Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-02-11
THE MYTHS OF MASONRY.
A MEMBER OF THE ORDER WHO BREAKS
ITS ENIBLEMATIC TOOLS.
New York Herald.

| New y ork Herald.
Col. Thomas PlctOn was appointed
in 1868. Secretary General of the Ce.
lestial Empire of the Masonic Order OF
Memphis for America. He said that
the day fer secrecy in Masonry in
America is past. In land in which
there was an established religion Sc
crecy was necessary, but i'll America it
is detriment to the order Indeed, |
fancy that Masonry does not exist in
America-that is to say, as it should
eXist-for here it is benevolent soci-
! ETY., not phlosophic institution. In
stead of stimulating inquiry, Am ricans
who style themselves Masons thr wv a
veil over the truth They begin with
myths and legends and add to them
with every successful degree, and the
higher they go the more lies they tell. -
The Colonel threw in the parenthesis
that probably there are not in the
United States six Masons who are re-
ally educated in the history of their or
der. Then he added The origin of
modern Masonry can be attributed to
Lord Bacon. In the new Atlantis
there is description of Solomon and
his house, and it is there said that the
King set apart different days for pros
ecuting the arts and sciences The new
Atlantis was excessively popular
among the learned men of Bacon's day,
and they tried to establish society
taking Solomon as an exponent of wis
dom. 1t was encouraged by the Court
of James L. and his successor. Charles
L., until the revolution broke out.
Then the royalists, after the death of
Charles L., reorganiZed their society
for religious and political motives
the religion for the re-establishment of
the church, the politics for the restora-
tion of the monarchy. Next they in
vented what is called the legend of the
third degree Hiram Abiff was the
murdered monarch. Hiram, the King
of Tyre, was the King of France. Sol
omon was the Church. Hiram's three
assassins were the three Kingdoms,
England, Scotland and Ireland. The
Masons of that day, who were the con-
DiidOOiS-lHC cdCODlltS-NtGt ltCeS-
sarily a secret society They called
themselves, as the Masons of the Eu-
ropean Continent do to the present
day, the Sons of the Widow, inasmuch
as the King had been beheaded and
his son had not been recognized. After
the Restoration the leading men of the
movement formed the Royal Society,
which exists to the present day, and
they openly continued the work of the
house of Solomon. The Jacobites in
France continued their benevolent or
ganization. In England, Immediately
after the Restoration, number of
those who had been previously affili-
ated conjoined with giuid of so-called
operative Masons, a body of freemen of
London, meeting in Mason's lane
They then became Free and Accepted
Masons. In III there appeared to be
four lodges in London They met at the
Appletree Tavern, placed the oldest
Mason in the chair and proceeded to
organize grand lodge, electing Sir
Christopher Wren Grand Master
From that body originate all the Ma
sonic lodges in this country.
"Of late years on the continent of
Europe, and in France particularly,
earnest endeavors have been made to
divest Masony of all its fabulous le-
gends and historical errors" In con-
clusion COL Picton said that the
square and compass were rejected by
all intelligent Masons long ago, the
All-Seeing Eye within the triangle be-
ing the recognized emblem, and that,
whatever the symbols may prove to
be that are on the stones that upheld
the obelisk in Alexandria, they will
not prove that Masonry as we know it
existed among the ancient Egyptians.