Hermes " by an anc ient father of the Christian Chu rch,repr esents the faithful by perfect stones " of a true die or square," but thele ss holy are imper fect. In th e apocryphal * Ep istle of Paul to Seneca'*th e latter calls the former " Brother," and Paul styles Seneca "B esp eot edHaster," and repudiates written documents, the one of which leaves marksand th e other declares things .



24

institutions . H is disciples were divided into Acousmatici,

M athematici, and Pythag oreans. A three years novitiate and a

five years silence was enjoined. The a spirant was required to be

perfect in Geom etry, Arithm etic, Music, and Astronomy, before

he was advanced to the higher mysteries and styled Perfect," because they alone are able to abstract the soul from sensibles

and prepare it for intelligibles." A solemn oath of secrecy wad

administered and the doctrines were delivered orally. T h e

immortality of the soul was taught, the derivation of all things

from en e God, whose two principles were called friendship an d

enmity, as in the Aryan doctrine, and the true astronomy or

revolution of the e arth, which h as given the nam e of Meaouraneo

to his system. H e seems to have taught that the odd num bersrepresented light or the good principle, and the even n um bers

the evil principle; or as the unity is light, so matter, being the

opposite of light, must be evil. The ir assemblies were arrang ed

due east and west; they had secret signs and methods of

communication,^ and their symbols were derived chiefly fôm

Geometry, and consisted of th e right angle, the equ ilateral

triangle, the square, the cube, the point within a circle, the

dodecahedron, the triple triangle, and th e letter Y . The y

professed a particular regard for (those four principles of

Masonry) a point, a line, a superflces, and a solid, and add that

the Gods, who are the aitthors of everything established in

W isdom, Sti-ength, and Bea uty, are not improperly represented

S6.—*' For (it is the jadioiou s remark of Laertius) as generals nse watch-wordsto distinguish their own soldiers i-om others , so it is proper to com mu nicateto the initiated peculiar ei^tis and words as distinctive marks of a society.'*

''Th e shame and disgrace that justly attended th is violation of h isoath, threw the poor wretch (Bipparchus) into a fit of madn ess and des pair,so that he cut his throat and perished by h is own han ds, and (which sur

prised m e to find) his mem ory was so abhorred after his death, that hi sbody lay upon the shore of th e Island of Samoa, and had no other bu rialplace than in the sands <if th e «ea."—Dr. Anderson's Defence. " The personwho took the oath was upon hi s bare kn ees, with a naked sword pointe d t ohi s throat, invoking the su n, moo n, and stars, to be witnesess to the tru thof what he swore." (Alex andr e ab Alexan dre, lib. 5, cap. 10.) The Dr uid sproclaimed three tim es to the initiate who had violated his oath that " th esword was naked against him." The same ceremony was used in th eEleusenhm mysteries of Greece.



26

S 7 ^ 1 d M a ao nio M . S ., A J ) . 140 0.

by a square. T his celebrated man was th e promulgator of the

46th Problem of the first book of Eu clid , which in a different

form he derived probably from the Egyptians; and he is said to

have been destroyed in the Temple of the M uses at M etapontum,

daring a tum ult, raised by an unworthy citizen, who had been

refused admission to the fratern ity.

The Divine Plato was bom about 70 years after the death

of Pythagoras, and flourished midway between him and Euclid,

and paying th e like regard to m athematics, wrote over h is studio,

"L et none enter here who are ignorant of G eometry." H is

philosophical system was that of the mysteries of which we have

treated. H is trinity he named A gathos, Logos, and Psyc he.

Thulis, King of Egypt, thus demanded of the Oracle of Serapis:

" Thou, wh o art the G od of fire, and govem est the course of the

heavens, tell me the truth, was there ever, or will there ever be,

one so m ighty as m yself? " H e was answered: First God, then

the W(yrd, and Spirit, all united in one, whose power can nev er

end. Go hen ce immediately, 0 m orta l! whose life is always

uncertain." And going thence his throa t was cut.

About 277 yea rs B . C . Euclid, another celebrated mathem atician,

flourished at Alexandria, in Egypt, and is said to have digested

all that had been previously done by Pythagoras and others, and

ordained:—

« H e th at lemede best and were of onest^,And passed his felows in cnryst^ ;Oef yn that crafte he dede hym passe,H e schulde have more worschepe than the lasse.* Hi Hi * « > *

Get thys grete clerke more ardeynt h e

To hym th at was herre yn thy s degreeThat he schulde teche the symplyste of wytte.Yn th at onest craft to be peoiytte ;And so uchon schall techyn otherAnd love togeder as syster and brothur." ^



26

Chiefly also from Alexandria radiated the Gnostic associations

of the dark ages, which convey to us the principles of the

mysteries. T he word Gnosis signifies Knowledge, and prior to

Christian times was used by the mystical schools to denote an

esoteric science unknown to the vulgar.

The first of these brotherhoods—^which held common relations

with the mysteries— after the C hristian era, was the system of

Basilides, of Alexandria, a contemporary of the Christian

Apostles, and Chief of the Egy ptian Gnostics. H e taught th e

dualistic system of the Aryans, and that the contradictory

principles of good and evil have been in operation from the

beginn ing; th at man has a brutal and a G od-like nature , and

that it his duty to strive and pray that the former may be kept insubjection until the latter is perfected in ih e Divinity. At the

foundation of the system lay the doctrine of Emana tions. Thd

Infinite Being and Unknown Father produced seven most

excellent beings or .Sôns, viz.:—Wisdom (denoting reason),

Pow er (to execute the purposes of wisdom), and from these two

proceed five others—Righteousness (moral perfection), Peace

(inward tranqu ility), Prudence, &c., &c. Fro m th is point the

spiritual life proceeded to evolve itself into seventy-two, andfurther into 365 degrees of emanation. T his tru th was expressed

by the mystical Egyptian word Abraxas, which in Greek

numerals—in common with the Persian word Mithras—make

865; ^ and expresses the whole emanation world as an evolution

of the Divine essence. T his angelic Princ e, whose nam e signifies

*' Lord of the Heavens," was typified by the Sun—^hence their

Christ was figured by that lum inar y; the pure soul sending forth

it s influence from the Sun and Moon, those " ships of lig ht '*

which are ready to transport the purified to their resting place.

They asserted that the Jews were worshippers of the highest

JEon only, and the seven chief .Sons were symbolised in the

S8.~W hen Dar ius , King o f Persia , went to m eet Aleufnder the Great , he t e în hi s train 905 Magi. ( Sir Wm . Segar.)



27

êven planets, and have—as taught in the Brahminical doctrine

of incarnation—at various times assumed flesh for our instruc

tion. L ik e the Pries ts of Eg ypt, they also claimed the ability to

see the sp irits of the departed, and their taciturn ity was expressed

in the phr ase — " Le arn to know all but keep thyself unknown."In their astronomical speculations, the points Cancer and

Ca prico rn are called the " Gates of the Sun ." Cancer, moreover,

is called the "Gate of Man;" Capricorn is the "Gate of the

Go ds." W ith the influences of the planets Saturn brings reason

and intelligence; Jupiter, powers of action; Mars governs the

irascible principle; the Sun produces sensation and speculation;

V en us inspires the app etites ; M ercury bestows the power of,

declarin g and expressing; and the Moon confers th e faculty of-generating and augmenting the body.

Fr om all tha t ha s gone before, it will be seen that i t is not

alo ne an identity of ceremony, but also an identity of doctrine,

which pervaded these esoteric schools—ând the same has even

be en transm itted to our own times . I n connection the rew ith

ha ve been handed down to us certain gems and stones, such as

we have in Freemasonry, inscribed with hieroglyphics, which

-are thu s classed by Montfaucon, in his Antiquite Expliquee:—

" 1. Those with acock's-head at the top, referring to the Sun;

(the w ord 'A br ax as ' occurs only on some of these.) 2. Those

with the head or body of a lion (commonly inscribed ' Mithras').

3*. Those with the name or figure' of Serapis. 4. Those which

ha ve figures of th e sphinx, ape, scarab, ibis, asp, goat, crocodile,

vultu re, &c. 5. Those which have hum an figures and the name

Jao , Sabaoth, Adonai, or Elo ai. 6. Tho se with a cosUy monu

ment and the word * Abraxas * on it." Th ese were probablyemb lems of initiation, and, as proved by the engraving, not at all

confined to one particular rite, but embracing all, referring as

they do to the mysteries of Mithras in Persia, of Osiris in Egypt,

^f the C abalists of Jud ea, and of the G nostics. Some of these h ave



28

been discovered in the monastic ruin s of En gland , and much of~

the symbolism is found in one form or other in modem Freema

sonry. Th ere is one of these antiquities in the British M useu m,

in the shape of an egg; occupying one side is the head of an

aged man— the ancient of days or great workman. On th e

reverse we find the sun and moon, and a five-pointed star,

serpent,29 and the scorpion (or evil principle). W e find th e -

sects also using the interlaced triangles in their two Masonic

forms. I n the Temple-Herren, of Nicolai, there is an account of

a Gnostic gem which represents a " Cynocephalus," with a lunar

disc on his head, standing in the act of adoration, with sceptrum.

displayed, before a column, engraved with letters and sup po rting.

a triangle. A frequent talisman is a head of Medusa, used bythem as a preservative charm. ^ Simon Magus, " a great power

of God," is reputed to have been an initiate of the Gnostic

fraternity, and the Egyptian Gnostic, Valentinus, boasted as his

preceptor a learned Jew , who had been a friend of St. P au l,,

wh ilst Basilides claimed from a friend and co-labourer of S t..

Pe ter, who was learned in tlie esoteric doctrines of the Ghristians.-

The se Gnostic my steries passed on to the M anichees, whom

we read about two hundred years later, as holding analogousopinions, teaching a cmcifixion of the flesh, and holding out

29.—Perpetuated in the Knightly Collar of S .S. The Egyptian s also representedAn ubis in precisely the same way that the Coustantinian Order of S t. .George and the En glish O rder of the Garter represent S t. George; th econjoined symbols of the dragon and c ross are of very great antiquity a s .connected with the ancient faiths.

A writer in th e M«u<mie Examifier, of October 2nd, 1871, sa ys : " HaTing>acc ess to ev ery exte nsiv e collection of antique ge ms , most of them of earlyGreek workm anship, I have been surprised at the large proportion w herefigures are portrayed, in which exis ting Masonic sign s are unmistakeablydelineated . Th us, out of some seventy-four perfect figures—I make noacco un tof half-lengths, or less—there were three of the E.A., one (doubtful) •

F.C., eight M.M., two fi. A., four Pelica ns, seve nteen with crosses of various-kind s, and one w ith a square, triangle, circle, point, and something else sodamaged as to be unintelligible."

" w he n I a lso call to mind the numerous paintings by the old ma sterswh ich I Lave see n abroad, many co ntaining sig ns which mutt have been,purposely dep icted; I cannot help fancying that the derivation of ourMason ic s igns may be traced to e ver y hig h an tiquity, and that we us e them*so nearly, at presen t, to some of the exam ples J have se en , that they arO'identically the sam e.

90.—This was charged against the Templars, A.D. 1309.



29

themselves a s th e only true church. W ithin it were two distinc t

orders of members—the "auditors" who were permitted to read

the writings of " M an i/' and hea r his doctrines stated in the ir

mystical form; and the "Elect* or "Perfect" who were the

Prie stly order of the Ch urch. From these last were chosen th epresiding officers, who, like the Apostles, were twelve in number,

and ru le rs of the sect, under the nam e of Magistri. To these

twelve were added a thirteenth, or President. Subo rdinate

again to these were seventy-two bishops, priests, and deacons.

T he Lord's Supper was l imited to the "E le c t" or "Perfec t

bro the rs. If a Manichee passed over to the C hristian system

of Con stantino, the Rom an Em peror, he was obliged to curse h is

late associates in the following ter m s:— " I curse those per son s

who say tha t Zarad es (Zoroaster), and Bu das, and Christ, and

Manichaes, and the Sun, are all one and the same." The Su n,

Urim, or Meni,si being the symbol of the Saviour, they observed

Sun day as a festival in hi s honour, and in M arch celebrated a

festival supposed to be in honour of the martyrdom of Mani,

when a splendidly adorned pu lpit, ascended by five steps ,

was erected, before which all prostrated themselves. Bu t all

sorts of false and libellous statemen ts were made as to th e

G nos tics, and there is unce rtainty even as to M ani's existence.He is described as a pupil of " Scythianus," and one account of

his death states that having ascended to the top of his house to

invoke the D emo ns of air, he w as struck by a blow from heaven^

which felled him to the pavement beneath, upon which his skull

was fractured.

The learned brother. Doctor Oliver, asserts that the early

Christians who met in fear and trembling, had a cross constructed

31.—Julias H erm esi us, a christian of the fourth century, thu s descr ibes th eceremo ny of Ado nis. " On a certain night, an image is laid out upon a bedand bewailed in mournful strain s; at leuRth, whe n they are satisfied w iththis , and the prie st haying first anointed the mou ths of all those w ho havebeen w eeping, whispers with a gentle m urmur, * Trust ye, initiates, forthe Ood, be ing saved, out of pains salvation shall com e to us .'" Th eManichsBU ce rem ony s eem s to have been som ething of this description.Men i is o ne of the nam es used in Isaiah for the sun-god. Curious that theTemplars and the Manichees should both mourn the death of their GrandMaster in March .



s o

<of the square, level, and plnmb rule, in such a ma nner tha t if

-touched it fell to pieces, and th e detected C hristian brethre n w er e

supposed to be studying architecture. B ut it is asserted th a t

they had also an "examination" similar to the other esoteric

schools. An unknown stranger, seemingly acquainted w ithCh ristianity was asked for fu rth ^ proof, and produced a carved

figure of a fish, which was a universal password and sign ov er

all the Christian world. H e is asked its meaning and rep lies,

lothus, which he is then required further to exp lain: Iota, (Je sus ),

Chi,(Christos),Theta, (Theos),Upsilon, ('Uios), Sigma, (Soter),—

Je su s, Christ, Son of God, the Saviour. Th ey also divided

Christianity into the mysteries of purification, initiation, and

consummation;— Catharsis, Myestis, Teleosis— the latter beingthe Sacrament of the Lo rd's Supper. I t is said tha t the exp res

sion " the initiated know what we say," is used fifty times by SL

Chrysostom.

William of Malmesbury, (D. 1143) writing of the Church of

St. Mary, Glastonbury, supposed to have been founded by Joseph

of Arimathea,^^ and to have been the buria l place <^ A rthur K ing

-4)3.—In the romancea of King Arthur (the first Christian of the nine worthies) andhi s Knights of the Rou nd Table (as old in Brittany as the ll th cen tury atleast;, various allusions w ill be found to thi s an cient Bardic tradition .William of Malmesbury informs us however that the tomb of King Arthurwas unknow n, which gave rise to the belief or expec tation of h is return tolife.—His mv stic epitaph—" He re Arthur li es ; King once, and King to be."

The Knighthood of the B ound T able is supposed by som e writers tohave had an actual existen ce about A.D. 516 and by others to allegorise theancie nt C uldee worship, or Druidical m ysteries. We read in these ro ma ncesof the white shield marked with the red cross by the blood of Joseph, andof th e mirac les performed by the Sangrmel or holy dish for the Paschal-lamb, used for the last supper, and afterwards for the blood of Je su s, an dbrought from the Eas t to E ngland by Joseph of Arimathea. Sir Galahadhad a visio n of this, and of oar Saviour, who addressed him th us :— "M yknights, and my servants, and my true children, which be come ou t ofdeadley life iuto spiritual life, I will now no longer hide me from you , bn tyee shall see now a part of my secrets , and of my hid thin gs; now hold an dreceive the high meat which y e have so mu ch desired." After this th e pur e

Sir Galahad saw the holy ves sel and the spear carried to heav en, and sodied, " being as the floure of t he lilly in whose virginitie is signified, andthe rose, the which is the floure of all sood virtues , and in the coloure offire." Th is que st for the Sangrael is s imply a le ^ n d of the search aftertruth, or it may be considered a typical and mystical embod iment of theLord's Supper. The arms of King Arthur are imagined to have bee n sam eas thos e of King Edw in and th e York Grand Lodge—three crow ns; and.over the door ot t he chapter hous e of York M inster, built in the reign ofEdward I, a suppo sed brother of the Bo sy Cross, we find a Latin coup let,



81

of th e B ritains, observes:— " Moreover in the pavement may be

remarked on every side, stones designedly mterlaid in triangles

** and squares, under which, if I believe some sacred enigma

to be enshrined, I do no injustice toreligion." He also alludes

to two small pyramids w hich he supposes were places of sepulture.

I n A . D . 296, Diocletian burned th e Christians and the Gnostics,

b u t they still continued to make progress. He also sought out

and burn t all the Egyptian works on Alchemy and the Secret

Science s. W hen Constantine the Gre at, in A . D . 312, converted

Christianity into a political system, it became in tu rn the aggressor

and persecuted the esoteric schools with increased b itterness. St

Augustine (B. 354, n.430) was ten years (from 374 to 388) an

' ' 'Auditor," of the Manichees and earnestly desired to becomeacqua inted with the mysteries of the " E lec t" or " Perfect." Valen*

t in ian , in the year A . D . 372, and Theodosius, A . D , 881, forbad the

m ee tings of the G nostic, Eleusen ian, and other religious mysteries,

which still however continued to be celebrated. To escape the

seve rities of the laws they w ere now obliged to change th eir n am es,

and their ri tes and doctrines were therefore taken up in secret by

Tarious bodies of Christians, supposed to be orthodox. The

Onost ics in the sixth century were put to the sword in Persia,eome embraced Mahommedanism, and originated sects of

Dervishes, who have, as we have seen, similar constitutions.

I n A . D . 657, we find tha t M anichean doctrines were embraced by

iStie Paxd icians, with slight difierances. Th ese endured persecution

for 300 years, when 100,000 were put to the sword; some took

th e old names of Cathari, and Euchites, also Bogamiles, and

sayiag, " Ut Rota fiot florum^ Sic e»t domus itta domorum."—" As the Bosei s the flower of flowers, so this honse is the house of hoases ." It is built

eighUsided , like the Ba dh ist Gross of the Templars. Hargrave Jen nio gsidentifies the Bose with the female principle and thus asserts that the Bedand White Roses of the Order of the Garter were con nected with the fira-t e m i t y of Bosy Cross. The 1195 A . D . statntes of the " O onstantinianOrder of St. George " allnde in identical langnage to the before-mentionedsymbolism of the Bose and the Lily. There is a masonic tradition whichsays that the first drop of blood which fell from our Lord's wonnds wasmiracnloasly converted into a Bose , hence the anion of the B os e and the•Cross. It is here worthy of observation that the last of the British Aroh>D ra id s becam e, upon their conversion, Christ ian Archbishops.



82

Albigenses, and held their meetings in secret. D urin g t h e se

centuries the Gnostics and the Jew s possessed all the lea rni ng

of the east, and the eleventh century saw the establishmen t at

Cairo of the " Hou se of Solomon," by H akim Bi-em ir-illah, " a

Jew of the Magian religion," where Egyptian philosophy, mathe

matics, logic, medicine, an d chemistry were taught, first by se ven,

and later by nine degrees, " after the fashion of th e Py thag orean

and Indian philoS'ophers."33

St. Be rnard , the celebrated mystic and founder of the T em pla r

rule, whilst taking the par t of the Papacy , says of the Gn ostic

sec ts:— " If you ask them of their faith nothing can be more-

" Christian-like, if you observe the ir conversation nothing can b e

" more blameless, and what they speak they make good by their" actions. As to life and manne rs he circumvents no man , over-

" reaches no man, does violence to no m an, he fasts mu ch an d

'* eats not the bread of idleness, but w orks with his h and s."

We have endeavoured in the foregoing account of the Scientific

and Beligicus Mysteries of Antiquity, to show, so far as the

existing material will allow, that they had all similar ceremonies,

taught the same doctrines, and had like objects in view, and

93.—The "hidden lata" of the "H ous e o f Wisdom" is said to have been taughtas follows:—In the first degree implicit confidence in the teacher wasinculcated . 2.—An oath of obedienc e and knowledge of the Imam s. 3.—Thatthe nam es of the Imam s are seye n. 4.—That God had sen t seven lawgive rs:Adam, Noah, Abraham, Mo ses, Jesu s, Mahommed, and I sma el; and sevenhelpers: Sew, Shem, Ishmael, Aaron, Simon, All , and Mahommed (theson of Ismael) . 5.—That each of the seven mute prophets had twelveapostle s, corresponding with the zodiacal sign s, mo nths, &c. 6.—The sub*ordination of th e Koran to Plato and Aristotle. 7.—Mystic pan theism .8.—The positive precepts of religion were subordinated to philosophy.9 (and last).—Inculcated the vanity of all religion : nothin g was to be takenon trust, and everything dared. The remains of the system of th is Ho useof Wisdom is yet possessed by the Druses of Mount Lebanon, and theAinsa irees. The memb ers of the latter are called UkhuAn or brethreuyand all that is said about doing good is confined to them . When departing

for their meetin gs they leave ail weapons at hom e, and prepare them selvesby turning down the heels of their shoe s, &o. Great precautions are takenthat their rites are not o ver see n: an old man stated that he once saw aparty of them assem bled round a large bowl of wine, surrounded by lig hte dcandle s. They have s igns by which they salute each other, and questionsby which they commence an examination to ascertain whether a strangeris one of th em selv es: b ut these sign s are little used , and known only to a.few, as the dress clearly indica tes them to each other. In their books theyus e th e double interlaced triangles.—L yde's Ation Mystery.



88

In r ea lity differed not m ore amongst themselves than do the

modem r ite s, either of the Ch urch, or the still existing esoteric

frater nities . W e shall also find tha t allowing for dilapidations

caused by lapse of ages, the modem schools of the latter are yet

the faithful representatives of the former. Th ere can be no

doubt bu t th a t the propagation of the secret doctrines of these

^sociations paved the way for the public teaching of the

sublime views of Christianity, when in fulness of time the anti

type of th e mysteries,^' who was destined to bring peace an d

salvation, w ho said " Destroy this temple and in three days I

will raise it up ," appeared as the cubical stone, sweating blood

and water and suffering anguish of soul; the lost word then

reappeared in all its brilliancy and was preached, in parables

We would especia lly commend to Knight's Bos<e Crucis, the accounts handeddown to us of the Sibyline Oracles, delivered by the artificially inspir edpro ph etess es of the mysteries . They tend to show that certain ceremonials ,which we consider to refer to Jesu s, were then possessed by the Hierophants of the mys teries. Ev en the symbolical stone is known to havebeen used in the Mithraic Mysteries; and the rose was considered thesymbol of sile nce and secrecy . One of the most ancient of the Sibyls,according t o Varro, was the Persian or Chaldean. Sh e is said to haveproclaim ed the birth, life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Je su s,with the m os t perfect accuracy, ages before the alleged time of his death.A man bo xn in Judea was to become master of the w hole world. St. Aug ustine (De civ itate D ei. lib . 18 c. 23) q uotes the following prophecy o ft heErythrsBan Sibyl.—*< H e wiU faU into the hos tile hand s of the wic ked ;

with po ison ous spittle wil l they spit upon hi m ; on h is sacred back theywill str ike him; they wil l crown him with a crown of thorns; they wil lj|;ive him ga ll for food and vine ear to drink. The vei l of the temp le will berent, and at mid-day there will be a darkness of three ho urs ; and he willdie, re po se in sleep, and then in the joyful lig ht he will come again as atfirst." Abu lfargus or Bar He br eu s, m ention s a prophecy in the Oraclesof Zoroaster, thatr—" a sacred person should issu e from the womb of animm acula te virgin , and that hi s coming would be preceeded by a brilliantstar, w ho se ligh t should guide them to the place of his nativity. St. Ju stinin the second century, says—that the exponents ofthe Mithraic Mysterieshad cerem onials resembling what is found in the prophets Daniel and Isd as ,conce rning the stone cut without hands out of a great mountain. H e-quotes I s . x xx ii i. 13.19, and observes that they imitated the prophet'swords, in w hic h the eucharist is foretold. Also , when the Temple of Osiriswas destr oyed at Alexandria, by command of The odos ius, crosse s werefonnd cut in stone, which Socrates informs us occasioned many to become

Christians. It is sug gested by our learned brother. Dr. Oliver, that theTransfiguration scen e (Mark, ix.) refers to thi s hi^h degree of the my steries. P ete r, Jam es, and Joh n, represen ting Faith, Ho pe, and Charity,behold Jesus upon a high mountain, arrayed in the splendours of theDivin e Sh ech ina h. They offer to construct three tabernacles for M ose s,Elias, and Jesus— represen tative of the law and the prophets. Neither sawdeath after the ordinary maUner of m en ; all fksted forty days, and bein gin co mm union with Jesu s, we f ind allusion to the doctrine of the resur-Teotion.



84

and symbols, amongst an ignorant and debased people, who

would have stoned the Hierophants of the Mysteries for any

attack upon their prejudices, as the Jews actually crucified

him that was sent. Th is was not however the cause or first

application of the cross to religious purposes, such being an old

Eg yptian symbol, but the reception of C hristian morality made

such rapid progress tliat the initiations sank into contempt and

became the plaything of strolling priests. W ith the accession of

Constantine the Great to the throne of the Roman Em pire, in

A . D . 812, a new and reformed era of Ch ristian teaching and the

my steries had commenced, and the Homish Church for a thousan d

years fulminated its thunders against the esoteric schools, and

destroyed the ir votaries w ith fire and sword, for the professed,object of the one association was to enlighten the mind, but with,

loss of tru th, it became the object of the other to keep it in

bondage and darkness. W e shall see the truth of this statem en t

as we proceed in the following chapters.



C H A P T E R I I .

GNOSTICISM I N T H E M I D D L E A G E S .

%

^ E F O R E we enter upon what may be termed the second part

of our subject—the secret doctrines and mysteries of the

middle age s— it may be well to consider tlie claims put forward

on behalf of Freem asonry to represent the ancient mysteries. I t

has been asserted on the one h and tha t the ceremonial observ

ances of the architectu ral brotherhood are th e origin of all th emysteries of antiquity, and on the other that the former are

derived from the last mentioned.

The architectural school of masonry, with its liberal aris and

sd en ce s, is undoubtedly of a date prior to Ch ristian times, as ita

colleges, possessing mysteries similar to those of Bacchus,,

almo st iden tical in organisation, and every o ther respect, with

modem Freemasonry, existed amongst the Ionian architects,

and, like associations of builde rs, were chartered by the Rom an

Emperor, Numa Pompilius (B .O . 708).^ The rulin g power of

these building fraternities was styled " Un iversitas,' ' and th e

affiliated bodies "Collegia,** whence the Fren ch word "L og o" and

th e Eng lish word " Lodge " are derived. Th e principal officers

were three in number; they had a Priest or Chaplain, and signs

and tokens of recognition.

Th ese D ionysian artificers were a body of m asons, who, t>n th e

Ionic emigration( B . C

1300), carried the ir ar t into Asia. Th ey1.—At A later period the existe nce of benefit da b s were very common in tb e

Greek and Bom an Emp ire. The rales of Roman policy in regard to secr etconfraternities were first promulgated under the Republic, B . C 186. in thecase of th e B acchan als. In the Island of Rhodes alone there is a record ofnin ete en , man y of which bore the nam es of their founders or reformers.Some of them, particularly those of Bacchus, inculcated lofty doctrines andsought to adnunlster consolat ion to wil l ing men.



S6

lield the exclasive right of erecting tem ples, theatre s, and ot he r

public buildings. They became very num erous in- Asia M ino r,

Syria, Persia , and Ind ia. Th ey were noted as well for th ei r

system of government as for their skill in a rchitecture . T h e ywere divided into lodges un der command of m asters, and used

emblematical jewels and conventional modes of recognition. T h is

fraternity is believed to have originated in Egypt, as is also

claimed in the old Masonic M.S. of A . D . 1400 before quoted.

A similar operative constitution seems also to have existed i n

the E as t in the sixth century, w hich the Arabs transferred to

Spain, 2 and Justinian the Great, in A . D . 633 employed 10,000

masons in rebuilding St. Sophia or church of the EternalWisdom, The Emperor himself, with a Council of Magnates,

presided over an Imperial Lodge of 100 architects, who had each

100 masons employed u nd er th em . Th e temple was dedica ted

by the devout Emperor in A . D . 538, when h e exclaimed, " I ha ve

surpassed thee, O ! Solomon."

Th ere seems nothing, how ever, impossible in the assertion th a t

the English lodges have come down to us from the Roman times

of St. Alban, who, it is asserted, granted a cha rter for a gene ralassembly, but it is scarcely likely that the Colleges of Numa

would have any ritualistic traditions of Solomon's Temple, t h is

version of an ancient and general legend being of more rec en t

engraftation. 3 I n Fra nce there is a genuine record of th e

fourteenth century, which traces the privileges of the Gallic

2.—V ide, Conde's " Arabs in Spain."3.—The learned Brother Wm. Carpenter, endeavonrs to establis h th e hy pot he sis

that the Anglo-Saxon race are derived from the ten lost tribe s o f I srae l,pnsh ed forward into Enrope by the wars of the Per sians. H e thns ac cou ntsfor our fondness for these Hebrew legend s.- - ( Vide London Freemason, 1871.)

The A nglo-Saxons, he shew s, believed it impious to make any representation of the om niscie nt God, but afterwards accepted Odin as the p rem isedM essiah and placed hi s image in their mo st holy place, on a raised dais—akind of ark, behind h im th ey placed si x o ther representation s, from th enam es of which we derive our days of the w eek. Before the ark was analtar on which the holy fire continually burned , and a vase for the blood o fyictim s which was sprinkled on the worshippers. They had a single tem plein which served twelve pries ts , w ith a thirteenth as president, and Uiey hadalso their rural worship in groves.



37

m asons to Ch arlesM artel. Th e constitation adopted (at York?)

in A . D . 626, or 026, under Edw in, whether th e King of Northn m -

b ri a or th e brother of Athe lstan, also connects the association

^ t h speculatiye science or the study of geometry and the liberalarts and sciences, and states that it owes its organisation to

Eu clid at Alexandria, the head-quarters of the G nostic mysteries,

npwards of 700 years after the building of Solomon's Temple, to

w hich no allusion is mad e in the oldest constitution of which we

tu:e possessed (1350-1400) con taining th is histo ry. I t is adm itted

-en all han ds th at greater part of th e organisation m ust h ave

pa ss ed to us throug h the M onks, some firatemities of whom

possessed regular working lodges of m ason s, and the w riter of

t h e before-mentioned M .S. was a pr ie st Th e working lodges of

m aso ns therefore possessed the same o pportunity, as a rite, of

transmitting the ancient learning of the East equally with other

orga nisations to which we have or may hereafter allude. Indeed

the 12th or 13th century saw the establishment of a monastic and

-celebiate inst itution, styled the " Brethren of the B r i d g e s a n

op era tive fraternity at Avignon, combining the relief and refresh

ment of travellers; their property passed eventually into the

h an ds of the Kn ights of M alta. Jo hn de Medicis was M aster in156 2. T he ceremonial wh ich, we are informed, was adopted i n

Êngland in A . D . 926 &om Greek, Latin, French, and English

M .S .S ., by a general congregation, ordained to be annua lly held,

and which every Master Mason, who was an operative or an

-architect, was to be required to attend, would seem to have been

simple but secret, and to have consisted in reading over certain

ru le s for their guidance, as operative masons, which they were

sw orn to observe; and when the "Apprentice " w ho had beenproperly "Entered," had served his t ime and been further

instructed, he was admitted a " FeUow of C ra f tr e c e iv e d the

wo rd, an d a m ark for his work.^ Yet under all this, these

4.— The se marks are found in Egypt, India , and E urop e, and unon buildings ofevery age and clim e, and whilst cons tructed upon sim ilarity of arransm en t ye t vary with the differences of alphabetical characters, ma ny mar



88

ancient constitaticns would seem to have had something else, as-

if whilst such a simple ceremony was ostensibly ordered for

Guild Masons, there was ano ther and a secret system of

Speculative Masonry, possessed by the learned and intelligentarchitects aud literary gentlemen, who mingled with each other

as brothers, and for security adopted certain formula. ^ I t i s

noteworthy that while the old operative Boman Constitution

differed little from the En glish and Germa n, tha t the Eng lish

Constitution of 1400, with that of Strasburg in 1462, should both

allude to the legend of the "four crowned martyrssculptors^

who always wrought in the name of the Lord, after prayer and

signing with the cross, and whose skill, under the EmperorDiocletian, was so great that " the philosophers attributed it to

the mysterious words of art-magical."

I n En gland the confederation of M asons in chapters w as

forbidden by Act of Pa rliament i n A . D . 1425, and in A . D . 1487 an

Act was passed against unlawful assemblies, and the giving an d

receiving of words, signs, and to ke ns; which may account for th e

ba rren natu re of Masonic records for two centuries from thi s

time. It was placed on record in A . D . 1500 that Edwin, the son(brother ?) of Athelstan, learned prac tical masonry in add ition to

his speculative, " for of speculative he was a m a s t e r ^ and th e

of the middle ages bein g letters of the Bnnio alphabet. The m erchan ts ofthe middle ages adopted similar marks, and the same system existedamon gst Rosicrn cians and other literary men . The Gabidists asserted thatthe alphabet arose from the nucleus of the sign s of the Zodiac, aud so m omaso nic writers even assert that the se Zodiacal signs were originally th emasonic letters now surrounding the mark (upon the jewel), aud that thesesign s were set in the 17th century, in form of a keysto ne. We consider th eMark (as a degree) however, to be of a m ode m and spurious character. Itseem s in Scotland to have been intended to supply the place of the m od emdegree of Master Mason amongst those Lodges of F.C. which had not thatceremony.

5 _ T h e Rev. brother, A. F. A. Woodford, M.A., Past Grand Chaplain, obser ves inthe Masonic Reprints by Brother W. J. Hugha n, 1871, page 34:—" There i s" still at York, or was a year ago, in the poss essio n of M r. Brown, who has"w rit ten a very able history of the M inster, a very curious token or seal"which had evidently belonged to some lodge, and was found in the" Minster yard, having on it indubitably emblems and words even known" only to M asons, and as it could n ot be possibly later than th e 14th" century."

6 .^ Ai « t o r y and Articles qf Masonry, Edited by Brother Matthew Cooke.



89

earliest bye-laws we have (1668) enact thaib no one shall be

admitted an Apprentice of this speculative rite under 21 years of

i^ e ; seem ingly indicating all along that the meetings were

devoted to important and mature purposes of speculative science;and it is even possible that some guild ceremonials were bu t the

degradation of the more elaborate Bites of Speculative Masonry.

As before observed, however, the colleges of Numa, Pythagoras,

and Euclid, are scarcely likely in their oldest form to have

contained Solomonic traditions, which diverts our attention to

the fact tha t the building F reemaso ns were good Bom an

Catholics, and to the existence of old Cathedral traditions of a

Fellow, slain by his master, at Strasburg, the Abbey of St. Ouen,

at Bouen, Boslin, in Scotland, (the seat of the family of St.

Clair, who were connected with the Freemasons, Templars, &c.)

