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

architectural skill, and bestowed upon them also a knowledge of those
sacred Mysteries which they had practised at Tyre, and from which the
present interior form of Freemasonry is said to be derived.
Now, if there be any so incredulous as to refuse their assent to the
universally received masonic tradition on this subject, if there be any
who would deny all connection of King Solomon with the origin of
Freemasonry, except it be in a mythical or symbolical sense, such
incredulity will, not at all affect the chain of argument which I am
disposed to use. For it will not be denied that the corporations of
builders in the middle ages, those men who were known as "Travelling
Freemasons," were substantial and corporeal, and that the cathedrals,
abbeys, and palaces, whose ruins are still objects of admiration to all
observers, bear conclusive testimony that their existence was nothing
like
a myth, and that their labors were not apocryphal. But these Travelling
Freemasons, whether led into the error, if error it be, by a mistaken
reading of history, or by a superstitious reverence for tradition,
always
esteemed King Solomon as the founder of their Order. So that the first
absolutely historical details that we have of the masonic institution,
connect it with the idea of a temple. And it is only for this idea that
I
contend, for it proves that the first Freemasons of whom we have
authentic
record, whether they were at Jerusalem or in Europe, and whether they
flourished a thousand years before or a thousand years after the birth
of
Christ, always supposed that temple building was the peculiar specialty
of
their craft, and that their labor was to be the erection of temples in
ancient times, and cathedrals and churches in the Christian age.
So that we come back at last to the proposition with which I had
commenced, namely: that temple building was the original occupation of
our
ancient brethren. And to this is added the fact, that after a long
lapse
of centuries, a body of men is found in the middle ages who were
universally recognized as Freemasons, and who directed their attention
and
their skill to the same pursuit, and were engaged in the construction
of
cathedrals, abbeys, and other sacred edifices, these being the
Christian
substitute for the heathen or the Jewish temple.
And therefore, when we view the history of the Order as thus developed
in
its origin and its design, we are justified in saying that, in all
times
past, its members have been recognized as men of labor, and that their
labor has been temple building.
But our ancient brethren wrought in both operative and speculative
Masonry, while we work only in speculative. They worked with the hand;
we