Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-23

! called " Rite" in eteUeu degrees, is " the
only legitimate Rite of Free Masonry %
We have yet more to say on this sub
ject.
COMMEND ITSELF TO THE POPULAR
ESTEEMg
Bro. JOHN w. snIONs, in the Ma
tionGl FfeemasoH, says:
We cannot speak for other latitudes,
( but in this we know that the announce
ment of a Masonic entertainment will
! always draw large and attentive audi
/ epce, and we insist upon it that in graft
! fying their desire for knowledge We are
I strengthening our position and making
/ secure our future. Our wives and chill
| dren, our neighbors and friends see at
| these gatherings what manner Of men
we are and learn what it is we do, and
they GO away satisfied that We are
! engaged in good work, and
! ought to be encouraged. To the
/ friends thus raised up we can
commit our defense against the
| diatribes of the WdtchmdH and the
/ Banner, the synods and conventicles
/ which are continually misrepresentiOg
US, procIaiming US atheists, infidels and
/ what not. We care very little for the
| good or bad opinion OF bigots wbe sup
! press the true and assert the false to make
| an argument against us but we care
| great deal for the good opinion Of the
I community in which we live, and Tor
/ the good name we have labOred to create
/ in preference to worldly wealth or honor.
| The Masonry we love and uphold we can
| conscientiously ask them TO approve;
LAT dor fol
men shall approve. Thus treated it has
iourished as never earthly institution
fiourished before, and, for one, we will
never consent to deprive il Of the sus-
tanning power of popular appreciation.
Intelligent men may probably be in
duced to respect Masonry still more, if it
will persuade its writers to indulge less
in ridiculous inventions gravely pub
lished as % traditions 3" to cease relying,
for evidence of antiquity, on Charters
that are not genuine, and manuscripts of
apoeryphal authority, pretended TO exist
in the Bodlerian library and elsewhere;
and also if they will become ashamed Of
/ claiming as Freemasonic associations the
old working guilds Of StOne-mas0ns, and
/ Christopher WREN as q Grand Mas
1 ter. All of these nOnsensiCal pEetences
excite only the smiles of derision of
scholars and antiqusriRns and they are
put forward by Society which does not,
in reslity, know its own origin, nor the
derivation of its own name, nor the
meaning of the words Altman Recon,
by which it designates IFS manuals. The
eUjdeHce Of the antiquity Of Masonry
consists Of hints here and there, and oc-
| caSioRallg q lCOrd or phrase, Jrbjcb those
| lVhO huUe lUOrked OUer and OUsr its Rit-
ais haUe ltninteatiOadily let alone, not
kaolgiHg their significance. Its present
formulas and rituals are not old its lee.
lures and the explanations of its symbols
are modern a Mason Of I7l7 could not
gain entrance into an american Lodge
of 1867. Formulas Lectures, CeremO-
niai, degrees change; but MASONRY re-
mains, and hides her secrets as jeslOusly
as isis did, even from the mass Of those
who think that they are initiated.
1t is time, at any rate, to cease falsify-
ing history, manufacturing traditions,
representing as Masonic lessons what is
not taught and never was taught by Ma
sonry whose lessons I'VE speak Of the
Blue Degrees) are few and simple, and
admit Of very little commentary and
representing mere myths and legends,
which are but sllegoTies and parallels, as
historical details of matters that actually
occurred. The world is getting weary of
all that, as it always weaTies Of pretence
and grimsce. You cannot make the
commonplace sublime" by calling it
50; nor ceremonies impressive that are
tedious and tiresome.
Criticism, in the hands Of men like
NIEBUHR, is continually occupied in dis
secting history, detecting forgery, and
resolving annals into myths and legends.
Masonry cannot escape its searching in
vestigations. Bro. ALBERT G. MACKEY
says:
The laws which govern the institu-
ton Of Freemasonry are of two kinds,
written and unwritten." The latter are
derived from the traditions, usages and
customs of the Fraternity, as they have
existed from the remOtest antiquity
The written law is derived principally
from the following sources:
lst. The Ancient Masonic Charges
said to have been written in the reign OF
James II.
I'd. The regulations adopted at the
General Assembly held in 1868.
But that learned Brother must well
know that no Masonic Charges were
written in the reign of JAMES the Second:
and that there is no evidence at all that
any General Assembly of Freemasons
was held in 1868.
How many Of us know which among
the symbols of Masonry are really an
cient, and which are modern, so modern
as not to have been used before the be-
ginning of this century. We know,
now, how long it has been pretended,
exciting the quiet contempt Of the well
informed, that the two SAINTS JOHN
were patrons Of Masonry, and repre-
sented by the two parallel lines bounding
the circle.
Let us have done with puerilities and
nonsense. The evidences Of the an
tiquity of Masonry are esoterie; not
historical nor traditional. We have no
history, far beyond the year 100, and
cannot trace our traditions much further
back. The proofs Of the antiquity Of the
| Order tUere ReUer meant to be submitted
| to the lUorld at large. It is not important
to US what opinion they have of the age
of the Order. 1t was never meant that
our symbols should be explained to them !;
and oar initiates rOJO take for true the false
| explanations ptIrposeiy invented and
I used to Bsislead those s0hO had no right
/ 10 k,lotU the true sense Of The Or0cles
The jargon Of the old Rituals, like the
/ jargOn OF the Alchemists, had a mean
/ ing, for those who could discover it. 1t
I was never expected that men would live
and thrive by telling the world every
thing they could in respect to the sym.
| bols and ceremonies of Masonry. Il is
fortunate that they can tell only
the common and trivial Interpretation
with which THE SAsEs WHO KNEW
deluded the over-curious and those salts
fed with the food of babes. The An
clients exhibited the Symbol and con-
cealed the Interpretation. At what is
called by that learned intermingIer OF
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