booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

This 1717 theory ascribes to men of the highest character the invention of a system of mere imposture....
It was brought forward with pretensions which its framers knew to be false pretensions of high antiquity;
whereas... it had newly been invented in their studies. Is this likely? Or is it reasonable to ascribe such conduct
to honourable men, without even assigning a probable motive for it?
We have indeed only to study masonic ritual-which open to everyone to read-in order to arrive at the
same conclusion, that there could be no motive for this imposture and further that these two clergymen cannot
be supposed have evolved the whole thing out of their heads. Obviously some movement of a kindred
nature must have led up to this crisis. And since Elias Ashmole's diary clearly proves that a ceremony of masonic
initiation had existed in the preceding century, it is surely only reasonable to conclude that Dr. Anderson
and Desaguliers revised but did not originate the ritual and constitutions drawn up by them.
Now, although the ritual of Freemasonry is couched in modern and by no means classical English, the
ideas running through it certainly bear traces of extreme antiquity. The central idea of Freemasonry concerning
a loss which has befallen man and the hope of its ultimate recovery is in fact no other than the ancient
secret tradition described in the first chapter of this book. Certain masonic writers indeed ascribe to Freemasonry
precisely the same genealogy as that of the early Cabala, declaring that it descended from Adam and
the first patriarchs of the human race, and thence through groups of Wise Men amongst the Egyptians,
Chaldeans, Persians, and Greeks.(13) Mr. Albert Churchward insists particularly on the Egyptian origin of
the speculative element in Freemasonry: " Brother Gould and other Freemasons will never understand the
meaning and origin of our sacred tenets till they have studied and unlocked the mysteries of the past." This
study will then reveal the fact that " the Druids, the Gymnosophists of India, the Magi of Persia, and the
Chaldeans of Assyria had all the same religious rites and ceremonies as practised by their priests who were
initiated to their Order, and that these were solemnly sworn to keep the doctrines a profound secret from the
rest of mankind. All these flowed from one source-Egypt."(14)
Churchward further quotes the speech of the Rev. Dr. William Dodd at the opening of a masonic temple
in 1794, who traced Freemasonry from " the first astronomers on the plains of Chaldea, the wise and mystic
kings and priests of Egypt, the sages of Greece and philosophers of Rome," etc.(15)
But how did these traditions descend to the masons of the West? According to a large body of masonic
opinion in this country which recognizes only a single source of inspiration to the system we now know as
Freemasonry, the speculative as well as the operative traditions of the Order descended from the building
guilds and were imported to England by means of the Roman Collegia. Mr. Churchward, however, strongly
dissents from this view: In the new and revised edition of the Perfect Ceremonies according to our E. working,
a theory is given that Freemasonry originated from certain guilds of workmen which are well known in
history as the " Roman College of Artificers." There is no foundation of fact for such a theory. Freemasonry
is now, and always was, an Eschatology, as may be proved by the whole of our signs, symbols, and words,
and our rituals.(16)
But what Mr. Churchward fails to explain is how this eschatology reached the working masons,
moreover why, if, as he asserts, it derived from Egypt, Assyria, India, and Persia, Freemasonry no longer
bears the stamp of these countries. For although vestiges of Sabeism may be found in the decoration of the
lodges, and brief references to the mysteries of Egypt and Phoenicia, to the secret teaching of Pythagoras, to
Euclid, and to Plato in the Ritual and instructions of the Craft degrees-nevertheless the form in which the ancient
tradition is clothed, the phraseology and pass-words employed, are neither Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek,
nor Persian, but Judaic. Thus although some portion of the ancient secret tradition may have penetrated to
Great Britain through the Druids or the Romans-versed in the lore of Greece and Egypt-another channel for
its introduction was clearly the Cabala of the Jews. Certain masonic writers recognize this double tradition,
the one descending from Egypt, Chaldea, and Greece, the other from the Israelites, and assert that it is from
the latter source their system is derived.(17) For after tracing its origin from Adam, Noah, Enoch, and Abraham,
they proceed to show its line of descent through Moses, David, and Solomon (18) -descent from Solomon
is in fact officially recognized by the Craft and forms a part of the instructions to candidates for initiation
into the first degree. But, as we have already seen, this is the precise genealogy attributed to the Cabala
by the Jews. Moreover, modern Freemasonry is entirely built up on the Solomonic, or rather the Hiramic legend.
For the sake of readers unfamiliar with the ritual of Freemasonry a brief résumé of this " Grand Legend"
must be given here. Solomon, when building the Temple, employed the services of a certain artificer
in brass, named Hiram, the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphthali, who was sent to him by Hiram, King of
Tyre. So much we know from the Book of Kings, but the masonic legend goes on to relate that Hiram the
widow's son, referred to as Hiram Abiff, and described as the master-builder met with an untimely end. For
the purpose of preserving order the masons working on the Temple were divided into three classes, Entered
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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