Clavel states that the beginning of the 18th century saw the

extin ction of the continental building fraternities, b ut tha t th e

mode of initiation used in the case of th e early Ch ristians was

pursued until very recently amongst classes of workmen uncon

nected with building; the candidate represented Jesus, and the

initiated made him pass through various ceremonies representing

th e different stages of the Saviour's passion. Am ongst theworkmen connected with the art of building, but who were kept

excluded from the privileged association, and called themselves

OompagnonS'passant, and Loups-garoux, their mysteries formed

a m ixture of Judaism and Christianity. I t related to the death

of the master, Jam es, one of the constructors of the Tem ple of

Solomon, who they represent as associated with five fellow-crafts

a t th e instigation of a sixth, called Fa the r Soubise. I n the

companionships of the privileged associations, the members ofwhich called themselves Compagnons Etrangers, and Loups, the

mysteries were exclusively Ju da ic, and as in the lodges of th e

pres ent Freem asons they commemorated the allegorical mu rder

of th e G . M . H .; according to the confession of the other

com panionships, tMs of the Masons is adm itted to be the most



40

ancien t of all. At the present day, out of a much larger n um ber

destroyed, there are a score of distinct rites of F ree-m ason ry

practised, one rite having at times swallowed up another whilst

preserving the contradictory traditions of both, a thing perhapsfrequently occurring in the lapse of centu ries. W e have one

rite claiming derivation from the operative builders, a second

from the Tem plars, a third from the Rosicrucians, a fourth and

fifth from the ancient theosophy of the Jews and Egyptians, &c.,

&c. " The shadow cloaked from head to foot, th at keeps th e

ke ys of all the creeds." All confining the ir knowledge with in

certain limits and degrees, in such a man ner tha t the high er

mysteries, in some of the rites, were until recently the reward of

the ardent studies of man}' years, since they were conferred only

upon those who had the ran k of Pa st M asters of the Geom etrical

Lodge s— " Free-men "—and the advocates of free and indepen

den t thoug ht. W e will develope this as we proceed, without

revealing the secrets of any of the rites, in w hich, to neplus vUrOj

the enquirer m ust seek the key and the elucidation. Bu t it m ay

be observed that it is not to the middle ages and Europe merely

th a t the symbolism of the mysteries, of which we are treatin g,

is confined, inasmuch as it is traceable in the architectura l ru in sand remains of Egypt, India, and Palestine, thus proving the

knowledge and association of the builders, or some pa rt thereof,

through a long course of centuries; the separation of the

essentially christian part of a Gothic Ch urch by the rood-screen

corresponds symbolically to the similar triple division of some of

eu r rites. Fo r a s the E gyptians symbolically embodied the ir

mysteries in their architecture, and the Jew s in the Temple of

Solomon, so the Masons in the ir lodges, and in the architec tureof the C hristian Chu rches , embodied the ir ceremonials, and an y

one is but an epitome of the whole range of the Speculative

Mysteries.

In the year A . D . 1118 there sprang into notoriety two assoda-

0 ns—the Hospitallers of S t Jo hn and the K nights of th e



4 1

Temple—^the former had long existed, but became m ilitary by its

conne ction with th e last-named secret brotherhood, which was

instituted by Godfredus Aldemaro Alexandrine and Hugo de

Planco de Paganis.W e will now revert to some curious m atter with which high-

gra de M asonry is supposed to be concerned by tlie profane, in

such a way that every brother, well informed on the high-grades,

an d none other, will be able to comprehend.

Ga briel Rossetti (DisquisiHons on the Anti-Papal Spirit which

produced the Reformation. 2 Vols.) shews tha t the ar t of speaking

an d w riting in a language which bears a double interpretation, is

of very great antiquity; that it was in practice among the Pries ts

o f Eg ypt, brought from thence by th e Manichees, whence it

passe d to the Tem plars and Albigenses; spread over Euro pe, and

bro ug ht about the Reformation.

With the object of proving this he quotes the unequivocal

language of many ancient philosophers, existing prior to the time

ef Arnold de Villanova, who observes in h is Liber Satumi, " t h a t

** the philosophers wrote for their children only, and by their

children I mean those who understand their w orks in their real

*' and not their literal meaning." These sentiments are repeated

by h is pu pil, Raymond L ulli, and the Secrets of Gramm ar, or art

of speaking secretly, was taught to their disciples as the first of

th e seven mystic sciences, known as the Trivium and Quadnvium.

H e shews tha t the Gnostics asserted tha t the Romish Church had

introduced heathen ish elements, and tha t the Pope was the

absolute incarnation of Satan, and Rome—^hell: and, as a matter

of course, the he ad of the ir own sect represented the true Ch rist,

and the ir church heav en, and he adduces proofs of th is from the

year A . D . 1000. H e brings forth the letters of the Gnostio

Cathari, of A . D . 1248, to shew unequivocally that they were

bound by oaths and recognised wherever they went by signs and



42

words. The ir mystio language he term s the gay science, a n d

explains tha t it was founded chiefly upon ideas and words p u t

in opposition to each other, th us carrying out the dotible prin cip le

of Zoroaster. The antithesis of Oay Science was sad ignorance;

and hence to he gay, and to he sad, to laugh, and to weep,

with all their respective synonymes and derivations, signified

to be a sectarian, or to be on the con trary a Pa palist. I n to

th is anti-papal association he affirms tha t D an te, the illustriou s

Florentine poet, was initiated in nine degrees by the Templars

at Cyprus. Prior to this time the Oay Science fixed the

foundation of its language on two words-^v^ and hatred, and

aU their attendant qualities on each side—pleasure and grief,

truth and falsehood, light and darkness, sun and moon, life anddeath, good aud evil, virtue and vice. Heart meant the hidden

secret, fa^ce the outward meaning, and sighs the verses in the

jar go n; but to this list Da nte added many scriptural words, sucli

as God and Lucifer, Christ and Anti-Christ, Angels and Demons,

Paradise and Hell, Jerusalem and Babylon, and he terms the

«ects (Convito 4 Tr.) Prac tical and Speculative. Bo ssetti also

attempts to shew that he was acquainted with the Basilidean

figure of the D ivinity:—(Purg. 1.)

" Low down upon his beard and mixed with hoary wh iteDescended like his locks, which parting fellUpon his breast in double fold. The beamsOf these four luminaries on his faceSo brightly shone and with such radiance clearDeck*d it that I beheld him as the sun.^*

He terms Dante "Father Adam," or the creator of a new

language, because the Inquisitors had discovered the old, andquotes him 'to shew " tha t they are a book written within an d

"^without." Again, " Th e first is the w ords as they are read ;

" t o second is contained in the things which the words signify^

" t h e first is the literal and the second allegorical." Bossetti



43

-avers also that Dante wrote for the more or less initiated

tuscording to the degrees they had, " I n order tha t this canzone

" m ay be be tter understood, I will divide it more artfully tha n

" th e othe rs. To be fully comprehended it should be still more'** m inntely divided; b ut I have no w ish to enlighten those who

*' can not understand it with the divisions I have already m ad e;

'* an d I fear indeed tha t I have disclosed its meaning to too many

alrea dy if they should happen to hear it." (Vita Nuova,)

Bossetti goes on to explain that "the principal anti-papal

sects of the tim es may be reduced to three , viz.:—^the Tem plars,

the A lbigense s, and the G hibellines, who, with one consent, bu t

^ t h different ends in view, conspired against the Pope. T hefact of en ter ing one of these sects was expressed by a symbolic

pilgrimage—^for instance: to go to the Temple of St. John, in

Je ru sa lem ; or to tha t of St. Jam es, in Galicia; or to St. Peter's,

at B o m e ; signified to become a proselyte, e ither of the Society

ofthe Templars, or of the Albigenses, or of the Ghibellines. The

first wa s called Palmers, the second Pilgrims, and the last Romei,

Dante's principles were those of the last sect, but he made use of

many of the symbols and doctrines of the others in his poems,because be ing decidedly anti-papal they rendered great service

both to li is party and its chief. Hence he wrote in the Vita

Nuova: * * Those who are in the service of the Most High are

" called by three names— Palmers, because they go beyond sea

"to the country of Palms; Pilgrims, because they go to the

"house of Galicia; Bomei, because they go to Bome; and those

" whom I call Pilgrims, go there also, to see that blessed image

which Christ left to us, as a copy of his own figure, which is

" seen by the glorious lady of my mind,** The three pillars of

St. Pa ul (Ga l. 2nd Ch.) were thus interpreted by the Albigense s:

" St. Peter— Faith, St. James—Hope, and St. John— Charity.

The Palmers direct their pilgrimage symbolically to the East,

^here the l ight appears; the Pilgrims to the West, where it



44

vauishes; and the Romei to the N orth, w hich i s opposite to the--

light's course, and there it was that Lucifer established his-

throne."

Rossetti asserts that it is in reference to this that Dante tnrote

one of his most charming odes, which, he says, will be easilyunderstood, when we reflect tha t the Templars were originally of"

Egyptian derivation, and that the Albigenses were loi emanation

from them. " Three ladies have encompassed my heart round

•* about. The y stand without, while hve reigns within and rules

" over my life." H e gives the name of uprightness or justice to

the first of the three ladies, but he desires that none except

the friends of virtue shall presume to enquire into the things^

which this keeps veiled; he bids all others rest satisfiedwith the outward flower, without tpucliing the inward fruit,.

Fro m this lady, w ho was to declare herself to none but the firiends

of virtue, and who describes herself as the sister of tlie mother of

that love, who absorbed the hea rt of the poet, were the two o the rs

descended. She tells Love that " W h er e the sun on the N ile

" drives every shadow from the earth, I, Justice, the sister of thy

" mother, brought forth this lady at my side, and she, gazing at

" herself in a limpid fountain, produced the other." Th ese ladiesare figures of the miserable and depressed condition of the three

sects—^Templars, Albigenses, and Ghibellines— which ha d in

earlier times been so flourishing and so respected t ha t the first

counted 40,000 disciples. The sect of Gh ibellines was headed by

the German Emperor, Frederick II., and the new clergy were

appointed " in the City of the Eag le." Light, and the Eag le,

and Pythagorean philosophy, are shewn to be identical.

Boccaccio's Filocopo or Filocolo—a lover of labour—îs aromance which contains every degree, regulation, and vicissitude

of the Secret Society, and relates the reason for the change-

which took place in the languag e. After a death, in one of the

allegorical pilgrimages, was bom a boy, Fhrio, and a girl^^



45

Whiteflower (the persecuted sect), who, when the "necessary"

nine years expired,^ became lovers. T his tale of the ir allegorical

loves shews th e seven progressive degrees of the sect. The work

is divided in to seven books, and the lover is accompanied by seven

mystic companions. After Florio ha s been presented with abiiming sword and a branch of green olive, he changes his n am e

to Filocopo—^workman—and sets out on his pilgrimage with

seven male companions, who change to seven females, whom he

beholds at sea, after v isiting the burial place of D an te. The

four near the prow (Prudence, Fortitud e, Tem perance, an d

Justice), were known to him, but the three who sat near the

stem w ere unknown. On board was a noble youth, aud

Whiteflower, who, with himself, were shipwrecked, but escapingtogether, regaine d the ir vessel, and behe ld a dignified m an

wearing a crown, who explained the nature of the three strange

ladles. T h e first was Vermillion, the second G reen, an d th e

third W hite . Bu t Whiteflower had been shut up in an Egyptian

tower, and Filocopo and hi s seven compan ions set off in search

and bring her from Egypt to Rome. The griffin emblems are

mentioned—half eagle and half lion—figurative of divinity and

humanity—and allusive of the double government of religion and

politics as found ed by Ch rist and CsBsar. En tering Bome Filocopo

saw a pa inti ng in the church of St. Jo hn th e Bap tist, represen t

ing the figure of the Saviour, which excited his astonishment, as,

being ig no ra nt of three of th e ladies, he knew not the meaning

of the bleeding side, neither why the hands and feet should bear

the marks of the cross. The aged H ilariu s, one of the K nights

of God, finally induced him to tur n Ch ristian, an d explained to

him the H ol y Scriptures from th e creation, rebellion of th e

spirits, punishment and creation of the first pair, descending tothe history of our Saviour, from His incarnation to His resurrection.

7.—The a llegor ical ages were formerly: E . A . ,3 ; F .G . ,5 ; M .M .,7; P .M . ,0 ;B.A., 27 ; B.C ., 54 ; N .P .U , 81. These are found upon the Templar Certificates of last century.



46

Filocopo repea ts the Apostles Creed, dwelling particularly o n

the descent into hell, and the resurrection from the dead.

Hilarius then directs Filocopo to the only true Ugkt, an d

conmiands him to wash in this holy fount and adorn himself

with the virtues of Fa ith, Hope , and Cha rity. One of th eKnights of Ood baptises Filocopo, and shews him the image of

Ch rist, brought from Jerusalem by Vespasian, and also t h e

seamless robe which he wore.

Boccaccio left several other works, written in th is jargon , wh icli

all refer to Dante, as to a great model; two of them, which are

also in the form of pilgrimages, are more dear and decisive than

the one we have just examined, and place beyond a doubt the

fact that Dante borrowed his style of figurative writing from theTemplars and Albigenses.

In the " Amorosa Visione " we again find the four cardinal and

three theological virtues, the latter again corresponding to the

pilgrimages—Êast, South, and North, where is the throne of

Lucifer. In the "Cominedia deUe Ninfe Fiorentine" he explains

the seven degrees by which the blind are gradually enlightened

by seven ladies, who turn out to be the seven virtues. " H er e we

are nymphs but in heaven stars."

Another tale from the " Decameron " is interpreted to signify

the initiation of D ante , by the Templars, in Cyprus. Elis ei,

returning disguised as a Pilgrim from the /Sepulchre, met four of

hi s brothers (the cardinal virtues) mourning his death. H e

discovered th e cause in a vision. Sitting alone he thou gh t he

saw the ceiling open, and three men descend with a beautiful

maiden, and from their discourse he discovered that these were

the three men who had put his image to death, ^ After this he

e.—^Hntchinson interp rets the three ruffians of our rite to m ean the world, t h eflesh, and the deyil.

It is asserted in the " D ut ch Freem ason's Almanack, of 1817," tha t:—" Som etime before the total destruction of the Order of the Tem plars, acertain Junior Prior of Montfaucon called * Carolus de Monte Carmel, *was murdered by three traitors, wherehy it is thou ght the first death- blow



47

waa str uck at the Order Tn e murderers concealed his body underthe ea rt h; and in order to mark the spot, planted a youn g thorn tree upo nit . l l i e K nights of the Temple in searching for the body had their attention drawn to that particular spot by a tree, and in that manner theydiscoyered his remains."

The fol lowing similarity also occurs in the evidence against the En glis hTem plar s. Robert of Otheringham, a m inorite, said ^' One even ing m yPrior di d not appear at table as relics were come from Pa lestine which he

wish ed to shew the brethren. About midn ight I heard a confused no isein the cha pe l; I got up , and looking through the keyh ole saw th at i t wasligh ted . In the morn ing I asked a brother, 'W ho was the Saint i n wh osehonour they had celebrated the festival during the night ?' He turned palewith terror, thinking I had seen something, and sa id ' Ask me not. and ifyou value your life say noth iog of it before th e Superior .'" Anotuer witne ss said th at the son of a Templar had peeped through the slits of t hedoor into the chapter room, and saw a new m ember p ut to death forhesitating to deny Christ—f-Secre* Societies of the Middle Ages. J

brings the three murderers to punishment, and reconciles the

J(mr hrothers with Aldobrandino (the Emperor), the husband of

Ermellina (fairness), whose secret lover he was. The man who

was really dead was the robber, Boniface, of Pontriemoli (Pope

Boniface).

In the " Urban" connecting Frederick I. and the Albigenses,

by the children. Urban and Specuh, four ambassadors fail to

ensure peace, when three false ones succeed by marrying Urban

to Lueretia—the Catholic doctrine.

There are numberless other allegorical pilgrimages, and in all

these writing s the three days of Holy Week appear prominently,

and the first hour of the day. W e also find frequent allusions tothe rebuilding of Jerusalem and the return of her people.

The silence, fortitude, and constancy with which the Templars

endured th e m ost cruel tormen ts and death, upon the*destruction

of their ord er (1307-14) by Ph ilip le B el, Kin g of Fr an ce , an d

Bertrand de Goth, Pope of Bome, are recorded by Boccaccio in

terms of unqualified praise, and our army, as he always calls

them, are held up by him as models for the imitation of othe rs.

Nor did the se severities, says B ossetti, crush t he school to which

they belonged, the su rvivors, in the ir wanderings throughout

Europe, carrying these mysteries with them, and to prove the



48

triple division of nine classes,^ he quotes the following (Conv,

p . 112 ):— " H is spouse and secretary, of whom Solomon sang,,

' ' says , thinks, and preaches that his creatures will become

' ' innumerable; she divides them into three holy or divine

principalities, or hierarchies, and these again into three orders,so that the Church (the Secretary to the Emperor of the

Universe) contains nine orders of spiritual creatures."

Freemasonry, he asserts, in short, is a secret society of

Templars, organised in tha t form after the suppression, with t h e

object of avenging their overthrow on the first favourable

occasion.

It is well known that the Templar Order in England was

dissolved on the proofs of Gnostic knowledge brought ag£înstthem, and this taint of heresy under the Roman Catho lic

standard was figured in the black and white, or opposite

principles, of their celebrated war-banner or Beau-seant, and is

generally admitted by ancient and modern writers. The y d oubtless

acquired their knowledge in the East, where remnants of the

Essenian and other secret schools existed at the tim e ; and th e

Archbishop of York, whilst condemning them for Gnosticism,

placed them in the religious houses of his diocese.

The initiatory ceremony of the Templars was secret, bnt

resembled the older rite of the Essenes, and their constitution

9.—Vide page 50, also ch. ill , aod the accoan t of th ^ 260 at the close. The Tabernacle of Moses and the Temp le of Solomon included the Court, the H olyPla ce, and the S.S., and were emblematical oft he Trerestrial, Celestial, an dAng elic worlds. Th e first contained th e altar of earthy matter, hav ing o nit a continual fire, and surrounded by water, symbolical of the four elem en ts ;

, the second r epresented th e firmament, and the third was the dwe lling-placeof the Most H igh and contained the Ark. St. Gregory the Great thu s drawathe doctrine of the Cabalistical hierarchy of Angels from Scripture: *' W espeak of n ine orders of An gels because we know from the testim ony o fHoly Writ that there are Ang els , Archangels , Virtues, Powers, P rinc ipalit i es ,Dom inations, Thron es, C herubim, and Seraphim ; for tbat there areAn gels and Archangels almost all the pages of the sacred writings tes tify .The books of the Pro phe ts, as it is know n, often speak of C herubim an dSeraphim. Pa ul^ he Apostle , a lso reckons up the names of four orders w he nwriting to the Ephesians, sayiuR, * Above all. Principality, and Pow er,,and Vii-tue, aud D omin ation,' who. w riting to the CoUosians, again aa^ s,'whether Thrones , or Pow ers ,or Pr inc ipa l i t ies ,or Dom inat ions . '" Th aCh inese have nine orders of Mandarins, with coloured globular but ton s.



40

was same as tha t of m odem Freem asonry. Indeed, D r.

Anderson, when he wrote his Masonic Constitution in 1728,

-claimed that the ceremonials of these knightly associations were

•derived from Freem asonry. They employed a Council of thir tee n

members, and Baron Westerode (Acta Latamorum) supposes thatihe degree of Bose Croix was transferred to the Templars by an

Egyptian Priest, converted to Christianity, named Oresemus,

and tha t in A . D . 1296 Edw ard I . of En gland, the son of H en ry

n i . of England, ^ 0 was admitted into the order by Baymond

LnUi, the grea t pioneer of the B osicru cians, the advocate for the

imion of t he Templars, K nigh ts of St, Jo hn , and all orders of

Knighthood, and the friend of John Cremer, Abbot of West

minster, and the celebrated monkish philosopher and alchemist,Roger Bacon. The re is really grounds for supposing that

Edward I . was an initia te; h e made th e Crusade to Palestine,

and invited to England Gu ide dalla Colonna an d Baym ond Lulli^

who coined him six millions of money, under the name of Bose-

nobles. W rite rs thin k that the re is evidence of initiation in the

depositions of the " Knig hts of th e Tem ple of Solomon," tak en

ut their tria ls in 1807-9. Von Hammer, the eminent Orientalist,

informs us that in some of the churches formerly belonging tothem, strictly Masonic emblems are found, as at Erfu rt, Schoen-

Sâben, Prague, &c.; and from the last he gives several

specimens—the square, level, triangle, compasses, compasses

with quadrant, the interlaced triangles, the maul, the flaming

star, th e tru nca ted cross, the Tau of th e G nostics, &c. n H e

endeavonrs to derive their knowledge from the "^des 8apientc"

or "H on se of Solomon," founded at Cairo in the eleventh cen tury,

10 .^Hi8 descendan t,Edwa rd m instituted tho "Order of the Garter" in 1344,and ordered that its habit shou ld be worn on the days of th e five solenuaifestivals of the Virgin Mary. Jen nin gs finds a B osicrucian origin in thesymbolism of the order.

ll<-~It is to be observed however that the Temp lars m ust necessa rily hare em ployed a large number of operative M aso ns; and the ancient Borgh-Lawsof Scotlan d enacted that:—?' Na Templar sal introm et with any merohan-'* dise or gudes pertaininff to the glide, be buying or selling within or" withou t their a in lands, outg\fhe be ane gilde brother."



60

where Egyptian philosophy and soiences were taught by nine

degrees, "after the fashion of the Pythagorean and I n d ia n

philosophers." Th e rite, he supposes, led gradually to infide lity,

bu t wh ilst accepting his facts, we may be permitted to doubt so m eof his conclusions, although he is supported by old Arabian

writers; inasmuch as the society was a secret one, no fully

accurate information can hav e descended to us . I t m ay b e

added that we find the old Templars swearing "by Sun and

Moon," and A ddison, in his " EListory of the T em plars ,' ' s ay a

th at in one of the Fr en ch Preceptories was found a copper me dal

lion (which seemedHx) have been suspended by th e neck from a

chain), bearing within a circle two equilateral triangles , in t h ecentre of which is a second circle, containing the Lam b of th e

Order of the T emple, with the b anne r in its fore paws. T h ia

figure is used by the Indian Brahmins in a sort of portable

crystal altar, of a peaked form on lotus leaves , in which the tw o

triangles symbolise th e male and female principle, and the a ng les,

caused by the intersection, allude to th e Bra hm inical trin ity.

It is moreover a figure common to the Cabalistical and Gnostic

sects of all times. A recent writer observes tha t " the Tem ple

"Church, London, will be found to abound in Bosicrucian

" hieroglyphs and annagramatical hints in all parts, if reference

" be made to it by an attentive en quirer." Th e same claim is

made by other writers for the Freem asons, and one of th e chief

12.—This college is supposed to have orinnated the Society of Assassins, calledalso Ishmaelites and Bathenians, irom their knowledge of secret m yste riesand their mean ing. Jacob de Vitriaco, Bisho p of Acre, ( D . 1213), says ofthem :— " they are for the m ost part Moham medans, but say that the y h avea certain hidden law which it is not lawful for any one to reveal, exc ept totheir children when they com e to adult age." We have previously rem arkedthat this system is pos sesse d in our day by the inhabitants of Syr ia andthe Lebanon. In a similar way it is alleged that the Templars had su ch &** hidden law," to wh ich its safe men were admitted.

1 3 . . T i d e *' No tes on the S vi Jantra," Freemason's Magazine, 1861, page 484.14 _ T h e P arisian Templars assert that there is a connection between the recen t

Nish ki letter, and the Cnfic characters, and that the origin of th e sec re taofthe Order of the Temple is contemporary with the prevalence of thelatter alphabet. Their " Charter of Transm ission," certainly as old as1706, and laying claim to date in 1314, m ention s certain secret m ea ns o frecognit ion.



61

argoments used in defence of the Templars by Jaqaes de Molay

was their zeal in adorning churches; hence they necessaiily

employed a large num ber of handicraft bro ther s. W e may also

divide the ceremonials of reception by the Templars into a tripledivision of civil, sacred, and m ilitary, as the three classes

of Se rva nts, Pries ts, and Kn ights were admitted by ceremonials

similar to each other, but altered to suit the duties of each.

We are not, however, to suppose that every Gnostic, Templar,

or Bosicrucian was a possessor of our mysteries; we are only

aske d to believe th at our rites were introduced by the G nostics

and Cabalists, and transferred to the Te mp lars, Bosicrucians, and

Free m ason s. Th ere can be no doubt whatever that the Gnosticassociations spread early into En gland . Th e Abbe Pluqe t,

rem arking on this, says that '* by all the monuments of the time

" of the Albigenses, these he retics were a branc h of the M anichees

" o r Ca thari. The y made great progress in Languedoc and

" Provence, and though many of them were burnt the sect was

" n o t destroyed. Th ey made their way into Germ any and

" E ng lan d, and everywhere gained jpaany proselytes. The M ani-

" chees seduced numbers of people, and their sect was considered" by the simple minded to be a society of Christians who made

" profession of an extraord inary perfection." As M anicheism is

founded on two opposite principles, so when these sectarians

followed the religion of the Pope they always understood that

they were paying homage to the God of evil and hatred, as

opposed to the God of good and love. An other Gnostic bran ch,

headed by Walter Lollard, and his twelve apostles, united with

th e followers of Jo hn WycHfife in Eng lan d. Chaucer (B. 1828n . 1400) was one of th eir num ber, and obliged to quit En glan d

for a time; whilst in Italy he visited Petrarch, the colleague of

Dante; throughout his works we find the alchemical and other

wise veiled language, and marked resemblance to our secret

m ysterie s. Th e celebrated poet and lawyer, Jo hn Gower (B. 1820



62

D . 1402), the friend of Chancer, wrote also in the double lang nage ,

and his monument in St. Saviour's, Southwark, represents him

crowned with a wreath of roses, andhaving the three virtues at

hi s feet. i»

The lodges of the En glish Freemasons thu s, doubtless, con ti

nued and acquired a variety of sciences, the secretly heretical

owners of which were mingled and lost in the Reformation;

amongst these were alchemical adepts or actual searchers for the

philosopher's stone, as well as searchers for the symbolical stone

which the builders rejected. Du Fresnoy enumerates ten

Alchem ists before the Ch ristian era, twenty-one more to A . D . 1000,

after which the number increases rapidly; in the eleventh

century he names five, in the twelfth three, in the thir teentheleven, in the fourteenth fifteen, in the fifteenth seventeen, in the

sixteenth thirty, and in the seventeenth century sixty-seven.

One of the oldest authors extant, who speaks of making gold, is

Zosimus, the Pano polite, who lived tow ards thebeginning of the

fifth century , andwho has an express treaty " Of the divine art

of making gold and silvery

Amongst the Ph ysicians, Cabalists, and Alchemical adepts,whoseorder and doctrines were brough t from Egy pt, chiefly by learne d

Jews , as early as the eighth century, may be mentioned Roger

Bacon (B . 1214 D . 1294), Albertus Magnus (B. 1234 H . 1314),

Nicholas Flamel, Basil Valentine (B. 1414), Theophrastus

Paracelsus Bom bast Von Hohenheim (B. 1493 D . 1641), " Monarob

of Philosophers, Prince of Spagyrists, Chief of Astronomers,

Parado xical Physician , and Grand M aster of M echanical Secrets."

15.—" The magician who wil l acquire supema tural powers m ust pos sess Faith," Hope, and Charity."—Agrippa.16.—Albertus M agnus was a Dominic ian monk, 1S49, Beotor of the School of

Cologne, 1S54, ProTincial of his Order and Bishop of Begenbetg. 1260, butin 1262Toluntarily returned to his cloiater at Cologne. He is the allegeddesigner of Cologne Cathedral, and the real inyentor of the Oerman styleof architecture, as well as of a combination of numbers and architecturaldev ices . The Judaic stamp upon our mysteries might result from thediffusion of this Cabalistical SohooL



53

This association of learned men, afterwards called Fire-Philoso

ph er s or KosicmciaQS, a s w ill be shewn, had much in common

with Speculatiye Masonry, and was itself both speculative and

operative, or concealed Theosophy under Alchemical jargon.

The actual key to their art and operative symbolism, seems to liein the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, as a sort of

unive rsal ke y to all the secrets of nature.

They seem to have taught that all matter consists of three

principles—Body (sulphur or mere earth), Soul (fire or mercury).

Spirit (the essential salt). The first matter qf all metals and

substances is one fixed something, altered only by the diversities of

place, wa rm th, and stdphurs. This something is styled mercury,

or th e green lion, the serpent, and is the seed. Sem inal imp ressions being lodged in the mechan ism of the earth , the fire acts

thereon, and by the watery fermentations brings everything

forth, whence originally proceeded the animal, vegetable, and

mineral kingdoms; even man himself, agreeably to the account

of M oses . Theâlchemical operative ar t seems to have consisted

in the sepcuration of this Mercury—soul or water of life—^from the

sp irit, salt, or sperm contained in the ore, and the purification and

alteration of the earthy p art. He nce the first was the W oman,

W ife, Queen, or Moon (L un a); the second th e Man, Hu sband ,

K in g , Su n (Sol). This conjunction was indicated by the point

within a circle, as a fixed centre from which everything

rad iate s. From the three principles sprang fire, air, earth, and

1 7 . — " Th e who le w orld surroands ma n, and is surrounded as a point is surroundedhy a oircle. Thu s it follows that all thin gs have their im pulse in theiroentre."—(Faratfelsus.) " Then ce come s the kinsh ip of all souls who haveall the ir origin in thi s origin al soul as in the ir central point."—<Fludd.)** In sympathy the emanations proceed from the centre to the circu mferen ce,and in antipathy from the circumference to the centre."—(Fludd.) " Thesu n is the cen tre of the co nstellations, and the earth the ce ntre of the

elements."--<Boehme.) " Seein g then that the will of the Father is theeternity of the first, therefore also he is the first person in the Ternary, vi z :th e centre itself.—"(Bmhme.) "All thiuffs are generated out of th e centre,and ou t of that wh ich is generated all thing s are created w hich are inbeing."—(BcBhme.) " They who say that the sun goeth forth speak as theblind do of colours, and have never known the centre, yet they are not tohe blam ed for that, for it was hidden till th e 8eal of the Sun o p e n e ditself at the eeventh iounding ofthe trumpet "—{B cbhme.) '



64

Water. By the proportionate addition of metal in the he ated

I alembic, at the proper degree of process, arose a noble offspring,

staled the Quijitessence, or a fifth dement, also nam ed Salamander,

Phoenix, and Son of the Sun. Th is noble child, or Parad isaical

fruit, was the result of this philosophical male and female readyfor a conjunction, but if too much moisture prevailed, the egg

migh t burs t before hatching. As the application of hea t continued,

the contents of the alembic, or Pelican, assumed different hues—

black (called head-of-the-crow), varied (called peacock's-tail),

then green, white, yellow, and finally red. W e find lead denom i

nated Saturn; tin, Jupiter; iron, Mars; quicksilver, Mercury;

copper, Ven us; silver, L u n a; gold, Sol; and these applications

are very ancient, and made again to correspond w ith the prism aticcolours and days of the week. They were thu s enabled to write

in a jargon intelligible only to the initiated. Th e Quintessence

was said to have the power of prolonging life, and transmuting

one metal into another; of these modem chemists find about

sixty metals and metalloids. The se alchemical secrets they

embodied in the Masonic symbol of a circle enclosing a square,

the comers representing the four elements; within that a triangle,

each angle of which represents one of the three principles; within

the triangle a point within a circle, and from the point a line across

We may extend the resemblance by com paring the sym bol with th eastronl hypothesis of a central son—A lcyone. In Fhcenician the term Bon,need by tne Gn ostics, signifies a central point of development, as Io nsignifies the generative faculty. It is the famous Yoni of the Indians, Tnof the C hinese, and the Ionia of the Greeks. It is further the tree of whioli

« Argus constructed the ship Argo.We have pf eviously mentioned the fact that whilst the Egyptian s had n o

tradition of a general deluge, the Brahmins allegorioally hinted a Phalliosignification. Their remote ancestors the Aryans have recorded no su chdeluge , but the V endidad m entions the " Cave of Yima or king Jamshed "where in God bade this ancient monarch of all t he Aryans to send forth atonc e a pair of all sorts and classes of animals, as well as the seed s of aUM uds of trees and flowers, as the Airyana Va^6, or the original abode o fall the A ryans, for the first time was to be submerged by a sort of " oyolicaldeluge," in shape of a severe winter storm whicn would render that lan dunfit for future ha bitatio n. The Aryan root Na or Ntue means to sa i l , andas the Babylonians placed Zoroaster as their firat king, Mr. Jam ahedjeePalloz\iee seem s justified in hi s supposition that as thi s was the firstseparation of the Aryan clans, so the Semetic people copied their accountas an actual deluge: and further that Genesis gives the Japhetic or Aryanpeople an historical place before the Sem etic.



55

to each nde. The inscription is formed to read as follows:—

^' From the first ens proceed two contraries, from thence the three

' 'prin cip les , and from them the four elem ents; if yon separate

" the pore from the impure you obtain the Quintessence"

These alchem ists were, in fieust, both operative adepts and

speculative Theosophists, of the Gnostic school; and Hossetti,

:finding it difficult to sepa rate th e two, cuts th e knot as follows:—

" The Rosarium of the great alchemist, Arnold de Yillaneuva,

exp lains the progress of the different degrees of the M an-Lad y,

who is first parted in two and then re-united with two faces,

o n e mascuHne the other feminine. The language in which it

is vmtten is founded on the Scriptural verse, the Stone was

Christ, 1 ® and it describes man as a stone, first rough and afterw ard s polished, and hence called the Ph ilos of ^c stone ; an

expression whence came that absurd theory of the so-called

alchemists, who, in another form, possessed the same ideas as

w e a re explaining, and were tortured and burned by the Inqu isi

tio n for them . Th e * Key of Masonry ' explains the principal

mystery of the alchemical jargon, which is but another branch of

t h e cfymbolical language. One of the most anc ient works written

o n the secret sciences is the Tesoro of Alphonso X., King ofCastile, who declares that he learned it from a wise Egyptian,

vrho enjoined him to conceal it from the imworthy."

Synesius, taking similar ground, says: ' 'Enow that the

< 2 ^t e ss en c6 and hidden thing of our ' Sto ne ' is nothing less

th a n our celestial and glorious Sotd, drawn by our magistery out

of its mine, which engenders itself forth." i®

According to an Am erican writer, M an is the object of the

IS ^ Y id e the qaotation from BcBhme oloeing this chapter.19 .—Dr. Eopp in his History of Chem istry says ofthe a lchemists , by considering

" the world as the microco sm which man repre sents, it would be easy to" interp ret the writings of the alch emists." With them the doctrines qfChrist were receiyed as tm th , bnt rather because the " wisdom of the doc-** trines establidied the tmth of Christianity and not miracles."

20 .—" Remarks upon Alchemy aU d the Alchemists" Bosto n. Crosby, Niohols& Co.1857, by £ . A . H itchcock.



66

learned treatises of the ancient alchemists. H e observes that

the alchemical language was called by those who used it Lingua

Magvca, Lingua Angelorum, and sometimes Lingua ipsius Temarii

Sancti, " The writings of the Alchemists are all symbolical—

(fire signifies the conscience)—and under the words gold, silver,lead, salt, sulphur, mercnry, antimony, arsenic, orpiment, sol,,

luna, wine, acid, alkali, and a thousand other words and expres

sions, infinitely varied, may be found the opinions of the several

writers upon the great questions of God, Nature, and Man, all

brought into or developed from one central point, which is Man,

as the image of God " " When the Alchemists speak of

a long life, as one of the gifts of the Stone, they mean imm orta

lity ; when they attribute to the Stone the virtues of a UniversalMedicine, and the cure of all diseases, they mean to deny a

positive natu re to evil, and thus deny its perpetuity; when they

tell us that the Stone is the ' cut-throat of covetousness and all

evil desires,' they mean that all evil affections disappear in the

light of tn^th, as darkness yields to the presence of light*'

According to this writer, it was by the labours of these men, in

the llth, 12th, Idth, and 14th centuries, that Europe was

sufficiently indoctrinated in the principles of free-enquiry to make

it safe to speak openly as Luther did. To show the necessity of

esoteric writing, we need only look at the fate of Vanini and

Bru no, and thousands of others, burned at the stake, or otherwise

cruelly destroyed by the ignorant priesthood of the time. W e

give short extracts from some of the alchemists, in view of

which the author supports his theory, as to the true object of

the Hermetical philosophy.^

Geber, the Arabian, wr ites : " We have described it [the Stone]

" in such a way of speaking, as is agreeable to the will of the

" M ost H igh, Blessed, Sublime, and Glorious God, and our own

** mind. W e have written the same as it happened to be recol-

" looted, or as it was infused by the grace of His Divine goodness,

'* who gives it to and withholds it from whom he wiU" Again, he



C4

67

says: "Dispose yourself to exercise to the study with great

industry and labour, and a continued deep med itation, for by

" these you may find it and not otherwise" Ag ain: " If we have

concealed anything, ye sons of leaming, wonder not, for we

have not concealed it from you, but have delivered it in suchlang uag e as that i t m ay be hid from evU men, jm d that

th e unjust and vile might not know it. Bu t, ye sons of

'* t m t h , search and you shall find this most excellent gift of

" G o d . "

T h e En glish translation of a work said to have been

w rit te n in Arabic, by Alipili, entitled Centrum Natures Con-

centrum, or the " Sa lt of Nature Eegenerated," has the following:

— " H e tha t ha th the knowledge of the Microcosm cannot long be" ignorant of the Macrocosm. Th is is that which the Egy ptian

*' ind ustr iou s sea rchers of na ture so often said and loudly pro

claimed—that every one should ENOW HIMSELF . This speech,

'' th e ir du ll disciples (the Gbreeks) took in a m oral s en se ; and,

" in ignorance, affixed i t to their Tem ples. Bu t I adm onish thee,

" whosoever thou art, that desirest to dive into the inmost parts

" of n a tu re ; if tha t which thou seekest thou findest not w ithin«

< thee, thou wilt never find it without thee"

Artephius, who write in the twelfth century, has the following

passages:—*^ T hi s aqua vita, or water of life, being rightly

'* orde red and disposed with the body, it wh itens it, and con-

" ve rts or changes it into a w hite colour, (purifies it). Ho w

^'precious, then, and how great a thing is this w ater! for

witho ut it the work could never be done or p erfected : it is

" also called V<u Nathra, the belly, the womb, the receptacle

"of th e tincture, the earth, the nurse . I t is the Royal fountain,' ' in which the King and Queen bathe themselves; and the

" mother, which must be pu t into and sealed up within the belly

" of he r infant, and th at is Sol himself, who proceeded from her

^'aiid wh om she brou ght fo rth; an d therefore they have loved



58

" one another as mother and son, and are conjoined together,

' 'be ca us e they came from one root and are of the same substance

'. 'and nature. And because this water is the water of th e

" vegetable life it cau ses the dead body to vegetate, increase, a nd

" spring forth, and to rise from death to life, by being dissolved" first and then sublimed." H e goes on to say t h a t — i n this

" operation the body is made a spirit, of a most sub tle n a tu re ;

" and again, the spirit is corporified and changed into the nature

" of the body, with the bodies whereby our stone con sists of a

" body, a soul, and a spirit."

