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claims to our admiration from its augmented brilliancy

and worth.

Masonry has no point, part, or secret, which does not illustrate some valuable truth, or recommend some amiable precept of religion. The furniture of our pedestal plainly intimates that the object of all our researches is the glory of God; the end of all our illustrations, happiness in a future state. The many dignified names*

* The following chronological list of Grand Masters and Patrons, from the time of the Anglo-Saxons, will be a decisive testimony that the order contains nothing repugnant to civil or religious liberty:

A. D.

597. Austin the Monk.

680. Bennet, Abbot of Wirral.

857. Saint Swithin.

872. King Alfred the Great.

900. Ethred, King of Mercia.

924. King Athelstane.

957. St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury.

1041. King Edward the Confessor.

1066. Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester.

1100. King Henry the First.

1216. Peter de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester.

1272. Walter Giffard, Archbishop of York. 1307. Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter. 1327. King Edward the Third.

1357. William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester. 1375. Simon Langham, Abbot of Westminster. 1413. Henry Chichely, Archbishop of Canterbury. 1443. William Waynfleet, Bishop of Winchester. 1471. Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury. 1485. King Henry the Seventh.

1493. John Islip, Abbot of Westminster.

1515. Cardinal Wolsey.

1549. Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset.

1551. John Poynet, Bishop of Winchester.

1603.

which grace our annals, sufficiently prove that our institution is of the most social and beneficial tendency. No age has exceeded the present in the extent of its illustrious patrons, who dare not stoop to sanction vice, or lend their influence to the promulgation of fraud and deception. The Royal Brothers, united in our behalf, afford an irresistible evidence that we are not guilty of disloyalty or treason; and the universal

1603. King James the First. 1607. Inigo Jones.

1625. King Charles the First.

1660. King Charles the Second.

1674. George Villars, Duke of Buckingham.

1685. Sir Christopher Wren.

1695. Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond.

1719. J. T. Desaguliers, LL.D., F.R.S. 1721. John Duke of Montague.

1722. Philip Duke of Wharton.

1726. William O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin.

1729. Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk,

1732. Anthony Brown, Lord Viscount Montacute.

1735. T. Thynne, Lord Viscount Weymouth.

1736. John Campbell, Earl of Loudon,

1738. H. Brydges, Marquis of Caernarvon.

1746. James Lord Cranstown.

1752. John Lord Carysfort.

1757. Sholto Lord Aberdour.

1762. Washington Shirley, Earl Ferrers.

1767. Henry Duke of Beaufort.

1772. Robert Edward Lord Petre.

1777. George Duke of Manchester.

1782. H. R. H. Frederick Duke of Cumberland.

1790. H. R. H. George Prince of Wales.

1813. H. R. H. Augustus Frederick Duke of Sussex.

1820. King George the Fourth, Grand Patron.

diffusion of Masonry at this day proclaims to the rest of mankind, that its pedestal is Religion; its shaft, Morality; and its capital, Virtue: the whole surmounted by a beautiful entablature of universal Charity; that it strongly incites us to "Honour all men, to love the brotherhood, to fear God, and to honour the king." : Such a system, which occupies a situation at least equally elevated with any human institution, is calculated to expand our benevolence, to extinguish animosities, and to destroy all unimportant differences amongst mankind. This indeed is the true cement and intention of Masonry, which embraces all the graces and perfections of holiness; unites mankind in the strictest bonds of amity, as children of a common parent; and incessantly urges them to ask that they' may have, to seek and they shall find, and to knock that the door may be opened unto them. And this is the conclusion that Masonry draws from all her illus trations: he who practises all the virtues thus recommended in FAITH, will rejoice in HOPE, be in perfect CHARITY With all mankind, and finally receive a PASS WORD into the Grand Lodge above, where peace, order, and harmony eternally preside.

THE

ANTIQUITIES

OF

FREE-MASONRY.

PERIOD I.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

ON MASONIC TRADITION.

"THE true stress of tradition lies in an appeal to the common sense of all mankind. It is a reliance upon the testimony of men, considered as men, and not as persons of this or that people or persuasion, actuated by principles implanted in that nature which the whole species partake of, and not influenced by the power of such as are peculiar to any particular community or religion."*

On this principle have the traditions of Masonry been transferred from father to son, along with

Stanhope's Boyle Lect.

B

The

the knowledge of God's eternal existence and the immortality of the soul. Before the time of Moses tradition could scarcely err, and that legislator modelled Masonry into so perfect a system, and circumscribed its mysteries by land-marks so significant and unalterable, that from him its transmission was little liable to perversion or error. length of life, in the early ages of the world, was such, that oral tradition in general might be safely relied on, proceeding to Amram, the father of Moses, as it did, from Joseph, who received it from Isaac, who received it from Abraham, to whom it was communicated by Shem, who had it from Lamech, and to Lamech it was revealed by Adam. The Samaritan Pentateuch makes the communication still more direct, by placing Adam as contemporary with Noah.

Bishop Tomline inquires, with his usual penetration and judgment, "could the grandchildren of Jacob be ignorant of their own pedigree, and of the time when they came into Egypt? Can we think that so many remarkable circumstances, as attended the selling and advancement of Joseph, could be forgotten in so short a time? Could Jacob be ignorant whence his grandfather Abraham came, especially as he lived so long in the country himself, and married into that branch of the family which was remaining there? Could Abraham be ignorant of the Flood, when he was contemporary

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