illustrations of masonry by william preston - Lodge Prudentia

Illustrations of Masonry – by William PrestonImbued with the spirit of the day, he was anxious to place the available knowledge of thetimes before his fellow men. Therefore, when he discovered a vast body of traditional andhistorical lore in the old documents of the Craft, he naturally seized upon the opportunityof modernizing the ritual in such a way as to make accessible a rudimentary knowledge ofthe arts and sciences to the members of the Fraternity.From 1765 to 1772 Preston engaged in personal research and correspondence withFreemasons at home and abroad, endeavoring to learn all he could about Freemasonry andthe arts it encouraged. These efforts bore fruit in the form of his first book, entitled:"Illustrations of Masonry," published in 1772. He had taken the old lectures and work ofFreemasonry, revised them and placed them in such form as to receive the approval of theleading members of the Craft. Encouraged by their favorable reception and sanctioned bythe Grand Lodge, Preston employed, at his own expense, lecturers to travel throughout thekingdom and place the lectures before the lodges. New editions of his book weredemanded, and up to the present time it has gone through twenty editions in England, sixin America, and several more in various European languages.Preston's history of freemasonry is by turns learned, credulous, tendentious and sometimespositively fictitious. In this, it recalls very strongly the medieval chronicles which Prestonevidently loved and which he assiduously quarried for information about the status of thestonemason's craft in the middle ages. Like medieval chronicles, Preston's history cannotbe treated as a modern scholarly history, but is to be regarded as a primary source.Preston's work was exceptionally influential. It has been suggested that Preston'sIllustrations was, together with the Book of Constitutions, one of the books owned byvirtually every lodge in England. Preston's reputation as a historian has not, however, faredwell in recent years, largely because of his supposed credulity in accepting the Leland-Locke letter and in adhering to the theory that the split between the Antients and theModerns was due to a secession by the Antients. However, in repeating these tales, Prestonwas not any different from other Masonic writers of his time.Page 8 of 248