The Boman de la Bose begun by W illiam de Lo rris, was com

pleted by Jean de Meung, and is itself one of the most complete

specimens of H erm etic philosophy extant. I t was written in th e

double language of love and alchemy, to satirise the monks,

about tlie year 1282, as the Templars are mentioned as an

existing order; and it merited the translation of the English,

poet, Geoffery Chaucer.

Bernard, of Treves, (B. 1406) says:—" These solutions, there*

"fore , are not the foundation of the Art of Transmutation, hnt

" they are rather the impostures of sophistical Alchemists, who

" think that this sacred art is hid in them."

Nicholas Flammel in one place writes of " the three persons

" rising again clothed in spark ling white,which represent the body,

soul, and spir it of our white stone I could easily giv e

" you mo st clear comparison and exposition of th is body, soul^

" and spirit, not fit to be divulged ; bu t should I explicate them ,

" I must of necessity declare things which God reserves to

" Himself, to reveal to a select few of such as fear and love Him,"and therefore ough t not to be written"

Combachius says — " L et me entreat you to take notice tha t

" w hen you find any m ention made of heaven, earth, soul, sp irits,

" or our heaven, &c.—these are not meant the celestial heavei}.



69

"or natural earth, but terms used by the philosophers to obscure

** their sayings from the wiched; spoken with all due and holy

"rev ere nce to the Divine Majesty."

Sandivogions sa ys ;— "I would have th e courteous reade r to

" be here admonished that he und erstand my writings, not so" m u c h from the outside of my words as from the possibility of

n a tu re ; lest afterwards he bewail his time, pains, and costs,

all spent in vain. Let him consider that this art is for the unse;

no t for the ignorant, &c. . . . Th ere is abundance of knowledge,

yet bu t little truth known . The g enerality of our knowledge is bu t

as Cas tles in the air, or groundless fancies. I know but of two

"ways that are ordained for the getting of wisdom, viz.—the

" Book of G od, and the Book of N at ur e; and these also but as" they are read with reason. W hen God made man after h is

"o w n image, how was tha t? W as it not by making him a

" rational creature ? Men, therefore, that lay aside reason in the

"reading of Sacred Mysteries, do hut unman themselves, and

" become further involved in a lab yrinth of errors ."

Ba sil Valentine (B. 1414) wrote of man under a great variety

of symbols, but h is principal work is tha t entitled TJie Triumphal

Chariot of Antimony, A few passages will show similarity ofsty le with the othe rs. " D ea r Ch ristian lover, and well-wisher

" to the blessed a rt : how graciously and miraculously ha th the

" H o ly Trinity created the Philosopher's stone. Fo r God the

F at he r is a spirit, and yet maketh himself known under the

" notion of a m an ; as when he speaketh (Gen. Ch. I.) ' L et us

" m a k e man after our own image.' Again, the expression

wh ere he speaketh of his mouth, eyes, hands, and feet: so the

philosopher's mercury is held to be a spiritual body, as philoso

ph ers call him . God the Fath er begetteth his only Son, Je su s

"C hr ist , w hich, is God and Man and is without s in ; neither

" heed ed he to die, but h e laid down his life freely and rose again

"f o r hi s bre thre n and sisters' sake, tha t they might live with him



60

Thomas Robinson's " De Lapide Phihsophorum," and many

other poetical works all run upon the same allegory of the " Great

Work."

Isaac HoUandus says:—" My child, lock this up in thy heart

** and understanding; this Saturn is the Stone which the philo-

" sophers will not name, its name has been concealed unto this day.

" The name remains concealed because of the evils which might

"proceed from its being known Wherefore admonish yon,

" my child, and all those who know its name, that you conceal

" it from the people, by reason of the evil that might otherwise

" arise, and you shall call the Stone our Latten, and call the'f vinegar water, wherein our Stone is to be washed."

One reason for using the " Hermetic language" was that i t

was believed to be better for society that men should be held to

'* eternally, without sin. So is Sol, or Oold, without defect, and

" if fixed, holds out gloriously in all fiery examens; but by rea*

" son of its imperfect and sick brethren and sisters, it dieth and

"riseth gloriously, redeemeth and bringeth them unto eternal

" life, making them perfect unto good gold."

Thomas Norton, in the fifteenth century, refers, in the 6tli

chap, of his Ordinal, to the four Cardinal and three Theological

virtues, as follows:—

Moreover it helpeth in Alchemy,To know seven waters effectually" By these waters men weene in mind.All faults to amend of MetaJine kind** Noble authors, men of glorious fame.

Called our STONB, Microcosrms by name.Sir George Ripley wrote Compound of Alchemy:

" For as of one mass was made, all thingsBight, so most it in our practise be ;All our secrets of one image most springIn Philosophers' books; therefore who wishes may seeOur STONE is called the less world,—one in three."



61

their duty by "hope and fear" than be exposed to injury by a

misunderstood doctrine of freedom; for man is not free by

denying the false, but by living in the truth. " The truth âll

"make you free" was the doctrme both of the Gospel and of

Alchemy.•

I n addition to the Alchemists and Magicians whom we have

mentioned, there were many others of more or less note:—^Peter

of Abano or Apona, near Padua, B . 126 0; among his works,

frequently printed, is a Heptameron, including Elucidarium

Necromantieum, Elementa M agica, dc* In the year 1266, Picatrix,

of Spain, compiled from 224 old books a magical work, afterwards

translated out of Arabic into Latin; it exists only in M.S.Cecco d'Ascoli, a learned philosopher, who wrote too freely in

neglect of the double or esoteric language, was burnt for his

Astrology at Florence, in 1827. Nicholas d*Asculo, in the region

of Ancona, lourished. 1880, was a Dom inician, and wrote, beside^

theo logy, comments on Aristotle; still in M .S. Thaddseus

Florentinus was accounted in the thirteenth century another

Hippocrates among his patients at Bologna. Bobert of York, a

Dondnician, lived about 1850, and wrote De M agia Cceremoniali;

on Alchemy, De Mysteriis Seeretarum, and De MiribUibus

Elementorum; none of these passed from M.S. George A nselm,

of Parma, was, in the fifteenth century, a famous physician,

mathematician, and astrologer; his Institutes of Astrology are

am ong the M.S.S. in the Vatican. Cologne was at this time one

of the chief emporiums of commerce, architecture, and leaming,

concentrating these from both east and west; its noted cathedral

contains a smcdl marble chapel, lighted by lamps kept continually

burning, where are contained the skulls of the three Magi orwise men of the east; behind the altar is the tomb of these " three

Maga" and behind the tomb three gothic windows cast their ligh t

over the tasselated pavement. The fall of Constantinople in

1468 farther difidsed Greek leaming over the west by the



62

banishment of its sons. Th en flourished Joh n Reuc hlin, the-

Phoenix of Germans, and teacher of Luther, Erasmus, and

Melancthon, great in the Cabala or esoteric reading of scripture,

author of a book on the Miiific Word, or miraculous properties'

of the King N am e, which we write Jehbva h, but which the Jew&refused to pro nou nce; and, the colleague of Giovan ni Pico de

Mirandolo in Italy . " God (says Reuchlin) out of love to hi s

people has revealed the hidden mysteries to some of them, and

these could find in the dead letters the living spirit. F o r Sc rip

ture consists of single letters, visible signs, which stand in certain

connexion with the angels, as celestial and spiritual em anations

from God. By the pronounciation of one the others also a re

aflected; but with a true Cabalist, who penetrates the whole

connexion of the earthly with the heavenly, these signs, rig htly

placed in connexion with each other, are a way of p utting him

into immediate union with the spirits, who, through tha t, are

bound to satisfy his wishes."

Henry VI., of England, î was addicted to Alchemical studies,

and had a parliam entary comm ission issued to " three lovers of

truth and haters of deception," who boasted that they could not

only transmute metals, but could imp art unim paired powers of21.—In the third year of hi s reig n (14:25,) an act was pa ssed to pro hib it th e oon>

federation of Arch itects in Chapters. Dr . Anderson thu s com me nts upo nthe matter at page 45 of the " Gonstitations of 1723," recently rep ub lishe dby Brother B. Spencer. " That act was made in ignorant tim es wh en tru e"l ea m in g was a crime and Geom etry condemned for coxunration, bn t it" cannot derogate from the honour of the anc ient fraternity, who t o be" sure would never encourage any su ch confederacy qf their workinff" brethren. Bn t by tradition it is believ ed that the parliament m en werer*'then too much influenced by th e illiterate clergy who were no t Acc epted" Maso ns, nor understood architecture (as the clergy of som e former ag es,)" and generally thouaht unworthy of this brotherhood, yet thinking they had" an indefeasible r ight to know all secre ts by virtue of auricular confession^** and the Ma sons never confessing anything thereof, the said clergy were

"hig hly offended, & < 5 . "Many ofth e sup posed Orand Master Ma sons put forward by D r. And erson were addicted to the practice of th e occu lt sci enc es. The K nigh ts ofMalta were likewise accused of raising mon ey by me ans of the philosop her'ss tone .

Thom as Norton informs us that one Thom as Dalton had store of theMedicina rubra Philosophorum, or th e Elixir qf Life, which he owned wasleft him for his services by m s master, who was one of the Canons ofLitchfield, and died A . D . 1477.



68

m ind and body by means oi a specific called The motlier and

Queen of medicines, the inestimable glory, ihe quintessence, the elixir

of life. Two of these worthy Kn ights were, Sir Tho ma s Ashton;.

of Ashton-under-Lyne; and Sir Edmund Trafiford, of Traflford.

This last, with the son of the former, became Trustee s of M anches ter G ram m ar School, April 1st, 1524. I t is said that the re

was formerly in the Bodleian Library, Oxford,82 copy of the

exam ination of a Free-mason, taken before King He nry Y I. I n

this it is stated that Masonry had been transmitted through

Pythagoras, and had taught mankind the arts, "Agricultra,

Architectura, Astronomia, Geometria, Num eres, M usica, Poe sie,

Kym istrye, Govem m^nte, and Religionne." Bu t they conceal the

ar t of keeping secrets, tha t so the world may conceal nothing fromth e m ; they conceal the art of working wonders and foresaying

thing s to come, that so the same arts may not be used by th e

wicked to an evil en d ; they also conceal the art of changes, th e '

key to th e secrets of n a tu re ; the w aj of gaining the faculty of

Abra xas, or th e skill of becoming good and perfect without the aid

of hope and fear; and the un iversal language of M asons.

I n the year 1476 a licence for practising A lchemy, w ith cdl kin ds

of m etals and minerals, was granted to one Bich ard Garter. ^

T he abode of that celebrated F ren ch me rchant and financier—

Jac qu es Ooeur, or Cuer, in 1450, at M ontpelier, bore the nam e

of " L a Loge.** Bo rel, who gave an account of it, tells us ih a t it

wotdd seem probable that he belonged to the fraternity of Free

masons, and his being represented on the freizes of his l ouse

with a trowel in his hand, gives an indication that such was the

fact. Bo rel describes L a Logo thu s : — " Three porches may

there be seen in th e form of furnaces, similar to those of Nich olas

" Flam el. On one, the re is one side a Sun, all over fleur-de-lis ;

2d.—The doonmeDt ha s be en pnbHo property for nearly a centnry and a halt*A copy ia said to have been sent in 1696 to Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, bythe oelebrated John Locke.

23.—Bym er.—Foed. torn. Xn.



'4t

"and on the other a full Moon, also covered yni^fleur-de-Ui,

"and surrounded by a hedge or crown, as it were, of thorns,

" which seems to denote the solar and lunar Stone arrived at

" perfection. On another portal is seen on one side a fruit tree,

" with branches of Roses at its foot, and on the tree the arms of"Jacques Coeur [on a chevron, between three human hearts, as

^'man y escallops allusive to th e nam es of Jacq ues an d Coeur.]

" On the other is an escutcheon, and within it what would appear

to represent the chymic character of the Sun [point w ithin a

circle.] On the third portal, which is in the m idst, the re is on

" one side a Stag bearing a banner, and having a collar offleuT'

de-lit, environed with a branch of a tree which represents

Mercury, or the philosophical matter which at the commence-<*ment is volatile and ligh t, as in the S tag ; on the other side is

" a^hield of France, supported by two griflSns."

l a the second year of the reign of King H en ry V II , (1487) an

act w as passed forbidding in En gland " unlawful assemblies, and

" th e giving and receiving words, signs, and tok ens unlawfully.'*

Clavel states that a Society of speculative Brethren was insti

tuted at Florence in 1480. Th e fraternity was styled t he Pla-tonic Academ y" and their H all, which stUl exists, is ornam ented

with Masonic Em blems. An other similar Association, called

the "Company of the Trowel," existed likewise at Florence in

1512. Its emblems were the Trowel, the Gavel, and the Square,

and its patron was St. Andrew. Th e same writer states tha t the

figure of Christ at the Church of S t De nis ha s t he ha nd placed

in a position well known to all Freemasons; also that the dome

of W urtzbu rg, in front'of the entrance to the cham ber of the dead ,ha s two columns with the mysterious inscriptions " J "— " B ."

S4.^ Vid e £ . L. Costello's L\fe qfJacqmei Coeur» The tenn " O.M. of MeohanioalSeore u," used by Paraoeleus, a lso points to the practise of SpeoulatiyeMasonry by the Alob emists , and the reader will gather that otne rs wer eteachers of Architecture and Oeometry.



65

At this period the Architectoral Association in England is

believed to have been under the patronage of King Henry YII,

and the Knights of St. Joh n and the Te m ple; and the English

reformation was Completed by the destruction of this Kn ightly

O rde r and all othe r M onkish institutions, in 1534, by hi s successor, Henry V I I I ; 2 5 neve rtheless, the Order of St. Jo hn and

th e Temple maintained its existence in Scotland down to tlie

year 1600, although it claims to have continued the Grand

M astership, through Viscount Dund ee, (" Bonnie Dund ee ") to

the present time.28

Paracelsus was the Germ an leader of the Fire-philosophers^

and was followed by that learned Theosophist, Henry Cornelius

Agrippa von Nettesheim (B. 1486, D . 1535); both were intenselyanti-papal. A life of the latter h as been compiled by M r. H en ry

Morley, in which he remarks that Agrippa "became a member

"o f a Secret Association of Theosophists—^the foundation of

" wh ich had been a desire to keep thoug ht out of fetters. Ph ys i-

"cian, Theosophist, Chemist, suid now, by the mercy of God,

"B os ic ru ci an became th e style in which a bro ther gloried.**

Agrippa, writing to Trithemius, Abbott, of Wurtzburg says:—

" W e conferred much together about Chemical m atters. M agic," C abalism, and other things which at presen t lie hidden as Secret

** Sciences and Arts.** Abbot Trithemius enjoyed the reputation

of a M agician, and wrote " Steganographia" or the art, by m eans

of a secret writing, of comm unicating our though ts to an abs ent

person. H e, however, explains tha t he merely used the language

25.— The Freemason's Quarterly, 184Q. page 176, gives an apocryphal-leokingdoonment, (extracted irom the minute book of the " Early Orand Encampm en t of En^ and ,") discovered in 1540, in a square oak box under the hig haltar of the Tempkur Church, London . It was handed to Jacob Ulric St.Clair, of Rosly n, who se d escend ant, W illiam S t. Clair, in 1736, gave it to h isnep hew John St. Clair, M .D. , of Old Castle, M eatb, wh ence thi s copy w asmade in 1784. If genuin e it would confirm the accuracy of the prese ntTemplar ceremo nial, and tbat ** the original title given to this order rema insa secret to all but those initiated."—That is K.H.

26.—Dom Calm^t states that the cro ss Dun dee w ore, when he fell at Killiecrankiein 1689, was given him by his brother the Titular Viscou nt; of course ther eia no evidence it had anything to do with Freemasonry.



66

of magic, without resorting to their method of proceeding.

Y et Agrippa claims for himself and Trithem us that, " at a gr ea t

distance, it is possible w ithout any doubt to influence an oth er

person spiritually, even when their position and the distance is

nnknown, although the time cannot be fixed within twenty-fonrhours."27

Landulph, writing to Agrippa, says:—** The bearer of these

* letters is a Germ an, native of Nu rem berg, bu t dw elling a t

" Lyons; he is a curious enquirer after hidden mysteries, a free

**man, restrained by no fetters, impelled by I know not what

" rumour concerning you, desires to sound your depths."

Agrippa wrote also in the double languag e, -yet suffered lik e

the rest^—even to be known as a Gram ma rian was to be know n

as a heretic. H e closes his third book of " Occult Philoso phy "

in the following w ords :— " L et none be angry because I ha ve

concealed the truth of this science in a net of riddles, and dis-

" persed it in sundry places; for it is not hidden from the wise,

** but from the depraved and wicked: and I have written it in

"language which will of necessity keep it a secret from the

" ignorant, but make it clearer to the cultivated intellect." In his

" Vapity of Sciences and Arts " he says :— " Moreover we find" that a most detestable custom has invaded all or most schools

" of learning,28 to swear their Disciples never to contradict

" Aristotle, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, or whoever else may be

" their scholastic God, from whom, if there be any that differ so

" mu ch as nail's-breadth, him they proclaim a scandalous

"heretic, af criminal against the holy sciences, fit only to he

^'consumed in fire and flames." As to Alchemy he declares

he could tell many things were he not as one initiated sworn tosilence.

27.— De OecvUa Philo$ophia.—VLh . m , page 13, Lngd .28.—Fludd in h is "M osaicall Ph ilosop hy" (1638 and 1659,) has the foUowing

oonflnnation of this assertion of scholastio ceremonials and oaths:—" Notwithstanding any alle nan ce wl4ph I haye hy a ceremon ial xite vowed" unto Aristotle in m y youth."



67

The Frenchman, Francis Rabelais (B. 1488, D . 1553), Roman

Oatholic Priest, Platonic Philosopher, Physician, Astronomer,

«nd Heretic, who wrote the allegorical histories of " Oarganta "

an d "Pantagrue l " seems to have been well acquainted with the

literature and symbolical language of the society.

Jerome Cardan (B. 1501, D . 1576), Physician, and Lecturer on

Geometry, Architecture, Astrology, &c., indicates his spiritual

progress thro ug h eight plan ets, in a dream, by the liberal A rts

an d Sciences taugh t in all the schools, and so often alluded to in

th e M asonic Co nstitutions: 1, The Moon, Grammar ; 2, Mercury,

Oeom etry, and Arithmetic; 3, Venus, Music, Divination, and

Poet ry ; 4 , Sun, Morals; 5, Jupiter, Nature; 6, Mars, Medicine;

7, Saturn, A gric ultu re; 8,. Scraps of Knowledge.

Th ere is a somewhat remarkable document, in the L atin

language, professing to be the record of a Masonic meeting of

the period, but discovered recently in Germany, along with

Lo dge m inutes of the H agu e, dated 1637, and styled " Lodge of

th e Valley of Peace." Some learned antiquaries of Leyden have

pronounced the paper and characters to be those of the period; bu t,

as one of the documents implies the existence of other degreesth an the three first, the ir authen ticity are generally denied. The

read er can, therefore, place whatever fedth he pleases upon thi s

doc um ent called the " Cha rter of Cologne," as it is sometimes

pronotmced a forgery in the interests of the High-Grades, though

it really aims at their destruction, by prohibiting anything but

the three first as " schismatic and i r re g u la r ;u n t i l something

more accurate is known, it need only be looked upon as embodying

th e researche s of some learned brother a cen tury ago. ^

T he document is headed—" To extend the glory of Almighty

Clod," aud, besides a preamble claiming to represe nt a genera l

^ .- > T h e " Charter o f Cologne " has often been printed l in En glis h; i t is to hefound in Dr. Bum es ' History of the Templars," the Freemason's Quarterly( 1 8 4 0 ) , th e Freemason's M agazine ( 1 8 6 9 ) , SLO,



68

meeting, at Cologne, of the Lodges or Tabernacles of " London,

Vienna, Amsterdam, Par is, Lyon s, Frankfort, Ham burg, A ntw erp ,

Botterdam, M adrid, Venice, Gh ent, Begiamonte, Brussels, D an t-

zig, Middleburg, Bremen, and Cologne," contains eleven clauses,

distinguished by alphabetical characters. I t informs us : "th at w&"may be devoted to public execration; we are accused of the

" crime of reviving the order of the Tem plars, and gen era lly

" designated by that appellation; '* and goes on to say (A) " T h a t

" the brotherhood of Freemasons, or order of brethren, attached

" to the solemnities of St. John, derive not their origin from the

"Knights' Templars, nor from any other orders of Knights,

" Ecclesiastical or Secu lar," but th at it had its origin from t h e

time when " a few adepts, distinguished by their life, the ir m ora l" doctrines, and the ir sacred interpretation of the A rcanic truths^

" withdrew themselves from the multitude " as " breth ren dedi-

" cated to Joh n." (B) " Tha t our association now, as form erly,

" consists of the three degrees of D isciple, Fellow, and M as te r.

" The last, or Master, admitting of Elect Masters and Superior-

" Elec t Masters." (C) " Th at among the D octors, M asters o f

" this Order, cultivating the sciences of Mathematics, Astronomy,

" and other studies, a m utual interchange of doctrine and li g h t

**^was maintained which led to the practise of electing, out oT

" those who were already Elec t M asters, one in particular w ho

" as excelling the rest, should be venerated as Supreme E le c t

" M aster or Patriarch." (E) " To us it is by no mea ns cle ar

" tha t this association of brethren, prior to the year 1440, w a s

" known by any other name than that of Joanite brethren; but

" at that time we are informed that the fraternity at Valence, in

" F landers, began to be called by the name of Freem asons, from.

" which period, in some pa rts of H anov er, hospitals began to b e" built by the aid and pecuniary assistance of brethren for those

" who laboured unde r th e sacred fire called ' St. An thony's Evil.'

Clause M contains a suspicious allusion to the Lodge at Venice

being " ordained after the ma nner of the Scots." Th e do cu m en t



69

bears date at Cologne-on-the-Rhine, June 24th, 1585, and is

signed by the following:—^Hermanus f (Archbishop of Cologne,

President, the friend and patron of Cornelius Agrippa); Carlton,

(Lord Carlton, the English Ambassador); Jo. Bruce; Fr.Von

XJpna; Cornelius Banning; De Coligny, (murdered at Paris,

when admiral, August 24th, 1572—^massacre of St. Bartholomew

—" And good Coligni's hoary hair all drabbled with his blood.'*

—Ivry by Macaulay); Virieux; Johani Schroder; Hofinan,

1535; Jacobus Praepositus, (Bishop of Antwerp, and prior of

the Augustans); A. Nobel; Ignatius de la Terre; Doria; Jacob

Uttenhove ; Falk Nacolous; Van Noot; PhiUipus Melancthon*

(the colleague of Martin Luther); Hugssen; Woomer Abel.

It will be seen that if the document is a forgery it is very

cleverly concocted, and the signatures bear examination.

Some very fine Masonic allegory is to be found both in the

writings of Shakespere and Spencer ( D . 1698).'*Ô The "Faerie

Queene " of the latter especially, in which " Una" may beinter

preted to mean the one true Church, and "Duessa" the false

Church. The " Red Cross Knight" may represent either the

Militant Christian or the Secret Order of Templars. The same

may be said of the Rosicrucian, Sir Walter Raleigh, (B. 1552,

D . 1618) :—" Give me my scallop shell of quiet,

My staff faith to lean upon.My scrvp of joy, immortal diet.

My hottle of salvation.My gown of glory, (Hope's true gnage)

And then I'll take my pilgrimage."

30.— A. somewhat pretty Speculatiye allusion to OperatiTe Masonry, will he foundin the Draper. Fabian's ** Concordance of History "-^^ê D . 1613.)

" And I like the Frentyse that hewyth the rongm stone.And brinffeth it to square with hard strokes end manyThat the Mayster after may it oeur goneAnd prynte Uierein his figures and his story;And so to worke after his propomaryThat it may appear to all that shall it see

A tbynge right parfyte and well in echo degre.So have I now sette out this rude worke.As rough as the stone not oomen to the square.That the lemede and the studyed clerkMay it oure pol^sshe aud clone do it pare,Flowrysshe it with eloquence^ whereof it is bare.And frame it in ordre tliat yt is out ofjoynt .That it with old authors may gree in every poynt."

Brother Matthew Cooke.



70

In the work of Lorenzo Yentnra, the Venetian " De Lapide

PhUosophorum" (p. 6 and 7) Basil, 1571, man is described to be

a Stone which gradually from a state of roughness and coarse

ness becomes fine and polished.^^

I n 1600, Jordano Bru no was burnt at Venice, because, as he

expresses it, he was "enam oured with one pa rticular lady "

(wisdom,) thus shewing the necessity of this mystical language.

H e was one of our Platonic think ers of the Bosy Cross, and at

his trial admitted his belief in the " Soul of the W orld " and the

Masonic Trinity of " Strength, Wisdom and Love." During hi s

residence in England he was intimate with Sydney, who accepted

his dedication of the " Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast," an

extraordinary satirical allegory on t he then state of Theology,and holding up the ancient Ea ster n Creeds. H e closes the book

with a prayer that "Superstition, infidelity, and impieiy may

" depart from the a lt a r; and tha t faith which is no t foolish#

" religion which is not vain, true and sincere piety, may sojourn

" there."

W e are now approaching a point when we arrive npon firm

ground as to the speculative mysteries, for in spite of the research

tha t h as been bestowed upon the subject m uch is shadowy an d

obscure, and it could no t be less so in a strictly secret in stitu tion .

B ut there can be no doubt tha t the Operative Association of F re e

masons and the Chivalric Order of Templars, both included

searchers into Cabalism, Alchemy, and the recondite mysteries

of natu re and science. W e have also arrived at th e time wh en

these were known as Bosicrucianism, which fraternity w as t h e

31.—Bossetti.—Frester John sent the Ghibelline Emperor three stones, informinghim that the first was worth his best c i t y , the second his finest p r o T m e e ,and the third his whole empire, for it rendered its possessor invisible.

It would seem that the Soo ietyo f Freemasons was meeting in England atth is date, as Sir Thomas Saekvil le , ( B . 1636, o . 1(K)S,) is sa id t o h a v e b e e nOrand Master of a Grand Lodge at York, in 1561, whe n Q ueen El iz ab et hintended to suppress them as s h e had done Ibe Knights o f SL Joh n a ndt h e Tem ple, two years previously. In .166S an aot. was passed to repeal t h epreviou s disadvantages under which M asons Jeboo red.



71

« They were to declare openly that the Pope was Anti-Christ,

and that a time would come when they should pull down his

*' triple crown. They rejected and condemned the doctrine ofthe

''Pop e and of Mahomet, calling the one and the other blasphemies

'' ofthe east and west. They called their Society the confraternity

of the Holy Ghost. They pretended to a right of naming their

successors and bequeathing to them all their privileges; to keep

" the devil in a state of subjection; that their confraternity should

*' not be destroyed, because God always opposed an impenetrable

"c loud to screen them from their enemies. They bragged of

** having invented a new language, by which they could describe

" the nature of every being."

]tf ost of their symbols resemble those used in our Masonic

Degrees, especially the Arch,^ and B os » Crucis, and they trace

•^^.-^Tnatise <m iUligum$, page 799..33.—In the Bomish Choroh," Aroh Fratenutêt are snoh as have goyeming

powera.

it

-44

inheritor of the Gnosis and mjsterious wisdom of Egypt, but we

are not to suppose that every writer upon these was a lawfully

initiated brother.

Jacobus Typotus, in 1601, wrote a book entitled " Symhola

Dipina et humana pontificum imperatorum regum" and under thesymbol of the Holy Cross is supposed to show his knowledge of

: the Order of Knights Bossa Crucis.

The remarks we have made or may make, on the speculative

use of building symbolism in all time, is intended to remove any

difficulty that may be raised as to its present use in an associative

point of view. W e will now enter upon a concise description of

the writings which gave the name of Kodcrucians to the represen

tatives of the recondite wisdom of Persia and Egypt, searchersafter the hidden mysteries of Nature and Art, and will proceed to

show, in the words of Hurd, 3 2 that they were equally anti-papal

with the older Gnostic associations;—



72

their doctrines through the same channel as modem Freemasons^

and assert the derivation of their mysteries through Enoch, the

Patriarchs, and Moses to Solomon. They were distinguished by

several names. Because they pretended to protract human life

they were termed immortals, as they pretended to know all thingsthey were called illuminati, and as they made no appearance for

several years they were called invisibles. They used the Bose-

and the Cross coigointly as one of their symbols, and so also did

Martin Luther.

That remarkable German writer, Jacob Behme, (B. 1575, n.

1624) , the Seer of Gorlitz, is believed to have been a member of

the fraternity, and he frequently uses such expressions as " the

illuminated," and " those who are ours will know what I mân."In the following passage Babel signifies the Boman Catholic

Church;—" For as concerning Enoch's divine time our speech i s

" taken from us, seeing Babel is not worthy of it and also shall

"not see it, and likewise we must be silent concerning the dis-

" covery of the times of the ancients whose number shall stand

" open in the Bose of the Lily."^ We will close this chapter

with his views on the Philosopher's Stone, (entitled " Of the true

Com er Stone,") upon which we have already said so much. " It" doth most of all concem us men in this world to seek that which

is lost." He informs us that Abel, Isaac and Jacob " found it

(the Precious Stone of the Philosophers), indeed," 3 5 that the great

and wonderful wisdom of Solomon was firom the precious Stone

which he had in his heart, that Moses worked all his miracles by

this Stone, and with it Elijah shut up heaven, and that the

34.—Chap. 30, seo . 54, page 185. writte n 1623. pu blish ed in Lon don, 1654.35.—This " Ston e which Adam brought with him ou t of Paradise," appeared promi

nently in the ancient decree of B.A.M., under the name of u e " Stone ofFoundation." Inscribed with the sacred nam e, it passed from Aiii tir t oSeth and E noc h, which latter interred it in Mount Moriah. No ahdisinterred it, and it was again interred and discovered by Abraham. Jac oberected his altar upon it at Beth el, Moses sat upon it at the ba ttle ofBep hidim . EventuaUy Solomon used it as the foundation stone of theTem ple. Th is symbolical legend evidently represen ts diving truth, and i sgive n by Dr . Oliver on the authority of B.A Jd. and th e M ishna.



78

prop hets wrought all their miracles thereby. " And this Stone is

" C f i B i s T , the Sonne of the Uving Ood, which disoovereth itself in

*' all those tha t seek and find it. H e who ha ih it, and knoweth

" it, if he seek he may find all things whatsoever are in heav en

" and earth. It is the Stone which is rejected of the builders, and" is the chief comer stone, upon whatsoever it faUeth it gr indeth

** it to powd er, and kindleth a fire ther ein . All Universities seek

** it, bu t find it not by the ir seeking. Sometimes it is found b y

" one who seeketh it rightly. Bu t others (that seek it in selfe

*' and for the ir own gain) despise it and cast it away, and so it

" remaine th hidden still.^^

36.—rAe Threôld life qflfan.—written 1620. Vide note, page 63, on the centre .





C H A P T E R I I I .

M O D E B N R O 8 I C B 0 C I A N 1 8 M .

"YJÊ sha ll see from the following account of the Society o r

Ch ristian R osy Cross, tha t it claims to date from about

the ye ar 1400, but we do not read of the association under that

name prior to 1600, and the impossibility of the narra tive po in ts

out to us tha t the nam e of the founder is m ythical, and tha t its

allegory is derived from the symbols of the order itself, which is

no doubt of antiquity. W e have indeed nothing beyond th e

Rosicrucian w ritings to prove that an order, with proper organiza

tions, existed under the name of RosiorucianSt but it is claimed

that the so-caUed Rosy Cross brethren passed through a number

of degrees—^seven or nine—^to perfection. Some write rs h ave

suggested that the Masonic fraternity found the secret lang uage

of the Alchemists a convenient mode of circu lating doc trines ofwhich they had taken an oath not to speak directiy. Th ere c a n .

however be very little doubt tha t several of these schools and.

rites were in existance, and tha t the mem bers communicated the ir

knowledge and ceremonies to one anothe r. I n th e old custom of

operative Freem asonry there were no charters, and the privilege

of conferring the orders rested in the fact of a certain num ber of

holders meeting together for that purpose. T hu s the th ree

ancient degrees may have acquired the ceremonials and decorations of othe r rites, and by th e admission of sufficient nu mber

of these, equal right to admit others to the same privilege*

D r. Plot recites the legendary discovery of the tomb of one of

the brotherhood of Rosy Cross, in Staffordshire, w hom th e co un try



76

people aflerwards called " Bosicracius." A country-man, he say s,

w as digging a trench in a field when he caine upon an immense

ixoa ring embedded in a huge stone ; raising this he beheld a deep

v au lt ; descending several hundred steps with fear and trejada^-

tipn he beheld an aged man, with an iron baton, seated before ane v ^ b u m i n g lamp, where he had reposed for ages—^typical of

th at sacred fire which Porphyry indicates that th e ancients kep t

ever b urning in the temples of their gods as like them. On

a^ ro ac hi ng the aged man the earth trembled under the feet of

thfe intrude r, an d rising w ith anger th e figure shattered ihe lamp

in firagm ents with its ir<m baton, i I t will be seen tha t this is

but another versicm of the symbolical legend of the order.

About the year 1610, there appeared in Germ any a work entitled " The Universal Reforma tion ofthe whole wide World." T he

seven sages of Greece debate on th e best mean s of effecting

general reformation, and the proposal of Seneca prevails that out

of aU rank s of men a society be formed of wise philan thropists,

who s hall labour everywhere in unison for the gen eral welfare of

mankind, and pursue it in secret though without much hope of

success, on account of th e desperate state of " the a g e " w ho

appea rs and describes his bad health.

