To introduce the subject of Ancient Freemasonry at this period with a design to adduce anything new, at least to the enlightened, would be a work of supererogation, having the semblance of assumption, more than an effort to impart information.
Summoned by your invitation to deliver a treatise, I have chosen for my subject The Origin, Objects, and Introduction of Freemasonry into the United States, and also its introduction among colored men in this country. I shall, therefore, proceed, at once to the discharge of my duty, doing the best I can according to the opportunity and means at hand for the accomplishment of this end.
Masonry was orginally intended for the beter government of man for the purpose of restraining him from a breach of the establsihed ordinances. The first law given to man was by God himself, that given in the Garden of Eden, forbidding the eating of the reserved fruit. (Gen. 2:17) The first institution was that of marriage. (Gen. 2:21, 24). The first breach of the law was committed by eating the forbidden fruit. (Gen. 3:6). The first punishment inflicted on man was by God himself for a breach of the law. (Gen. 3:16+19). The first city was built by Cain, and named after his first born son, Enoch.
During the period from Adam to Noah, the life of man was of long duration, each individual living through several hundred years of time. His habits, customs and manner of living were simple; residing in thinly populated localities, for there were then no densely populated cities, and relying mainly on husbandry as a means of support.
From Noah to Solomon the character of man underwent an entire and important change. Noah's three sons, scattering abroad over the earth, built great cities, and established many and various policies, habits, manners and customs, for the government of their people. At this period, it will be remembered, a general separation in interests and sympathies took place among these brethren, (the children of one household parentage,) which continued to manifest itself in hostile array until building of the temple by Solomon, King of Israel.
I do not intend to assert that hostilities then entirely ceased, but that mankind were better governed after that period, will not be denied.
In the earliest period of the Egyptian and Ethiopian dynasties, the institution of Masonry was first established. Discovering a defect in the government of man, first suggested an inquiry into his true state and condition. Being a people of a high order of intellect, and subject to erudite and profound thought, the Egyptians and Ethiopians were the first who came to the conclusion that man was created in the similitude of God. This, it will be remembered, was anterior to the Bible record, because Moses was the recorder of the Bible, subsequent to his exodus from Egypt, all his wisdom and ability having been acquired there; as a proof of which, the greatest recommendation to his fitness for so high and holy an office, and the best encomium which that book can possibly bestow upon him in testimony of his qualifications as its scriptor, the Bible itself tells us that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians."
The Ethiopians early adduced the doctrine and believed in a trinity of the Godhead. Though heathens, their mythology was of a high and pure order, agreeing in regard to the attributes of the Deity with the doctrine be of Christians in after ages, as is beautifully shown in the person of Jupiter Ammon, the great god of Egypt and Ethiopia, who was assigned a power over heaven, earth and hell, as well as over all the other gods, thereby acknowledging his omnipotence, all other gods possessing but one divine attribute or function, which could only be exercised in his particular department of divinity. (Jupiter was represented as seated on a throne of gold and ivory, figurative of heaven as the "pearly gates and golden streets," holding in his left hand a sceptre, figurative of his earthly power; his right hand grasping a thunderbolt, the ancient idea of the power and terrors of hell.)
What is God that man should be his image, and what knowledge should man obtain in order to be like god? The wisdom was possessed in the remotest period by the wise men of Egypt and Ethiopia, and handed down only through the priesthood to the recipients of their favor the mass of mankind, being ignorant of their own nature and consequently prone to rebel against their greatest and best interests.
God is a being possessing various attributes: and all Masons, whether Unitarian, Trinitarian, Greek, Jew or Mohammedan, agree upon this point, at least without controversey. Where there are various functions, there must be an organ for the exercise of each function, and this conclusion most naturally led man to inquire into his own nature and his Creator.
The three great attributes of Deity: omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, were recognized by the ancients, and represented in the character given to their ruling god, as above mentioned, as presiding over the universe of eternal space, of celum, terra, and tartarus, answering to the Christian doctines of three persons in one, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
(One of the old doctrines of the priesthood was, that God the father presided over heaven, the Holy Ghost on earth, and Christ the son in hell; hence, his descent into the grave, is called a descent into hell, where some believe, or affect to believe, he ever remains; and this is the foundation of the belief of that Christian sect whose doctrines teach a purification and redemtption in the grave, purgatory, a place or urging or purification, or hell.)
