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

[109] Those who wish to pursue this Quixotic quest will find the
literature abundant and very interesting. For example, such essays as
that by F.W. Brockbank in _Manchester Association for Research_, vol.
i, 1909-10; and another by A.F.A. Woodford, _A. Q. C._, i, 28. Better
still is the _Real History of the Rosicrucians_, by Waite (chap. xv),
and for a complete and final explosion of all such fancies we have the
great chapter in Gould's _History of Masonry_ (vol. ii, chap. xiii). It
seems a pity that so much time and labor and learning had to be
expended on theories so fragile, but it was necessary; and no man was
better fitted for the study than Gould. Perhaps the present writer is
unkind, or at least impatient; if so he humbly begs forgiveness; but
after reading tomes of conjecture about the alleged Rosicrucian origin
of Masonry, he is weary of the wide-eyed wonder of mystery-mongers
about things that never were, and which would be of no value if they
had been. (Read _The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception_, or _Christian
Occult Science_, by Max Heindel, and be instructed in matters whereof
no mortal knoweth.)
[110] _The Hole Craft and Fellowship of Masons_, by Edward Conder.
[111] _Ibid._, Introduction.
[112] Whether Sir Christopher Wren was ever Grand Master, as tradition
affirms, is open to debate, and some even doubt his membership in the
order (Gould, _History of Masonry_). Unfortunately, he has left no
record, and the _Parentalia_, written by his son, helps us very little,
containing nothing more than his theory that the order began with
Gothic architecture. Ashmole, if we may trust his friend, Dr. Knipe,
had planned to write a _History of Masonry_ refuting the theory of Wren
that Freemasonry took its rise from a Bull granted by the Pope, in the
reign of Henry III, to some Italian architects, holding, and rightly
so, that the Bull "was comfirmatory only, and did not by any means
create our fraternity, or even establish it in this kingdom" (_Life of
Ashmole_, by Campbell). This item makes still more absurd the idea that
Ashmole himself created Masonry, whereas he was only a student of its
antiquities. Wren was probably never an Operative Mason--though an
architect--but he seems to have become an Accepted member of the
fraternity in his last years, since his neglect of the order, due to
his age, is given as a reason for the organization of the first Grand
Lodge.
GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND
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_The doctrines of Masonry are the most beautiful that it is
possible to imagine. They breathe the simplicity of the earliest
ages animated by the love of a martyred God. That word which the
Puritans translated_ CHARITY, _but which is really_ LOVE, _is the
key-stone which supports the entire edifice of this mystic
science. Love one another, teach one another, help one another.