A second work entitled Report of the Fraternity of the

Meritorious Order of the Rosy Cross" informs us that Christian

B o ^ Gross was bom in Germany, in 1378, and died in 14 84 ;

th at joum eying whOst a boy, with a Brother P.A .L. to Jerusalem ,

\.—The Rosicrucians J by Hargraye Jen ning s. A similar legend was formerlygiven in the M asonic degree of K night RO S IB Graois, in which th e rev ivuwas dramatically represented during a recital of t he history of the d egree.There is an old Babbinical tradition that Abraham discovered the sepu lchre

of Adam and Ev e in a cave of the Jebus ites . They were lying on couc heswith lamps burning before them , which shed a rich perfame over the cave.The Abbe Barruel however asserted that the m od em degree of a K nightBo88D Crucis was the Easter ceremonial of the Templars, symbolical oftheresu rrec tion ; and corresponding, as it does undoubtedly, with Ihe Master'sdegree i n Craft Masonry, which h e co nsiders th e lower or handicraft OrderOf the Tem pla rs; w hilst th e K .H. ceremony is the lamentation for the G.M^,th e B o s 8 D Crucis is thus the revival of Manes, Jes us, Ado nis , Bacc hus,Ofliris, and the Sun.



76

A third work was styled the " Confession of the Fraternity of

the Bosy Cross," and it informs us that they had different degrees,

tha t not only princes and m en of rank and leam ing, but very

inconsiderable persons were admitted members; that they had a

the latter died at Gypms, and Christian Rosy Cross was initiated

into certain secrets at Damascus by the A rabians, Chaldeans a nd

Gymnosophists. H e there translated the Arabian Book, M , in to

La tin, and returning to Germany he remained the re three ye ars

and then shipped to Eg ypt and Fez, and coming back foundedan O rder, first of fi)ur, and then of eight mem bers, who were to

exercise medicine charitably and without rew ard, and attend th e

yearly congregation to elect his successor, and to dress after th e

fashion of the country. Ev ery m ember was to appoint some du ly

qualified person to succeed him . The Bosy Cross was to be th e

seal and watchword, and the association to be kept unrevealed for

120 years. New mem bers were elected from time to time, and at

the end of 120 years, or in A . D . 1604, a door was discovered in th ehouse built by their founder, and named the Temple of the Holy

Ghost, inscribed as follows:— " One hund red an d twenty ye ars

hence I shall open." On opening this door a sep ulchral vault

was discovered in the form of a heptagon, illuminated by an

artificial sun. I n the centre was a brazen plate upon a circula r

altar, with the inscription:— " This grave, an abstract ofthe whole

** world, I made for myself while yet alive. The emp ty yoke of the

** law is made void. The liberty of the gospel, the unsullied glory of

" Ood" Ea ch side of the vault had a door with th e secret books,

bells, lamps, and mechanical and musical instruments of the

Order. U nde r the altar was the body of the founder free from

decay, holding a vellum book called " T " ; the most prec ions

deposit of the society. Th e work closes with the rem ark th at :—

" Our h ouse, though one hundred thousand men shall have looked

upon it, is destined to rema in untouched, imperturbable, out of

" sight, unrevealed, to the whole godless world for ever."



77

pecnliar language, and that though they were possessed of more

gold and silver tha n the whole country would yield, yet true

philosophy was their search.

Am ongst various other works, some vituperative, there appeared

in 1613 and 1614, " A Letter to the Reverend Rosicrucian Society"

and " A declaration, in verse, of the Rosicrucian Fraternity, hy a

Brotherly Fellow of that Society," After this, in 1617, followed a

work b y M ichael M aier, addressed " To aU lovers of true Chemistry

" throughout Germany, especially to that Order which has hitherto

" lain concealed, but is now made known by the report of the

fraternity, and their admirable andprobable confession.'' " Them is

Aurea " was early translated into En glish , and is entitled The

La w s of the Frate rnity of the H osie Cross, written in L atinand now in En glish. W hereunto is annexed an Ep istle to the

Fr ate rnity , in L atino, from some here in England."— M aier sa ys :

** H e tha t doubts the existance of the R osicrucian Society should

** recollect tha t the Greeks, Eg yptians, Arabians, &c., had such

" secret societies; where then is the absurdity of their existing a t

" the prese nt day? Th eir chief max ims of self-discipline are ' to

" ' honou r and fear God above all things to do all the good they

" ' can to the ir fellow-men,' W ha t is contained in the * Fama,*" an d ' Confessio' is true . I t is a very childish objection tha t

"the brotherhood have promised so much and performed so little.

" Th e M asters of the O rder hold out the Bose as a remote prize,

" but they impose the Cross upon those who are entering. ^ L ike

" the Pythagoreans and Egyptians, the Rosicrucians exact vows

of secrecy and silence. Igno rant men h ave treated the w hole

'*as a fiction; but this has arisen from the five years* probation

* to which they subject even well qualified novices, before they

S.—Bagon saggeets that the Rose, or the remote prize, was the Templar secretoft he Kadosh. In this view the B osicracian works are bat a symbolicaldescription of the degrees now known as Freemasonry. Thns the on -decayed body of Christian Bosy Cross, with the vellum book "T ," them ost sacre d d eposit of the order, indicates the sam e tiling.



78

" tfru admitted to th e higher mysterieSy and with in th is time t h ^

" are to learn now to govern their own tongues."

It is generally believed that the earlier Rosicrucian works

were written by J. V. Andreas, and that he it w as who published

in 1617, another work entitled " The Hermetical Romance of the

Chemical Wedding; written in High Dutch, hy Christian Rosen-

oreutz" ' Th e hints we have given on the Alchemical jargon,

may assist the reade r to a com prehension of th e object of th is

" wild " work. Following it was one entitled " M enippus," u p on

a general reformation.

F i B S T D A Y O F T H E C H E M I C A L W E D D I M O .

Th e author commences his romance with an angelic c reatio nwhich appeared to him, on Easter eve, in a dress of sky-bluespangled with stars, and left him a letter sealed w ith a cu riou scross, with the motto Tn hoc signo vinces. On opening he foundfhe following verses in golden letters, upon an azure field:—

"This day, this day, this, this.The Royal Wedding is.And thou thereto by birth inclinedAnd unto joy of God designed.Then mayst thou to the mountain tend»

* W hereon thre e stately Temples stan d.

And the re see all fi'om end to end.Keep watch and ward,Thyself regard.

Unless with diligence thou bathe.The wedding can't thee harmless save.He'll damage have that he re delays,Le t him beware too light that weighs."

H e then relates tha t seven years previously he had a visionof this w edding, and had exercised brotherly-love and desired therea ring of stately palaces. Nex t follows the vision of a dungeon,in which a hoary-headed ancient man directs a cord to be let down

3.-»An En gllsb translation by E . Foxoroft, was printed in 1690, by A. S owle,Shoreditch.

4.—The engraving is a crescent upon a point within a circle over a cross ,

Spported by a stand of three bra nch es; it seems to be an emb lem of theng and Qneen (male and female principle) supported b y th e three

tem ples alladed to in the ve rse s; ba t it is also the Hindoo sym bol of th eplanet Mercury, and the Astrological symbol of the sun : in Alch em icalsymb olism i t signifies the So ul ; whilst the triangle upon the cross i s Body ;and a square upon the cross—Spirit.



79

seven times; four are drawn up at the first time, and othersfollow, the relator at the sixth, and receives a wound on the forehead. The few drawn up are amongst many left behind; theywere freed from their fetters, and received a piece of gold stampedwith the rising sun and the letters D .L .S . , ^ and they departed

with the instruction, " That we to the glory of Ood should benefitour neighbours, and reserve in silence what we had been entrustedwith." He now sets off to the mysterious hidden-wedding in awhite linen tunic, a blood-red ribbon crosswise over the shoulder,and four red roses in his hat. For food he took bread, salt, and abottle of water.

S E C O N D DAY.

He arrives at three ways, marked by three trees; uncertainwhich to take, he rests and partakes of his bread, upon which asnow white dove joins him, but is pounced upon by a black raven, ^which chasing he was led into one of the roads, and left his bag

and bread at the tree. He now comes in sight of an exceedingroyal and beautiful portal, whereon was carved a multitude ofmost noble figures and devices, *' every one of which (as I after-** wards learned) had its peculiar signification. Above was fixed" a pretty large tablet, with these words,' Procul hinc, prooul este" *profane,* and other things more that I was earnestly forbidden" to relate." Straight steps forth one in a sky blue habit, towhom he imparts the information that he was a brother of theBed-rosie Gross, who addresses him "My brother, have younothing about you wherewith to purchase a token ? " He giveshis bottle of water and receives a token marked S.C.,7.and a

diploma for the second porter; this gate was also adorned withimages and mystic signincations. Here was a grim lion chainedand the porter lay upon a marble stone. With his salt a tokenwas purchased marked S.M.^ He ran for the gate along with atorch-bearing virgin in sky-blue, and barely obtaining admissionbefore the close of the gates (with the loss of his coat), beheldtwo pillars, on one of uem stood a pleasant figure inscribedCongratulor; the other with a sad-veiled countenance condoles.He now received the true guest token S.P.N Two pages conduct to a room and leave him in darkness, when a barber entersand, after divesting his crown of hair, the two Pages re-enter and

conduct the relator into a spacious hall, where are Emperors,Kings, Priests, and Lords, noble and ignoble, rich and poor, with

5.—Marginal—'Deus Lax Solia Tel Deo Laus Semp.6—The dove and the raven represent the Zoroastrian principles of good and evil.7.—^Marginal—Sanctitate Constanti sponsas.8.—Marginal—Stadio Merentis sol hamor Sponso Mittandas, Sal Mineralis, Sal

Menstmalis.9.—Marginal—Salas Per Natnram Sponsi Presentandas Napti^je.



80

some of whom he finds himself to be well acquainted. A ba nq ne tfollows, where are many fools amongst sensible and virtuouspeople. Th e virgin now appears, dressed in white and cautioninghence ihe rude and profane; all are conducted by tape rs, in visib lycarried, to their chambers, except nine who were bound with

cords and left in darkness; when Uie relator ha s a vision te achin giiumility.T H I E D D A Y .

This morning the virgin is dressed in red velvet, with a whiteecarf and congratulates the nine captives upon being sensible oftheir wretched condition; she releases them and couples the mto be weighed. The scales are of gold, with seven weights—onegreat, four little, and two great ones. Thre e Em perors ar erejected, but one is accepted and clothed in red velvet, and has abranch of laurel— a few others in like ma nner. Th e nine cap tives follow, the relator being the eighth, and bringing down th e

scales he is perm itted to release the first Em peror. Th e virginnow observes the Roses in his hand, which he presents to her.The Seven Captains form a Council, at which it is resolved thatthose who failed to draw the scales s hall be driven forth, and adinne r is given at which they have the lowest seats. T h evirgin and the elect had the Order, with golden fleece and lion,but th e nam e of the O rder was not yet to be revealed. A napology was then req uired from the rejected for their presum ptionin presenting themselves into the Castle on the qualijication of

Jdlse and fictitious books and statements. These punished and dismissed there appears in the garden a snow-white Unicom, with

a golden collar, bearing certa in letter s. The lion on the fountainnow break s the sword in its paw, and a white dove brought anelive branch w hich the lion devoured. Th e guests wash the irhands and heads in the fountain, and mention is made of asepulchre and a library, also an ordinary terres trial globe. Aftervarious matters the relator is conducted to his chamber by aPage leam ed in the arts, and he dream s of a door dif&cult toopen.

F O U R T H D A Y .

In place ofthe sword the lion has a tablet inscribed, " Hermes*'princeps post tol iUata generi humano damna dei concilio artisque'* (idminicido vtdt turbet qui andet. Bibitefratris vivite" A freshgolden fleece is given, to which is now suspended a plate of th eSu n and M oon in apposition, and th e guests are led up 866 stepsuntil they come to an arch, where are 60 virgins holding bran che s.H ie elect now approach the throne of the JKing and Queen whomthe y behold. Ne ar an altar are many symbols, and a skull w ith



81

a sm all wh ite serpent. I t is mentioned that the relator is old,and conversation turns upon the arts and other secret matters,an d they adjourn to the house of the Sun . A lion gains thevic tory over a griffin. Th ere is a play of a Moor who ill treats alady, and a child saved in a box; by way of interlude there arefour beasts of Daniel, (which "had its certain signification.")2, A n image of Nebuchadnezzar. 3, A band of fools. 4 , Anartificial eleph ant with mu sicians. A draug ht of SILENCK i sad m inis tere d. The six royal persons now tauke off their wh itega rm en ts, pu t on black, and six coffins are brought in, when th eyare beheaded along with the black executioner, and the bloodcollected in golden cups.ô Th e re lator re tiring to rest sees t h esix coffins carried away in ships.

F I F T H D A Y .

The Page leads him down certain steps and shews him a greatiron door, and an inscription in copper letters. After which h eis led into a vault lighted with carbu ncles, called the King'sT rea su ry,! ! in the middle of which is a triangular sepulchre, inthe centre a copper kettle, with an Angel, with an unknow n txeein th e m id st: the fruit, falling into the kettle, turn s to wa ter,and fills three smaller kettles. T his altar was supported by anEagle, an Ox, and a Lion. They now descend through a copperdoor, w here w as a little chest with an ever-burning light, at wluchhe kindles a torch, saying:—" So long as the Royal persons arestill at rest I have nothing to fear." And the relator beholds L adyV en us naked in a bed. After this was beheld in th e garden aglorious crown standing upon seven pillars with six sepulchres, by

each a stone, a banner with a Phoenix, and in the centre the box.We are now introduced to a chemical laboratory.

S I X T H D A Y .

T he lottery chance of ladder, ropes, and wings are given toascend to a round hole in the tower, which is closed. E igh t

10.—See the w o r k s of Joh n Rud olph Glauber, on Alchem y o r Che mistry ,M D C L X x x i x , Lond on, in which th e process is concealed un der the sam esirmbolical language.

II .—Bro. Matthew Cooke, Q u o t e s th e followiuff in h is " Histo ry and Articles o fMa sonry," from a Syriac writing of the 9th century called " The Testam entof Adam," now in th e Vatican Library at Bo m e:— 'An d I , Seth, I have

written thi s test am ent; and after the death o f mv father Adam, we shallhury him , I , and m y brother o n the Eas t of Paradise in face of the City ofEn oc h, the first which was built upon Earth , and the Ang els and thevir tues o f heaven shall attend his funeral, becau se h e was created in thei m a c e of Ood. And the S un and the Moon shall be darkened, and theresha u b e darkness for seven da ys, and w e sealed h is testam ent, and placedi t in the Cavern o/* ZWontrec, where it has remained until th is day. withthe treasures which Adam took with him from Paradise—gold, myrrh, andfrankincense."



82

Oonclaves are held. At the third C onclave aglobe appears w hichl>eing opened with a diamond, it discloses a snow-white egg,which, giving forth a bird, it is fed with the blood of the be he ad ed ;at the third feeding it becomes of wonderful plumage. In thefourth Conclave appears a great square kettle, where the eggmatures ; and in the fifth Conclave a bath was prepared for the

bird, which deprives it of its beautiful plumage. Ablue stonearises from thebath with which all but the white head is painted .A t the sixth Conclave we find the symbols of the fourth day, andthe bird, on eating the small serpent, is beheaded. The idleChemists are told that they will be refused admission to theseventh Cham ber with their companions. Th ese being set towork they produce two little m ale and female*.images, which growin size andbeauty by the blood of thebird, but as yet are soulless. Six virgins enter, who give life ; two curious garm ents arealready prepared, and the young K ing and Queen go on boardship.

S E V E N T H DAY.

I n the morning Christian Rosencreutz returns to the uppermost vault of the tower. Th ey have yellow hab its and goldenfleeces, and the virgin declares them Kn ights of th e Golden Stone,and the oldman now presen ts them w ith a gold medal—on one side" Ar. nat. mi.,"i2 on the other " Temp. na. f."i3 They go forth intwelve ships, bearing the twelve signs of the zodiac. A & r lan din g,the King and Queen presented their hands, and the old Lord andChristian Bosencreutz rode with the King, with a white ensignbearing a red cross. Arriving atthegates we find mention of fjoieold tokens—salt andwater, as at first: and it transpires tha t the

E orter was condemned to that drudgery from beholding V enu s iner bed. The King now admits them Knights of the Oolden

Stone, reads over five short moral articles, and a s each had to writehis name, we find:

Summa Scientia Nihil Scire." Fr. Christianus Rosencreuts,Equ es Aurei Lapidis,

An no. 1459;*

At the supposed revival ofRosicrucianism atParis, in March ,

1628, the Order was said tonumber thirty-six members; six in

Paris, six in Italy, six in Spain, twelve in Germany, four in

Sweden, and two in Switzerland. Anold writer informs us that

the following was posted in the streets of P a r i s : — " W e ,

deputies of the Rose Cross Brothers, sojourn, visible and

12.—Marginal—Ars natara mioistra.^3.—Marginal—Temporie natora filia.



88

'"invisible, in th is town, by the Grace of the Most H igh , towards

''whom the hearts of the wise turn, we teach without any

"exterior means the spoken languages of the countries we

" inhab it, and we draw men like ourselves from terrors and from

" death. If any one desires to see us from curiosity only he will"never communicate with ns; but if his will carries him really

" and in fact to inscribe himself on the registers of our con-

" fraternity, we can penetrate thoughts to such a degree that we

" do not give the place of our abode, since the thought joined to

" the real will of the reader, is sufficient to make us known to

" him and him to us."

The English leader of the fraternity was an Oxford man, named

Robert Fludd, a Physician of the Paracelsian School. H e published, at Leyden, in 1616, '* Apologia Gompendiaria Fratemitatis

deRosea Oruce;* at Oppenheim, in 1617,he published " Tractatw

theologies philosopkicus de Vite, Morte, et Besurectione fratribus

Bosae Crucis dictatus" The author was intimate in England

with Michael Maier, and wrote his ''Medicina Catholica" in 1629.

In 1633 he speaks of the formerly so-called Rosicrucian brothers,

whom we now call Sapientesj Sophoi, or Wise Men; but though

he nev er uses the name of Freemasonry there is much of theSocieties' language in his works, and we see that a new name

was sought for the brotherhood after 1683. He wrote a work on

Cabalism, or the " Mosaicall Philosophy."

I n 1648 a Latin work was published at Venice, in which an

Order resembling Freemasonry is described under the allegory

of a new ly discovered nation. Th is work gives a table of degrees

with Gnostic and Manichean emanations touching on the

Sephiroth.i^ D e Quincey states, hut gives no proof, that abontthis time many of the forms of the Operative Freemasons were

engrafted upon the degrees of the Rosicrudans, owing to both

associations meeting at Mason's H all, London. W e will allude

J14,—Bro. Matthew Cooke is enga ged in translating this book.



later to Ellas Ashmole, both as a Rosicrucian and Freemason r

D e Quincey says th at th e following were associated with him,—

Thom as W harton, M .D .; Oughtred, the ma them atician; Lilly,

the astrologer; Dr. Hewett; and Revd. John Pearson, M.A.

Another celebrated Rosicrucian B rother was Thomas Vaughan

( B . 1612), and educated at Oxford. H e disguised himself und er

the name of Evgenms Philalethes, and led a wandering life, often

falling into great dangers from the mere suspicion tha t h e pos

sessed supernatura l secrets.^* H e is described by Robert Boyler

as a man of remarkable piety and of unstained m orals. H e is

the author of several valuable works upon the secret sciences

and among others—" IntroitiM apertus ad occlusum Regis Pala-

tium;" ''Aula Lucis" or the House of Light, 1651-2; ' 'Lumen de

Lumine" 1661; "Magia Adamica"AnimaMagicaAbscondita**

166 0; also, " Th e Fa m e and Confession of the Fr ate rnity of th&

R.O., commonly of the Rosie Cross," London , 1650; " Th e Second

Wash, or the Moor scourged once more," 1661.

In the " Secrets Revealed, or an open-way to the Shut Palace

of the King," the au thor s a y s : — I disdain, I loathe, I detest, thi s

" idolising of gold and silver, by the price whereof the pomp and

" vanities of the world are celebrated W e travel thro ug h

"m an y nations, jus t like vagabosds, and dare not take upon

" ourselves the care of a family, neither do we possess any fixed

"ha bitation Many do believe (that are strangers to the ar t),

"that if they should enjoy it, they would do such and such

" things; so also we did formerly believe, but being grown more

15.—A writer remarks, of Yaagban , in 1749, that " lie is belieyed by t ho se of h iafraternity to be liying eve n now, a person of great credit at Nurem berg inGermany, afiBrms that he conversed with him about a year or two ago;nay, it is farther asserted, that this yery indiyidual is the President of theillumina ted in Eur ope, and that he sits as su ch i n all their annua lmeetings"—(TA« SosicrucianSf by Hargraye Jennings) . This statem entseem s to haye reference to the w ell-known existen ce of the Bosicru cianfjratemity in Gen nany at th is date, to which we will refer later and th eremark is of intere st as th e association has re cently b een started in E n g-and, and it s nine degrees are spreading. The London College has a branchat Bristo l, p resided oyer by Fr. Capt. F. G. Irwin, and another in Lan cashire—of wh ich Lord Skelmersdale is a me mb eiv-presid ed oyer by Fr.F. M atier.



85

4(

«

wary, by the hazard we have run, we have chosen a more

secret method My hea rt mu rmuretli things unhea rd of;

my spirit beats in my breast for the good of all Israel Our

gold is not to be bought for money though you should offer a

crown or a kingdom for it, for it is the gift of God." Chapter iii.,

" Of the Regimen of SoV " B ut thou must not believe that any

" such thing can be an exact pa rallel of our E lixir, for it is a

'* marvellous - creature, not having its compare in the whole

•** univ erse, no r any thing exactly like it This is the last and

noblest conjunction in which all the mysteries of Microcosm

" h a v e their consumm ation. Th is is by the wise called the

•** Tetraptive Conjunction, wherein the quadrangle is reduced to

•** a circle in which there is neither beginning nor end. H e who" hath arrived here may sit down and banquet with the sun and

"moon And this worJc is done without any laying on of hands,

" and very quickly when the matters are prepared for it. This

** work is therefore called the Divine work.*' In his Commentary

upon the Fifth Gate of Ripley, the author carries the white stone

from green to azure, then to a jpale wan colour, and from that to

citrine, which shall endure for the space of 46 days, and it is

even clear tha t the stone is the reader. These symbolical worksit will be seen cast oflF mu ch of the ir darkn ess after the reformation.

" Th is is our true light, our earth glorified; rejoice now, for our

" king hath passed from death to life, and possesseth the keys of

'* both death and he ll, and over him nothing now hath power."

In the Lumen de Lumine, or New Magical Light, there

is great resemb lance in language to the pre sent ceremon ials of

th e Rosicrucian Society of nine degrees, he ob serv es: —

" T he re is a m ountain situated in the m idst of the e arth, or" cen tre of th e world, w hich is both sma ll and great. To this

"mountain you shall go in a certain night, when it comes most

" long and most dark, and see tha t you prepare yourself by pr aye r.,,.

** foUow on ly your guide who will offer himself to you. T hi s



86

" guide w ill bring you to the mountain a t midnight when all things^

are silent and dark arm yourself with a resolute, he ro ie

" courage you need no sword, nor any other bodily w eapo ns ;

' 'c a ll upon God sincerely and heartily Be resolute, and take

"heed that you return not, for your guide, who brought you"h it h e r will not suffer any evil to befall you As for the trea-

" sure it is not yet discovered, but it is very nea r." V ariou s

elemen tal trials are described, and then— " after all these thin gs ,

" and near the day hreak there shall be a great calm, and you

" shall see the day star arise, the dawning will appear and you

" shall perceive a great treasure ..T he principal thing in it

" and the most perfect, is a certain exalted tincture, with which

" the world, if it served God, and were worthy of such gifts, m ight" be tinged and turned into m ost pure gold"

Elsew here, he says—that " Our Stone is the representative of

" th e great world," and th at "t h is art is very cabalistical

" w here we speak most plainly, the re be m ost circum spect; for we

*' do not go about to betray the secrets of natu re, especially th en

" i n those places which seem to give receipts as plain as you

" w ould desire, suspect a m etaphor, or else be sure tha t something

" or other is suppressed, which thou wilt hard ly without inspir-" ation ever find of thyself, and which in trial will make all thy

" confidant knowledge vanish; yet to a son of ar t, we have written

" th at which never heretofore was, by an y, so clearly revealed."

In h is Anthrosoposophia Theom agica, orAnima Magiea Abscon-

dita, we find he following:—" I n rega rd of the Ashes of VegetahUsr

" although their weaker exterior elements expire by violence ofthe

^^Jire, yet the ir earth cannot be destroyed but i s vitrified. T h e

" Fusion and Transparency of this substance is occasioned by th e" BadicaU moysture or Seminal water of the compound. T hi s w atet

resists the fury of the fire and cannot possibly be vanqu ished,

*'<Jn hoc aqud* (saith the leamed Saverine), *Bosa latet in

* Hieme* These two principles are never separated, for nature



87

"proceeds not so fa r in her dissokitions. W hen death has done

"her worst, there is a Vnion between these two, and out of them

" shall God raise us at the last day, and restore us to a spiritual

'' constitution. I do not conceive there shall be a resurrection of

" every species, but rather their terrestrial parts, together with the"element of water (for ' there shall be no more se(i,* Revelations),

sha ll be united in one .mixture with the earth, and fixed to a

" pnre diaphanous substance. This is St. John's crystall gold, a

"fundamental of the new Jerusalem, so called, not in respect of

"colour but constitution. Their spirits, I suppose, shall be

"reduced to their first limbus— a sphere of pure ethereall fire,

" like rich eternal tapestry spread under the throne of God."

In the "Fame and Confession," we find the language andprinciples of the Rosicrucians traced in the answers of Jarchas

the Brachman, to Appllonius of Tyana, and he says:—" Nor is

"this at all improbable, for the eastern countries have always

" been famous for magical and secret societies."

J. A. Com enius; says in— "The Rosicrucian's Div ine

l i g h t " (1661), "T hat the only true, genuine, and plain way of

"philosophic) is to fetch all things from sense, reason, and

" scripture."The following is politically interesting, for " Heydon, it seemed,

expected to suffer for loyalty to his Sacred Majesty the King, for

John Hewitt, (Doctor of Divinity, and others who were spitefrdly

thrust into jail with h im, were cruelly murdured by the tyrant

Oliver fixomwell, because they loved our Sovereign Lord the

King,) by his estates, procured h is ransom. The work is dedi

cated to James, Duke of York, and is entitled—"The Rosie

"Crucian Infalliable Axiomata, or GenerallRules to know all"things past, present, and to come" (1660), and is mainly,

an elaborate treatise o£ 126 pages on the wonderful secrets of

numbers."^®

16.—Bro. Wm . Hn ghan .



88

At this time a work was issued from the University of Oxford,

in which we find the following pas sag e:— "W e, of th e secret

" knowledge, do wrap ourselves in mystery to avoid the objura-

" tion and im portunity of those, who conceive that we cannot be

" philosophers unless we pu t our knowledge to some worldly u se.

" There is scarcely one who thinks about us, who does not believe

" that our society has no existance, because, as he truly declares,

** he never met one of us, and he concludes that there is no such

" brotherhood, because in his vanity we seek not him to be our

" fellow. W e do not come, as h e assuredly expects, to th at cour

" spicuous stage upon which, like himself, as he desires the gaze

" of the vulgar, every fool may e nt er ; w inning wonder, if th e

man's appetite be that empty way, and when he has obtained" it, crying out—" Lo this is also vanity."

' A work on the Cabala appeared in 1653', by Dr. Henry More,

entitled—" A conjectural E ssay of interpreting the mind of Moses

" according to a threefold C ab ba la"; and even the poet M ilton

was deeply learned in this mystical Jewish lore.

In 1654, Nathaniel Culverwell, M.A., published a work at

London, entitled—"The White Stone, or learned and choice" treatise of assurance, very useful for all, but especially weak

" believers."

I n 1655 a work w as printed at O xford, be aring the nam e of

D r. Edm und Dickenson (but elsewhere attributed to a Pur ita n

named Henry Jacobs), entitled "Delphi Fhcenicizantes" T he

author, in a learned manner, shews the history of the Delphian

Oracle and its relation with the Sun-God, the Poeanian games

and the connection of these with the Book of Joshua, whom the* author identifies with the Egy ptian He rcule s. H e further shews

the identity of Greek and Hebrew names of the Deity and other

terms. All We know of this work is from a L atin copy in posses

i o n of our learned and R ev. Bro. J . N . Porter, 33®.



89

Webster's Metallographia (1671), is a treatise of actual metals,

but he has concluded every chapter hermetically.

In the Dialogue of Arislaus, published in the Alchemist's

Enchiridion (1672), we find this pas sag e:— " Now in this dis-

" course will I manifest to thee the natural condition of the Stone

O ur Fr en ch bre them state tha t one of the Templar-Kadosh

deg rees was invented abont this time by Oliver Cromw ell; and

i t is believed th at th e Protector, desiring to be known as the

fonnder of Christ's kingdom npon earth, constituted himself the

head of one of the sects which was acting tbroughout all Europe

in the veiled language.

Joannes Gherardo, Meditat Sac, London, 1672, says— " As in

" th ee Ch rist is bom and lives, so in thee he ought to rise again.

" Death must always precede resurrection, hence we must fall

" before we can rise again, and so it is with this spiritual resur-

" rection . C hiis t cannot rise in thee unless Adam have first died.

" T h e inward man will not appear until the outward man be

" b ur ie d; the new spirit will not come forth except the old flesh" be first cast aside; Christ did not ascend into heaven and put

" on all hi s glory until after h is resurrection from the dead,

*' neither can you enter into the glory of heaven until Christ be

** risen in you."

Van Suchten, writing of " Antimony," in 1670, has the follow

in g :—" T he Alchemists, I understand not here those sots who

prom ise riches to others yet are themselves beggars, have called

this mystery the Ph ilosopher's Stone, the Blessed Holy Stone,for this reason, that God hath placed it in an earthy, stony,

contem ptible matte r. The Arabian s have called it Alchemy,

" because Alchemy is an instrument which divideth the goodfrom

" the had, and wh at is not ma ture it ma tureth Alchemy is a

" pure and uncormpted virgin, she casts off the animal man, and

" will hav e an intellectual one, of whom a t present I see but few."



90

" of the Philosophers, apparelled w ith a triple garment, even th is

" stone of rich es and charity, the stone of relief from lanjgnish-

"ment, in which is contained every secret; being a divine

mystery and gift of God, than which there is nothing in th is

•* world mdre sublime. Therefore, diligently observe what I s ay ,viz:—that it is apparelled with a triple garment, th at is to say»

with a Body, Soul, and S pir it"

An honorary physician of H.M. King Charles II. of England,

a native of the Island of Sdo (B. 1686, D . 1689), Prince Con-

Btantine Rhodocanakis, wrote, with several other works, two on

Alchemy, entitled— " Alexiacus, S pirit of Salt of the W orld

** which vu lgarly prepared is called the spirit of salt, or the tra n-

" scendan t virtue of the tru e spirit of salt, long looked for, an d"n ow philosophically p repared, &c., by Con stantine Rh odo -

"canaces, Grecian of the Isle of Chios, &c.; by His Majesty's

" special direction and allowance," London, 1662, 1664 & 1670,

" in 4to. A Discourse, in the praise of Antimonie and th e

" virtue thereof; written and published at the request of a person

" of quality, by Constantine R hodocanaces," London, 1664.17

D r. Edm und Dickenson, Physician to the same king (Charles II .)

was a professed seeker after th e H erm etic knowledge, and produced at Oxford in 1680, a work entitled—" De Quinta E esenUa

Philosophorum," in correspondence with a Fre nch A dep t; the

latter explains the reasons why the Brothers of the Rosy Cross

concealed themselves. As to the universal medicine or Eliasit

VitcBy he positively asserts th at it is in the han ds of the illum inated,

but that by the time they have discovered it they have ceased to

desire its uses, being far above them . H e adds, tha t the adepts

are obliged to conceal themselves for the sake of safety. The y

live simply as mere spectators in the world, and they desire to

make no disciples, converts, or confidants. Th ey obey all codes,

17.—Ftdc—" Th e Im perial Con stantinian Order of S t. George," and " Rep ly toa GritioiBm in th e Saturday Beview," by Hia Imperial Hig hne se th e P rinceBhodooanakie, L ondon, 1R70,4to.



01

are exceUent citizens, and only preserve silence in reg ard to their

own priva te belief, giving the world the benefit of their acqu ire

ments up to a certain point.

T he q uotations we have given from both English and Foreign

writers, between th e ye ars A . D . 1000, and 1700, clearly indicate a

symbolical lang nag e, dealing often both with orperative a rt and

Theosophy; the latter of which becomes less intricate as the

dangerous necessity for the style disappears with the opening

libersdity of th e times. Th ere is a Rosicrucian document given

below, wh ich be ars considerable analogy to the "C h ar te r ofCologne,"i8

"The brethren of the R.C. do neither dream of, hope for

" or endeavour to make an y reformation in the world by religion

" the conversion of the Je w s, or the policies of enthus iasts, w hich

" seemingly w ould be established by scripture, but th at they both

" acknowledge themselves lovers of tru th and virtu e. As th at

" which in the day time most runs in men's thoughts doth in the

" night disturb and work upon their fancies, so every m an is

" careful to let no opportunity slip of endeavouring to accomplish

" his intention. They who set their minds upon riches are very

" laborious and painful to advance the ir est ate s; they who bend

" their tho ugh ts to change commonwealths, to alter religion, and" to innovate th e art s, very often make use pf the most despicable

" instruments to do their business. From this spring head hath

" issued many murm uring streams, such causes have produced

" man y tum ults and confosions in commonw ealths, whe re men

" have been acted upon by vain thoughts and foolish dreams, as

" it evidently appears both in the Anabaptists and Enthusiasts.

" Are there not many even in this our age, who being ambitious

18.—7A« Freemct9on '9 Magazine sapposes that this doonment was formerly intbe possessio n of the celebrated Dr. Dee . However this may be, Dr. Joh nD ee (b.^527, d. 1606) was Warden o fth e Old Church. M anchester, and waaa man of varied and deep leam ing, whether in Matnematics . M echanioe.Cop ernicasian or Pythagorean Astronomy, A strology, Alchem y, andLanguages, 'unrortunately, his fame was smiled by his connection witha quack of the nam e of Kelly.



02

" to be ringleaders in new ways, instead of a reformation ba ve -

" disturbed all order an d law s? Th ey, forsooth, would h av e

" religion and learning to suit w ith their fantastical opin ions .

As soon as these had hea rd of this honourable society the y

** assured themselves that their desires would have a happy issue ,

"for knowing that these brethren were able in learning and

" riches , the ^ doubted no t th at they would employ both th ese

" talents to cause an unive rsal reformation in the world. T h ey

" therefore imm ediately promised to themselves one religion,

" unity and concord; but in all these things they were belied

" and abused, for they did never assert any such things, neither

" is there any grounds of them in their writings. Ou t of th ei r

" books something may be gathered concerning the reformation

" of the ar ts which was endeavoured by the first auth or about" 217 yea rs agone, about Anno Ch risti 1400,^^ and at tha t time

" they had need of a reformation, witness the labour and study

" of eminent men w ho have spent their time to promote lea rnin g.

" as Rudolphus Agricola, Erasmps Hoteradamus, D. Leutheros,.

"Phillipus Melancthonus, Theop. Paracelsus, Joan Begiamon-

" tanu s, Copernicus, with m any others, and there is no doubt

" but the arts may be more increased, their lustre more polished,

" and man y new secrets discovered; bu t herein religion is n ot" concerned. How ever, the brethren , (as a ll good m en ought,)

" count it the ir duty to pray for and expect such a reform ation;

" but this as God thinks fit. .Who can, although he had th e

"po w er of m iracles, convert the obstinate Jew s, when th e

" Scripture more confounds them, and becomes a stumb ling

"b lo ck ? Observe how their own writings disagree, how on e

" thwarts ano ther ; and yet they consider not that wherein is

" concord. As for your enthus iasts, the revelations of wh ich

" th ey so much boast is sometimes to sin, but tha t cann ot be from

" G od ; do they not dream interpretations on Scripture, and whenA

19.—This seem s to fix the date of this documen t, 1617.



98

" either the devil doth delude them, or they are distracted, they

"count their condition happy; they acknowledge no superiority

' 'th ou gh commanded and allowed in the Scripture. B ut our

"brethren have always had one amongst them as Chief and Governor,

" t o whom they .ar e obedient, they pity such persons whom they** find cheated and often possessed; lastly, as it is impossible to

" sepa rate he at from fire, so it is impossible to separate virtue

" from this society. Th ey bestow the ir time in duty to God, in

"d ilig en t search of the Scriptures, in he aling gratis, in ex-

^'perimenting the hidden secrets of nature and a rt ; they have

"the true astronomy, the true physics, the true mathematics,

" medicine and chemistry, by which they are able to produce rare

" a n d w onderful effects. Th ey are very laborious, frugal," tem perate, secret and true."

