The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-05-10


Masonic order, through Pythagoras, ant
with process Of filiatIon not very strictly
made out, we come next to the Masons Of
the early middle ages, to the constructor
OF the magnificent Gothic churches which
in this country and on the continent ar,
| among the most precious monuments o.
antiquity. The men who erected these
buildings were certainly possessed OF secrets
which have not yet been divulged. Theil
unapproached supremacy as artists Is sufh
cient proof Of this. Nor need we have any
difficulty In believing that they were fre.
| quently united in kind OF brotherhood oil
the craft known to one another in thei1
necessary wanderings from place to place
by signs Of their own, and possessed Of pro.
fessional knowledge which they guarded
iealously from outsiders. All this is SO
liEely that it would need proof that the old
| builders were not something of this kind,
rather than that they were; whereas, in
point OF fact, the evidence, such as it is, is
almost wholly confirmatory. But between
these men and the modern Freemasons
there is only one more chasm to be bridged
over, and it is not nearly as broad and diff
cult as the previous one, which we have
already passed. As time went on, and as
the constitution Of society changed, the
early trade.companies of Europe lost, to-
gether with their uses, good deal of their
original meaning. There has been pro-
cess OF transformation in o good many OF
them. The guild has survived, but it has
been less and less closely connected with
the craft or business from which ii took
its name. Modern Freemasonry has no
very close connection with the building
trade. 1t scarcely, indeed, affects to have
any in the ordinary sense OF the words.
Its buildings are of kind not made
with hands. Virtue and brotherhood
and good-fellowship are the intangi-
BILE results at which it is contented
to aim. But we may still, in spite OF the
wide difference between old and new Ma
sonry, trace some, at least, OF the steps
by which the process OF development has
been carried on. Before the time OF mod
ern Freemasonry there had already been
something of mystifcation introduced into
the Masonic order. When the obvious
uses Of that order were at an end, it
was thought wise to devise something or
other by way of iustifying It's continued
existence. Curiosity was piqued by half
glances which the world was suffered to
have into the inner secrets OF the order.
This was the state OF things which went on
apparently until the seventeenth century,
and the genius of Elias Ashmole gave Free
masonry fresh start. Ashmole, in his
various characters of herald. astrologer, and
antiquary, was well fitted for the work; and
Freemasonry ripended into perfection
which could scarcely have been expected.
1t is of the symbolism OF Freemasonry
that we must be understood as speaking.
or its real secrets we can of course say no.
thing. They have been made public
dozen times since Ashmole's day. Scotch
men and Americans, with an imper-
feet sense of humor, or with a want
of love for the mysterious, have
come forward to divulge them. Weak
members have been forced into be-
traying them, sometimes by downright vio-
lence. The Grand Inquisitor Of Portugal
so the record runs-ioined the order Of the
Freemasons for the express purpose Of be-
traying them to their enemies. But from
whatever cause it has happened, the secret
of the order-if secret indeed there be
has never been made known. The world
sees it as q society which unites practical
benevolenee with good fellowship, and is
contented to honor it for its more obvious
as we'll as for its more occult eXcellencies.
The patronage Of the Prince OF Wales,
however honorable, is not needed for keep
ing it in popular favor. Its great charity
alone sufhces to give il rt;!l merit, by which
the outer world may be satisfied to Judge
of it. Its secrets are its own affair, and we
are not bold enough to indulge even the
wish Of prying into them.