THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

through the Hebrews; and it is hard to tell which tradition he favors
most. Hence a duplication of the traditional history, and an odd
mixture of names and dates, often, indeed, absurd, as when he makes
Euclid a pupil of Abraham. What is clear is that, having found an old
Constitution of the Craft, he thought to write a kind of commentary
upon it, adding proofs and illustrations of his own, though he did not
manage his materials very successfully.
After his invocation,[73] the writer begins with a list of the Seven
Sciences, giving quaint definitions of each, but in a different order
from that recited in the _Regius Poem_; and he exalts Geometry above
all the rest as "the first cause and foundation of all crafts and
sciences." Then follows a brief sketch of the sons of Lamech, much as
we find it in the book of Genesis which, like the old MS we are here
studying, was compiled from two older records: the one tracing the
descent from Cain, and the other from Seth. Jabal and Jubal, we are
told, inscribed their knowledge of science and handicraft on two
pillars, one of marble, the other of lateres; and after the flood one
of the pillars was found by Hermes, and the other by Pythagoras, who
taught the sciences they found written thereon. Other MSS give Euclid
the part here assigned to Hermes. Surely this is all fantastic enough,
but the blending of the names of Hermes, the "father of Wisdom," who
is so supreme a figure in the Egyptian Mysteries, and Pythagoras who
used numbers as spiritual emblems, with old Hebrew history, is
significant. At any rate, by this route the record reaches Egypt
where, like the _Regius Poem_, it locates the origin of Masonry. In
thus ascribing the origin of Geometry to the Egyptians the writer was
but following a tradition that the Egyptians were compelled to invent
it in order to restore the landmarks effaced by the inundations of the
Nile; a tradition confirmed by modern research.
Proceeding, the compiler tells us that during their sojourn in Egypt
the Hebrews learned the art and secrets of Masonry, which they took
with them to the promised land. Long years are rapidly sketched, and
we come to the days of David, who is said to have loved Masons well,
and to have given them "wages nearly as they are now." There is but a
meager reference to the building of the Temple of Solomon, to which is
added: "In other chronicles and old books of Masonry, it is said that
Solomon confirmed the charges that David had given to Masons; and that
Solomon taught them their usages differing but slightly from the
customs now in use." While allusion is made to the master-artist of
the temple, his name is not mentioned, _except in disguise_. Not one
of the _Old Charges_ of the order ever makes use of his name, but
always employs some device whereby to conceal it.[74] Why so, when
the name was well known, written in the Bible which lay upon the
altar for all to read? Why such reluctance, if it be not that the name
and the legend linked with it had an esoteric meaning, as it most
certainly did have long before it was wrought into a drama? At this
point the writer drops the old legend and traces the Masons into
France and England, after the manner of the _Regius MS_, but with more
detail. Having noted these items, he returns to Euclid and brings that
phase of the tradition up to the advent of the order into England,
adding, in conclusion, the articles of Masonic law agreed upon at an
early assembly, of which he names nine, instead of the fifteen recited
in the _Regius Poem_.
What shall we say of this Legend, with its recurring and insistent