Man, then to assimilate God must, in his nature, be a trinity of systems: morally, intellectually and physically. This great truth appears to have been known to King David who with emotion, exclaims: "We are wonderfully and fearfully made."
To convince man of the importance of his own being and impress him with a proper sense of his duty to his Creator were what was desired, and to effect this would also impress him with a sense of his duty and obligations to society and the laws intended for his government. For this purpose was the beautiful fabric of Masonry established, and illustrated in the structure of man's person.
Man, scientifically developed, is a moral and intellectual and physical being, composed of an osseous, muscular, and vital structure; of solid flexible and liquid parts. With an intellect, a mind, the constituent principle of which rises superior to its earthy tenement, with the velocity of lightning, soars to the summit of altitude, descends to the depth of profundity, and flies to the widespread expanse of eternal space. What can be more Godlike than this, to understand which is to give man a proper sense of his own importance, and consequently his duty to his fellows, by which alone, he fulfills the high mission for which he is sent on his temporary pilgrimmage.
While the Africans, who were the authors of this mysterious and beautiful Order, did much to bring it to perfection by the establishement of the great principles of man's likeness to Jehovah in a triune existence, yet, until the time of King Solomon, there was a great deficiency in his government, in consequence of the policy being monopolized by the priesthood and certain privileged classes or families.
For the purpose of remedying what was now conceived to be a great evil in the policy of the world, and for their better government to place wisdom within the acquirement of all men, King Solomon summoned together the united wisdom of the world, men of all nations and races, to consider the great project of reducing the mystic ties to a more practical and systematic principle, and stereotyping it with physical science, by rearing the stupendous and magnificent temple at Jerusalem.
(Previous to the building of the temple, Masonry was only allegorical, consisting of a scientific system of theories, taught through the medium of Egyptian, Ethiopian, Assyrian, and other oriental hieroglyphics understood only by the priesthood and a chosen few. All the sovereign and members of the royal families were Masons, because each member of the royal household had the necessity to be educated in the rituals of the priesthood. And it was not until after Masonry was introduced into Asia by the Jews, [it being strictly forbidden by the Jewish laws for women to be priests] that females were prohibited from being Masons.
Among other nations of the ancients, priestesses were common, as is known to the erudite in history; and Candace, Queen of Sheba, was a high priestess in her realm, hence her ability to meet King Solomon in the temple, having passed the guards by the words of wisdom, from the outer to the inner court, where she met the king in all his wisdom, power and glory.)
For the accomplishment of this masterpiece of all human projects were laborers or attendants, mechanics, or workmen, and overseers or master builders.
Added to these, there was a designer or originator of all the (illegible. ED.), architect or draughtsman, and a furnisher of all the materials for the building: all and everything of which was classified and arranged after the order of trinity, the building itself, when finished, being composed of an outer, an inner, and a central court.
After the completion of this great work, the implements of labor having been laid aside, there were scattered to the utmost parts of the earth, seventy thousands laborers, eighty thousand workmen, and three thousand and three hundred master builders, making one hundred and fifty three thousand and three hundred artizans (Here the Trinity is again typified: three times fifty thousand, three times one thousand, and three times one hundred) each of whom having been instructed in all the mysteries of the temple was fully competent to teach all the arts and sciences, acquired at Jerusalem in as many different cities, provinces, states or tribes.
At this period, the mysteries assumed the name of Masonry, induced from the building of the temple, and at this time, also commenced the universality of the Order, arising from the going forth of the builders into all parts of the world. This then, was the establishment of Masonry, which has been handed down through all succeeding ages.
For a period of years after the destruction of the temple and the sacred or mystic records, there was some slight derangment in the Craft; men were becoming ungovernable both in church and state, owing to the want of proper instruction, and their consequent ignorance of the relation they bore to their (illegible. ED.) society.
For the purpose of again bringing back the "prodigal son" to the household of his father, the "stray sheep" to the rich pastures of the fold of Israel, and repairing the somewhat defaced, honored monument of time, Prince Edwin of England, in 930 of the Christian era, being nine hundred and twenty two years ago, summoned together at York, all the wise men of the order, where the rites were again scientifically systematized, and preserved for coming time. At this point, the Order, in honor to Prince Edwin, assigned to itself the title of York Masonry.
