Cryptic Masonry.*

Cryptic Masonry . *

I ) RO . Charles K . Francis , P . G . M . of Pennsylvania , con-~ J tributes an interesting article to the pages of the American Tyler for September on Cryptic Masonry , from which we extract the following : — "When we consider how little has been saved from the

consuming hand of time , it is not surprising that no known written records of Freemasonry antedate the Haliwell Manuscript , which is supposed to be of a period not later than the fourteenth century . Naturally , the claim of Freemasonry to great antiquity rests mainlyon tradition . Freemasonry has always concealed its mysteries from the public eye ,

and commits to writing only faint outlines of its work . Along the path of tradition , all history reaches back to early and cloudy periods of doubt and darkness . A certain writer has correctly observed that ' Traditionary tales delivered from father to son , through successive generations , constitute the

basis of the first historical records . ' Sir John Lubbock said : ' Traditions and myths are of great importance , and indirectly throw much light on the condition of man in ancient times . ' ( Pre-Historic Times , p . 440 . ) In the language of another writer , ' Traditions and myths are the raw

material out of which many of our goodly garments of modern science and religion are made up . ' ( Barley ' s Moon Lore , p . 74 . ) It is a tradition of Cryptic Freemasonry that , in the work of building the Temple of Jerusalem , King Solomon was greatly aided by Hiram , King of Tyre , as well

as by a distinguished architect known as Hiram A biff , and also that Hiram Abiff was the chief of a society of builders who were employed with the Hebrews in the erection of the Temple . A part of that tradition claims that the builders

of the temple received from King Solomon a peculiar form of organization , and that the society thus established maintained its existence , under various conditions , through succeeding centuries , and , in later times , was known by the designation of ' Operative Freemasons of the Middle Ages , ' from whom the Speculative Freemasons of the present day

claim direct descent . The system of Speculative Freemasonry is of comparatively modern birth , dating from the second decade of the eighteenth century . Prior to that time , there was but one degree in the ceremony of initiation , with a simple form of obligation , a grief prayer , one sign

and one password . A few years later the second and third degrees were invented , and about a century and a half ago the Royal Arch Degree came to England from France , where it originated with Scottish exiles who followed lo that country the dethroned king of the Stuart dynasty . For many

years the Grand Lodge of England refused to recognise the Royal Arch degree as a part of the Masonic system . But about the middle of the eighteenth century , certain persons formed a second Grand Lodge of England , which body

appropriated the Royal Arch degree , making , however , certain changes in the ritual , though retaining its distinctive title of Royal Arch . Through the influence of that second Grand Lodge of England , the revised Royal Arch degree became a part of the American system of Freemasonry , that Grand Lodge haying established subordinate organizations in

this country . In the consideration of the growth of Masonic degrees , it is well to bear in mind the fact that , as the fountain head is the highest point of the great river that broadens and deepens in its onward flow-, so the grade of Entered Apprentice is not only the first but also the highest degree of

Freemasonry , the origin and source of all other Masonic degrees . "I have in my possession a copy of an article published in The Public Ledger of Philadelphia ( the date of which I neglected to keep ) , staling that the earliest mention of the existence of Freemasonry on the American continent appears

in a letter written to a friend in England in the year 1715 by John Moore , who , at that time , was Collector of the Port of Philadelphia under the English government . In that letter Brother Moore considered the event nf sufficient

importance to say that he had spent a lew evenings in festivity with his Masonic brethren . ( See also Proceedings Grand Loclge of Pennsylvania , 1882 , p . 152 , and Gould ' s History of Freemasonry , Vol . IV ., p . 424 . ) That letter is dated two years before the establishment , in the year 1717 , of the Grand Lodge of England , the premier Grand Lodge

of modern times . At that time America was a peaceful and contented colony of Great Britain . Had anyone then predicted that , half a century later , there would come from the mother country the odious Stamp Act , to be hurled back by the Declaration of Independenceand followed by the fierce

, Revolutionary struggle , with the birth of this nation of mighty States , he would have been thought a madman . At that time the great cities of Boston , New York and Philadelphia were like the small country towns of the present

day . The region west of the Alleghenies , now- covered with flourishing cities to the Pacific coast , and rejoicing in all the glories of our twentieth century civilization , was then a vast wilderness where wild Indian tribes roamed at will and fiercely resisted the resolute and fearless colonists who invaded their domain . It is interesting to contemplate the

growth of Freemasonry in our land since that early period . It is especially gratifying to consider that , for nearly two centuries , the Craft in Philadelphia have met continuously as they met in the year 1715 , and as we meet here to-night , to spend an evening in innocent and fraternal festivity . As

Freemasons of Pennsylvania we may rightfully cherish a high degree of pride in the fact that when the genius of Freemasonry crossed the Atlantic , to establish her peaceful empire in the New World , she chose for her lirst abiding place the City of Brotherly Love .

" In Scotland , called by Bro . Gould ' the most ancient home of Masonic precedent , ' there were no warranted lodges prior to the year 173 6 , and that distinguished historian observes , ' Assemblies of brethren , as formed in Philadelphia , were the only Masonic assemblies existing in that country' * * * and , ' Such assembles , though

, without any other sanction , were not styled irregular when the Grand Lodge of Scotland was erected in 173 6 , the old lodges ( whether off-shoots of Mother Kilwinning , of other ancient courts of Operative Masonry , or simply the results of local combination ) uniting to form that organization which

, has happily continued to this day ' ; adding , 'Without going back any further than the year 173 1 , we shall do well to reflect that the sovereignty of grand lodges was then on its trial ; ' * * * 'In the early clays a piece of paper or

parchment containing a written or printed authority for certain brethren and their successors to meet , as a lodge was not held in the superstitious reverence with which it afterwards became regarded . ' ( Gould ' s History of Freemasonry , Vol . VI , p . 435-6 . ) No one knows when , or where , Benjamin Franklin was made a Freemason , though his connection with

the Masonic Fraternity is one of the uncontroverted facts of history . In 1734 , and again in 1749 , Benjamin Franklin was Grand Master of Masons in the Province of Pennsylvania , and the first Masonic Book published in America was issued from his printing press . It is a matter of record that on 17 th

November , 1760 , Franklin visited the Grand Loclge of England . ( W . J . Hughan in ' Keystone ' Philadelphia , 28 th September , 1 S 89 . )

" The origin of most of the Masonic degrees is involved in obscurity , and as yet , no one has been able to fix the date of the introduction , or invention , of each degree . No one knows when , or by whom , the Old Lodges were established that , in the year 1717 , united to form the Grand Lodge of Englandthe premier Grand Loclge of ( he world . At

, that time all of Freemasonry was confined to a single degree . Until near the close of the eighteenth century , all Masonic degrees were conferred under the authority of the lodge warrant . Individual Freemasons united to form lodges , and lodges combined to form Grand Lodges . In