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

Masonry--as if any one man made Masonry! 'Tis surely strange, if this
be true, that only two entries in his _Diary_ refer to the order; but
that does not disconcert the theorists who are so wedded to their
idols as to have scant regard for facts. No, the circumstance that
Ashmole was a Rosicrucian, an Alchemist, a delver into occult lore, is
enough, the absence of any allusion to him thereafter only serving to
confirm the fancy--the theory being that a few adepts, seeing Masonry
about to crumble and decay, seized it, introduced their symbols into
it, making it the mouthpiece of their high, albeit hidden, teaching.
How fascinating! and yet how baseless in fact! There is no evidence
that a Rosicrucian fraternity existed--save on paper, having been
woven of a series of romances written as early as 1616, and ascribed
to Andreae--until a later time; and even when it did take form, it was
quite distinct from Masonry. Occultism, to be sure, is elusive,
coming we know not whence, and hovering like a mist trailing over the
hills. Still, we ought to be able to find in Masonry _some_ trace of
Rosicrucian influence, some hint of the lofty wisdom it is said to
have added to the order; but no one has yet done so. Did all that
high, Hermetic mysticism evaporate entirely, leaving not a wraith
behind, going as mysteriously as it came to that far place which no
mortal may explore?[109]
Howbeit, the _fact_ to be noted is that, thus early--and earlier, for
the Lodge had been in existence some time when Ashmole was
initiated--the Warrington Lodge was made up of Accepted Masons. Of the
ten men present in the London Lodge, mentioned in the second entry in
the _Diary_, Ashmole was the senior, but he was not a member of the
Masons' Company, though the other nine were, and also two of the
neophytes. No doubt this is the Lodge which Conder, the historian of
the Company, has traced back to 1620, "and were the books of the
Company prior to that date in existence, we should no doubt be able to
trace the custom of receiving accepted members back to pre-reformation
times."[110] From an entry in the books of the Company, dated 1665, it
appears that
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There was hanging up in the Hall a list of the _Accepted
Masons_ enclosed in a "faire frame, with a lock and key." Why
was this? No doubt the Accepted Masons, or those who were
initiated into the esoteric aspect of the Company, did not
include the _whole_ Company, and this was a list of the
"enlightened ones," whose names were thus honored and kept on
record, probably long after their decease.... This we cannot
say for certain, but we can say that as early as 1620, and
inferentially very much earlier, there were certain members
of the Masons' Company and others who met from time to time
to form a Lodge for the purpose of Speculative Masonry.[111]
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Conder also mentions a copy of the _Old Charges_, or Gothic
Constitutions, in the chest of the London Masons' Company, known as
_The Book of the Constitutions of the Accepted Masons_; and this he
identifies with the _Regius MS_. Another witness during this period is
Randle Holme, of Chester, whose references to the Craft in his
_Acadamie Armory_, 1688, are of great value, for that he writes "as a
member of that society called Free-masons." The _Harleian MS_ is in
his handwriting, and on the next leaf there is a remarkable list of