Illustrations Of The History Of The Craft.

teries of the time and locality Avere in some form or other bound up , we find here a link of union , a bond of felloAVship , Avhich Avould naturally cement together , associate together , Tyrian and JeAvish Masons in so great and so good a Avork as bull ling the

Temple at Jerusalem . There is no doubt , also , a little objection to the theory of an actual confraternity of JeAvish Masons Avith secrets and nrysteries , from the Avell-knOAA-n fact that all the

Gentile mysteries and airoppijTa , Avere prohibited apparently to the JeAvish people . Yet , Ave cannot , on the other hand , explain it as AA' 6 Avill , get over the fact that Tyrian and JeAvish Avorkmen assisted in the elevation of the great Sanctuary of the HebreAV race at Jerusalemand Captain

, Warren ' s researches have proved , among other things , not only that our Masonic traditions hoAvever , seemingly strange , sometimes , to us to-day , are not in themselves either improbable or impossible , and that a remarkable unity existed betAveen the

AA'orkmen , AA'hether Tyrians or HebreAvs , alike , in the quality of tho Avork they executed , all gOA'erned by one great design , as in the marks , common to both , and understood by each nationalitj ' , still marked in colours as perfect as if only painted

yesterday , in subterranean passages , and AA'Oudrous crypts and hidden halls beneath the existing city . It has ahvays struck Masonic students as a very remarkable fact , that the traditions and history of our Order , as well as our carefully-preserved ceremonies and ritual , have such an IiebreAv colouring and character .

Whence has this arisen 1 Some have contended that the JeAvish confraternity have substituted a veritable history for the figurative teachings of tho earlier mysteries , AA'hile others have asserted that the JoAA-ish clement and teaching Avere absorbed by the building colleges at Rome

, and that thenceforth there AA'as intenvoven Avith all their oral ritual and ancient observance the characteristic tradition of Hiram , the great architect of the first Temple , Avhich Avould entirely harmonize Avith the aim and sympathies of the building

sodalities as they gradually became entirely Christian . Be this as it may , the undying testimony of our traditions links on Freemasonry to the Temple at Jerusalem , and we cannot

discard it AA'ithout shaking the very founds * , tion on Avhich Freemasonry rests .. One thing is , indeed , most clear : that the marks of the JeAvish , as Avell as the Tyrian , Masons are the same with those of later times ; that they are evidentl all

y belonging to the same great family , and are identical Avith the usages and customs of the operative order everyAvhere . Some of our most cherished Masonic symbols , Ave may Avell remember , are purely JeAvish , such as the Pentalpha and the

double triangle , or Solomon ' s seal . And despite the hasty and unreasoning assertions of some modern Avriters , I see as yet no cause Avhatever to doubt the truth or reject the authority of the HebreAV legends of our Order . There is some evidence to SIIOAV that

there Avas attached to the Temple a secret order called Chasidini or Hasidim , Avhose special object Avas " to preserve it from injury and decay , " though AA'hether they AA'ere attached to other religions buildings is not clear .

It is said by some that this fraternity arose during the captivity of Babylon ; by others , that it sprung up soon after the Restoration . It has eA'en been contended that they Avere the precursors of the Essenes , and they haA'e been even termed , " The Knights of the Temple of Jerusalem . "

There is in the "Grand Bibliotheque " ( Rue Richelieu , at Paris ) , a A'ery curious book , Avhich treats of the Knights of the Maccaba 3 an chivalry , and alludes to their duty in defence of the Temple . But I am not prepared to say that I have

seen , so far , any evidence of Bro . Mackey's statement , that "they AA'ere , in fact , the conservators of Masonry among the JBAVS , and deposited it Avith their successors , the Essenes , AVIIO brought it doAvn beyond the time of Christ . "

Some Avriters contend , as I have just said , that from the Chasidini sprang the Essenes—a remarkable sect of the JOAA-S , from AA'hom some Masonic AA'iiters have of

late asserted that Freemasonry is altogether derived . From Josephus and other sources AVC gain the folloAving particulars , AA'hich arc striking to Freemasons : — On initiation , at the close of the probation and his novitiate , the candidate was presented Avith a garment . He AA-as re-