The English Bosicrucians taught that two original principles

proceeded in the beginning from the Div ine Father—flight and

darkness— or form or idea, and matter or plasticity. M atter

downw ards becomes five-fold as it works in its forms according

to th e various operations of the first informing lig ht; it extends

four square According to the points of the celestial compass,

with th e divine creative effluence in th e centre. Th e w orlds,spir itual an d tempo ral, being rendered subject to the operation of

the original type or idea, became in their imitation of this in -

visible idea l, first intelligible and the n endowed with reciprocal

m ean ing outwards from themselves. This produced the b eing

(or thoug ht) to whom, or to which creation was disclosed. T h is

is pro perly the " Son," or Second ineffable person of the D ivine

T rinity . Th us, that which we understand as a " hum an mind

becam e a possibility. Thi s Second grea t only intelligible world,the Rosicrucians called Maorocosmos" They distribute it into

three regions or spheres, which as they lie near to, or dilate the

fiEurthest from the earliest opening divine "Brightness," they

denominate the Empyraeum, the .^theraeum, and the elementary



94

region, each filled and determinate with less and less of the first

celestial fire. These regions contain innumerable invisibld

nation s, or angels, of a na ture appropriate to each. Thro ugh

these immortal regions, Light diffusing in the emanations of the

Cabalistical Sephiroth becomes the blackness, sediment or ashes,which is th e second fiery real world. Th is power or vigour

uniting with the etherea l spirit constitutes strictly the " soul of

th e w orld." I t becomes the only means of the earthly intelligence

or man knowing it. I t is the angel conqueror, guide. Saviour

bo m of woman, or " Grea t D eep," the Gnostic Sophia, th e " Word

made flesh " of St. Jo hn . T he EmpyrsBum is properly th e flower

or glory, (effluent in its abundance) of th e divine " Lat en t F ire ."

I t is penetrated with miracle and holy magic. The -Bosicruciansystem teaches that there are three ascending hierarchies of

benificent angels, (the purer portion of the first Fire or Light,)

divided into nine orders. These three-fold angelic hiera rch ies

are the Teraphim, the Seraphim, and the Cherubim . T hi s

religion, which is the religion of the Parsees, teaches tha t on t he

D ark Side there are also three counterbalancing res ulta nt

divisions of operative intelligence, divided again into nine sphered

or inimical regions, populated with s|plendidly endowed ad ve rse

angels, who boast still the relics of their lost, or eclipsed, ot

changed light. Th e elementary world, or lowest world, in w hic h

man and his belongings and the lower creatures are produced is

the flux, subsidence, residium, ashes, or deposit of the ethe real i^ e .

Man is the " Microcosm " or indiscribably small copy of th e wh ole

great world. Dilation and compression, expansion and con trad-

tion, magnetic sympathy, gravitation to or flight from, is tho

bond which holds all imaginable things together.***«

It will be gathered from this that the occult philosophy of t b s

Bosicrucians consisted of three principle parts; that prooeediiig

from the doctrine of the soul of the w orld, adopted by P lat o from

20.—TAe RosierucimnSf paê 203.



• 96

the more ancient mysteries; that derived from the consideration

of numb ers, letters, and sacred wo rds ; and tha t resulting from a

pure and holy life ; all simimed up in one great system of

esoteric Christian truth.

A writer, last century, rem arks of the fraternity:—'*They all

- maintain tha t the dissolution of bodies by the power of fire, is

* the only way by which men can arrive a t true wisdom, and come

" to discern the first principles of things. The y all acknowledge

** a certain analogy and harmo ny between the powers of na ture

" and the doctrines of religion, and believe that the Deity governs

the kingdom of grace by the same law s with which he rules

" the kingdom of na tu re ; and hence they are led to use chemical

denominations to express the truths of religion. They all hold" that the re is a sort of Divine energy, or soul, diffused thro ugh

" the frame of the universe, which some call the A R C H E U S , others

" the un iversal spirit, and which others mention under different

" appellations. They all talk in the most superstitious manne r

" of wh at they call the signatures of thing s, of the power of th e

" stars over all corporeal beings, and the ir particu lar influence

upon th e hum an race, of the efficacy of mag ic, and the various

*' ranks and orders of demo ns."We have before touched upon the general derivation of matter

ftom a centra l point. Th e universal spirit exists in the body of

the world as the hum an spirit in the body of man. Th us, when

Moses informs us th at God created the heavens and the earth ,

we le am under th e word that he created m atter and the spiritual

life. T h e figure of th e universe is said to be tha t of a man'd

body, an d all things in t his w orld are bu t the m aterial images of

things previously existing in the spiritual world. I n ordinarycases, where the immediate operations of Deity are not visible as

in miracle s, the seal of the ideas is given to the governing intelli

gences, who, as faithful officers, sign a ll things entrus ted to them .

Then the influences of the heavenly bodies are various and



96

consequently thin gs a re solary, lunary, jovial, saturnine , m arti al,

or merc urial. The world is divided und er the influence of th e

planete, and he who knows how to compare these divisions of

provinces according to the divisiods of the s tars, with tlie m inis try

of the ruling intelligences and blessings of the tribes of Israel,the lots of the apostles, and typical seals of the sacred Scriptures,

shall be able to obtain great and prophetical oracles. F ur th e r,

the signs of the Zodiac governs the earthly anim als. T he n,

every star has its peculiar nature and property, the seal an d

character of w hich it impresses through 4ts rays upon inferior

things,— as plan ts, m inerals, and anima l life,—subject to it ; an d

ofth e several stars which governs any one thing, that star ha vi ng

chief rule will set its seal most distinctly. I n this way, by com

bining wisely many thing s conformably to one idea, a sin gu lar

gift i s infused by me ans of the soul of the world ; and as M er -

curius Trismegistus and St. Augustine shew, angelical and

intellectual gifts m ay be drawn from above. As in. th e m or e

ancient mysteries the sect believed in the power of the. will for

good or evil, and in the m agical value of sacred nam es, and m ag -

netical influences. Celestial spirits may be invoked by men w ho

. are of a pure mind, hum ble themselves, and pray secretly; w hils t

foul and profane men who use these ar ts m ay command ev ilspirits. Th en there is divination by instinct, dreams, and ot he r

forms. Invocation intended to attract the power of any star

must be done by extolling wh at is congenial, and vilifying w h a t

is antagonistic to i t ; calling upon them by the ir own named a n d

by the names of the intelligences ruling over them . Of th e

influence of words, the He brew being a Sacerdotal langua ge i n

its formation, are, in m atter, form, and spirit, the most sacred a n d

the most powerful. I n num bers there are many occult vir tne s,and if there did not lie herein a great mystery, St. Jo hn had no t

sa id : " H e tha t hath understanding let hiSn compute the ni un be r

and name of the beas t." Mu sic, sound, and harm ony again com

mand the planetary and spiritual influences, also certain fumi-



97

gations, plants, and herbs. No magical work mu st be undertaken

withou t the observation of th e stars. The Su n is consonant to

God: in its essence is imaged the Father, in its light the Word,

and in its heat the Spirit; but the Moon in its derived influence

and ne ar ne ss to the e arth, exercises great influence : in its twenty-eight m ansion s of th e eastern astrologers lie hidden many secrets

of the wisdom of the ancients. M an and the stars are ruled by

a celestial hiera rchy of natu ral and divine powers, distributed to

the world by the true God for the service and profit of men who

know how to use th em ; but to render practical and useful the

knowledge to be derived by such a course of investigation, it is

necessary to lead a pure and holy life, and shun all sensual

pleasures and unclean things, and indulge in high and holy con

templation ; for our mind being pure and divine, inflamed with a

religion of love, adorned with hope, by faith directed, placed on

the heig ht and summit of the hum an soul, draw^ truth down

from above. Prop hetic power still exists in various forms, as by

a vaca tion of the body, by a pervading rap ture and ecstacy, and

by dream s. Of the angelic creatures th ere are Angels super-^

celestial who work nea r the th ro ne ; Angels celestial w ho rule

over t he sphere s, and are divided as to order and n ature according

to th e stars over whjch they have rule . Fin ally, there is a thirdclas s of Ang els who are m inisters of grace below, attend invisibly

up on us, protect us, help, or hinder us as they consider fit. Thes e

la st are divided into four orders according with th e four elements

and the four powers,—^mind, reason, imagination and activity.

Aga inst these are striving the Angels of evil. H app y is h e who

ân overcome th e strength of adverse spiritua l influences, and

ca n increase the light of heaven in his mind, for by it he can

work marvels, and do many wonderful works.

The most attractive part of this creed was the doctrine of

elementary angels, called Sylphs, Gnomes, Salamanders, and

Undines, or the spirits of air, earth, fire and water, represented



98

by four positions of the trianglo^^ which w ere sa id to rend er

themselves visible to pure-minded men, and observable in a glass

globe chemically p repared by the four elements, by those initiate s

who had been purged by the Elixir vitas. It is to the commerce

of these splendidly endowed angelic creatures with the sons anddaughters of men that we owe some heroic characters, a nd the

Mosaic relation respecting those " Sons of G od " 'who took to

themselves the daugh ters of men. H enc e, also the origin of the

oracles, voices, and dem oniacal possessions. I t was however only

in a state of acquired spiritual repose that inspired visions

occurred, such as the light revealed to the ancient sages of th e

Eas t, as the emanation of th e spiritual Su n. According to th e

Platonic doctrine there are thre e kinds of fire:—1, a thick fireas in the burnin g of wood; 2, a bright and subtle fire; 3, a

pure, clear fire, which lights but bums not as in the stars;

4 , (some add) an elemental fire w hid i neithe r lights nor bum s^

91.—See th e SB** and 29^ at the clos e of this w ork, also the "T he Di yer tin gHisto ry of the Conn t de O abalis." 1670, by Abb6 ViUars, Pa ris. AgrtppaBays —"It ia well known that Pythagoras and Plato went to the prophets ofMem phis to lea m magic, and travelled through alm ost a l l Syria , Eg yp t,JudesB, and the schools oi the Chaldeans, that they mie ht not be ignorantof the most sacred memorials and records of m^gic, as also that they mightbe imbued with divine things."

Tho s. Taylor, a m ode m w riter, oontends for the reality of the des cen t ofspiritual be inm through magical evoca tion, and thus q aotee P lato in th ePhadrua Likewise, in con sequence of this divine init iat ion, we beca me''spectators of entire, s imple, immoveable, and blessed vis ions, residen t in"a pure l ight; and were ourselves pure and immaculate, and l iberated** from th is' surrounding ve stm ent which we, denom inate body, an d to" which we are now bound as an oyster to i ts shell ." Upon thi s , Pro clu sobserves, in Theol. Plat. Ub. 4. p . 193, that—" init iat ion and insp ection are*' symbols of ineffable silence, and of union with mystical natures, through" intel l ig ible vis ions." Plat . Samb. p. 380, he says—" In all initiation s and" mysteries tbe O ods do exhib it many forms of them selves, and appear In" a variety of sha pes ; som etime s, indeed, an unflgured l ight of the m selv es" is held forth to the view , sometim es thi» light is figured according to a"human form, and sdmetimee it proceeds into a different shape.'

As to the cla im to cure disease by magical evocation, De mo oritu s, inDe Morbo. 8aero, p. 86, says—"T hey profess them selves able to draw

"do wn the moo n,to obscure the sun, to prodace stormy and pleasa nt" weather, as likewise showers of rain, and heats, and to render the sea and" the eartn barren, and to accomplish everything else of this kind, whether"t he y derive their knowledge from the mysteries or from some oth eri ns ti -" tution or meditation." B ut th is power was not attributed to many , for theEm peror Julian, observes:—" For the inspiration which arrives to m en**from th e Qodn is rare, and exi sts but in few ; nor is it easy for every m an"t o partake of this , nor at every t ime. It has ceased among the H ebre ws," nor is it proBsrvdd to the present time among the Egyptians."



99

T hn s w e understand th at there were two M nds of life, the

Compound, human or soul-life; and the Elemen tary, sylphide or

^ ir it -l if e . I t was the duty of the sages, by fSeisting, watch ing ,

pra ye r, and contemplation, to bring about a Bosicrucian ma rriage

with the elementary or spirit-life.

A s it was quite impossible tha t coarse minds could comprehen4

th e subtle and refined teachings of t his spiritual school, so W Q

find the lowest invectiYes were launched against the brotherhood^

until their views were ridiculed into obsoletness.

W itty old Samuel Butler, who w rote his Hu dibras, in 1663^

and m us t have been well acquainted with the state of affairs at

^ 6 tim e, has the following virulent note in reference to the irpre tension s:— " Th e fraternity" of the Rosicrucians is very like

" the sect of the Ancient Gnostics, who called themselves so from

''the excellent learning they pretended to, though they were

" reall y the most ridiculous sots of majiMnd. Vere adeptus is one

" who has commenced in their fanatical extravagance." H e also

places the following in the mouth o f'' Sidrophel," who repre sen ts

Ihe Astrologer, L^y, a Mend of Ashmole's:—

" As for th e Rosy Cross Philosophers,Whom you will have to be but sorcerers,What they pretend to is no more,Than Trismeglstus did before.Pythagoras, old ZoroasterAnd Appolonius, thei r m aster,To whom they do confess they owe,All that they do and all they know."

The society disappears in England at the close of this century

n it h the advent of Freemasonry, but n ot so it is alleged in

G erm any , and we w ill finish this chapter by quoting a Dictionaryof 1694 in evidence,

' 'BosBOBoix O B BosEOBUTiANS called also the enlightened

" im mo rtal and invisible. Th is was given to a certain F ratern ity



100

" or Cabal, which appeared in Germany in the begiiining of this

"age, those who are admitted thereto called the brethren, or

" Bosicrutiansy swear fidelity, promise secrecy, write enigmatically,

" or in character, and oblige themselves to observe the law s of that

*' society, which ha th for its end the re -estab lishing of all discipline" and sciences, and especially Phy sick, w hich according to their

" notion is not understood, and b ut ill practised. Th ey boast

" they have excellent secrets, whereof the Philosoph er's Stone is

" the lea st; and they hold th at the A ncient Philosophers of

" Egypt, the Chaldeans, M agi of Persia, and Gymnosophists of the

" Ind ies have taug ht but wha t they themselves teach . They

** aflirm tha t in 1378, a gentleman of Germany , whose nam e is

"'not known but by these two letters, A. 0., being put in a" Monastery had learnt the Greek and La tin tongue, and that

" some time after, going into Palestine, he fell sick at Damascus,

" w here having he ard speak of the Sages of Arabia, he consulted

" them at Damear where they had an Un iversity. I t is added

" that these wise Arabian^ saluted him by his nam e, tau gh t him

" their secrets, and tha t the German after he ha d travelled a long

" time, returned to his own country, where associating with some

companions he m ade them he irs of his knowledge, and died in

' 1484. The se brothe rs had their successors till 1604, when one

of the Cabal found the tomb of the first of them , with divers

" devices, charac ters and inscriptions the reo n; the principal o^

" which contained these four letters , in gold * A.C.R.E., ' and a

" P arch ment Book written in golden letters, with the eulogies of

" the pretended founder.

"Afterwards the society, which in reality is bu t a set of mounte-

" banks, began to multiply, but durst not app ear publicly, and" for that reason was sumamed thê Invisible. The Enlightened of

" Spain proceeded from th em ; both the one and the other have

" been condemned for fanatics and deceivers. W e must add

" that John Bringeret printed in 1615, a book in Germ any which



101

''com prelieiids two Treatises, entitled T%îlfant/*i?< to and Gonfeznon

*'of Faith of the Fraternity of the Rosicmsians in Germany. It

was dedicated to Monarchs, S tates, and the Learned . Th ese

"persons boasted themselves to be the Library of Ptolemy Phila-

**delphus, the Academy of Plato, the Lyceum, &c., and bragged of

** extraordinary qualifications; whereof th e least was tha t the y

" could speak all lan guages; and after, in 1623, they gave this

"advertisement to the curious:— We , deputed hy our college the

" principal of the Brethren of the Rosicrusians, to make our visible

and invisible abode in this city, through the Gr(zce of the Most

" High, towards whom are turned the hearts of the just. We teach

"without boohs or notes and speak the Languages of the Countries

" wherever we are, to draw men like ourselves from the error of death." T he bill was matter of merrime nt; in the meantime the B rethren

" of t he Rosicrucians have disappeared, though it be no t the

" sentiment of th at German Ohymist, the author of a book entitled

** * De Volucri Arborea f and of another who ha th composed a

*• Treatise styled, *De PhUosophia Pura Sponde GautierJ "

We have given as fair a resume as is possible of the secret life

of the world of science and theology for several thousand years .

We ha ve seen th at u nder various languages and names, the forms

and principles of the mysteries have been handed down by

Priests, Lawgivers, Mystagogues, Freemasons, Templars and

Rosicrucians. Th at with regard to Freem asonry, there were

lodges of a more or less distinctly marked speculative character

according to the class of rfiembers of wh ich they were composed,

yet fraternising without difficulty. According to times and

seasons some marked branch of the speculative institution, or th e

teaching of some particular degree, of one or other of the variousrites an d fraternities, by which these my steries w ere possessed,

has become a matter of prominence. At one period Theosophy,

Astrology, and Magic, hav e prevailed; at another Geometry and

Arch itecture, Architecture an d Ch ivalry ; again. Architecture and



102

Alchem y; Theosophy, Alchemy, and M edicine have p redom inated;

bu t now learning is swamped by sociability, th e h usk without

the kerne l is ours, and we mu st perforce content ourselves with

those principles of Bro therly L ove, Relief, and Tr uth which for

ages have been inseparable from our venerable institution.

In our next chapter we enter upon a period of time when

Freemasonry became the recognised depositary of the mysterious

symbolism of antiquity, hoa ry and venerable, bu t imp ene trable

to the profane and th e unprepared in mind, bu t inculcating its

lessons of wisdom to the clear and cultivated intellects am ongst

the fraternity. W e find the venerable doctrines of the Magi

figured to us in the sun and moon,22 the two pillars,23 the point

within a circle, the five pointed star, the interlaced triang les,

the tan, the tripletau, the Rose of the Cross, likewise in the

black and w hite, or Mosaic pavement, (which is of great an tiqu ity) ;

in the Cubical Stone, in the dramatic representations of our

degrees, and various other lessons of ancient wisdom in nu m ber

less symbols, such as the ladder of seven steps, the three pillars,

the cross and serpent, and the Geometical or Pythagorean signs

and symbols.

That such a connection as that which we have indicated in the

foregoing pages, exists between modem Freemasonry and the

Gno stic my steries of antiquity, will be shewn beyond doubt in

the following chapter, but unfortunately the docum entary evidence

is too scant to fix the exact period of th e introduction of th e

highe r grades into wh at is supposed to be the genuine M ason ic

system of the three deg rees; and therefore wh ilst many w ell

S2.—The somewhat chi ldish al lusion to son , moon , and master, mu st be of y er jrecent origin.8 3 . ^ I t has been suggested that these two pillars correspond with Macroco$mo9

and Microcotmos of the Cabalists and Bosicruc ians; the Jewish tables ofthe law ; and the equal Gno stic division of the signs of the zodia c. T he ses i n i s crossed formed the Greek Cross, or the Egy ptian T , and G oth io" H a m m e r of Thor;" enclose d in the mun dane oirole (or e lse th e o valsymbol of generation). the cross within a circle of the Templars, or theT cross , with ring han dle, as we have it in th e Egyp tian Crux ansata.



108

informed writers m aintain the antiquity and identity of Templazy

Bosicrucianism, and Freemasonry, it is equally open for the

opponents of this theory to assert that Templary and Kosicru-

<}ianism were engrafted upon Freemasonry at the period of its

transformation into an entirely speculative institution. Someprogress has recently been made in Masonic Archaeology, but we

very much doubt whether this point wUl ever be indubitably

determined, and the difficulty has been greatiy enhanced by the

introduction of the multipliciiy of rites, which have destroyed the

ancient landmarks. That the ancient Templars were acquainted

with both Masonry and Rosicrucianism is proved; that thia

Freemasons were acquainted, in more modem times, witii

Bosicmcianism and Templary is also certain; but it is verydifficult to demonstrate at what period these rites were amalga

mated. I t is equally difficult to say whether the Masoniq

Templar i s that of the pure order or of the united orders of the

Temple and St. John. Possibly the intimacy of these old rites

varied much during five centuries, until the state of Masonic and

Civil politics culminated in England in a general union, at the

dose of the seventeenth century, for it must be admitted that the

balance of ArchsBological evidence is at present against the unity

^ very great antiquity of the entire system of degrees which

will be hereafter referred to a s the *' Seven Steps of Chivalxy."



C H A P T E R I V ^ r

F B S E AND AOCEFTED MASONRY.

"W E will now return to Free-masonry which we left in Chapter JL,

and although the documentary evidence in modem times is

very meagre, yet there is sufficient of it to indicate the historical

hearings.

In the seventeenth century of which we are now writing, the

association in En gland , from some circumstance or other, perhap s

political changes and troubles, had but little of the operative

character left, whilst in Scotland that distinguishing feature

remained un til mo dem times. Owing to the secrecy in w hich

th e Lodge proceedings were shrouded we know bu t little of the

ceremonials, yet we are not justified in assuming tha t th er e is

any very great variation in our present rites firom what prevailed

at the time of which we are now writing. Th ere are hi nt s in

the earlier printed works which would lead one to suppose tha ta more perfect ceremony was practised in some Lodges than in

others, and that is what we should naturally infer.

During the whole of the seventeenth century Freemasonry

was open to the leame d men ofthe day, and enjoyed the patronag e

of Jam es I., Charles I., and Charles I I. , the latter of whom is

believed to have been initiated during his exile on the continent.^

1.—Somestray doonment has been turned np in America, which s a y s — I n th e" spring of 1658, Mordecai Cam paunall, M oses Paclieckoe. Levi, and o thers,

"in all f ifteen families, arrived at Newport (America), from Holland.They brought with them the first three degrees of M asonry, and wo rked

" them in the h ou se of Campaunall. and continu ed to do so, they and" their succe ssors , to the year 1742. —B ey. Edward P aterson , HUtory qfRhode Island.-psLge 101.

Of Charles I, Dr. Leeson has some letters alluding to Freemasonry.



105

There were at this time no charters needed; the privileges of

8nch degrees as the Freemasons could obtain, with a right to

grant same to others, being vested in the assemblage of a fixed

number, well known to thebrotherhood. It is probable, however,

that the degree of a Master Mason was conferred only by the

amiual General Assembly—a sort of Masonic parliament, differing

essentially from the Grand Lodge of 1717— it having been

enacted from the earliest times—

" That every Master that is a Mason,

Most be at theGeneral Congregation."

The most notable illustration we have of the close connection

of Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism, is in the case of Elias

Ashmole, who was initiated at Warrington, Lancashire, on the16th October, 1646, along with Colonel Henry Mainwaring,

Ihe descendant of an ancient Cheshire family. At this meeting

were present Mr. Richard Penket, Warden, Mr. James Collier,

Mr. Richard Sankey, Henry Littler, John EUam, Richard

EUam, and Hugh Brewer.

Bro. Elias Ashmole published in 1650, a treatise by Dr. Arthur

Dee, on the Philosopher's Stone; and his " Theatrum Ohendcum

Britannicum" appeared in 1652. These Chemical Adepts met2.—We are to suppose that the term Warden and Master are synon^ûs. In

some of the Scottish Lodges the term Deacon was used, and in othersPreaes—idB colleagaes being a Treasarer or Box-master, and a Secretaryor Clerk. There seems to have been neither Wardens or Deacons as nowunderstood. The Ancient Lodge at York also used the term Presidentinstead of Grand Master, prior to the year 1725 (vide Bro. Hughan'sReprinU). The Sloane M.S. 3848 Constitntion, closes with the followingendorsement:—"Finis per me Edwardus Sankey, Decimo sexto dieOct»bri, 1646." Bro. Kerr, of Edinburgh, stated before a Mark degreeCommission—"In the judgement which was given by the Supreme Courts,they not only gave power for this Lodge "Journeyman" (1707) to exist,and to give the Masons word to receive dues therefor, but also to sueIhe Lodge " Mary's Chapel" for such other portions of Masonry whichthey had not then possession of. Twenty years after it is recorded, that

the " Lodge Journeyman" received the third degree from tbe parentLodge. The Overseer was the Chief Officer, because a large portion of theLodges were Fellow Craft Lodges. There is a curious entry repeatedlymade concerning the Master of this Mary's Chapel Lodge, which wasseceded firom—uiat he shall not go to any Meeting of that Lodge"Journeyman'* to pass the Fellow Crafts. The Master's Lodge wassuperior to the Overseers or Foremen's. The Lodge " Journeyman'' workedthe first and second degrees over which the Overseer presided." (A markwas given for £.A. and F.C., but there seems to have been no ceremony).



106

St Mason's Ha ll, Basinghall Street, London, and Ashmole fre

quently records that he attended the " Feast of the Astrologers,"^

bat gives no further information. The association is said to have

been fnxmed on the model of the German Society, and of the

liieraiy association, allegorically described in Lord Bacon's

*'Net§ Atlantis" as the House of Solomon." Th ey used as

emblems the sun, moon, square, triangle, &e,^ De Quincey asserts

that this is the true origin of the Sodoty of Freemason's; it is

possible that Ashm ole may have consolidated customs of the

two associations, but there is no evidence that any Lodge of this,

his speculative rite, came under the Masonic Constitution, but

there is evidence that genuine operative Freemasonry adopted

customs from the Bosicrucians and Templars.

The next documentary evidence we have of the Fraternity of

Freem asons is further opposed to an essentially or entirely

operative constitution, inasmuch as it is made compulsory, that

for the future there shall be one operative present to make an

initiation legal; and as the] candidate had to be at least 21 years

of age, he could not be admitted a member of the fraternity till

past the life of an ordinary apprentice of the operative craft. At

a General Assembly held in 1663, by Henry Jermyn, Earl of

St. Albans, seven rules, closing with the obligation of Secrecy,

were adopted out of a number found in the Harleian M.S.

(1942, f. 1.), where we read:—^**No. 26. Noe person (of what

"degree soever), be accepted a Free-mason unless he shall have

" a Lodge of ive ree Masons at least, whereof one to bee a Master

" or Warden, of that limitt, or division, wherein such Lodge shall

" be kept, and another of the trade of Freemasonry. No. 30. That

"/or tJte future the sayd Society, Company, and Fraternity of

^.~Dr. Leeson asserts that LaUmua was applied to o perativ e Masons, andLatom i or hidd en one s to Ro sicru cian s, and that Mason is Coptio for" loving brother." A writer in an American M agazine says:—" In the" tongue of ancient E gyp t, the Lord of Light—the Su n was called Phrtt" and ATM. in the plur^ Massen, means begotten or sons of. Pkrt matsen" would, tnerefore, me an su n begotten or the ch ildren o f light." A

- Frankish origin, synon imo us with massa, a club , is most probable.



107

« <

it

''Freemasons, shall be regalated and governed by one Master,

" and Assembly, and Wardens, as ye said Company shall think

"fit to choose at every yearly generaH assembly."

The ne xt written notice we have of the Fraternity is from the

Diary of E lia s Ashmole, the operative indications being equally

dubious with the previous. " March 10th, 1682. About 6 hor.

" post meridian, I received a summons to appear at a Lodge to be

"held nex t day at Mason's Ha ll, in London, ll t h . Accordingly

" I went, and about noon were admitted into the Fellowship of

" Freemasons, by Sir W illiam W ilson, Knight:—Captain Eichard

" Berth wick, Mr. Wm. Woodman, Mr. Wm . Grey, Mr. Samuel

" Taylor, and Mr. Wm, W ise. I was the Senior Fellow among

" them (it being 85 years since I was admitted), there was present" besides myself the Fellows aftemamed:—^Mr. Thomas W ise,

" Master of the Mason's Company, this present year ; Mr. Thomas

" Shorthose, Mr. Thomas Shadbolt, — Waddisford, Esqre.,

" Mr. Nicholas Young, Mr. John Shorthose, Mr. Wm. Hamon,

" Mr. John Thompson, and Mr. Wm. Stanton. W e all dined

"at the Half Moon Tavern, in Cheapside, at a noble dinner

" prepared at the charge of the new accepted Masons."

In " The Natural History of StaflEbrdshire," by Robert Plot,L.L J>., Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, and Professor of

Chemistry in the University of Oxford. Oxford, 1686. Def

eated to James 11.; we find the following at chapter 8, par. 85,86:—

" To these add the Ctistoma relating to the County, whereof they

''have one, of admitting Men into the Society of Free-Masons;

" that in the Moorelands of this County seems to be of greater

" request than anywhere else, though I find the Custom spread

" more or less over all the Nation. For here I found persons of'' the most eminent quality, that did not disdain to be of this

" Fellowship. Nor indeed need they, were it of that Antiquity

and honour that is pretended in a large parchment volum they '

have amongst them, containing the History and Bides of the



108

" Craft; of Masonry, W hich is there deduced, not only from

" sacred writ hut profane story, particularly that it was brought

"into England by St. Amphibal, and first communicated to

" S t Alban, who set down the Charges of Masonry, and was

" made paymaster and J Governor of the King's works; and gave" their Charges and Manners as St. Anyphibal had taught him.

" Which were after confirmed by King Athelstan, whose youngest

" son Edwyn loved w ell Masonry, took upon him the charges and

" learned the manners, and obtained for them of h is Father a

free-charter. Whereupon he caused them to assemble at Yorh,

" and to bring a ll the old Books of their Craft, and out of them

" ordained such charges and manners as they then thought fit;

" which charges in the said Schrole or Parchment Volum are in"part declared, and thus was the Craft of Jfavowry grounded and

"confirmed in England. It is also there declared that these

" Charges and Manners were after perused and approved by King

" Henry VI. and his council, both as to Masters and Fellows of

" this right Worshipftd Craft.

" Into which Society, when any are admitted, they call a m eeting

" (or Lodge as they term it in some places), which must consist

" at least of five or six of the Ancients of the Order, whom the can-" didate present with gloves, and so likewise to their wives, and

** entertain with a collation according to the custom of the place.

"This ended, they j^roceed to the admission of them, which

" chiefly consists of the communication of certain secret signes,

" whereby they are known to one another all over the nation, by

" which means they have maintenance whither ever they travel,

" For if any man appear, though altogether unknown, that can

" shew any of these signes to a Fellow of the Society, whom they" otherwise call an accepted Mason, he is obHged presently, to

" come to him from what company orjplace soever he be in ; nay,

" tho' from the top of a S TEEPLE (what hazard or inconvenience

" soever he run), to know his pleasure and assist h im ; viz :— he



109

" 'want work he is bound to find bim some; or if he cannot do

"that to give him mofwy, or otherwise support him till work can

be had, which is one of their Articles, And it is another, that

^'they advise the Masters they work for according to the best of,

" their skill, acquainting them with the goodness or badness of

" their materials. And if they be any way out in the contrivance

" of their buildings, modestly to rectify them in it, that Masonry

*'he not dishonored; and many such like that are commonly

" known. But some others they have (to which they are sworn

** after their fashion), that none know but themselves, which I

** have reason to suspect are much worse than these, perhaps as

" bad as this History of the Craft itself, than which there is

" nothing I ever met with more false and incoherent"^

This writer thencomments in abusive language upon the before-

mentioned history, and the acts passed to prohibit the chapters

from regulating the rate of wages; the former he declares to be

false, and thinks the latter might be usefully revived. The

names of Ashmole, Boyle, and Wren, appear as subscribers to

tills work.

4.—^The following appears to a M.S. of abont 1690, in the British Mnsemn:—

" There is Severall words and signes of a free Mason to be revelled to yon"wch as yu will answ: before Ood at the Great and terrible day of''Judgmt yu keep secret and not to revaile the same in the heares of

any person or to any but the Mrs. and fellows of the said Society of** Freemasons so helpe me God," &c.

The following appears after the seven, 1663, regulations, printed in1728, and republished in 1871, by Bro. Bichd. Spencer :—

"I A.B. do here in the presenee of God Almighty, and of my Fellows"and Brethren here present, promise and declare, Tnat I will not at any"Time hereafter by any Act or Circumstance whatsoever, directly orin-"directly, publish, discover, reveal, or make known any of these Secrets,"privities , or Conncils of the Fraternity or Fellowship of Free Masons,"which at this time, or at any time hereafter shall be made known unto" me. So help me God, and the true and holy contents of this Book."

B r o . W P. Buchan, of Glasgow, states in the Freemason, that theAberdeen records of 1670, has the following:—"Wee ordaine lykwise that

"no lodge be holden within a dwelling house where there is people living"in it but in the open fields except it be ill weather and then let there be" a house closed that no person snail hier nor see us."

At this date (1686), James II. was contemplating the revival of theEnglish Langue of the Order of St. John, at Malta; accordingly, we findthat the certificates issued last century for the Templar Priest, date theirera " Tear of Revival, 1686." It has even been asserted that this latterform of Masonry, was intended to counteract the Scottish Order ofSt Andrew or Royal Order of Scotland, in the hands of the Stuart party.



110

Iti the year 1691 we find it on record in Aubrey's " Natural

history of Wntshire," page 277, that—"Sir Wm. Dugdale told

" me many years since, that about Henry the Third's time, the

* • Pope gave a Bull or patents to a Company of Italian Freemasons

" to travell up and down over all Europe to build Churches*

"From these are derived the fraternity of Adopted Masons*

" They are known to one another by certain signs and watch-

" words; it continues to this day. They have severall lodges in

" severall counties for their reception, and when any of them fall

" into decay the brotherhood is to relieve him. The manner of

" their adoption is very formall and with an oath of secrecy,"

" Ac, &c. Memorandum, This day. May the 18th, being Monday,

1691, after Bogation Sunday, is a great convention at St. Paul's

" Church of the Fraternity of Adopted Masons, when Sir C.

« Wren is to be adopted a brother,^ and Sir Henry Gkioderio of

** the Tower, and divers others. There have been Kings that

" have been of this sodality."

Wren, also seems to have studied Bosicrucianism, as Elmes,^

in his Life of Wren, informs us, that—" Boyle, also loved and

"patronised the science (chemistry), and introduced to * The Club,'

"Peter Sthael, whom Wood, the Oxford Historian, calls *the" * noted Chemist and Bosicrucian.' This adept was a native of

'*Strasburg, and numbered among his pupils, Boyle (B. 1607,.

" D . 1691), Wren (B. 1682, D . 1723), Dr. Wallis (B. 1616,D . 1703>,

" and other members of the Club and University." It may be

6.—This seems to make against the statement of the conneotion of the " AdoptedM a s o n s " with the builders of St. Pauls, because Sir C. Wren had anoflSoial connection with the operatives very long prior to this. It woulds e e m , therefore, as if the meeting of Adopted Masons was held at St. Paul'swith the intention of claiming such connection as is now done in layingfoundation stones of churches and public buildings. The peijurorPritchard asserted in 1730, that this date of 1691 was the beginning of theSociety in i ts present form, that from thi s time the " Quarterly Communicat ions" began, and the indiscriminate admission of Lords andCommoners . But as this statement was made to enable him to account forthe difference between his Ceremonial and that of the Operative Gonstita-t ions, and in his wish to debase the Society, the testimony is not disinterested. In 1730, Grand Lodge relieved a Bro. Pritchard who had been30 years a Mason, thus laying the date of his initiation in 1700.—< FideFreemason, 1870, page 421.)



Ill

mentioned that Boyle wrote a book condemnatory of false

Alchem y, bn t he neyertheless defended, mystically, the ir " G re at

Work."

