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  • Jan. 16, 1886
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  • DALCHO'S CONFLICTING OPINIONS ABOUT MASONRY.
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The Freemason's Chronicle, Jan. 16, 1886: Page 9

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Dalcho's Conflicting Opinions About Masonry.

claimed to be ancient , and , as a rule , everybody believes whatever the luminous Master tells him . Bro . Frederic Dalcho , though he was a scholar , philosopher , and a theologian , was not an exception to the rale ; indeed , he even

laboured under a disadvantage with which the earlier generation of dreamers were not troubled , for Dalcho ' s mind was further confirmed by the nnmber of hig h degrees it was crammed with . But Dalcho was an extraordinary

man , and , I believe , an honest man too ; hence , while in his earl y Masonic days he was exceedingly superstitious , in the latter part of his Masonic days ho became exceedingly

rational . I shall , therefore , give specimens from Dalcho ' s orations of 1801 , 1802 and 1803 , and afterwards I shall quote from Dalcho ' s Ahiman Rezon of 1822 . Briefly then , in his early days he

said" I am of opinion that the ancient Society of Free and Accepted Masons was never a body of architects ; that is , they were not ori ginally embodied for the purposo of building , but were associated for moral and religions purposes . "

He then goes on to say that our manner of teaching was derived from the Druids , our emblems from Egypt , some things came from Basidides , and other things from the Greeks , and other things were derived from the Crusaders ,

the Pope , - and what not ; and after referring to the vast number of Masons accompanying the Crusaders to the holy land , he then goes on to explain how the original pious or philosophic society became associated with the building

fraternity , viz ., that " when Moses ordained the erection of tbe sanctuary , and afterwards ,, when Solomon wa 3 about to build the temple . . . they chose from among the people those whose wisdom and zeal for the true faith attached

them to the worship of tho Most Hig h , and committed to them tho erection of those works of piety . It was on these great occasions that our predecessors appeared to the world as architects .

These notions Bro . Dalcho probably derived from high degreedom , and they seem to have stuck to him . In the next oration he is very emphatic on the same topic . He

says"It has been generallyreported , and as generally believed , that our Society was instituted for architectural purposes by handicraftsmen . What gave rise to this idea I am at

a loss to determine , as the blue degrees have no written records to explain the difficulty ; and tradition is too lame to give satisfaction to the scientific mind . "

After referring to the famous circular issued by the Charleston Hi gh Degree Riters in 1802 , of which new concern Dalcho was the first Sov . G . Commander , —and poor Dalcho of course believed in all the new cock and bull

stories appertaining to the new Rite , —Bro . Dalcho goes on to reason after the following fashion . He says" We are , in a nameless Masonic degree , informed that a word was lost . If then Masonry took its rise from the

creation , as our ancient records import ( what records ?) Masons must have been in possession of a word ; hencej the changing of the word in the time of Solomon was an innovation of the fundamental principles of the Craft ;

this , however , we are unwilling to allow . It is well-known to the Blue Master that Solomon and his royal visitor wore in possession of the real pristine word , but of which he ( the Blue Master ) must remain ignorant , unless initiated

into the sublime degrees . The authenticity of this mystic word , as known to us , and for which our most respected Master died , is proven to the most sceptic mind from the sacred pages of Holy Writ , and the Jewish history from the earliest period of time . "

After some moro puffing up of the sublime degrees , and stating that the Talmud throws light upon these degrees , he goes on to say" ifc is well known thafc about 27 , 000 Masons

accompanied the Christian Princes in the Crusades .... While in Palestine they discovered several important Masonic manuscripts , among the descendants of the ancient

Jews , which enriched our archives with authentic written records ( who saw those records ?) and on which some of the decrees are founded .

"In the year loll some very extraordinary discoveries were made , and occurrences took place which renders the Masonic history ofthe period of the highest importance ; a

period dear to tlie Mason ' s heart , who is zealous for the course of tho Order , his country , and his God . " ([ s not this a grand piece of bunkum ?)

" Another very important discovery was made in the year 1553 , of a record in Syriac characters , belonging to the most remote antiquity , and from which it would aopear

Dalcho's Conflicting Opinions About Masonry.

that the world is many thousand years older thau given by the Mosaic account , an opinion eutertained by many learned men . Few of the characters were translated until the

reign of onr illustrious and most enlightened Bro . Frederic , second King of Prussia , whose . well-known zeal for the Craft was the cause of so much improvement in the Society over which he condescended to preside .

