Free Masonry - The Masonic Trowel

6 FBBTBN8IOM OF IBIS XASONHT,
CHAPTER II.
» Than an some foolish people reject us,
M For which they are highly to blame;
* They caimoc enow any objection,
44 Or reason for doinf the same;
" The Art's a divine inspiration,
11 As all honest men will declare:
^So here's to all true hearted Brothers,
" That live within cmhpam and jguare.
w Fa1U,la1&c , »
jftftssumlfesofi, p. T83.
Two pretensions of masonry have been brought into view"
without argument In matter* so extravagant it is enough
to doubt It might seem to be in season to show the fid*
lacy of so Extraordinary claims, when something besides as*
sertkm is brought to their support But lest I should seem
not sufficiently to respect the pretensions of" the most ancient
institution;" pretensions familiar to the standard
works, to the ephemeral publications, and to the, more noisy
supporters of Free Masonry; I wifl give a few of the best
reasons for supposing these to be wholly unworthy of credit
The first pretension, it will be fegoBected, is, that" our
order has had a being ever since symmetry began*"- The
proof is tradition—the same as is used to prove that after
Deucalion's flood, Deucalion and Pyrrha repeopted the desolate
earth, by throwing stones behind their backs—those
which Deucalion threw becoming men, and those which
Pyrrha, his wife, threw becoming maidens.
" Quis hoc credat, nisi sit pro teste vetustas!"
exclaims the poet; who could believe this, were not tradition
the witness ! This veritable witness must have left part of
the masonic story untold; for if " our order" be as old as