The minutes of an Operative Lodge meeting at Alnwicke, in1701, orders on Ja ny . 21st, 1708, " tha t for the future no M aster,

" W arden , or Fellow, sha ll appear on S t. Jo hn 's day, or attend

" the Ch urch Service at Alnwicke, without his Apron and Comm on

" Square fixt in the belt thereof." Hence perhaps, arose the

distinction of the Leath er and Silk Apron, or the Operative and

Sp ecu lative Badges.^ T he bye-laws consist of a series of fines^

ado pted in 1701, in conformity with th e operative statutes, but

shew, in common with all other Lodges, selection, and not indiscrim inate admission of all opera tives; and tha t the candidates

for the first degree must be of the full age of 21 years. Th e old

M asons say that Geometry was taught in the Lodges in these

pa st times. At the same period of time, the Old Lodge at York,,

he ld its m eetings und er Sir George Tem pest, Ba rt., in 1705;

Rob ert Benson (Lord Mayor, and afterwards L ord Bing ley)

1707; who was succeeded by Sir Wm. Robinson. Bart., in 1710.

6.—^The " Eilwin niog," one of th e olde st lodges in Scotland, is belieyed to havebeen founded by German Arch itects, but tbere is necessa rily mu ch ofconjeetur e in th is ; other old OperatiTe Lod ges were " Mary 's Chajêl,and "Journey men 's" Lodge, Edinburgh. Amongst the SpeculatiyeLodg es ex istin g prior to the reformation of 1717.and identical with E ngli shMasonry, are m entioned *' Haughfoot Lodge." '* Gannongate Kilwinning,'"&o. These last admitted all trades indiscriminately as in ModemFreem asonry, were usually presided over by gentlem en of independ antfortu ne; the form of admission was by petition , the fees were used forpur pos es of bene volenc e. M eetings were held annually on St. Joh n 's day,and conducted with sobriety and deceru m. There is a curiou s allosion in1702, in the " Hau ghfoot" min utes, as fol lows: (the previous pages beingtorn out)—" D ec. 32, 1702. Of entrie as t he apprentioes did, leaving out[t h e common lo t] ; they tnen whisper the word as before, and the MasterM ason grips his hand in the ordinary w ay.' The old Melrose Lodge ha dseat s in the Abbey and has all along m aintained it s old cere mo nies and

refused alliance with th e Orand Lodge. There is a spurious operative-relation of a Du ndee m eeting , about 1727, which shew s no great variationfrom the presen t type. The E.A .P.O .B. includ es also the penalty of ourF.O., and the new brother chose a Mark for which he paid the fee of onemark. At the end of twelre mo nths th e E.A .P. was qualified to becom e aF. C , when he again assented to tb e previous O.B. The cowan is an un .entered spprentMe. and hi s siege was placed half in and half withou t theLodge,that his neck might be under the "d rop " in rainy weather. TheMaster's s iege was in the sou the ast of the working lodge, and though myceremo ny is g iven for his reception, we find allusion to the presen t s ecr ets.



. 112

W e next find mention of Freemasonry in the TaUer, of Ju n e Qth,

1709; Sir Blchard Steele has an article upon a class of men

denominated Pretty Fellows, and says:—^" You see th em accost

" each other with effeminate airs, they have signs and words like

" Free Masons."

I n a notice of the collection of the learned D r. S tukeley , (B. 1687

D . 1767,) we find the following, " I was the first person made a

" Freem ason in London for many years. W e had great difficulty

in finding members enough to perform the ceremony; im

mediately upon that it took a run, and ran itself out of breath

by the folly of its mem bers," D r. Stukeley men tions also tha t h e

was honoured with the friendship of Thom as, E ar l of Pem broke .

I n 1717, we find the Old Lodge or Grand Lodge which ad

mitted W ren , at St. Pa ul's, in 1691, exerting itself w ith th re e

other separa te lodges, or meetings of bre thre n (perhaps offshoots

of the first), to establish the present Gra nd Lodge of Eng lan d,

meeting at Lon don. This was accordingly brought about b y

Brothers Dr. Anderson, Dr. Desaguliers, Gofton, King, Calvert,

Lum ley, M adden, D e Noyer and Vraden, and it was then resolved

to reform the Association and make it more pliable to the hum our s

of the people, and it w as thoug ht expedient to abolish the oldcustom of studying Geometry in th e lodges, as of no use in a

social institution. D r. Desaguliars also introduced this reformed

M asonry, into Ed inbu rgh, in 1721, where it is claimed that a

simple system of Guild Masonry, or Operative Masonry, consisting

of two degrees, had long prevailed, commingled with some Specu

lative Lodges, which also practised other degrees of Bosy Cross

and Tem pla rs; said lodges, contrary to the custom in En glan d,

being governed by an Hereditary Grand Master, who resigned in1736. Th ere was a quasi-military appearance in the ceremony

now, and especially abroad, that it is difficult to account for by a

strictly operative theory . M any too of our most curious customs

are derived from ancient E as te rn . observances—it is impossible

here to be explicit



118

A t th is period we commence to have clear indications of th e

asserted influence of the Bosicrucians upon Free and Accepted

M aso nry . Bro ther M atthew Cooke ha s ready for republication

a b o o k ^ n t ^ ^ in England, in 1722, and dedicated to the Grand

Ijodge, March 1st, 1721, which contains the following at page4 9. H av ing ceased advising and " rem em berin g" craftsmen of

m any things, he commences a new paragraph thus:— *' And now

" m y breth ren, you of the higher class perm it me to add a few

" wo rds for you are but few, and these few w ords I shall speak to

" you in riddles, because to you is given to know those my steries.

" wh ich are hidden from the unw orthy," &c. &c. Th e work now

goes over the Bible H istory of Freemasonry, owns our blessed

Lo rd as a M aster of the Order, quotes St. P aul and St. Jo hn as

bre thre n, and is the work of a B osicrucian writer well known. H e

proce eds:— " Ha ve you not seen then my dearest brethren tha t

" stupendou s bath filled with most limpid water with which no

" p ure can be pu re r;" an d ftirther descants on the conjunction of

the King and Queen, fearing:—" I had almost blabbed it out and

•* bee n sacriligeously peijured. I shall, therefo re, speak of it

** with a circumlocution ye t more dark and obscure, tha t none but

the Sons of Science and those who are illum inated with th e

" sub limest mysteries and profoundest secrets of Masonry may

" understand . I t is then what brings you, my dearest brethren,

'*to that pellucid diaphanous nalace of the true disinterested

'* lover of wisdom, that transparent pyramid of purple salt more

*' sparkling and radiant than the finest orient ruby, in the centre

" o f w hich reposes inaccessible light epitomised;" and in his^

ascription he says, " And now to our Great Master in heaven

** unto b i T n tha t loved and washed us from our sins in his own

*' blood, and hath made us K ings and Priests imto God, and hi aFather." 7

7.—Compare this with the Alchemical lanraage of En gen ios Phi lalethes .The Meuter's Degrees practisecl in Englan d at the m iddle of the cen tnnr,.

of .which we are writing were :~M aste r Ma son, Master of the Boyal Arch .Master of the B o sn Cm cis, Master of the SUKlosh Templar. Th e Ancient'*'



lU

I t was in the year of the dedication of the foregoing work that

some old MSS. were committed to the flames by scmpnlooa

brethren, lest they shonld also be given to the press; and the

êarned brother, Dr. Oliver, commenting npon the " Faculty of

Abrac," as derived from the Basilidean Gnostics, and the factthat many of the Ancient Freemasons were, as we have stated,

addicted to Cabalism and Alchemical studies, say s:—It is dear

"however that every vestige of their existance in Masonry

vanished under the superintendance of Inigo Jones and his

wardens, the Earl of Pembroke and Nicholas Stone, for the

^' Koyal Patron's famous essay on diablerie and witchcraft

famished a hint which his officers, whatever their private

" opinion might be, would not be able to resist; and there is

" strong presumption that the manuscripts which the latter

committed to the flames in his dotage, (for he must have been

* more than 100 years old when he committed this rash act,)

degree of Master Mason was a highly dramatic ceremony, partaking mnohof the character of the ancient mysteries, and for that the present eiroanwstantial relation was snbstitnted by the Grand Lodge of 1717, alleged oninformation given in a Talmudioal workpmblished in 1715, and this formedone of the charges of the seceders of 1 ^ . The degree prior to 17^ wasgiven only in the annual General Assembly, and proved the recipient'squalifications as a Master of Work.

Bro. Kerr, 33** of Scotland, says:—" There is a very general idea that the

third degree i s quite a modem invention, whilst it is reiJly the bestauthenticated portion of the tbree degrees. It is simply an astronomicalproblem, shewing the state of the heavens at the time the foundaUonstone of the Temple o f Solomon was laid. We have notes of it in Scotland.I recollect seeing it worked out upon two large terrestrial and celestialglobes by an eminent astronomer. The globes were properly rectified andIhe state of the heavens minutely noted. The signs and words o f thedegree were obtained, and the reason of the implements being used, thelegend of the third degree, also the name being thrice repeated; wh7th0ear of com and the waterfall are depicted, and the direction in wbion theprocession moves. The astronomer asked whether I would mind leaviiurthe notes with him. I did so, and he afterwards ialbrmed me that lifeover the whole with a very learned professor, who expressed hi s op i n i^that it was evidently a very ancient s y s t em of some kindor other. Joedid not care whether it was Masonry or what it was, it appeared to be ofundoubted antiquity. They were not Masons." Bro. Kerr ftirther states

that, "In reference to the existence of what is termed SpeonlMiT*Masonry, I may ment ion that the Secretary of the Boyal Order of Soet iindinformed me, that he had docoments in his possenKlon upwards •ofyears old, belonging entirely to what is called the " Speculative ** portfon ofMasonry, not the **Opomtivo" at all, and iHiich is very much aUn to ourthird degree."

We quoted Clavel, at p«ge 39. to shew that three diflBuwni associationf,pxaotismg dUBNreot TfUMCRis-Qf the Jif aster's degree, haê xi st ed .



115

-At

would have thrown considerable light on this interesting

sub ject; for it is not to be believed tha t the manuscripts would

" hav e been consigned to such a fate if they had contained nothing

" bu t architectural disquisitions and laws of Masonry." Kagon

asserts that Emanuel Swedenborg established, in 1721, the

Illumines of Stockho lm, adding the following to the thr ee symbolic

degrees:—4 , Apprentice Cohen; 5, Companion Coh en; 6, Master

Cohen; 7, Grand Architect and ,Chev. Commander; 8, Knigh^

Kadosh.

The older Masons in discouraging and prohibiting all written

^ c o u n t s of Masonry were wise in their generation for such works

a s th e foregoing called down upon the order no end of vitupe ration

and satire, and it may be well to quote some of this, issuedimm ediately after the printing of the Constitutions of 1723, and the

atte nd an t publicity given to the institution. Thu s an anonymous

writer, of 1724, says :— " Th e reader is here to take notice that

th is is th e original Constitutions of the Free ma sons w herein

" th e Gran d Secret is contained Fo r as the Rosy-crucians,

bro thers of th e same fraternity or order, who derived themselves

" from H erm es Trismeg lstus, whom some call Moses, held a great

•** ra n k in the world," &c. This occurs in th e preface to one of

th e operative constitutions of the 17th century. (Lansdown M.S.,

N o . 98, Article 4 8).

I n 1725, we read as follows:—*' By w hat I can lea m they axe

under an oath or solemn obligatory tie not to make known or

divulge the arcana to any except m e m b m of their own society.

They tell strange foppish stories of a Tree which grew out of

Hiram's tomb, with wonderful leaves an d fruit of a monstrou s

< qualify; although at the same time they know neither where norw hen h e dy*d, nor anythin g more of his tomb tha n they do of

-*'Pompey*s...... Up on the account. S ir, of this stupendous

Boeardo they assume to th^selves the august t i t le oiKabaUsU

or ra the r as I submissively conjecture Cdbalists, i,e,, a knot of



116

"whimsical delirious wretches w h o are caballing together to*

" extirpate all manner of sdencOr reason, and religion out of the

" world I protest, Sir, I had like to hav e forgotten one m an

« who makes a most tZ-lustrious figure amongst them , and styles-

*' himself R S. S. and L.L .D . H e makes wonderful brag s of being•< of the fifth order. ^ Th e Doctor pretends he has found out

** a mysterious hocus pocus word, and th at aga inst whomsoever he

" (as a member of the Jifth order) shall pronounce this terrible

" word, the person shall instantly drop down dead. I cannot

" imagine how the Doctor came by th is wonderful word, unle ss h e

" found it in Rablais*s Pantagruel, or inDoctor Fuller's Dispensa-

" tory, which are t w o great repositaries of incomprehensible

"nonsense My belief is, that if they fall under any

denomination atall, or belong to any sect of men which has

hitherto appeared in the world, they may be ranked amongst

the Onostics who took their original from Simon Magus I

" am inclined to believe that by t h e word Mason they mean a

"bui lder , and they take the word B U I L D in a figurative and

" metaphoric sense as it is used inActs xxch, 32v., and inmany^

" other places ofthe New Testament; in which places t h e word

" build is used to signify the promoting and establishing of t h e

" Christian Church"Another attack says;—" According to t h e opinion of Sandivo-

"gious, w h o copied from his Great Master, Trismegistus, all

" sorts of sciences are contained in Masonry. Nay , Valentine in

" h is Currus Triumphas goes so fetr as to say an artist cannot

e.—The society of " Ancient Masons " required candidates to have been Masterof the Lodge, previous to the conferment of the ** Boyal Arch " degree ,an d the order m ust therefore have bee n the ceremony of Pres ident of t h eLodge, whilst the "Master 's" degree was that of employer ; but as t h i smust nave l imited the members , they began to confer the Instal lat ion

Ceremony of President as an ordinary deg ree, so that the " Arch " becamet h e ^ < A order. The supposit ion that the " Arch " ceremony was intendedfor me President is confirmed, by the fact that the officers representedS.K.I., H.K.T., and H.A.B., &c.; and there is a good deal of the symbol i smof the Boyal Arch, both in the Royal Order of Scotland, and in the oldEnglish degree of a Master Mason, whilst it is in comparatively recentt imes that tne "lo st secr ets" were transferred firom the M aster Mason to-th e Bo7al Arch.



117

*' properly be called an adept, without he can build h is atheno rs,

•* his digesters, and his reverberatory furnaces with his own

" hands , in which is required the skill of a bricklayer, a mason»

** a smith, and an exquisite geometrician."

Ag ainst these libels a defence appeared in Dub lin, in 1726, in

which is the following p a ra g ra p h — " T h e Freemasons have

been allowed to be the most ancient and honourable society in

** th e world, and both are and have been composed chiefly of Ihe

" principal nobility; but 'tis the same thing with our author, the

" m ore excellent the subject the je st w ill pass the better, and

no thin g can please so w ell as a fool th at has lost his manners.'*

W e might multiply these attacks ad infinitum, and recently we

find the following able remarks upon this period of our order, by

a very virulent opponent of Freemasonry i :—**1 have said

« t h a t the Fraternity of Fre e and Accepted M asons was founded

' ' i n 1717, bu t there was an older society in Englan d, generally

" termed the ' Adopted M asons,' and the re was also the London

Com pany of Masons, the freemen of which were always

*' term ed Freem asons. The Adopted Masons immediately as-

snmed the legend invented by the ' Fre e and Accepted,' bu t

presu ming on their antiquity did not join their lodges, and it

*' wa s nearly one hund red yea rs that th e two societies kept ap art

** with sentiments of bitter variance between them, till they were

** un ited in 1813. The ' Fr ee and Accepted' however first started

** a Ghrand Lodge, which they did in 1717; they also surreptitiously

took the name and arms of tlie London Company of Masons.

Th ese last had been incorporated in 1470, by the nam e and

*' style of the Society of F reem ason s, and they had the ir arm s

granted them by William Hawkston, Clarencieux, King of** A rm s, in 1477. The following burlesque advertisement, m ost

probab ly referring to the above-named affair, is taken from th e

9 —FreemasotiS MagaziM, vol. il . page 386,1869.10.—The l« te Mr. Wm. Finkerton, in NoU» and Queriet, No v. S7th, 1860.



< (

118

" Daily Journal Newspaper. * The brethren of the She ars and

" * Shopboard are hereby informed that the ir whimsical breth ren

" * of the Hod and Trowel, having (on new light received from

some worthy Bosicrucians)!* thought fit to change both their

patron and day, and unexpectedly taken up our usual place of

" * meeting, the Worshipful Society of Free and Accepted Ta ylo rs

" * are desired to meet on Monday next, the 27th instant, at the

" * FoUy, on the Tham es, in order to choose a Grand M aster and

^ " * other officers, and to dine. You are desired to come cloathed

" * and armed with bodkin and thimble. Dec . 24th, 17 25 .'"

During the dormancy of Freemasonry in London, the old

General Lodge at York, held regular meetings under Sir W al terHaw kesworth, B art., in 1712; Sir George Tempest, B art. ; C ha rles

Fairfax, 1717; Sir W alter Hawkesworth, B a rt , 1720; Ch arles

Ba thurs t, 1724; Edw ard Bell, 1725; but still we should judg e

had been on the decline, although consisting before 1717 chiefly

of men of liberal education and gentlemen, when the y were

11.—Epbraim Chambers m hisEncyclopotUe, 1729,1741,1778, says:—" Som e, whoare no friends to Free-masonry, make the present flourishing society offree-masons a branch of Rosicrucians, or rather the Rosicrucians t hem s e l yesunder a new name or r elation; viz. , as retainers to building. And it iscertain there are some free-masons who have all the characters of Rosicrm-ctaM; but how the eera and original of Masonry as traced by Mr. Anderson,and tiiat of Rosicrucianism here fixed from NaudsBus, who has writtenexpre ssly on the subject consist , we leave others to judge."

Our learned Bro. Wm. Carpenter, sugg ests that the brothe rs of th eRosie Cross" and tbe German " Rosicrucians," may bave be en distin ct

orders and rites, holding opposite views on some poin ts, as for insta nc e, onthe relative value of reason and scripture. A College of tbe latter ex ist snow in London, with a branch College at Bristol, and another at Man che ster.

Gadicke in his Freemasons Lexicon, Ber lin, 1818, goes on to sa y,af terrepeating the usual history:—" The Rosicrucians wore in their ass em blie sa gold collar, A*om which was suspended a go)d cross and a rose. A lch em istsand Mystics were will ingly admitted into the order, and they endeavouredto draw such Freemasons as had got the first three degree? Th elS*eemasons were allured with tbe hope of do ing mu ch more goo d, and to

live in closer bonds of fraternity. One class of them , also, adop ted th enam e of Theoretical brethren in opposition to practical Freem asonry."It is from this German source that the presen t Rosicrucian S ocie ty of

England derive. It is noteworthy, however, tbat whilst Chambers sup po ses,in common with the writers previously quoted, that Rosicrucians wereidentical with Freemasons. Gadicke, adopts the au then ticity of th eGerman Rosicrucian S ociety, which is not Mason ic, though as now ex istin gthe first ceremony has some resemblance to th e M asonic deg ree of R os eCro ix; but the Bosicrucian degrees, ceremonial ly, symbol ise s tc^ by st epthe practical teaching which w e have before give n.



119

ttroused by the action of the Grand Lodge of London, and the

printing of D r. Anderson's " Con stitutions," in 1723. The Byie-

laws of the Gran d Lodge of All Eng land at York, are still extant,

and indicate the social and friendly nature of the institution.

Publicans seem however to have been ineligible, and the Old

Lodge met at th e private residence of breth ren. A reliable record

of the state of the Grand Lodge at this time is found in a speech

delivered by Brother Drake, the Jun ior Grand W arden, at a

Grand Lodge commemorative of th eir eleventh centenary, held

by Charles Bath urst, Esq., who was Grand Master, Decem ber

27th, 1726. I n th is speech he comm ents evidently upon the

revivalists in London, and acknowledges the ir indebtedn ess to

Brother Anderson's work, gives a quotation on Architecture from

Addison, goes back to the pillars of Seth, (or H erm es Trismegistus

alluding to, or representative of fire and water, and found in

Solomon's Temple,) Babel, and King Solomon's Temple, in

which he observes, tha t all Masons are interested, and th ink s

that " three parts out of four of the whole earth might be divided

into E .P ., F.C ., and M.M." H e states that they had a record in

the Lod ge, which informed them tha t M asonry was carried

into Fra nc e and Germany by one who had been at the buildingof Solomon's Tem ple, and was long after brought into B ritain by

St. Alb an, and tha t Edw in, the first Ch ristian King of Northu mbria

sat as Grand Master at York, in A . D . 626.13 Hence the Totiiis

Anglice is their undoubted right. H e goes on to address the

working Masons, and followers of other trades, and after that the

gentlemen, concluding:— " I am creditably informed tha t in most

" lodges in London, and several other pa rts of this kingdom, a

''le ctu re on some point of G eometry or A rchitecture is given at12.—Tbe Orand Lodê at York had aeveral of th ese dooam ents last centa ry, and

two are still m ex iste nc e, o ne of wh ich, dated 1693, imp lies the formeradm ission of fem ales. A very nse fal reprint of about tw elve of " Th e o ldCharges of the B rit ish Freemasons," by Bro. W. J. Hng han, P.O. Seo, ,T m ro , Cornwall, is now in progre ss. Androgyne Masonry dates in Francefrom abont ITSO, ba t the y have gon e back to th e widow of onr K ing Ch arles I»to find a patroness.

13 —^He quotes , Bapin, p. 246; B ed e So. 18.



120

" every meeting, and why the Mother Lodge of ihem all should

. so far forget her own institutions, cannot be accounted for but

f from her extreme old age. However, being now su fic ien tly

awakened and revived by the comfortable appearance of so

« many worthy sons, I m ust tell you that she expects that every

gentleman, who is called a Freemason, should not be startled

at a problem in Geometry, or a proposition in Euclid." I t may

be mentioned here that Brother Bathurst was succeeded, in 1729,

by Brother Edward Thompson, M .P.; in 1783, by Brother D octor

John John son; and in 1734, by Brother John Marsden.

It is apparent that as the old " Adopted Masons" began to

rally round the influential London Grand Lodge, established in1717, disaflection crept in at the variation from the old working

introduced then and at a later period; but this did not all at once

lead to open rupture, but Past Grand Master Payne was publicly

censured by Grand Lodge for attending an " Ancient" Lodge, in

1730, and a complete severance of the disaffected afterwards took

place, and about 1738 they assumed the name of "Ancient York

Masons," and were encouraged by the Grand Lodge at York, the

members being oflended by an invasion of her Northern Jurisdiction. The Ahiman Betzon, or Book of Constitutions of the

discontented, repudiated altogether the history put forward by

the " Modems," in 1723, as imaginative, which much of it there

is no doubt is :—

"Certain it is , continued he, that Free-masonry has been

" from the creation, (though not under that name) ; that it was a

" divine gift from God; that Cain, and the builders of his city

" was strangers to the secret mystery of Masonry; that there" were but four M asons in the world when the deluge happened;

«< that one of the four, even the second son of Noah, was not

"Blaster of the Art; that Nimrod nor any of his bricklayeral

*' knew anything of the matter; and that Ihere were but very



121

few Masters of the Art (even) at Solomon's Temple; whereby

" it plainly appears, that the whole mystery was communicated to

" but very few at that tim e; that at Solomon's Temple, (and not

"before) it received the name of Free-masonry because the

* Masons at Jerusalem and Tyre were the greatest Cabalists ^then

"in the world; that the mystery has been for the most part

"practised amongst builders since Solomon's time; that there

** were some hundreds mentioned (in Histories of Masonry) under

the titles of Grand Masters, &c., for no other reason than that

" of giving orders for the building of a house, tower, castle, or

" some other edifice (or perhaps suffering the Masons to erect

" such in their territories, &c.,) while the memories of as many

" thousands of the faithful craft were buried in oblivion.*'

" What man, conversant with real Free-masonry and History,

" can swallow the legendary stories of the Monk St. Austin, St.

" Swithin, St. Dunstan, and other M onkish Saints, Confessors,

" Cardinals, &c., &c. Is it not more probable that these legendary

" Grand Masters, instead of patronising and protecting a society

" that was supposed to raise and converse with familiar spirits

" would have excommunicated them by bell, book, and candle,

" and by a thundering anathema consigned them over to the

"devi l? Did not the behaviour of their contemporaries and

" successors favour th is opinion 1"

These " Ancient" M asons also repudiated the Coat-of-Arms of

the London Stone-masons, and asserted that tiie true Coat of

the Speculative Masons was tiie armorial bearings of King

Solomon, indeed the Seal of the Grand Lodge of All England, at

York was as follows;— " Obverse—Three regal crowns, 2 and 1,

(the supposed arms of Prince Edwin.) Reverse—^The arms ofMasonry-—parted per cross, in the 1st quarter a L io n; 2, an O l ;

3, a Man ; 4, an Eagle. Crest—An Ark carried by two angels.

. l4.~-Feople skilled in the C abala, i .e. tradition—their secr et scie nce of exp oun d-ing divine mystories.—2>m»oW.



132

The inscriptioii on the obverse is ** -}- Sigil: Frat: Ebor: Per

E d w i n : C o l l d a t e , " A . D . 626." In reference to the sym bols it

may be mentioned that Vatablus quotes a Jewish writer, w ho

says that the Man, the banner of Reuben, signified religion and

reason; the Lion in that of Judah, denoted power; the Ox inthat of Ephraim, represented patience and toilsome labour; and

the Eagle in that of Dan, betokened wisdom, agility, and sublimity.

However, the combination of these in the M asonic arms denotes-

the Jewish transmission of the Order from King Solomon, un der

whose government the twelve tribes were last united. These

symbols were also used by the Bosicrucians, and as the Angel,.

Winged Bull, Winged Lion, and Eagle, they constitute tho

emblepas of the four Evangelists.

Contemporaneously with the later dates of this fourth chapter^

there existed in London a Provincial Grand Lodge and Chapter

of the "Royal Order of Scotland, H .R.M.—R .S.Y.C.S.S.," and

the following i s the official lis t of same from the Scottish archives

in Edinburgh; three of the chapters it will be seen claimed, in.

1743, to have existed time out of mind:—

No. 1. Grand Lodge at the Thistle and Crown, in Chandos-

street, "Immemorial."2. Grand Chapter at the Thistle and Crown, in Chandos-

street, "Immemorial."

3. Coach and Horses, in Welbeck-street, " Immemorial."

15.—At firent-Pelham, in Hertfordshire, is the m onum ent of a knig ht, said tohave died A . D . 1086: he is standing upon a Cross Flourte, under which i s .a serp ent ; about him are an eagle, a lion, and a buU, having all wings, an d

. an angel. Cross-legged effigies, also exi st of knigbts w ho could nev erhave bee n crusaders, and even in som e cas es, tbe legs of females ofknightly descent are crossed. Abbot Peter, of the monastery of St . Pe ter ,Glouce ster, had a Paschal Candelabrum, constituted about A.D . 1115, o f

of three s iae s in the tangled mass of which may be counted nine me n andforty-two mo nsters. The se monsters represent the wicked victims of vi ce spersonified. Th e candles and candlestick on the o ther band were th efitting emblem s of ligbt-giving truth, and "t he duty of ligh t" savs one o fthe three Latin inscriptions "i s the practise of virtue." " V ie lum inou sdoctrines of the gospel engages man to fiy from the darkness of vice.'*

, Aooordinglv, this lesso n is farther enforced by the presen ce of th e An gel,.Winged Ball, Winged Lion, and the Eagle, ranged round the stem.



123

4 . Blue B oar's Head , Exeter-street, " Immem orial."

5. Golden Horse Shoe, Gannon-street, Southwark, Dec.

11th, 1743.

6. The Griffin, Deptford, in Ken t, Dec. 20th, 1744.

It is usually claimed that the French degree of Rose Croix isderived from the Scottish Orders of Heredom Rosy-Cross, th e

first of which is said to be the old Ch ristian form of the Sco ttish

** M aste r Mason," and the second a grade of H ono rary K night

hood instituted by Bruce, after the battle of Bannockburn, where

a considerable quantity of Kn ights Tem plars assisted him. I t is

just possible that some of these English Chapters became Royal

Arch and Rose Croix Chapters, from the love of independance,

and th at existing degrees may be descendants of H.R .M .—RS.Y.C.S.S.ifi

Acco rding to Rebeld, the degrees of the Royal O rder of Scot

land, prior to the establishment of their modem Grand Lodge, in

A . D . 173 6, were a portion of the ceremonies of the Speculative

Lodge, " Cannon-gate Kilwinning," which existed in 1679, and

was composed chiefly of gentlemen. At the time of which we

are writing it numbered many Jacobites, including Murray, Sec

re tar y to the Prince Pretender, whose name was erased from theBo oks of the Lodg e; but there is a hiatus in the Minutes during

the rising.17 The oldest known Arch Chapter in Scotland is that

16.—Gadicke (Berlin, 1818), referring to thi s order says, that—" the order o fSt. Andrew (existed in th e I4th century), and was incorporated withMasonry in 1679 or 1689"; the latter is about the date w hen Jam es I I.attempted to recover the kingdom . The order is believed to have lost it sm inu tes in tbe rebellion of 1745. Tbere is said to be som e printedevid ence of tbe Royal Order about the year 1650, and also some memorandum of about 1730 mention ing " Ol\ Knights," but these are apocryphal;as the old Scott ish Minute Book comm ences with a revival by a few oldme mb ers in 1767. Tbere is a record, however, of 1750, being the petitionof Sir William MitcheU (F.D.L.T.Y.), addressed to "Sir Robert, R.L.E.,

** Provincial Grand Master of the Mo st An cient and H onourable Order of"t he H.R.D.M., of K.LW .N.N.G., in South Brita in; Sir Joseph Henry" Broom oot, F.R.D.M., Depu ty Grand M aster; Sir William P.R.P .R.T.O.N .," and Sir Richard, T.C.T.Y., Grand Wardens, and the rest of the Righ t" W orshipful Grand Officers of the said order." It is from Bro . Mitch ell'sdocuments that the foregoing list is derived.

17.— Bro. H orace Sw ete, M .D., states that h e has an old tobacco box , wh ich heasserts belonged formerly to the Earl of Melfort, who married in 1670, wen t



124

of Stirling Hock, where is a Lodge patronised by Jam es L It is

said that there are Arch allusions here in 1743, and others of old,

but uncertain date, to Red Gross, Templar, Sepulchre, and Malta.

W hilst P rince Charles Edward Stuart was at Holyrood, in 1745,

we are informed that he was made a Templar, and that LordMar was Grand Master of the Scottish Templars, in 1715, in

succession to Viscount Dundee, who was slain at KilliecranMe,

in 1689, bearing the Cross of the Order, as we are informed by

Dom Calmet.

We have evidence, at this time, of the uncertainty caused b y

diversity of rites, in the work written by Dr. Fifield D'Assigny,

dedicated to the "Most Noble and Puissant Prince Truth"

Dublin, in 1744; wherein at p. 14 , he says:—" That some have

*'been led astray with ridiculous innovations, an example of

** which I shall prove by a certain propagator of a false system

** some years ago in this city [Dublin], who imposed upon several

men under pretence of being Masters of the R oyal Arch, which

he asserted he had brought from the City of York, and that the

Ibeauties of the Craft did principally consist in the knowledge

" of this valuable piece of Masonry. However, he carried on

*' this scheme for several months, and many of the learned and*' wise were his followers; till at length his fallacious art was

" discovered by a brother of probity and wisdom, who had some

** small space before attained that excellent part of Masonry, in

abroad with James II. in 1688, and remaining in France was attainted; heinforms us that "the box is of evident antique manufacture and worlanan-ship , and dated 1670. On the lid is engraved the Mason ic working tools ofthe three degrees, the jewels of the lodge, and many other M asonic dev ices,bein g nearly a copy of the tracing boards of the three degr ees, w ith othe rsign s, .a brother who is Uoyal A rch easily understands." There is also th emotto of tbe Scottis h Boyal Order of Rosy Cross, which is lik ew ise that

of the Anc ient or Athol Masons—" Virtue and Silence." Our Fr en chbrethren state that it was during tbe sojourn of Charles II. and James n .on the continent, that " Scott ish M uo nry " was introduced ther e; we areinclin ed to place faith for various reasons in this, and are no believ ers i nMasonry having bee n first planted there in 1721. There is an Apocryp halcharter of tbe Lodge at Stirling, from David I. (1147), which en ac ts: " A n dthat you mack, instruck, and teach, the Masonry of St. John , in all i tapairts and secrets, and aslik belted K nights, and cross-legged with arm our,for the care and keepinff of our holy religion." The Lodge Glasg owSt. John," has a similar onarter.



125

London, and plainly proved tha t his doctrine was false •

" The re is lately arrived in this city a certain itinerant Mason,

"whose judgement (as he declares) is so far illuminated, and

" whose optics are so strong, tha t they can bear the view of the

" most lucid rays of the sun at noon day; and although we have"contended ourselves with three material steps to approach our

"** Summ um Bonum — the imm ortal God—^yet, he presumes to

" acquaint us that he can add three more, which, when properly

" placed, advances us to the highest heaven I hope tha t no

innocent and worthy brothe r may at any time be misled b y false

insinuations or foreign schenies}^ It could easily be proved

" that the Knights of Malta, and many other religious Orders and

" Societies, did borrow their solemn and religious usages from" our ancient fratemity."^^ I t will be seen tha t the last lines are

quoted from Dr. Anderson's Constitutions of 1723; but the Grand

Master of the Knights of Malta, really expelled six Knights from

the Island in 1741, for the crime of being Freemasons.

It would seem from the foregoing, that the York Grand Lodge

h ad the Arch and its attendant degrees about 1740, and also th at

these existed at the same time in London; but at this date the

York Grand Lodge became dormant, and separated into privatebodies of Arch Masons, Templars, &c., to re-collect themselves

after 1761.

The information of 1721, furnished by Bro. Cooke, ought to set

at rest the question of the use of Bosicrucian language by the

18.—It m ight b e inferred from th is that there was a difference between York,Lond on, and Continental Masonry, bn t the following from the first minnteaof the " An cients," dated March 4th. 1752, alluding to a person of th enam e of Macky, and hi s confederate Ph ealon , ex plai ns the state of affairsat that time —" The Orand S ecretary had exam ined Mucky at the ho use" of Jas. Duffy, Tobacco nist, in E ast Smithfield, who was not a Ma son, and" tbat Macky appeared incapable of making an apprentice with any degree" of propriety, nor had Macky the least idea or knowledge of Boyal M asonry;'* but instead thereof he had told the peo ple, whom he deceiye d, a story" about 12 marble ston es, and that the rdn bow was the Boyal Arch, wit h" many other absurdities equally foreign and ridiculous." From this itwould seem probable that Macky may have invented the degree of ArkMariner.—Vide Freenuuofi, 1870, p. 445.

19.—Bro. Wm. Jas. Hughan intends to reprint this work.



126

early En glish Freem asons . Several w riters from 1724 to 1729^

including E. Chambers, moreover, noticed this relationship;

but in Germany, the philosophy of the Rosicrucians was taught

under the assumed patronage of E ugenius Philalethes, by nin e

degrees, engrafted at this time upon the M.M ., which (so far as

we ha ve h ad opportunity of judging), having little in common

with English Tem plar Masonry indicate a separate rite. T h e

Rosicrucian " Fam e and Confession " states, tha t the key to the-

symbolical language was preserved amongst them in a large-

Dictiona ry, wh ilst it is believed tha t the " Key of M asonry " o r

" Knight of the Sun," taught this symbolic language to Free

masons.

Fro m some imexplained cause, it would seem tha t w hilst

hitherto all the speculation upon Masonic Mysteries turned upon*

the Rosicrucians, it now veered round to the Templars, and

henceforth we hear the last of the former. W e should say th a t

there is very little doubt but that the "three steps" above

Master Mason alluded to above, were tbe last grades of the

following rite which was practised in Ireland, and formed the

system of the York Grand Lodge:—1 E.A .; 2 F .C .; 3 M .M .;

4 P.M .; 6 R.A.; 6 K.T . (era A . D . S2J; 7 K.T. Priest, or Holy

Wisdom (era "Year of Revival," A . D . 1686). This latter deg reewas the neplus ultra, and termed a " Tabernacle," and governed

by seven pillars, as testified in the Talm udical formu la:—

** Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewen out her sevei^

** pil lars the light that cometh from wisdom sha ll neve r go out**"

Th ere is also a H igh P riest and Conductor making nine officers,

as in the SSrd degree A. & A. Rite . Th e seven seals on th e

V.S.L. appear to have symbolised the seven degrees of the rite,.

and we find in the " Pillars," th e Cabalistical— Power, Riches^Wisdom, Strength, Honour, Glory, Blessing, forming a ladder

with the seven binding questions which are obligatory on a." H oly

Royal Arch—Knight Templar—Priest."2« Bro. Godfrey Higginsso.—Sir Walter Scott, eeem s in " Kenilworth " to have thought this a sectarian

degree of Cromwell's party.



