Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

418 KRAUSE
KUN
phy until 1830. He then removed to Munich,
where he died September 27, 1832 . Besides
his contributions to Freemasonry, Krause
was an extensive writer on philosophical subjects.
His most important works are his
Lectures on the System of Philosophy, 1828, and
his Lectures on the Fundamental Truths of
Science, 1829 ; both published at Gottingen .
His great work, however to which he owes
his Masonic fame, is his kunsturkunden . He
commences this work by a declaration of his
design in writing it, which was twofold : first,
to enlighten the brotherhood in reference to
the three oldest documents in possession of
the Craft, by a philological and philosophical
examination of these records; and secondly,
and with a higher purpose, to call their attention
to a clear perception of the fundamental
idea of a general union of mankind, to be accomplished
by a reorganization of their own
brotherhood . To the rituals of the present
day he objected as wanting in scientific formula,
and he thought that out of these old
records they might well construct a better
and more practical system .
But with all his learning, while his ideas of
reform, if properly carried out, would undoubtedly
advance and elevate the Masonic
Institution, he committed grave errors in his
estimation of the documents that he has made
the groundwork of his system .
The three documents which he has presented
as the oldest and most authentic records
of the Fraternity are : 1 . The wellknown
Leland Manuscript, a document of
whose authenticity there are the gravest
doubts ; 2 . The Entered Apprentice's Lecture,
a document published early in the eighteenth
century, to which, in his second edition, he
has added what he calls the New English Lecture
; but it is now known that Krause's Lecture
is by no means the oldest catechism extant
; and, 3 . The York Constitution, which,
claiming the date of 926, has been recently
suspected to be not older than the early part
of the eighteenth century .
Notwithstanding these assumptions of authenticity
for documents not really authentic,
the vast learning of the author is worthy of all
admiration . His pages are filled with important
facts and suggestive thoughts that
cannot fail to exert an influence on all Masonic
investigations . Krause cannot but be considered
as one of the founders of a new Masonic
literature, not for Germany alone, but
for the whole world of Masonic students .
Krause Manuscript. A title sometimes
ven to the so-called York Constitutions, a
rman translation of which was published by
Krause, in 1810, in his Kunsturkunden . (See
York Constitutions and Manuscripts, Apocryphal
.)
Krishna or Christna. One of the Trimurti
in the Hindu religious system . The
myth proceeds to state that Devanaguy, upon
the appearance of Vishnu, fell in a profound
ecstasy, and having been overshadowed (Sanskrit),
the spirit was incarnated, and upon the
birth of a child, the Virgin and Son were conducted
to a sheepfold belonging to Nanda, on
the confines of the territory of Madura . The
newly born was named Krishna (in Sanskrit,
sacred) . The Rajah of Madura had been informed
in a dream that this son of Devanaguy
should dethrone and chastise him for all his
crimes ; he therefore sought the certain destruction
of the child, and ordained the massacre,
in all his states, of all the children of the
male sex born during the night of the birth of
Krishna . A troop of soldiers reached the
sheepfold of Nanda, the lord of a small village
on the banks of the Ganges, and celebrated
for his virtues . The servants were about to
arm in defense, when the child, who was at
his mother's breast, suddenly grew to the appearance
and size of a child ten years of age, .
and running amused himself amidst the flock
of sheep . The exploits of this wonder child,
his preaching the new or reformed doctrine of
India, his disciples and loved companion Ardjouna,
the parables, philosophic teaching, the
myth of his transfiguration, his ablutions in
the Ganges before his death, and tragic end,
together with the story of his revival after
three days, and ascension, are graphically told
by many authors, perhaps more brilliantly in
La Bible dens l'Inde, as translated into English
by Louis Jacolliot .
Kulma. The Hindustani Confession of
Faith.
Kum, Kivi. These two words, pronounced
koom and keevy, are found as ceremonial words
in one of the high degrees . They are from the
Hebrew, and are interpreted as meaning
arise! and kneel! They are not significant
words, having no symbolic allusion, and
seem to have been introduced merely to mark
the Jewish origin of the degree in which they
are employed . In the modern rituals they
are disused .
Kun . Arabic for Be, the creative fiat of
God.