"From such of our records as are authentic" ( whereare they ?) " we are informed of the establishment of the sublime and ineffable degrees in Scotland , Frauce , and Prussia , immediately after the first Crusades , but from some

circumstances , which ai'e to us unknown , after the year 1658 they fell into neglect until the year 1744 , when a nobleman from Scotland " ( what nobleman ?) " visited France , aud reestablished the Lodsro of Perfection in Bordeaux . "

So much of Dalcho the superstitious . And now for Dalcho the rationalist . In 1822 , Dalcho wrote" Various indeed have been the speculations on this subject , the origin of Masonry , and great has been the

labour .... of man y .... to prove that every man of note , from Adam down to the present day , wore Freemasons . But such round assertions are beneath the dignity of the Order , and would nofc be urged by men of letters .

Neither Adam , nor Noah , nor Nimrod , nor Moses , nor Joshua , nor David , nor Solomon , nor Hiram , nor St . John the Baptist , nor St . John the Evangelist , belonged to the Masonic Order . ... ft is unwise to assert what we

cannot prove . Hypothesis in history is absurd . There is no record , sacred or profane , to induce us to believe that these holy men were Freemasons , and our traditions do not go

back to their days . To assert thafc they were Freemasons may make the vulgar stare , but will rather excite the contempt than admiration of the wise .

Ifc has been the practice of ingenious and zealous Masons to trace Freemasonry as far as probability extends , and then to call everything preceding that period ' Speculative Masonry . ' This may satisfy a young Mason , but

not an historian , nor an antiquary . Only allow me the liberty of writing on ' Speculative Masonry , ' and like Milton , I w ould go into the invisible world , before the creation

of man , aud show that the cherubims and seraplnms . . are Royal Arch Masons . . . and yet this is just as prob able as the far-fetched stories of many writers on Free masonry . "

Bro . Dalcho next pitches into the tradition that the world is indebted to Freemasons for preserving the Pentateuch , showing that the book was never lost , thafc Daniel , Ezra , and others possessed copies of the said book , and he

says —• " To assert , therefore , thafc Fremasons preserved the law is as ridiculous as to assert that Saint Angustin , likewise called St . Austin , a Roman Catholic Bishop , & c , was at

the head of the Fraternity , A . D . 600 . Ho certainly appeared in England at the head of a fraternity , but ifc was of forty monks , who accompanied him from Rome , and nofc of Freemasons .

" Freemasonry has likewise been identified by some zealous Masons with the Eleusinian mysteries , for no other reason , as far as I can discover , than to prove its antiquity . These mysteries were of Egyptian origin , and were probably

instituted about 1390 B . C . They were afc first religious , and taught tho unity of the Supreme God . . . . But at length the symbols which they used to deuote the Spiritual

regeneration of the initiated , were forgotten , and the most horrid impurities were practised undercover of night ; God forbid , therefore , that Masonry should ever have been identified with these mysteries , " & c .

Now . with all due rc .-pect to Bro . Dalcho , ifc seems from tho above remarks thafc even in 1822 he was not altogether

free from the habit—dreaming or guessing—which he acquired during his early Masonic days ; for how did he know what the Eleusinian mysteries taught , first or last ? The fact is , he knew nothing about them . He also conld nofc

entirely divest himself of the notion that the origin of Masonry wa 3 for doctrinal purposes . He did not indeed believe in the very greatest ; antiquity of Masonry , but ascribed ifc to the Christian era ; he imagiued thafc tho custom

of dedicating Lodges to St . Joliu was very oil , and thafc the ritual was also old , and like many cranky dreamers who see the Trinity in everything where the word three occurs , Dalcho of course discovered any number of

Trinities in the ritual . Thi .-s , together with the dedication of Lodges to St . John , to say tho lea- ' . t , puzzled him . Dalcho did not know what Bro . Lyon has disclosed , viz . : — thai in the middle ages every Lodge h : al a different patron