We have the history of man's existence from Adam to Solomon, showing three distinct periods, fraught with more mystery than all things else, save the ushering in the Christian era by the birth of the adorable Son of God; his origin in Adam's creation, his preservation in Noah's ark, and his prospects of redemption from the curse of God's broken laws by the promises hold out in that mysteriously incomprehensible work of building the temple by Solomon. Adam, Noah, and Solomon, then, are the three great types of the condition of man: his sojourn here on earth and his prospects of a future bliss.
Founded upon the similitude and consequent responsibility to the Creator, the ancients taught the doctrine of a rectitude of conduct and purpose of heart, as the only surety for the successful government of man, and the regulations of society around him. Whether Gentiles, Greeks, Jews, all taught the same as necessary to a Supreme Being, the author and Creator of himself.
But the mythology of those days, not unlike the scientific theology of the days in which we live, consisted of a sea of such metaphysical depth, that the mass of mankind was unable to fathom it. Instead then, of accomplishing the object for which this wise policy was established, the design was thwarted by the manner in which it was propagated. Man adhered but little, and cared less, for that in which he could never be fully instructed, nor be made to understand, in consequence of his deficiency in a thorough literary education, this being the exclusive privilege of those in affluent circumstances.
All these imperfections have been remedied, in the practical workings of the comprehensive system of Free and Accepted Masonry, as handed down to us from the archives at Jerusalem. All men, of every country, clime, color, and condition, (when morally worthy), are acceptable to the portals of Masonic jurisprudence.
In many parts of the world, the people of various nations were subject to lose their liberty in several ways. A forfeiture by crime, as in our country; by voluntary servitude for a stipulated sum or reward, as among the Hindoos; and by capture in battle and being sold into slavery, as in Algiers.
Against these Masonry found it necessary to provide, and accordingly the first two classes were positively proscribed as utterly unworthy of its benefits as they were equally unworthy of the respectful consideration of the good among mankind. In this, however, was never contemplated the third class of bondees, for none but him who voluntarily compromised his liberty was recognized as a slave by Masons. As there must be a criminal intention in the commission of a crime, so must the act of the criminal be voluntary; hence the criminal and the voluntary bondsmen have both forfeited their Masonic rights by willing degradation.
In the case of the captive, an entirely different person is presented before us, who has greater claims upon our sympathies than the untrammeled freeman. Instead of the degraded vassal and voluntary slave, whose prostrate position only facilitates the aspect of his horrible deformity, you have the bold, the brave, the high minded, the independent spirited, and manly form of a kindred brother in humanity, whose heart is burning, whose breast is heaving, and whose soul is wrung with panting aspirations for liberty: a commander, a chietain, a knight, or a prince, it may be, still he is a captive and by the laws of captivity, a slave.
Does Masonry, then, contemplate the withholding of its privileges from such applicants as these? Certainly not; since Moses, (to whom our great Grand Master Solomon, the founder of the temple, is indebted for his Masonic wisdom) was born and lived in captivity eighty years, and by the laws of his captors, a slave.
It matters not whether captured in actual conflict, sleeping by the wayside, or in a cradle of bulrushes, after birth; so that there be a longing aspiration for liberty, and a manly determination to be free. Policy alone will not permit of the order to confer Masonic privileges to one while yet in captivity; but the fact of his former condition as such, or that of his parents, can have no bearing whatever on him the mind and desires of the recipient must be free; and at the time of his endowment with these privileges, his person and mind must be unencumbered with all earthly trammels or fetters.
This is what is meant by Free and Accepted Masonry, to distinguish it from the order when formerly conferred upon the few, like the order of nobility, taking precedence by rank and birth, whether the inheritor was worthy or not of so high and precious privileges.
In the three great periods as presented to view, you have the three great stages of man's existence: Adam, with childlike innocence in the Garden of Eden, turned out for disobedience, as a youth upon the world, without the protecting hand of his Omnipotent Parent, Noah, as in adventurous manhood, in constructing and launching his great vessel (the Ark) "upon the face of the great deep," and Solomon, as in old age, in devising, planning and counseling, and heaping up treasures in building the temple of Jerusalem; all of which are impressively typified in the cardinal Degress of Masonry, the Entered Apprentice as a child, and as in youth the Fellow Craft; the Master Mason, as in mature and thinking manhood; and as an old and reflective man of years and wisdom, the Royal Arch completes the history of his journey of life.
