Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.

for the first time satisfactory evidence of their existence ancl proceedings and purpose . And though it must be ever most interesting to all Freemasons , thus to be able to trace the history of tho Gorman

operative " Bauliiitten" or lodges , through several centuries , yet it would be , I venture to tliinkj most unsafe , as it is in truth impossible to contend , or seriously for one moment to suppose , that Freemasonry could have thus sprung up all of a sudden in the

history of the Avorld—could AA'ith all its old legends ancl time-honoured traditions and mysterious symbolism , have been alone the product of the ingenuity and sltill of German stonemasons , and transplanted from Germany to England .

Our learned brother ' s argument , that because he finds the legend of the " Four CroAATiod Martyrs" in our earliest knoAA'n Masonic MS . and traces , as he thinks , of " Yehmic" usages in the Sloano MS . 3329 * therefore our English Freemasonry Avas

introduced by German operative Masons , is , though ingenious and very creditable to his patriotic sympathies , utterly opposed to all the knoAA'n facts of the case , and completely irreconcilable Avith the evidence of liistory , and the Avitness of our OAVII English Masonic traditions .

No doubt Bro . Findel ' s theory is hi itself a very interesting one , and in some respects an easy Avay of surmounting many of the difficulties and peculiarities of on Masonic annals . It may servo also to dispel some of the doubts and remove some of tho objections of hostile criticismbut it

, does by no means clear the Avay perfectly for the Masonic or un-Masonie enquirer , and stdl leaves unaccounted for , on any safe and satisfactory authority , the origin , existence , pirogress , and perpetuation of one of the most remarkable institutions the

world has ever seen . To say notMng now of other patent objections to it , how are Ave to deal , if Ave accept it , -with that very important subject of Masons ' Marks ? Our learned brother E . W . SIMAV

contended some years back , and I have never seen any satisfactory reply to his assertions , that one great principle pervaded all the known Masons' marks in the world , namely ,

that they were outward symbols of an inner meaning or teaching . From the almost innumerable fac-similes ho had collected after many years' arduous labour , Avliich I have myself seen , from all epiarters of the Avorld , he found the same

unity of design and actual identity of form in all the marks he had so carefully gathered together , Avhether they had been found on Egyptian pyramids or Roman Avails , on Hindoo or on Mexican temples , on early or on medteval ecclesiastical buddings , on the stones of Tyre , on tho very buildings of Jerusalem . '

His argument , then , AA'hicli always appeared to my mind irresistible , that Ave have in these Masons' marks a strong proof of the anticpiity of our Order , and of its AA'ide diffusion at a very early period , has recently received a striking confirmation by the underground discoA'ories of

Bro . Lieut . Warren in the Holy City itself , AVIIO has brought to light the long-buried marks of Tyrian and JeAvish Masons . If , liOAvever , Ave accept our learned Bro . Findel ' s theory , Ave must surrender this valuable eA'idenco of the great and real antiquity of Freemasonry .

Believing , then , in common Avith all Avho have had the opportunity of studying Ms most interesting Avork , that a debt of gratitude is OAving to Mm for his careful ancl accurate investigations , and regarding Ms history as a most valuable aid and addition to Masonic literature in generalI still

, think that Ave cannot safely adopt his limited vieAv of the anti quity of the Craft , the late origin he assigns to the operative guilds , or find in his skilfully-developed theory a satisfactory solution of the true and full history of Freemasonry .

2 . There is a second vieAv of the guild theory , AA'hicli I may dismiss with a very short notice , for it is historicall y ancl archroologically untenable . It is that Avhich asserts that the history of Speculative Masonry is to be entirel

y severed from that of the operative guilds , and that though the guilds existed , certainly they had little or nothing in common without our modern Order , and that the revival in 1717 AA'as but the adaptation by Speculative MasonsAA'ithout warrant

, any or natural connection of the phraseology , usages , and legends of the operative guilds . ' In short , to repeat the Abb 6 Grandidier ' s words , Freemasonry , as ive have it to-day ,