“The Freemason's Chronicle: 1886-01-16, Page 9” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 21 Aug. 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fcn/issues/fcn_16011886/page/9/.
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THE NEXT ELECTIONS FOR THE MASONIC SCHOOLS. Article 1
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 2
"MASONRY" IN COURT. Article 2
PROFESSIONAL SINGERS AND THEIR FRIENDS. Article 2
OUR INSTITUTIONS. Article 3
THE THEATRES, &c. Article 3
INSTALLATION MEETINGS, &c. Article 4
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DALCHO'S CONFLICTING OPINIONS ABOUT MASONRY. Article 8
NOTICES OF MEETINGS. Article 10
AMUSEMENTS Article 11
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DIARY FOR THE WEEK. Article 12
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Dalcho's Conflicting Opinions About Masonry.

claimed to be ancient , and , as a rule , everybody believes whatever the luminous Master tells him . Bro . Frederic Dalcho , though he was a scholar , philosopher , and a theologian , was not an exception to the rale ; indeed , he even

laboured under a disadvantage with which the earlier generation of dreamers were not troubled , for Dalcho ' s mind was further confirmed by the nnmber of hig h degrees it was crammed with . But Dalcho was an extraordinary

man , and , I believe , an honest man too ; hence , while in his earl y Masonic days he was exceedingly superstitious , in the latter part of his Masonic days ho became exceedingly

rational . I shall , therefore , give specimens from Dalcho ' s orations of 1801 , 1802 and 1803 , and afterwards I shall quote from Dalcho ' s Ahiman Rezon of 1822 . Briefly then , in his early days he

said" I am of opinion that the ancient Society of Free and Accepted Masons was never a body of architects ; that is , they were not ori ginally embodied for the purposo of building , but were associated for moral and religions purposes . "

He then goes on to say that our manner of teaching was derived from the Druids , our emblems from Egypt , some things came from Basidides , and other things from the Greeks , and other things were derived from the Crusaders ,

the Pope , - and what not ; and after referring to the vast number of Masons accompanying the Crusaders to the holy land , he then goes on to explain how the original pious or philosophic society became associated with the building

fraternity , viz ., that " when Moses ordained the erection of tbe sanctuary , and afterwards ,, when Solomon wa 3 about to build the temple . . . they chose from among the people those whose wisdom and zeal for the true faith attached

them to the worship of tho Most Hig h , and committed to them tho erection of those works of piety . It was on these great occasions that our predecessors appeared to the world as architects .

These notions Bro . Dalcho probably derived from high degreedom , and they seem to have stuck to him . In the next oration he is very emphatic on the same topic . He

says"It has been generallyreported , and as generally believed , that our Society was instituted for architectural purposes by handicraftsmen . What gave rise to this idea I am at

a loss to determine , as the blue degrees have no written records to explain the difficulty ; and tradition is too lame to give satisfaction to the scientific mind . "

After referring to the famous circular issued by the Charleston Hi gh Degree Riters in 1802 , of which new concern Dalcho was the first Sov . G . Commander , —and poor Dalcho of course believed in all the new cock and bull

stories appertaining to the new Rite , —Bro . Dalcho goes on to reason after the following fashion . He says" We are , in a nameless Masonic degree , informed that a word was lost . If then Masonry took its rise from the

creation , as our ancient records import ( what records ?) Masons must have been in possession of a word ; hencej the changing of the word in the time of Solomon was an innovation of the fundamental principles of the Craft ;

this , however , we are unwilling to allow . It is well-known to the Blue Master that Solomon and his royal visitor wore in possession of the real pristine word , but of which he ( the Blue Master ) must remain ignorant , unless initiated

into the sublime degrees . The authenticity of this mystic word , as known to us , and for which our most respected Master died , is proven to the most sceptic mind from the sacred pages of Holy Writ , and the Jewish history from the earliest period of time . "

After some moro puffing up of the sublime degrees , and stating that the Talmud throws light upon these degrees , he goes on to say" ifc is well known thafc about 27 , 000 Masons

accompanied the Christian Princes in the Crusades .... While in Palestine they discovered several important Masonic manuscripts , among the descendants of the ancient

Jews , which enriched our archives with authentic written records ( who saw those records ?) and on which some of the decrees are founded .

"In the year loll some very extraordinary discoveries were made , and occurrences took place which renders the Masonic history ofthe period of the highest importance ; a

period dear to tlie Mason ' s heart , who is zealous for the course of tho Order , his country , and his God . " ([ s not this a grand piece of bunkum ?)