12T

supposes tbe degree to be of great antiquity. I t has some points

common to *' Christians of St. Joh n," the present ea stern followers

of the Baptist, whom Higgins supposes to have been a Mithraic

P rie st. Th e jewel is the Cross and Serpent symbolising Prie st

hood in the Ancient Mysteries—"Be ye therefore wise as" serpents and harmless as doves." I t may be observed tha t th e

first portion of the ceremonial of a Knight Templar very closely

resembles the Rosse Crucis degree, the ancient structure, three,

fold pilgrimage, and secre ts, of both, being almost identical. The

two Temp lar ceremonials also bear considerable analogy to th e

degree of Knight Kadosh, and they also have had secrets in

common. Yet it is likely th at the Rosicrucian resemblance of the

three-fold Templar trials of constancy, courage, and humility,

arise by imitation and divergence from the three trials made of

an An cient Tem plar and of a K night Kado sh. And' after all,

when we consider that the Scottish Order of Rosy Cross claims

to be of Temp lar descent, and to be the origin of the F renc h Rose

Croix (although this must not be accepted as certain), and that

the York Grand Lodge (as we shall see) accepted the Templar

but neglected the Rose Croix, and that the Kadosh claims to

represent the Templar; we may be excused for doubting whether

all a re not one and the same order. The Rite , of which th eprominent degrees are the Rose Croix, and Templar Kadosh,

clidms in the degree of " Prince of the Royal Sec ret" to hav e

consisted, also, originally of seven degrees, and to represent the

Templar in the degree of G.E.K.K., with which the Knights of

M alta a re to be associated. Th e only substan tial difference is

that this latter rite does not now include the "Priestly Order,'*

though the K .H . maintains some of its forms; and the two degrees

of Rosse Crucis and Kadosh are more gorgeous than those of theother rite , and afford good gro unds on which to argue the safe

transmission of th e order for 400 yea rs. As practised in Fr an ce ,

th e K H . degree h as the ladder of seven steps, and seven pass

wo rds corresponding w ith the seven questions anciently addressed



128

to a Templar on his reception; and it is worthy of mention that

th e spiral staircase of the ancient Tem ple at Pa ris, adm itted of

defence from story to story, by seven successive gates with a

sentinel at each.

W e are aware of the unsatisfactory na ture of this account of

M asonry in the British Isles, but cannot go beyond wha t our

docum entary evidence authorises u s, though we are inclined to

oredit the Templar traditions of a Masonic connection in 1686;

for even Templary had been revived in France in 1681, under

the Duk e de D u ra s; and also the further Cabalistical or Bosi*

orucian natu re of the ceremonies at tha t time. W ith regard to

the Royal Order of Scotland, we think it quite as likely to be a

new amalgam of these as not, by some additions upon their old

degree of a Master Mason, and taken up by the Stuart party.

Masonry on the continent kept pace, and even surpassed its

English rival; and Bro. H. B. Leeson, 88^, is possessed of an

old cha rter, granted by the Pre tend er for the high grades, and

h as asserted tha t some F ren ch edition of the En glish Co nstitu

tions of 1720, printed at Brussels in 1722, contains in the 87th

<}lause allusion to the follow ing:— "All the M asters of Lodges,

^' Knights Elected Kadosh, Superintendents, Knights of Palestine,

" Princes of Jeru salem , Masons of tlie Secret, E lu s, Eccossais,

" Kn ights Elected of St. Andrew, A ncient M asters of the Ro yal

Arch , Officers of the G ran d Lodge, M asters , Com panions, an d

^'Appren tices." Th e accuracy of Dr . Leeson has often been

called in question, and there is a very suspicious resemblance in

this to St. M artin's reformation of the Rite of Pasch alis, first

formed in 1754 but there is nothing absolutely impossible, as

we have shewn that our Grand Lodge had a knowledge of somehigh-grade system in 1721, when they chartered a Lodge at Me ns,

i21.—St. Martin's Rite c onsist ed of the following deg rees:— !. E.A. 2. F.C.3 . M.M. 4 . Anc ient Master. 5. Ele ct. 6. Arch itect. 7. M aster of theSecret. 8. Prin ce of Jerusalem . 9. Knigh t of Pa lestine. 10. KnightKadosh.



129

originated with a Society of Sni gh ts , in the t ime of Godfrey de Bouil lon,that their duty was to rebuild the chu rche s destroyed by th e Saracens, and

because m any of the w orkmen were converted Gh ristiaos, they adoptedsymbolic ceremonies ^ t h the object of instructing them in the Christian

Land.—Vide B obiMon's Proof of a CoMpiracp, p. 33.Th e Grand Lodge of the N etnerlands have recen tly discovered a l ette r

from Bro. T. Manningham, D.GJdE., of England, to Bro. Saner, of the

in Belgium, and another at D un kirk , and would no doubt forward

the laws of Gra nd Lodge in M .S. Th en again, the Scottish

nature of the degrees may be explained by supposing that the

founders of these old Lodges had been previously received in

Jacobite Lodges, for there must have been Masons before Lodges

could be chartered . W e are informed by the Supreme Council

of Charleston, America—^where high-grade M asonry was int ro

duced in 1767— that, " Knig ht of St. Andrew " is one of the old

names of the Hose Croix, but this latter name does not occur in

the list, and " St. Andrew" is now a totally different ceremony.

It is believed that some such system of degrees was instituted for

political purposes by the Jacobites, the three ruffians being

Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Ireton; and certainly the three degrees

of " Scottish Architect," and ** Superintendents" or " Knights

of Palestine," the degrees of " Ir is h M aster," and the three

" E lus," appear to have such a tendency.

Somew here about the year 1728, the Chevalier J a s. M itchel

Kamsay, brought out a new system of seven degrees, which

judg ing by the work called " Travels of Cyrus " (1727), we should

suppose to have been the Red Cross, or Knight of the Sword, the

Eagle, and its attendant orders, which, probably, included the

Pelican and Eag le, and Kadosh Tem plar. H e publicly broached

his Knightly theory of Masonry at Paris, in 1740; and the theory

and degrees were also manipulated by the Jesuit Lodge and

Chap ter at Clerm ont,^ where our abdicated King Jam es I I . had

settled.

32.—G adicke, aays—" this order becam e know n in 1735-46, but had exist ed previously." Bam say was a leam ed M ason and well acquainted with theAn cient Mysteries. H e taught that the order of Speculative Masonry



180

Gadicke, says, that Field M arshal He nry W m . Von M arshall,

knew and worked the Tem plar degree in 174 0; bu t th at Ba ron

H un de , a wealthy nobleman, a privy councillor, and proprietor

of many estates, born at Auberlaysitz in 1722, travelled over to

the French army at Brabant in 1748, and was initiated into

Tem plar M asonry. H e was likewise connected with Von

Marshall in 1751, and propagated his own rite of " Strict Obser

va nc e" in 1754. Th is latter, inculcated a derivation from the

Scottish Templars in 1314, and included Pseudonyms and customs

of the Scottish "Royal Order," and conferred the following

degrees:—1, Ap prentice; 2, Com panion; 8, M aste r; 4, Scottish

M as ter ; 5, Novice (Rosy Cross); 6, Te m pla r; 7, Professed

Kn ight (K .H. or P.O.). H e held the governance of the " SeventhProvince of the Order," under Princ e Charles E dwa rd Stuart,23

a,nd propagated his rite extensively in Germany and in Sweden.

Prince C harles Edw ard Stuart, as has been noticed, was made

a Templar at Holyrood, (by some who had been members of the

Order in 1716,) in the year 1745, and in April, 1747, he granted

to A rras, in France , a Ch arter for a M etropolitan C hap ter of

Ha gue , dated July 12th, 1757, in wh ich that brother repudiating every

thing but tbe three degrees, sa ys :— Th re e foreign gentlemen (and" masons) lately visited the Lodê I belong to, and were introduced by me" to the Grand Lodge. On discoursing with th ose gentlem en, I found" Germany, Holland, and Switzerland, m som e places h ave an order of" Masonry unknown to us, yiz.:—Knights of the Sword, of the Eagle, of the"H ol y Land, with a long train of etceteras and adorn them selv es" with different coloured ribbons." "My own father has bee n a Ma6on" the se fifty years, and has visited Lodges in Ho lland, France, and Engla nd ;" he knows non e of the se cerem onies . Grand Master Payne who 8u c>

ceeded S ir Christopher Wren is a stranger to them , so likew ise is an old"bro ther of ninety whom I conversed with Knights of the Holy" Land, St. John of Jerusalem, Templars, &c., have existed, and I believe," ex ist now ; also the Knigh ts of Malta. Bu t what is that to Masonry?" I never heard they belonged to the fraternity of Free ma sons, though I" do not doubt they have now , and have had. many Freem asons worthy"m em bers of their order; but imagine they did no t obtain their t i t les by

" Masonry alon e! "The Kadosh is said to have been establish ed at Ly ons in 1743, upon ihe

' hosts of Ramsay's Knight of the Temple. If such is the case, i t may accountfor its after appropriation as " Commander of the Ro se Croix " in England,for they were previously possessed of a Templar, and of th e P eli ca n andEagle. Bagon tel ls us how ever," that in the very ancient manuscripts ofEng Ush m asonry th e Kadosh is called *K—' '(A—) '. It e xiste d beforeBam say, to whom they erroneously attribute this m onstr ous conception."

23.—Laurie's History qf Freetnasonry,



131

Hose Croix which runs as follows:—"We, Charles Edward

* Stuart, King of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, and in

" that q uality S.G.M. of the C hapter of H . known under the title

" of Knigh t of the Eagle and Pelican , and since our misfortunes

" und er th at of Rose Croix, erect and create by this present Bull^

" in the said town of A rras, a Primordial Chapter of Rose Croix,

" &c., &c." Th e Pelican feeding its young is th e jewel of th e

degree, and the ban ner of his father, Jam es I I I , in 1715, bore the

very same symbol. W e therefore seem to identify both Tem plar

and Rosy Cross M asons together i n the two rebellions of 1715

and 1745.

T he two Orders of Tem plars and Rosy Cross seem likewise to

have been connected in this way in Englan d a t a later date,

an d conferred by some of th e old Cam ps twice a year after the

Templar ceremony. The following is an old Lond on list of

degrees, most probably of the " Observance " Conclave, Lond on,

and up wards of a century old;— but is headed " Consecrated F ree

" and Accepted Knight M asons:—Sir W . Ha nna m , Knight Grand

" Elected D eputy Master:—Symbolicfid or the Craft, 3 ; M aster

" of the A rchitecture, 1 ; M aster of the Royal Arch, 1 ; M aster of

" th e RossB Crucis or triple ,1 ; M aster of the Encam pmen t" of H .R.D .M ., T.P ., 1; M aster of the Kadosh, Palestine, 1; M aster

" of the Red Cross, Phy sical, Philosophical, and M oral or the

"last24." Th is rite bears such resemblance to tha t of Baron

H un de th at it ha s been supposed to be a chapter of his R ite, but

Ihere is no evidence of this.

H is Holiness, the Roman Pontiff, anathematised Freemasonry

i n 1738, and th is led to the establishmen t of the order of Mopses

in Germ any. Th e M oravians established an Order of ReligiousFreem asons called " The M ustard Seeds," about 1740.

At the same period of time the R osicrucian R ite, consisting of

nine degrees existed in Germany, but was supplanted by the

:24.—Bro. Bobt. Wentworth li tt le .



182

Templar Rite of Baron Hunde:—1, Zelator; 2 , Th eo ricu s;

8, Pra cticu s: 4, Pbilosophicus; 6, Adeptns Ju nio r; 6, Ad eptus

M ajor; 7, Adeptus E xe m ptu s; 8, Magister Te m pli; 9, M ag us.

Brun, the Chief of this Rite, (which has been recently introduced

into England,) died in the middle of the century, and out of itwas formed, in 1777, the *' Brothers of the Golden Rosy Cros s,"

which accepted only three degrees; a second schism was the

" Initiated Brothers of Asia," originating in 1780.

In 1754, Martinez Paschalis started at Marseilles, Toulouse,,

and Bordeaux, a Rite of "Ele cte d Cohens," or Priests, a n d

extended it to P ar is in 1767. I t consisted of the following n in e

degrees:—1, App rentice; 2, Fellow Craft; 8, M aster; 4, G ra nd

E lec t; 5, Apprentice Co hen ; 6, Fellow Craft C oh en ; 7, M as te rCoh en; 8, Grand Architect; 9, Knight Commander. Some tim e

after this date the M arquis de St. M artin reformed the R ite , a a

we before noticed, and started it at Lyons.

Another Rite was spread in Germ any by a Lu thera n clergy

man, of the name of Rosa, unde r the patronage of the B aro n d e

Prin zen. I t was at first very popular but was afterwards su pe r

seded by Hunde's Rite.

About this period (1760), a Benedictine Monk of the name of

Pe m etti, and Gabrianca, a Polish nobleman, started a Rite of

Swedenborgianism, und er the name of the " Illum inate of Av ig

non ." One version of it reads:—1, True Freem ason; 2, True-

Freemason in the right way; 8, Knight of the Golden Key;

4 , Kn ight of the R ainbow ; 5, Knight of the Arg onau ts; 6, K ni gh t

of the Golden Flee ce ; but it was not until 1783 that th e

Marquis de Thome modified the system as follows:—1, Appren

tice; 2, Fellow Craft; 8, Master Theosophite; 4, Blundnatedi

Th eoso phite; 5, Blue Br oth er; 6, Red Bro ther.

Count Von Zinnendorf introduced Swedish Masonry into

Berl in, in 1776; h is modification was as f o l l o w s 1 , Blue or 8K



I8 d

John's Masonry.— 1, Entered Apprentice; 2, Fellow Craft; 9,

Master Mason. II Red Masonry, 4 , Scotch Apprentice and

Fellow Craft; 6, Scotch Master. I l l Capittdar Masonry, 6

Favourite of St. John; 7, Elected Brother. The present Rite of

the Grand Lodge of Sweden is as follows:—1, Apprentice; 2,Fellow Craft; 3, Master; 4 , Apprentice and Fellow Craft of St.

Andrew; 6, Master of St. Andrew, conferring civil nobility;

6,Brother Stuart; 7, Favourite Brother of Solomon; 8, Favourite

Brother of St. John, or W hite Ribbon; 9, Favourite Brother of

St. Andrew, ^r Violet Ribbon; 10 , Member of the Chapter;

11, Dignitary of the Chapter; 12, Reigning Grand Master.

Brother Samuel Beswick, in his work on the Swedenborgian Bite

(New York, 1670,) states that that eminent man was initiated at

Lund, in Sweden, in 1706. Though no evidence is afforded of

this, we yet feel assured he must have been a Mason, or else he

was so thoroughly embued with the ancient writers upon Cabalism

and Theosophy that he has insensibly imbibed the style and

knowledge of our Order, as what he has written will bear the

double interpretation.

In 1766, one Schroeder founded an Alchemical Rite, at Marburg,

called the *' True and Ancient Rose Croix Masons."

In 1767 Baucherren instituted in Prussia, with the concurrence

of Frederick II , a society called the Order of African Architects,"

conasting of the following degrees:—1, Apprentice; 2, Fellow

Craft; 8, Master. Second Temple, 4, Apprentice of Egyptian

Secrets; 5, Initiate in the Egyptian Secrets ; 6, Cosmopolitan

Brother; 7, Christian Philosopher; 8, Master of Egjrptian

Secrets; 9,Esquire; 10, Soldier; 11, Knight. This Order is

very highly spoken of. In the same year, B . Chastannier insti-tuted a rite of " Illuminated Theosophists;" and the seven Egyptian

degrees of the " Crata Repoa" were in vogue. It may be mentioned

in reference to the latter, tbat 4,800 years ago, the ritual of the

Book of the Dead " implies that the sacred words delivered in



134

the mysteries were intended as incantations, by which the sonl

might afterwards vanquish all spiritual obstacles and reach the

Halls of Osuis.

From the Baron Hunde's Bite sprang the Bite of the " Clerks

of Belaxed Observance." Candidates were required to be Bom anCatholics, and the degrees were as follows:— 1, Apprentice;

2, Fellow Craft; 8, Master; 4 , African Brother; 6, Knight of

St. Andrew; 6, Knight of the Eagle; 7, Scotch Master; 8,

Sovereign Magus; 9, Provincial Master of the Bed Cross;

10, Knight of Light. The last being divided into five sections,

comprehending Knight Novice of the third year, of the fifth year,

of the seventh year, Knight Levite and Knight Priest.

Pemetti established the " Hermetic " or ** Philosophic ScotchBite," for Alchemical research; but Dr. Boileau, of Paris,

modified this in 1776, as follows:—1, 2 and 8, Knight of the

Black Eagle or Bose Croix, divided into three parts; 4 , Knight

of the Phoenix; 5, Knight of the Sun; 6, Knight of Iris; 7,

Freemason; 8, Knight of the Argonauts; 9, Knight ofthe Golden

Fleece; 10 , Grand Inspector, Perfect Initiate; 11, Grand

Inspector, Grand Scotch Mason; 12, Sublime Master of the

Luminous Bing.In 1775, Savalette de Langes, Keeper of the Boyal Treasury,

invented the Bite of Pkilalethes, or Searchers after Truth, at

Paris:—1, Apprentice; 2, Fellow Craft; 8, Master; 4 , Elect;

5, Scotch Master; 6, Knight of the East; 7, Bose Croix;

8, Knight of the Temple; 9, Unknown Philosopher; 10, Sublime

Philosopher; 11, Initiate; 12, Philalethes.

The Baron de Tschoudi êstablished the follo wing: — 1,

Apprentice; 2, Companion; 8, Master; 4 , Perfect Master; 6$

Symbolic Elect; 6, Architect of Heredom; 7, Mason of the

Secret (a sort of Arch); 8, Prince of Jerusa lem; 9, Knight of

Palestine (Orient of Upsal—68^ Mizraim); 10 ,Knight of Kadosh or



1 3 5

Holy Man. The degree of " Palestine" ccmmemorates 8 1 Knights,

who passed into Europe as Templars, A . D . 1 1 5 0 , and settled at

Upsal, spreading Masonry over Europe.—" The Nathineens were

Priests vowed to the service of the Temple, of which Esdras

makes mention, called Phohal-Kal-Pharat-Kadosh, separated bythe holiness of their manners."

In 1 7 7 6 , Adam Wishaupt instituted the Order of the " H I U -

minati" which consisted of ffteen degrees, and was of infidel

tendency.

In 1 7 8 0 the " Primitive Bite of Narbonne " was established.

A Bite of thirty-three degrees was established at Namur, in

Belgium, by Brother Marchot, an advocate at Nivelles, called the

"Primitive Scotch Rite." It resembles the present "Ancient

and Accepted Rite," but the degrees are differentiy arranged.

The " Reformed Rite" was a modification of Hunde's, con

sisting of two degrees above Craft Masonry, viz:—4, Scotch

Master; 5 , Charitable Knight of the Holy City; and established

at Willelmsbad, in 1 7 8 2 . In Poknd it was called the " Reformed

Helvetic Rite."

In 1 7 8 0 , the " Sublime Masters of the Luminous Ring," ofthree degrees was founded at Paris, it was purely Pythagorean.

Bahrdt founded the following Rite at HaUe, in Germany:—

1 , Youth; 2 , The Man; 3,The Old Man; 4, The Mesopolyte;

5 , The Diocesan; 6 , The Superior. The man's character seems

not to have been good.—^This Rite was suppressed.

^The French " Adonhiramite Masonry " consisted of the follow

ing degrees:—1, E. A.; 2 , F. C; 8 , M. M.; 4, Perfect Master;

6, Elect of Nine; 6 , Elect of Perignan; 7, Minor Architect or

Scotch Apprentice; 8 , Grand Architect or Scotch Fellow Craft;

9 , Scotch Master; 1 0 , Knight of the East; 1 1 , Eiiight of the

Rose Croix; 1 2 , Prussian Knight.



13tJ

The impostor, Joseph Balsamo, Connt Cagliostro, established^

his Rite upon some papers bought in London, in 1779, it con

sisted of the following:— 1, Egyptian Apprentice; 2, Egyptian

Fellow Graft; 8, Egyptian Master.

In 1786 the " Grand Orient of France'' founded the following

Rite:—1, Apprentice; 2, Fellow Craft; 3, Master; 4, Elect;.

5, Scotch Master; 6, Knight of the E as t; 7, Rose Croix; and

later it adopted seven other leading R ites.

Fessler drew up a Rite from the " Golden Rosy Cross," the

" Strict Observance,*' and the Ancient " Chapter of Clermont,"

at Paris, consisting of the following degrees:—1, Apprentice ; 2,

Fellow Craft; 8, Master; 4 , Holy of Holies; 5, Justification;

6, Celebration; 7, True Light; 8, Fatherland; 9, Perfection.

We have given these before entering upon the History of the

" Ancient and Accepted Scottish R ite," but in addition to th is

number many other new degrees cmd Rites were invented.

Pyron also instituted a Rite of 43 degrees, and Fustier one

of 64 degrees. In all we have about 70 rites, with an average

of 20 degrees each.

Unquestionably, however, the most grandiloquent of all th oRites was one with a history we are now about to open n p.

I t is stated that in 1754, the Chevalier de Bonneville established

the " Bite of Perfection " and called it the " Chapter of Clermont,'*

in honour of Louis of Bourbon. However that may be, Pir let,

a tailor, and Lacorne, a dancing master. Deputy of Chaillon de

Joinville, established a series of 25 degrees, (elsewhere attribut*ed

to de Bonneville) at Paris, in 1758, and called themselves the

" Empire of the East and West." Ragon informs us, that owing tothe immoral character of Lacorne, he was deprived of his office i n

the Craft, and in order to revenge himself, determined to set altar

against altar by the collection of this series of degrees. T he

members assumed the titles of " Sovereign Prince Masons, Sub-



137

stitutes General of the Boyal Art, Grand Superintendents and

" Officers of the Grand and Sovereign Lodge of St. John of Jem-

" salem." These 26 degrees were ruled by Lispeotors General*

Wo know bi^t little of this " Holy Em pire" for some years, but

Chsdllon de Joinville gave a Patent to Brother Stephen Morin, aJewish merchant, as Inspector General, in 1761, to propagate the

rite in the W est Indies. It had reached Berlin in 1758, and at

Bordeaux adopted a representative Constitution, in 1762, which i s

yet preserved. Bro. Morin granted a Patent, in 1767, to Bro. Henry

A. Francken, who thereupon founded a Chapter at Albany, New

Tork,—^the tracing board belonging to this Chapter is yet

preserved, and is dated 1769: it has upon it a double-headed

]^!agle, sword in claws, placed upon a ladder of seven steps, as in

the old English Templar certificates. Brother Francken in this

Patent is styled " G,E.P . 8c S. Mason, Knight of the East^ and

"P rince of Jerusalem, &c., &c., &c. Patriarch Noachite,

" Sovereign Knight of the Sun, and K.H., Prince of Masons and

" Deputy Grand Inspector General." In 1769, Brother Morin

was at Kingston, Jamaica, and stated in a Grand Consistory of

" Princes of the Royal Secret," (then 29° now 32«) 2 5 that from

investigations made in P aris to learn whether the Masons styled

Kadosh were not in reality the Knights Templar, 2 6 it had beendetermined that the degree should for the future be styled

"Knight of the White and Black Eagle"—the colours of the

Templar Beauseant—and that the Jewel should be a Black

Ea gle. The degree is so styled in the Bordeaux Statutes of

1762. The Grand Orient of France annulled Morin's Patent in

1^66, so that all his doings after that date were irregular. I t

may be observed that the introduction of an element into the

Kadosh, from the Holy Vehm, Free Judges, or Secret Tribunal ofWestphalia points to modem Germanic revision. This Tribunal

25.—Slo^tttes of the Ancient and Aeee^d Rite, New York, 1862.—W ays to Things by W ords, by John Cleland, 1766, purposes to trace Mason,

M ani, and Paganes— tbe first G.M. of t be Templars—to o ne and the sam eroot.



188

ofthe HcHy Vehn was a sort of bastard of&hoot from the Mysteries^

of Odin'and Thor, sworn to judge and ayenge in silence, and

Imown to one another by signs and tokens amongst which appears

the letters S. S. G. G.; the object was secret and even-handed'

justice to rich and poor alike by the cord and the dagger. FromAlbany the degrees of the Bite spread to Charleston, in the

Southern States of America, and elsewhere from this time con

tinued to be propagated by wandering pedlars. Brother M oses

M. Hays, the deputy of Brother Morin, we find settled at New

port, B.I., about 1775, and in 1781 conferred the degrees npon

Brothers Moses Seixas, Peleg Clark, &c., the Albany co ncem

in the meantime having become dormant. A Brother Abraham

Jacobs received the degrees of the "Em pire," at Charleston, in1787, and commenced their propagation in the W est Ind ies and '

Southem States of America, some times in company with a

Dr. de la Motta, and settled at New York, in 1808, and here for

tiie present we will leave the "Empire."

During all this time it i s very unfortunate that we have so few

records in England, owing to the degrees above Master Mason

being conferred in the "Secret Conclaves," where no minutes

were allowed to be recorded. Grand Master Deuchar, of Scotland,traced the Templar Order to about 1740, by means of living

members,27 and the same could be done, formerly, for some of th e.

English Encampments. The system of Templary, ev idently ,,

conferred the degree of Knight RO8(B Crucis, and appears to h av e

inculcated its Bosicmcian origin. What the antiquity in E ng lan d,

of the Kadosh, as a separate degree, may be, does not seem ver^

(dear; but it is usually considered that the Priest was the Com*

mandership of the Templar, the Kadosh of the Bosa Crude, andthe Prince of the Boyal Secret of the Order of Palestine, The

very feust of a Paris commission in 1760, being called upon to en

quire whether the Templar and the Kadosh were identical degrees,

shows that at that time their separate nature was of some antiquity.

97.—Laorie'a HUtory qf Freemasonry,



139

It is evident from the M inntes of the Ancient or Athol M asons,

in London, that it was not until after the middle of the 18th

century, that a separate organisation was created for the degree

o f Holy Boyal Arch; for w e find it on record, that on the 2nd

Sept., 1752, " Ev ery pa rt of real Free -mason ry w as traced andexplained, except the Boyal Arch." On De c. 5th, 1753, they

elected Bro. Robert Turner, first G.M., and on the 27th Dec,

1754, he was succeeded by the Hon. Edward Vaughan, who

presided until the election of the Earl of Blessington, on the

1st of Dec, 1756; and on the 2nd March, 1759, it was " ordered

that the Masters of the Royal Arch shall also be summoned t o

meet, in order to regulate things relative to that most valuable

branch of the Craft."28 The Earl of Kelley was elected theG.M. of the Order, in 1760, and succeeded by the Hon. Thomas

Mathew, in 1767.

I t was probably owing to the tempo rary dormancy of the G ran d

l i O d g e of all Eng land , a t York, for many yea rs during this period,

t h a t these elections took place in L ondon, of the "A nc ie n ts ;"

a n d it was not un til 1761 tha t the York M asons bestirred them

selves , and elected their old mem ber, Bro. Fran cis Dra ke, the

em ine nt Antiquary, Gran d M aster. Th ere existed here a nAn cien t Encamjsment of Tem plars; and the Grand Lodge was

n a m e d — " The Druidical Lodge, or Chapter of Royal Arch Masons,

or Encampm ent of Tem plars, or College of Heredom Templars,"

The successors of G.M. Drake, were—John Sawrey Morritt,

1763; John Palmes, 1765; Seth Agar, 1767; George Palmes,

1768; Sir Thomas Gascoigne, Bart., 1771; Charles Chaloner,

1773; Henry Stapelton, 1774; Wm. SiddaU, 1776; Francis

Smith, 1780; Robert Sinclair, 1781; Edward WoUey, 1792.

The names of the two latter are prominently mentioned in the

Minutes of Constitution of the Jerusalem Encampment, Man

c h e s t e r , 1786. 9 The Gran d Lodge occasionally he ld its meetings

^.—The Freemcuon, 1870, p.SO.—Vide the writer's B utory of the Conclave, published by the Proyincia l

Grand Conclaye of Lancashire.



140

in fhe Crypt, under Y ork M inster, where t h d r stone sea ts are

<k were recentiy to be seen.

W e are informed by Bro. W m. Ja s. Hu ghan, Pro. Gd. S e c ,

Cornw all, in h is recent, most excellent, " Masonic B ep rin ts, "

London, 18 71 : " Particular business was transacted on 2nd J u n e ,1780, and the proceedings are thu s recorded:—

" That the Grand Lodge of all England, comprehending Five

" degrees or orders of M asonry, sha ll, from and after St . Jo h n 's

" Day next, be assembled five times in a quarter to wit,—one

"n ig ht on the Degrees of En ter'd Apprentice, one night in the

Fellow Craft's Deg ree, one night in the M aster's De gree , one

' 'n ig h t in the Degree or Order of K night's Templar, and one

night in the most sublime Degree of Boya l Arch, a nd each

" year to consist of four qu arters, vi z:—

r l . N . of G. Last Monday in July En t'd Appren. Lodge

2. „ Second Hon. in Aug. Knight Tem plars

iBt Qaarter-{ 3. „ Last Monday in Aug. Fellow Grafts

4 . „ Second Mon. in Sep. Boyal Arch Chapter

5. „ Last Monday in Sep. Master Lodge.

** And that the Grand Lodge be accordingly summoned one

" nigh t in each q uarter for each degree. The fees to the G ra nd

" Lodge for the First degree, 2s. 6d .; for the Second degree, 38.6 d.;

" for the Third degree, 4s. Od.; for the Fourth degree, 6s. 6d.;

" and the whole Five degrees, 7s."

Bro. Hughan, takes notice that both the Templar and the

Royal Arch are indiscriminfiitely ranked as the fourth order ; but

the York Encampment at Manchester, passed a law in 1786, to

compel the remaking of any Brother as "irregular," who hadbeen received a Templar without first having the Royal Arch.

Th ere is an old theory tha t the Arch was brought from Pa lestine,

or invented by the T emplars. Th e whole history of the high -

grades shews uncertainty, as to how they should rank. T h e



141

Boyal Order of Scotland " was conferred, formerly, on Master

M asons, bu t is now confined to th e B oyal A rch. Indee d, ther e

w^re Temp lars made, even in E ngland, who were not M asons.

I t would not seem tha t the system of the York Gra nd Lodge

differed very materially from th at practised elsewhere in E ngla nd,

but the presiding ofiGicers of their ** Arch" represented—S.K.L

H .K .T., H.A.B . Elsewh ere, in some parts of En gland , the

ceremonials of Arch Masonry would appear to have consisted of

three parts:—1, Solomon's Arch of Enoch; 3, The Red Gross

of C yru s; for which others gave—^the Ve ils (alluding to Moses);

3, The A rch of Zem bbabel. The lecture gave the "Sto ne of

Fou ndation." In La ncashire, a degree called the M ark, was con

ferred upon P ast M aste rs; an d it w ent also under the name ofth e " M ysterious Bed Cross of Babylon," and gave the history

of Daniel, and his creation as a Persian Prince, for his interpre

tation of the words:— Mene, M ene, TeM , Upharsin. The mark

pass alluded to the crossing of the river between Tatnai and

Sh ethar-bo zna i, when he produced specimen of his work as a

bu ilder of the second Tem ple. Th e Operative Lodge of St. Jo h n ,

Banff, Scotland, mentions in its bye-laws of 1765, tw o degrees of

" Boyal Arch and Super-Excellent," and from 17d0 the degreesof Knights T emplar, and K nights of Ma lta.

It is said that the "lost secrets" were removed from the

Master Mason's Degree to the Boyal Arch, by that leamed Bro.

Thomas Dunckerley, who held high honours in every order,

giving him influence to enable him to reconstmct and introduce

the present Boyal Arch to the London G rand Lodge of 1717, which

established a Gran d Chapter thereof in 1769, and published its

regulations in 1782. H e w as made a T emplar of the " SevenSteps," in the " E m ine nt" Camp at Bristol.

I t was in 1780, that the " A ntiquity" Camp Of Bath , and the

" Eminent,"of Bristol, confederated, under a C H A B T E R O F C O M P A C T ,

yet existing, consisting of 20 Articles, and bearing the Seals of



142

the Orders of Knights Templars, Bosse Cmcis, Kadosh, &c.

These laws estabhshed a ' 'Snprem e Grand Enc am pm ent" a t

Bristol, and enact that after such dato, all who did not acknow

ledge its supremacy, should be treated as irregula r.

In 1782, the Camp of Observance, London, applied to the

" Boyal Order of Scotland," for recognition in the degree of Rosy

Cross, bu t the two ceremonials appear to have differed too

ma terially. I t was also about this date tha t the " Observance "

Chapter introduced the Rosse Crucis into Dublin, Ireland^

through the Chevalier Laurent.

W e are informed by B ro. Thom as Dunckerley, that when h e

was called upon by election, to take the Grand Mastership of the

High-grades in 1790, he found four Conclaves which had existed

" from time immemorial," established at the following places:—

LONDON (" Observance," of seven degrees); Y O R K (" Redem p

tion) ; 30 B R I S T O L (" Em inent," of seven degrees); B A T H (** Ant i

quity") ; and various other Chapters, immediately, ranged them

selves und er his ban ners. H e styled himself " Grand Master of

" th e Grand Conclave of the Royal, Exa lted, Religious, an d

" MiUtary Orders of H.R.D .M.— Grand Elected Knights Tem plar,

30.—A Conclave of seven degrees as well as the Encam pmen t at Bath . T h elearned Bro. Dr. Oliver received h is high-grades in the old York Conclave,,now m eeting at Hull , and Bro. Dr. D. W. Nash in the "Ba ldwv n" atBristol. Here the C onclaves are arranged probably according to u ie im portance of the citie s, having no guide to date. It would seem as if t h e" Seven Steps of Chivalry " were modified to Rosed Cmcis, and TemplarKadosh as the 6th and 7th degree. Bro. Geo. Oliver, D.D ., states that " i n1784 tbe 25^ of Heredom were practised at York by the college of He red omTemplars, being No. 1 under the constitution of the Ancient York Lodge^south of the river Trent, sitting at York."

The min ntes of the Camp of Antiquity" at Bath , has the fo llowin g:—"W illiam Boyce (1790), took all th e degrees of ye Be d Cross, also Boyad" Ark Mariners, and many other section s and degrees, having first a dis pen -"s at ion . afterwards a warrant thereby to act." Out of th is ser ies o rdegrees of the " Royal Grand Council of Antient Rites—time imm emorial,"

sprang the Londo n Grand Conclave of Kn ights Tem plars in 1790. In 1793,.the London Ark Mariners attempted to establish a Grand Vessel underautho rity of the Du ke of Clarence, and did actually grant a few war rantswhich included, Mark, Ark, Templar, &o., &c., &o. The Bath m in ute sshew that the sev en degrees of the Templar Rite, the 29» of Her edom , a ndth e 90** of M izraim, were given in 1811,1822,1839, &c. T he York aut hor ity

g ftve the deg rees at intervals of six m onth s, but there was no great v ariationetween these auth orities. The high-grades in both formed a sort of Com

ma nders C ounc il, or " Inn er East. '



14 3

"K J) .S .H ., of St. Jo hn of Jerusalem , Palestine, Rhodes, &c."

H e adopted a double system of fees for warran ts and initia tion s:—

"F or a Conclave of Kn ights Tem plar, £2 2s Od.; for a Conclave

" of Kn ights Rosse Crucis and Kn ights Tem plar, £S 8s. Od.

" T o be installed a K night Rosss Crucis, ^ 1 Is . 6d ; to be

" installed a Kn ight ROSSB Crucis and Knight Tem plar, £2 12s. 6d."

The dothing was a cocked-hat, cockade, black-sash, silver star,

gilt cross, and a sword. According to Arch-deacon M ant, thre e

Tem plar, Rosy Cross M asons, meeting without further warrant,

had power to confer the R . C. T he " Seven Steps " alluded to ,

are perhaps not the old se ven degrees of perfection, but probably

a modem attempt to bring the rites of chivalry into harmony.

