Antiquity Of The Craft.

from ancient monuments and philology , as well as from collation and comparison Avith other traditions , to the sifting of traditions . In the course of their investigations , many things bearing on the antiquity of Freemasonry

have come to light , some of Avhich I desire to bring to your notice , rather as the evidences of stores of illustration that the energy of students is now developing , which give countenance to the traditions of our Craft , than from any desire

to take part in controversies Avhich I have no leisure nor means to investigate , and Avhere the marked ability of Bro . Pindel and his opponents leaves small space for competition . The evidence relied on to fix the origin of

Ereemasonry at about A . D . 1717 is purely of a speculative character , and is controverted by direct facts .

Elias Ashmole , in his published diary , —an old edition of Avhich is before me as I Avrite , —states , in the year 1646 , " Oct . 16 , 4 . 30 , P . M ., I was made a Freemason , at Warrington , in Lancashire , vrith Col . Henry Mainwaring , of Kartichan , in Cheshire ,

etc . " A few days after , he states that he is made acquainted with Mr . William Lilly and Mr . John Booker , facts that I shall comment on hereafter . This was just after the surrender of Worcester in the Cromwellian Avars , in which Ashmole Avas

engaged as a "Royalist cavalier . This fact , as authentic as the fact ot the formation of the Grand Lodge at London in 1717 , disposes of the pretence that Freemasonry began Avith this Grand Lodge at London : I spare you other citations to ihe point . Ashmole , in his admission , uses our

own phrase—he \ A as " made —and gives the names of those then present , seventy-one years before the Grand Lodge's date . In Bro . Findel ' s second edition , it is stated that the Scotch Masonic Eecords SIIOAV several

of the gentry of that country were admitted members between A . D . 1600 aud A . D . 1641 . He and others , also , cite D . Plot's History of Staffordshire , published in 16 S 6 , to the effect that a prosperous Masonic Lodge existed in that shire ,

of which many of the gentry Avere members . Should Ave , as Ave are asked to do , assume that Ancient Masonry ended Avhen men of various professions Avere initiated , Ave could not , in presence of these facts , infer that the " universality" of Freemasonry began about the era of the London Grand Lodge . I fail , hoAvever , to see any

weighty evidence of any modern origin for the universalism of Freemasonry , whether it is called " Symbolic" or " Ancient . " Are Ave not , then , justified in following the traditions avowed by the founders of that Grand

Lodge , that their Freemasonry was very old in their time , and relinquishing its origin , as back beyond the era of records , into the arms of tradition as an ancient institution ? I think so , and , therefore , tarn to trace the doctrines , symbols , and usages of Freemasonry toward their sources , and leave those who seek a modern author for

Freemasonry to prove their case . It is hard to say which has been the greatest obstacle to the investigation of historical monuments , the doubting Thomases who require to put their fingers into the very holes made by the cruel

nails , or those Avho have thought it merely a pious fraud to supply such people with forged material as tangible evidence to remove their doubts . We learn in 1 Edras , c . 4 , that , when Prince Zerubbabel placed truth foremost of all things , the

Persian king and court , embued with . Zoroastian doctrines , shouted , " Great is truth , and mighty above all things . " Freemasonry we have received by tradition and not by books . The Lodge-records are of known modern dates : the

the Craft are jealous of divulging their philosophy or their rituals , and equally so of any pretence of making secret records of them . The hearts of Masons are bound together by their secret doctrine ; this makes them a fraternity : let it remain a hidden wel ! of sweet waters in the desert

of life . The doctrines of Freemasonry are so nicely blended as to satisfy the wants , and command the respect of millions of initiated men of good report in the communities where they reside . Her copious symbology is full of meaning : how

came all these united in one teaching ? For centuries Ave know they have been substantially unchanged . Verbal ritualistic changes being , AA'e are told , made at certain times , merely to protect the language from becoming obsolete and

unintelligible to the Craftsmen , and to foil impostors , and showing few or no serious divergencies in the numerous independent jurisdictions where our art is practised . If Freemasonry began late , some record or

tradition of its author Avould have come to us : the examination of its dogmas and symbols would SIIOAV the influence of the age when it started ; or ,