" Another very important discovery was made in the year 1553 , of a record in Syriac characters , belonging to the most remote antiquity , and from which it would aopear

Dalcho's Conflicting Opinions About Masonry.

that the world is many thousand years older thau given by the Mosaic account , an opinion eutertained by many learned men . Few of the characters were translated until the

reign of onr illustrious and most enlightened Bro . Frederic , second King of Prussia , whose . well-known zeal for the Craft was the cause of so much improvement in the Society over which he condescended to preside .

"From such of our records as are authentic" ( whereare they ?) " we are informed of the establishment of the sublime and ineffable degrees in Scotland , Frauce , and Prussia , immediately after the first Crusades , but from some

circumstances , which ai'e to us unknown , after the year 1658 they fell into neglect until the year 1744 , when a nobleman from Scotland " ( what nobleman ?) " visited France , aud reestablished the Lodsro of Perfection in Bordeaux . "

So much of Dalcho the superstitious . And now for Dalcho the rationalist . In 1822 , Dalcho wrote" Various indeed have been the speculations on this subject , the origin of Masonry , and great has been the

labour .... of man y .... to prove that every man of note , from Adam down to the present day , wore Freemasons . But such round assertions are beneath the dignity of the Order , and would nofc be urged by men of letters .

Neither Adam , nor Noah , nor Nimrod , nor Moses , nor Joshua , nor David , nor Solomon , nor Hiram , nor St . John the Baptist , nor St . John the Evangelist , belonged to the Masonic Order . ... ft is unwise to assert what we

cannot prove . Hypothesis in history is absurd . There is no record , sacred or profane , to induce us to believe that these holy men were Freemasons , and our traditions do not go

back to their days . To assert thafc they were Freemasons may make the vulgar stare , but will rather excite the contempt than admiration of the wise .

Ifc has been the practice of ingenious and zealous Masons to trace Freemasonry as far as probability extends , and then to call everything preceding that period ' Speculative Masonry . ' This may satisfy a young Mason , but

not an historian , nor an antiquary . Only allow me the liberty of writing on ' Speculative Masonry , ' and like Milton , I w ould go into the invisible world , before the creation

of man , aud show that the cherubims and seraplnms . . are Royal Arch Masons . . . and yet this is just as prob able as the far-fetched stories of many writers on Free masonry . "

Bro . Dalcho next pitches into the tradition that the world is indebted to Freemasons for preserving the Pentateuch , showing that the book was never lost , thafc Daniel , Ezra , and others possessed copies of the said book , and he

says —• " To assert , therefore , thafc Fremasons preserved the law is as ridiculous as to assert that Saint Angustin , likewise called St . Austin , a Roman Catholic Bishop , & c , was at

the head of the Fraternity , A . D . 600 . Ho certainly appeared in England at the head of a fraternity , but ifc was of forty monks , who accompanied him from Rome , and nofc of Freemasons .

" Freemasonry has likewise been identified by some zealous Masons with the Eleusinian mysteries , for no other reason , as far as I can discover , than to prove its antiquity . These mysteries were of Egyptian origin , and were probably

instituted about 1390 B . C . They were afc first religious , and taught tho unity of the Supreme God . . . . But at length the symbols which they used to deuote the Spiritual

regeneration of the initiated , were forgotten , and the most horrid impurities were practised undercover of night ; God forbid , therefore , that Masonry should ever have been identified with these mysteries , " & c .

Now . with all due rc .-pect to Bro . Dalcho , ifc seems from tho above remarks thafc even in 1822 he was not altogether

free from the habit—dreaming or guessing—which he acquired during his early Masonic days ; for how did he know what the Eleusinian mysteries taught , first or last ? The fact is , he knew nothing about them . He also conld nofc

entirely divest himself of the notion that the origin of Masonry wa 3 for doctrinal purposes . He did not indeed believe in the very greatest ; antiquity of Masonry , but ascribed ifc to the Christian era ; he imagiued thafc tho custom

of dedicating Lodges to St . Joliu was very oil , and thafc the ritual was also old , and like many cranky dreamers who see the Trinity in everything where the word three occurs , Dalcho of course discovered any number of

Trinities in the ritual . Thi .-s , together with the dedication of Lodges to St . John , to say tho lea- ' . t , puzzled him . Dalcho did not know what Bro . Lyon has disclosed , viz . : — thai in the middle ages every Lodge h : al a different patron

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