Th ese seven grades, seem, moreover, not to ha ve been uniform inall parts of Eng land. Those of the Gran d Encam pme nt of

Bristol, are—1, K .T.; 2. St . Jo hn ; 8, Palest ine; 4, Rh ode s;

5, M al ta ; 6, Ro s» C ruc is; 7, K ad osh : whilst those of York, now

of Hu ll , are— l, K .T .; 2, Sepulchre; 3 , K. of M .; 4, K.T .

P rie st; 5, Red C ross; 6, Rosas Cm cis (or Tem plar Royal Arch) •

7, K. Kad osh (or Comm ander's Degree oi ne plus ultra). The

meetings of the Rosse Cmcis, and other similar degrees, were

held a nnua lly, in H oly-week, and the governing body being formedof K nigh t Com manders, was styled—" Gra nd Conclave of the

Royal Order of H.R.D.M., K.D.S.H., Palestine, ne plus ultra,"

T he jewel wom , was a Maltese Cross of metal, for C om panions;

Pa tria rcha l Cross, for Con mian ders; and for those who had both

Rosffi Cm cis and Kadosh, the Cross surmounted with a sku ll,

pierced w ith a dagger. T he Rosse Cm cis seal ha s a ladder of

seve n steps, behind, are cross-swords, circle, and 38 star s; at th e

foot of the ladder is th e letter M , and a t the top a glory—the

let ter N , triangle, and cubic s ton e; va rious letters are scattered

abo ut, the dates 1118, 1814, the ages 8, 6, 7, 9, 27, 81, the letters

P.K ., H.M ., &c. Th e Tem plar Kadosh seal bears a column,,

surmounted with rays of light, and square, level, and plumb rule;

behind, are two swords crossed, below, * A.L., 6796' (or 1791),



1 4 i

'LXXXI. ' At fho eddes of the colmnn are—Mitre, Maltese

Cross, Patriarchal Cross, Jerosalem Cross, six stars, two lette rs;

and round the seal the inscription—" R O ., H .R D.M .,

X.T.P ., H.P.R., In Hoe Signo V inoes" The whole is surmounted

with the emblem of Constantine — a double-headed eagle—aUusive to the eastern and western empire.

The high-grade theory of Bro. Dunckerley, who was an old

and learned Mason prior to 1790, was as follows, and his system

of "Seven Steps" the following:--l , R JL . ; 2, Eastern Star;

3 , BOSS Cmcis (with care of Holy Sepulchre); 4, KT.; 5,

K n t of the East and W est (1272); 6, Knt of Palestine (Edw. I.);

7, KH. Writing of the progress of the Templars, he says:—

" Six millions of people of different nations, united, and vowed^'to conquer Jerusalem; they wore the Calvary Cross on the

shoulder, and as the Emperor Constantine the Great had in

"A.i>. 813, seen the Bed Cross in tho air, with "/n hoc signo

^^vinces" they took that motto, and the word for charging the

" enemy Dieu le veut Many Boyal Arch Masons and Knights

'"of the Eastern Star had built a church, dedicated to

" St. John of Jerusalem, and when that city was taken by Godfrey

" of Bouillon, A . D . 1108, he gave the care of the Holy Sepulchre" to the Knights of the Eastern Star, with the additional title of

" Knights BossB Cmcis In A . D . 1118, King Baldwin II.

instituted the Order of Knights Templar of StJoh n of Jerusalem,

** in which he incorporated seven Knights BOSSBCmcis, after

* the ninth crusade, A . D . 1272, the institution of Knights of the

"East and West was established King Edward I. dubbed

" them Knights of the Temple of Palestine The origin and

* history of the Seventh degree or Knights Kadosh may not be' written."

At this time the London Grand Lodge, of 1717, was under the

Grand Mastership of H.R.H. George, Prince of Wales; the

•Grand Lodge of All England and its higher orders had held its



145

las t meeting in 1792, and the Grand Lodge of " Ancient Y ork

M asons," in London, since 1776, was presided over by the D uk e

of Athol.

Brothe r Sir Thom as Dunckerley died in 1796, and was

succeeded in the Grand M astership of the Tem plar Order by the

B igh t Hon ourable Tho mas B aron Bancliffe in the same yea r.

Lord Bancliffe, however, allowed the Order to fall into decay for

some ye ar s; b ut it was again revived in 1804 by the Grand Patron

H .B .H . Edw ard, Du ke of Ken t. Bagon gives a ritual of th is

date, which he says was furnished to some Templar Conclave in

the W est In d ie s; wh ilst it shews little general deviation from

th e accustomed work, it instals a candidate a " Knight Templar

and Grand Elected Knight Kadosh "^^ Subsequently, in a bull.H is Boya l Hig hness alluded to some innov ations introduced at

th e revival, and ordered the old Du nckerley system to be returned

to , but without explaining wh at those innovations were. H e was

succeeded by Jud ge W aller Bodw ell W righ t, in 1809, unde r

whose Grand Mastership prominence was given to the degree of

" Bed Cross of Bome and Con stantine." I n 1811, the Gra nd

Mastership of the Order vested in His Boyal Highness the

D uk e of Sussex, who subsequently in 1813, became Grand Masterof the two " United Gran d Lodges." Th e D uke then neglected

th e Tem plars, b ut the old " Baldwyn Encam pm ents " continued

in an unostentatious way their *' Council of Bites," (yet existing)

which embraced all Masonic Orders, either known in England or

31.—^This confirms Morin's sta tem ent that it had been dec ided the two orderswere one and the same, although the Templar dates A . D . 1118, and theKadosh A . I > . 1314. In Dr. Dalch o's Circular of 1802, the Dn ke is acknowledged aa head of the Kadosh degree in England; and the same waspos sess ed in Ireland as a separate grade at the sam e d ate.

Th e Fren ch Templars established a rite of eight degrees about thi s tim e,which claimed descent from those Templars who revived the order in1705 under Ph ilip of O rleans, with a " Charter of T ransm ission " in 1314from Jacqu es de Molay. 1. Initiate. 2. Initiate of the Interior. 3. Ade pt.4 . Adept of th e Bast. 5. Adept of the Black Ea gle of St. Joh n. 6. P erfectAdept of the Pe lican . 7 E squ ire. 8. Kn ight and Levite of the InteriorGuard (K.H.) . The Du ke of Sus sex held th e office of Orand Prior o fth e^ e n o h Order of the Temple under Sir Sydney Smith.



146

Abroad (including the 90^ of the Order of Mizraim), and gave all

under one certificate, em blem aticallj engraved and wh ich i s still

used, and greatly valued.

I t is evident from wh at ha s gone before, tha t as the se

M asonic Bites are but the product of private individuals, onerite is jus t a s valid a s another; the only tests being the learning,

pu iity , tolerance, good governm ent, charity, and freedom from

misrepresen tation. Two brothers , at the beginning of the 19th

cen tury, established a system of degrees called the " Rite o f

M izra im," of 90 degrees. After this , was collected 96 degrees a s

the " Rite of M emphis." B ut the boldest flight was taken a t

Charleston, America, by D r. Frederick D alcho, and D r. de la

M otta, who re-established, in 1802, the old rite of the " Em pir eof the Ea st and W est," under the name of the " Ancient an d

Accepted Scottish Bate," of 33 degrees. In a circular which D r .

Da lcho issued, in 1802, the Kadosh is then said to be the 29 th

degree. Jud ging from the old En glish certificate plate of th e

** Royal Grand Council of Ancient Rites, time immemorial" th e

addition made is " Pr ince of the Tabe rnac le," and the old official

degree of " Grand Prince and Keeper of the Ancient Ro yal

Secrets," is divided in the new Fred . Dalcho Rite into thre e

parts, the last of which[is " Sovereign Grand Insp ectors G ene ral,"

in whom all power is vested. To suppo rt thi s self-conferred

power, the name of Frederick the Great was forged to the

** Secret" Constitutions of the Order, and a legend of the sam e

inserted in the degree itself. Under this, large sums of

money are being collected, w hich impudent hoax,—^not to ca ll

things by a ha rsh er name,—îs utterly repudiated by« dl M asonic

historia ns.^ Divisions without end have been caused in

22.—Yide Freemason's Magazine, Vol. T . , 1861 , p . 488. Vol. yi. 1862, p . 8 6 , 1 4 6 ,2 2 9 , 2 4 6 . Dr. Folger's History of the A.jf A. Rite, New Tork, 1 8 6 2 . Findel ,SloBS, Bebo ld, How, &c., &c. Vassal, Essai historique sur tinstitution duRit Eccossais, Paris , 1827, p. 19. Mirabeau, Histoire de Monarchic Prus^sienne, vol. i i i . , 1788. Official proceedings of tbe centennial celebration oftbe Initiation of Frederick II., Berlin, 1838. Lenning, Encyclopodte,Hermês, vol. i . p. 296. L'Histoire secrete de la Cour de B erlin, 1789 , T O L L ,



147

Am erica by th is rite : first, by its ridiculous claims to govern G rand

Xiodges, and secondly, by the perpetua l " sp lit s" and quarrels

am ong st themselves. Two S.G.C. SS^ started up in New Y ork,

one und er the auspices of Cem eau, a Fre nc h jew eller, in 1806,

who h ad received his degrees several years prev iously ; and a

second unde r the auspices of J . J . J . Gou rgas, who received his

first and second degrees, (all he h ad) from a spurious French

Lodge, 3 3 to which Brother Jacobs, in 1808, added 14 others, and

M s employer, de la M otta, whose clerk he was, the rema ining

seventeen. I n the battles which ensued both parties were

periodically victorious, bu t Gourgas w as supposed to have breathed

hi s last about 1830. I n 1804, Count Gxassi Tilli took the R ite

from Charleston to Pa ris, and in 1805, a S.G.C. was formed at

M ilan. ^ Th e Iris h Prince Masons or Templars, obtained the

•33rd degree in 1823, and the Scotch firom Paris in 1843, through

the hands of Dr. Morison.

I t would not be to the in terests of Freem asonry to detail all the

acandals caused in America by the quarrels of the "Holy

Em pero rs," and we will therefore draw a veil. Bu t the Du ke of

Su sse x h aving passed away, in 1843, it w as deemed a fitting time

by a brother, whom the D uke had formerly suspended from Craft

privileges, to introduce the advantages of the Rite into this

co un try. Accordingly, D r. Goss, (alias Crucifix), of the E din

bu rgh Priory , and E . C , in 1836, of the " Cross of Ch rist,"

London, 3 * applied to the " Supreme Em peror," G ourgas, thenp . 215. Chem in du Po ntes , Mem nire suf L'Eecosaisme. Clavel, HistoirePittoresque. Sohlosser, History qf the ISth century. Mitchell , History qfMasonry, p. 116. Albert Pik e, Add ress. 1858. Statutes of the Ancient andAccepted Rite, New York, 1862, in whic h, pages 129 & 134 shew th e samefive signa ture s " effaced by the attrition of sea water." Th e forgery i sadmitted in the mo dem ti tle of th e Charleston body—" Mother Council ofthe World." Bro. Besw ick, Swedenborg Rite, New York, 1870, says—"thatFrederick the G reat of Prussia was a declared enem y o f the An cient andAcce pted B ite , to the day of his death in 1786, yet, on the other hand, hehad a lodge w orking th e Swedenborgian Bite under h is own auspic es."Bro. Merydorff has critically examined the five signatures and shews themto b e false in an official declaration of the Grand Lodge of the Three Gl obe s,at Berlin. (Freemason's Magazine, J a n u s^ 10th, 1863, p. 23.)

33.—Bro. Jacob Norton, of Boston—a very conscientious writer.Q^—Y ide—Freemason's Quarterly, 1840, p. 420 & 446, for further partioulars.

There was a deal of professional quackery in after pro ceedin gs.



14 8

clerk on a boat trading with Liverpool, to establish the pre sen t

S.G.C., 83* , in London. T his was accordingly done, and jubilan t

with such success " Emperor Gk)urgas " turned up again in New

To rk, in 1848, to cause fu rther dissension. Broth er G oss wa&

supported in this step by Dr. H. B. Leeson, whom he had himself dubbed in the "Cr os s of Ch rist," L ondon , D ec. 16th, 1886,

and to whom Brother Goldsworthy gave the Bose Croix and ne

plus ultra. May 6th, 1887, at a small tavern in Clerkenwell.

The name of D r. Oliver, who received his high grades in th e

H ul l Encamp ment, was obtained as an Ho nora ry 33*^, and they

were joined also by Dr. D avyd W m . Na sh, whom they afterwards

expelled because he persisted in continuing his allegiance to his

old Encampment at Bristol, which, with Bath, maintained theirold system of " S e v ^ Steps " under his leadership, and are, with

the ir other colleagues, the sole genuine h olders of the Rose C roix

degree in En gland. H avin g accomplished the establishment of

the " Holy E m p ir e" in England , the conspirators set ab out

reviving the Grand Conclave of Knights Tem plar, in 1846, un de r

their own auspices with Colonel Tynte as G.M., and forced upon

the modem Conclaves that system without a history now existing .

Th is, however, met w ith no approbation from the old Conclaves,,

and when the following, after m uch delay and troub le, un ited

themselves with Gran d Conclave they reserved all their anc ient

rights and privileges, viz :— Antiquity, B at h ; Baldwyn, Br i s to l ;

Redemption, York; Observance, London; Jerusalem, Manchester;

Union, Exeter ; Abbey, No ttingham, &c., &c., &c. T h is r it e

authorises the degrees to Rose Croix for K nigh ts Com panions,.

and to Prince of the Royal Secret for Com ma nders: same

being approved and acknowledged by the " Royal Grand Council

of Ancient Rites," with the R ites of Heredom and M izraim ; thi ais the only legal body in thi s country, inasmuch as it is in &

position to enforce its authority und er the " Articles of U nio n

of the "United Grand Lodges," of 1818.



149

The S.G.O. of Dr . " Crucifix " for many years m aintained only

a languishing existence, but as they increased in funds and

members fhey assumed a bolder tone; many Conclayes readily

surrendered their degrees to them, and the remainder they com

menced to stamp out with a vigour worthy a better cause. Fromits first nstitution till now the rite has been ruled by this S.G.O,

8 3 ° , who elect themselves for life, the worst feature of the Council

being th is ; the ridiculous pretensions of its titles of which

" Prince" is the lea st; and the collection of many thousands of

pounds under a forged power. W hilst we have been passing

through the press, this S.G.C. have registered themselves as a

" Lim ited L iabihty Company" to enable them to meet unmolested

for the reception of fees, and for the personation of Frederickthe Great, of Prussia, in robes, crown, sceptre, and top-boots.

O temporal 0 mores! The members should now insist upon

the 81° and 32° being made elective in the lower grades, and

this obtained, the pretended "statutes" are destroyed.

For three reasons this English S.G.C. is irregular:—1. It was

constituted by a spurious craft mason; 2. The constitutor's S.G.C.

in New York was irregular; 3. This English Council invaded

ground already occupied by a more ancient and important body,yet working, and no council is legal by their self-made powers

of 1802—unless recognised by the older authority.

In 1865, a new rite, including the principal features of all the

others, was reduced, cumulated, and promulgated, by rule first

of Marshal Magnan and the Grand Orient of France, (the

governing Masonic body there,) ^ with the Chiefs of M emphis;

95.— This Orand Orient deriyed from the Craft Grand Lodge o f Englan d, in 1725,and latterly, works and re eogn ises the following Rites,- appointingr a p r e s e n t a t l Y e s with Chapters in America and elsewhere. 1 . FrenchBit e . 2 . Bite of Heredom . 3. A. tc A. Bite . 4 . Bite of Kilwinning.6. Fhilosophioal Bite. 0. Bit e da B^gime reotif. 7. Bite of M emp his.8. B ite of Mizraim. All nnder a Orand College of Bi tes .

T h e " Bite o f Memphis " was introduced into New York by the Ibnnder,Jacques Etien ne M aroonis d e Negr^, In person. NOT. 9th , 1856. H edeacrib es him self in the warrant as " Suprem e Chief of the Order, Great

S



150

" E. of the S.C.,Sub . Com. of the three legion s of the Knights of the O .;

"M em ber of the Alidee, decorated with the great Star of S. of E le ns is ;*' Pr esiden t of the M ys. 96th and last deg ree; H onorary Grand M aster of"t be Philosophical Persian Bi te; o ne of the Grand Commanders and In -"sp ecte rs of tbe Bite of Mizraim ; Honorary Member of the Sa b. G." Coun cil, and So rereign Grand Consistory of the An cient and Ac cep ted** Scottish Rite ; and the Members composing the Celest ia l Em pire of the" Mason ic Bite of M emp his." The rite contained originally 96 de gr ees :—npon Uie 33'' of tbe A. and A. were placed 62 others, co llected from th ent es a lready n otic ed; i t was a most valuable collection, and, we thin k,should have remained intact.

After tbe reduction of the Bite in 1866, the G.O. vised all the Ch arters,and the American Bov. Sane, took up it s po sition " i n the bosom " o f t h eAnc ient Cem eau C ouncil of the '* Scottish Bite " of 33 degrees. The G.O .of France then chartered Craft Lodges in Am erica, and i n cons eq uen ce o fth is T.I.G.M. Har ty J. Seym our, d3<», A. & P .B ., withdrew hi s rep res entative, 111. Bro. Heui l lant . G .M.A .^rance .

The ceremonials of this A. & F. Bite are very tolerant, and su ch asbrethren of any reliffion m ay ent er; they inculc ate the ex iste no e of asuprem e Bu ler and the imm ortality of the soul, and prohibit any in te r,ference with Craft Masonry. Dr. Geo. Oliver lays i t down as a rule tha tmem bers of any rite are eligible to attend th e degre es of any ot he r; bu tth e only rite tbat enforces this rule is the A. and P. Indee d all its a rra nge ,me nts are of the highes t excellence. It w as introduced into E nglan d in.1871, by Bro. B. D . Hyam, 33«', Pa st G.M. of California.

in this the "Ancient and Accepted" degrees are the first 18® of

this "A ncie nt and Primitive Eite ," and those of Mem phis

constitute the higher nine d egrees. T he Kite is worthy of support

from its learned and tolerant character, it is prtictised in Am erica,

Roumania, France, Italy, in this country, and in fact all over theworld, appointing representatives mutually, its votaries asse rting

that it will eventually swallow up all other rites.

We think we have sufficiently established the fact of the

connection of Freemason ry with the other Speculative R ites of

antiquity, as well as the antiquity and purity of the old En glish

Templar Rite of seven degrees, and the spurious derivation of

many of the other rites therefrom. Fo r Christian M asons we

recomm end it in its legitimacy to the brethren , and to those wh odesire to combine liberality w ith th e practice of high degrees,

the " Ancient and Primitive Rite " of M ason ry; the las t of which

will form a most learned introduction to the first, without an y

sacrifice of principle, for since we have opened the portals of the

craft to all creeds, no one can justly complain at the farther

extension of the principle to the high er degrees.



161

To enable our readers to understand the peculiarities of these

<different systems, we will give a list of the degrees of the

* Ancient and Accepted Hite," and make comparison with some

•of the other r ites practised.

1 ® Apprentice.— Represen ts man in state of nature- ^

2® Fellow Craft.—Represents man in a state of culture.

3® Master.—Represents man in search of lost truth, and thedoctrines of immo rtality. I n the rite of M izraim, the legend isfoimded on the scripture verse:—

" And Lamech said unto his wives,Adah and Zilla, hear my voice ;Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech,For I have slain a man to my wounding,And a young man to my h ur t;

If Cain shall be avenged seven fold,Truly, Lamech, seventy-and-seven fold."37

4® Secret Master.— The duties, to guard the furniture of theTe m ple. Teach es, through Solomon, the knowledge of one Go d.T he 4® of the recent Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry.

5® Perfect Master.— Alludes to the tomb of H .A . B., andteaches the knowledge of God.

6® Intimate Secretary.— Aspirant personates Jo habe n, Secreta ry to K.S., and the risk he ran. Th is degree is styled.D iscre et M aster, and is the 5® of the A. & P . Rite. Designed

to teach th e intimacy between divine and hu man na ture . Th eP .W . are known to Arch P*s.

7® Provost andJudge— Over the Temple workmen. Aspirantlearns what man owes his spiritual nature.

8® Intendant of Buildings.—Êlection of H.A .B. Teaches afeeling of order. These degrees seem designed to representOfficials of the Temple.

36.—Bro. W. v. Bed olfe, M .D., states that r eligion s, political, and social postu lants, underwent ceremonial preparation, and adds: " It was usual for thecandidate to be accompanied by a monitor, to instru ct or inform him . Onsetting out he assumed an appearance ef humility, threw of his pallum or

oloak, loosed his ttinic or coat, and at th e same time bared h is arm a ndbreast , the foot being sl ipshod." Virsi l thus describes D ido : " The Queenherself, her face bedewed and pallid, ner hair disheyelled, now resolute ondeath. Ha ving one foot bare, ner robe ungirt, standing b y and holding thealtar with pi ous h and s, and offering salt cake, makes h er appeal to the godsand to the stars, cons cious of her fate." Ovid describ es M ede a: " Arm,breast, and kne e made bare, left foot slipshod." Horac e and other anth orsall give similar deecriptlon s. •

87.—Bro. Geo. Oliver, D. D. , thinks th is may be an ancient profession of init iat ioa .



152

9® Elect of Nine.—Punislimeiit of the first assassin. Candidate learns that justice cannot be exercised indiscriminately byevery member of society.

*

10® Elect of Fifteen.—^Punishment of the other assassins.

Reasons upon order.11® Sublime Knights Elected.—Rewards the zeal of the last,

and teaches representation. These degrees are same in the Riteof Mizraim, but the 10® Elect of the JJnhnown is interpolated.

12® Grand Master Architect.—K.S. school of Architecture.Aspirant learns, that his knowledge and combination of thingsfor the good of men, constitutes him a Gd. Architect.

13® Knight of the Ninth Arch—Alludes to the concealmentof the Holy Name by Enoch, and discovery thereof by K.S.

Teaches the successive travel through the nine Mystic Archesof the Great-cause:—existence, God, immortality, fortitude,toleration, power, mercy, and joy:—the term of every successfullabour; at one time formed a first part in England. The degreeis the 31® of the Rite of Mizraim, and me 6® of the new" Ancient and Primitive Rite."

14® Grand Elect, Perfect, and Sublime Mason, or SacredVauU of James VI. of Scotland,—Professes to reveal the truepronunciation of the sacred name in all time, and the connectionbetween the Crusaders and the Freemasons. It is believed tohave been invented by ChevaHer Ramsay, and the apartment

represents a vault. Aspirant here learns that there is a futurefor Freemasonry beyond the Salomonian school. All the foregoing are termed "inefiable," because they relate to the HolyName. The 20® of the Rite of Mizraim. The 7® of theA. & P. Rite is called the " Secret Vault," and is similar, butalludes to the destruction of the Temple by Nebuzeradan.

15® Knights of the East or iStt?or<f.--Sometimes called alsothe Red Cross of Rabylon, Palestine, &c. Refers to the returnof Zerubbabel, to rebuild the Second Temple, as a Red CrossKnight of Persia. It teaches that Cyrus is the precursor, of

Jesus. This degree constitutes the period of the English RoyalArch, and in some old rituals formed a second part of ihe Archdegree. D. G. M. Manningham, in 1757, says the degree wasknown in Germany but not in England. The 8® A. & P. Rite.

16® Prince of Jerusalem.—Ân appendage to the foregoing,referring to the Edict of Darius against Tatnai, "Governor



163

beyond the River." A m ixture of the two foregoing with th eM ark was once practised in the North of En gland. The 9Â .& P. Rite is styled " Kn ight of Jerusa lem," but alludes toZerubbabel and the force of Truth.

17® Knights of the East and West,—Claims to date from A . D .1118, when eleven Kn ights m ade vows of secrecy, friendship, anddiscretion, before the Patria rch of Jerusalem ; tetiches the workof the second precursor of our M aster. I t would seem th at theEnglish Templars associated this degree some way with the 16®.The ceremonial refers to the opening of the Seven Seals of th eApocalypse, and so far, only, resembles the degree of Tem plarPr ies t, for they are diflferently applied . The 41® and 47® ofMizraim have these nam es. Th e 10® A. & P . R ite is styled" Knight of the East," and alludes to the Maccabees.

18® Rose Croix,—This Grade has also been styled Knight of

St, Andrew, Knight of the Eagle and Pelican, H eredom, RosesCrucis, Triple Gross, Rosy Cross, Perfect Brother,Prince Mason,Sovereign Prince Rose Croix, &c.^ Th e Scottish Royal Orderis known by the nam e of " Heredom Rosy Cross," and claims aTem plar origin, in 1314. Th e English lecture last century,connected the Order with the Rosicrucians, and the resurrectionof one of its chiefs, and there is great resemblance to theTemplar. Th e candidate becomes a disciple of the benefEustor ofour race, and is instructed in the virtues of F aith , Ho pe, andCharity, and ascent to Elysium on the third day, as in themysteries. Th e Order is the 46® of the old Rite of M izraimwhich is very fine ly elaborated. The 11® of the A. & P. Rite,and it is followed by a degree called the Red Eagle.

19® Orand Pontiff.—The word Pontiff is taken to mean abuilder of bridges. St. Jo hn is claimed as a brother, and thedegree refers to th e Apocalyptical New Jerusa lem , an d wouldseem to be connected with the 17 ® Builds a bridge to happiness.

38.—" This is one, who lay npon tbe breastOf Him, our Pelican ; and this is heTo th e g reat oflSce from the cro ss, elected."—I>an/e's Paradiso.

39.—The mystery here made of tbe sacrament had its counterpart amongst theGn ostics and early Christians. Blackwood says that (for centuries) theusual way of communicating in China with the higher supernatural powers

is by writing supplications on red or gold tiss ue paper, and the n burn ingthe paper, the idea being tbat the characters upon it are thu s convey edinto a spiritual form. W henever a question i s put the paper is burned andwine is poured out. The operation goes on till shortly after m idnig ht,when, according to Chinese physical science, the yung or male principle oflife gains the ascendancy.

40.—This last title was formed by a junction of tbe chair title and secre ts withtbe sim ple compan ion, the foi-mer bad long been sdven to every applicant,by way of brevet rank, to enable him to get the K H ., F.B .S. , &c.



161

20® Grand M aster of AU Symbolic Lodges.—The title "advitam " was from 1758 to 1786, amalgamated with the foregoing;Candidate represen ts Zerubbabel receiving this grade. Teachestha t many struggles m ust precede acceptance of the new law^

21® Noa chite, or Prussian Knight—Âlludes to Peleg and theTower of Bab el. (Brother Anderson says, in 1723, that

Noachite" was the old name of M asons which probably suggestedthe degree to the G ermans.) Teaches h um ility, and the vindication of tru th. Before 180O thi s was the 20® and "K ey ofMasonry," the 21 ® Th e 35 ® of Mizraim.

22® Knight of th^ Royal Axe—Âlludes to feUing of Cedarsfor the Tem ple. Asp irant learns tha t a faithful watch must bekept over the new Ark. Also 22® in 1768. The 32® ofMizraimbears this nam e.

23 ® Chief of the Tabemacle—'RefeTs to'ihe Levitical Priesthood,,and teaches us to reason upon the old and new law.

24® Prince of the Tabernacle—^Represents the Lodge held byMoses in th e wilderness at the construction of the Tab ern ac le;teaches an arra y of our forces against the opponents of the newdoc trine. Th ese two last degrees m ay be supposed to hold some^rela tion to our old Arch Veils.-*! The 14® of the A. & P. Rite is" Knight of the Tabernacle."

26® Knight of the Brazen Serpent—Claims to have beeninstituted by J oh n Ralph , at the crusade s: motto— " Virtue and

Valor,*'—emblems of the doctrines by which we conquer. T h e16® of the A. & P . Rite is so named, and enters upon the historyof serpent worship.

26® Prince of Mercy or Scottish Trinitarian—Shews thealliance between the three chief religio ns: the natura l law, law ofM oses, and third covenant w ith Christ. The 14® of the Rite ofMizraim.

27® Grand Commander of the Temple—Connects the Knidi t sof Solomon and Christ. Th e 36® is similarly named in the R iteof M izraun. Th e 13®of the A. and P . R . is called " K ni g ht of

the Temple," and enters on Geometry.28® Knight of the Sun or Prince Adept.—This degree is

called the Key of Historica l and Philosophical Masonry. I t ismoral, spiritual-—alluding to the sylphs and seven holy angels,

41.—A Jewish play, embodying the ceremony of the ** yeils ," was translated inta -Latin, in 16S0, by Fr. M orellus, P aris.



155

ment represent jihe Princes of Aleppo and Damascus, with theE m ir of Em essa. Th e 21® of M izraim is similarly named.

30® Knight of Kadosh.—CBHed also White and Black Eagleand Grand Elected Knight Templar. Symbols are here at anend. Th e degree resembles ih e old ceremonial of the T em plars—thre e trials are made of the aspirant's determination an d fortitude,and the seven questions are applied to a ladder of seven stepswith words; in this latter point it resembles the York degree ofTem plar I^ e s t. Latterly, however, Germ anic revision ha sintroduced the Free Judges, and a philosophical appearance atvariance with Christianity. A history of Masonry through E noc h,M oses, Solomon, the Essenes,and Tem plars is given. I t ap pea rsto have been the 24® of thi s rite in 1758, the 29® in 1762, andth e 30® in 1802. Th e 65® ofth e R ite of M izraim, and the 16®of the Ancient and Primitive Rite.

31® Grand InquisiUyr Comm ander.— Duties to regulate thesubord inate Lodges. The 66® of Rite of M izraim.

82 ® Sublime Prince of the Boyal Secret.— The third degree ishere explained by Christian allegory, and the ceremonial represents th e migration of the Templars. I t w as originally in thi srit e the 25®. The 17® called Kn ight of the Royal Mystery tak esthe place of this degree in the A. & P. R ite.

33® Sovereign Grand Inspector General.—^The rulers of theOrd er, representing Frederick the Great of Prussia. The legendrec ites the consitution by Frede rick. I t is needless to say t hi sis the blot upon the R ite. Th e 18® called " G ra nd Insp ecto r"take s the place of this degree in the A. & P. Rite. 77° M is.

with b ann ers of the planetary signs—cabalistical, and alchem ical.The jewe l is a son, and the illum ination, a sun in the centre of atriangle within a circle at each angle of which is an S. T hedegree was the 23 ® at one time, and teaches truth, and the death ofthe old Adam. Th e white dove and black raven represen ts th e

two principles of Zoroaster and M anes." Th e R ite of M izraimhas 51® f l i g h t of the Sun , 54® first of the K ey of M ason ry,55® second ditto, 56® third ditto, 57® fourth ditto.

29® Knight of St, Andrew.—^This degree has been calledPatriarch of the Grusades, and Grand M aster of Light. It seemsto be connected with the foregoing, and alludes to the angels offire, earth, air, and water; and the aspirant is admitted into thetrue Ed en of everlasting tru th . The officers of the first apart



156

It will be observed that the last three degrees are administrative

fOid correspond in rank and dignity with the Grand Officers and

Officials of the Grand Conclave of Knights Templars, yet they

are nevertheless invariably given for money. In the Ancient

and Primitive Bite of Masonry the 81® 82® and 38® are electiveas rulers of the Chapter, Senate, and Coimcil, but they are pre-

eeeded by the following " Council" of Egyptian degrees:—

19 ® Sage qf Truth.—Â degree of the Chaldean MagL

20® Hermetio Philosopher.—Êxplains the most ancientuse of the Cross, and the workings of nature.^

21® Grand Installator \ ^ ^

23» Orand Eulogut ) are expressed by their names.

24® Patriarch of Truth.—Êxplains the ancient development of Masonry in Egypt, and its attendant revelations.

25® Patriarch of the Planispheres.—Êxplains the bearingof Astronomy on Masonry and Theosophy.

26® Patriarch of the Saered Vedas.—Êxplains HindooTheology, and pure Brahminism.

27® Patriarch of Isis.—Explains the ! Egyptian hieroglyphics and mysteries, as associated with Masonry.

28 ® Patriarch of Memphis.—Êxplains the ancient legendof Osiris, and its relation to the modern M.M. 3 .

29® Patriarch of the Mystic City.—^Contains a history ofEgyptian Masonry, and Heliopolis, or On, or Zoan.

42.—Whilst these sheets were ander examination, Bro. Thomas Hargreaves, SW.,of the "Lodge of Commerce, Haslingden," placed in oar hands on the Manchester Exchange, two Bosicrucian metal plates, of considerable antiquity,which had just been dug up at Haslingden. They were about three inchesin diameter; one of copper, bad on one side the double equilateral triangleswithin two circles, and on the other tbe same figure witbin one circle.The second plate was of lead, with a hole at the edge for suspending;within a double border of two and three circles were stamped variousastrelogical symbols: within the two lines of circles were repeated crossesand circles upon crosses.; in the inner circle or centre were planetary

seals, and the name and number *' 7 VENUS 7." The other side containedseveral other symbols and the number "7" triangularly repeated, allwitbin three circles. •

We may also express indebtedness here to Bro. Commander CharlesScott, B N., J.P., &c., 33<*, Member of Council of Ancient Bites, for someinformation worked herein in correcting proof. We may also state thatBro. Ohanness Andreasian, 30^, informs us that the Constantinople car-!penters were formerly distinguished by wearing the square and compass on.ithe Fez, such as is still worn by the government mspector of works. ' \



157

80® Sublime M aster of the Chreat Work—Alludes to thecelebrated Statute of Isie, and teaches the doctrme of th eimm ortality of the soul. Th e 90 ® of M empliis.

81 ® Orand Defender of the Rite.—The third and fourth

officers of the Ch apter (4 S to 11® ), Sena te (12® to 2 0® ),Council (21® to 30^) . The Judicial Tribunal.

32® Sublime Prince,—The first and second officers ofthe Chapter, Senate, and Council.

33® Sovereign Grand Conservator.—The presiding officerof the Mystic Temples, (31® to 32®) or Prov incial GrandLo dges; Members of the Sovereign SanctiMiry and Gov ernors

I of the Order. The 90® of M izraim and the 96® ofMem phis, the 96® being S.G. Master.

I Th ere is an immense amount of learning developed in these

higher degrees, but their advantage is a vexed question; if

^Freemasonry could be conducted on its old principles they would

be useless, as the whole of the learning which they are designed

to convey is latent in the three first degrees. As the Masonic

fraternity is now governed the Craft is fast becoming the paradise

of the bon vivant; of the "charitable " hypocrite, who forgets the

version of S t. Paul, and decorates his breast with the " cha rity

jewel" (having by this judicious expenditure obtained the

" purple " he mee ts out judgment to other brethren of greater

ability and morality but less means); the manufacturer of paltry

masonic tinsel; the rascally merchant who swindles in hundreds,

and even thousand s, by appealing to the tender consciences of

tho se few who do regard their O.B.'s; and the masonic " Emp erors"

and other charlatans who make power or money out of the

aristocratic pretensions which they have tacked on to our in

stitution— ad captandum vulgus; and especially in these two last

po in ts the presen t writer has grevious reasons to complain. If wecon sider the usu al plea for th e continuance of the h igh grades—^that

th ey constitute a winnowing process—we sha ll find tha t the idea

is opposed to the whole spirit of the Masters O.B., and is a vain

excuse for underrating the character of those whom we ought to



158

protect. On the whole, howeyer, masonry conld lose noth ing by

putting a stop to the unnecessary multiplication of lodges, and

the adoption of a higher (not pecuniary) standard of membership

and m orality, with exclusion from the " pu rp le " of all who

inculcate frauds, sham historical degrees, and other immoralabus es. W hen this is done we can then consider the question of

continuing the high grades. No other institution is so in trin

sically valuable as Craft M asonry, or capable of such supe rhum an

things— as now governed few societies perform le ss ; none profess

such grea t objects—^few accom plish so very little rea l an d su b

stantial good—may reformation be speedy and effective.

FINIS COBONAT OP U S .





E E E A T A .

Page 10, lirie from top: for **foiir and tw en ty" read "abo ut

five and twenty,"

Page 16, M te 17 : for "N epoa" read ^<Bepoa." (Bagon.)

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Notes on the scientific Mysteries of Antiquity