CHAPTER IX.

MASONRY.
" If I mistake In those foundations which I build upon, The centre is not strong enough to bear A schoolboy's top." — Winters Tale.
ACCORDING to many books on Freemasonry, the " Rosicru- cians had no connection with the Masonic fraternity."* In the face of collective evidence to the contrary, it is very difficult for non-Masonic people to credit the statement ; it would rather seem as if the desire of Masonic writers to draw a hard and fast line between the two societies were confirmatory of hints dropped in certain books concerning schisms which, during the last two centuries, have occurred amongst the brethren or brotherhoods. Originally one and the same, alike in aims, alike in symbolic language, with similar traditions tracing back to similar origins, some, at least, of the members supposed to have constituted the Rosicrucian society actually were, we find, members of the Freemason lodge. The only conspicuous differences which appear to have existed three hundred years ago were : (1) That the Rosicrucians were distinctly Christian and church people, and that the magnificent literature brought out under their auspices was all either religious or written with an elevating tendency, invariably loyal, patriotic, and unselfish. (2) That the society was unostentatious and retiring to such an extent as to gain the name of the Invisible Brotherhood. It laboured silently and secretly for the good of men, but not to be seen of men. It went not to church with brass bands and banners ; neither did it assume magniloquent titles or garments and decorations of obsolete or grotesque quaintness.
* Since the above was written the matter has been settted by the pro- nouncement of Dr. Wynn Westcott, before a Lodge of Masons, that "Freemasons are Masons with secrets — the Rosicrucians are a Secret Society.'1 It is added that the Rosicrucians are the superior section ; the Freemasons their helpers and subordinates.
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The Rosicrucians were and are a powerful, but unobtrusive, Christian literary society. The Freemasons are, we believe, the lower orders of the same ; deists, but not necessarily Chris- tians ; moral, but not necessarily religious ; bent on benefiting the human race by all means humanitarian, and chiefly devoting themselves to the development of the practical side of life ; to architecture, printing, medicine, surgery, etc. ; to the arts and crafts, the habitations, the recreations of the million. It i3 easy to see that, in the first instance, such societies might have worked as part of one system. Whether or not they continue in any degree so to work, we cannot positively say ; but it seems to the mere looker-on as if, once one, the society divided, sub- divided, and in its lower branches underwent such changes as to be not only divergent, but, at the present day, different in character and aim. We speak, hoping to be contradicted, and give, as an instance, that the Freemasonry of Germany seems to differ very much from that of the most respectable lodges of England, being in some cases not only not Christian, but not even deistic ; on the contrary, persons professedly atheists are enrolled amongst its members, and this miserable degradation of the brotherhood has, we are told, unhappily extended to England and America. Need it be said that to atheism and irreligion is too frequently added the so-called socialism, which has, in these latter days, done so much to stir up discontent where content reigned, destroying order and respect for authority, and setting men by the ears who should be joined for mutual aid.
Of course, this is the bad and dark side of the question ; there is a very bright side, too, and researches (we cannot say inquiries, for they are fruitless) encourage us to hope that there are signs, either of the "drawing together" of opposite parties, for which Bacon so earnestly strove, or else that the much-suppressed Rosicrucians, the gallant little band who held together through all the stormy times of the Puritans, the civil wars, the Restoration, and the many subsequent troubles, are now rapidly multiplying in number, increasing in power, and everywhere extending their beneficent operations. " By their fruits ye shall know them."
But all this is, after all, mere conjecture ; it is only submitted as such in order that others may pin down these statements,
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 245
proving or disproving them. Having no means of doing so, we fall back, for the present, upon our old plan of quoting " the best authorities," and when, as is frequently the case, these doctors disagree, readers will, perhaps, cross-examine them, and decide between them.
Dr. Mackey is positive tfrat the Rosicrucians have no connec- tion with the Masons. He is indignant that anyone should doubt this. " Notwithstanding this fact" says the Doctor (but bringing no proof of the fact), " Barnel, the most malignant of our revilers, with a characteristic spirit of misrepresentation, attempted to identify the two institutions. This is an error into which others might unwittingly fall, from confounding the Prince of Rose Croix, a Masonic degree somewhat similar in name, but entirely different in character." Here, again, it is not explained how the writer has become so intimately acquainted with the characteristics of the Rosicrucians, seeing that he is not himself an initiate of that brotherhood. He proceeds in the same strain of assertion, without proof : " The Rosicrucians do not derive their name, like Rose Croix Masons, from the rose and cross, for they have nothing to do with the rose, but with the Latin ros, dew, and crux, the cross, as a hieroglyphic of light. ... A Rosicrucian philosopher is one who, by the assistance of dew (previously explained as the most powerful solvent of gold) seeks for light, or the philosopher's stone." *
This author is evidently possessed with the notion that there is something rather discreditable in Rosicrucianism, for he con- cludes with an apology for having introduced the subject, which only a fear of the error into which Masons might unwittingly fall would, apparently, have induced him to touch upon.
Another work of the same kind has a long article on Rosi- crucianism, in which all the old traditions and errors are repeated : that the Rosy Cross brethren were alchemists ; that their origin was of great antiquity, etc. ; adding, also, other errors, namely, that " the fraternity seldom had meetings together," and that " its corporate character was by no means marked." The writer, who evidently takes a much more correct view of the aims of the society than his predecessor, yet adds this statement : " The
* Lexicon of Freemasonrv, A. G. Mackey, D,D, (Griffin & Co,, Exeter St., Strand), 7th edition, 1883.
246 FRANCIS BACON
modern society of Rosicrucians is constituted upon a widely different basis than that of the parent society. While the adepts of former times were contented with the knowledge of their mutual obligations, and observed them as a matter of course and custom, the eighteenth century Kosicrucians forced the world to think that, for a time, they were not only the precursors of Masonry, but, in essentia, that body itself. This has led to many misconceptions. With Freemasonry the occult fraternity has only this much to do, i.e., that some of the Rosicrucians were also Freemasons ; and this idea was strengthened by the fact that a portion of the curriculum of a Rosier ucian consisted in theosophy ; these bodies had, however, no other substantial connective ties. Jn fact, Freemasons have never actually laid claim to the pos- session of alchymical secrets. Starting from a definite legend — that of the building of Solomon's temple — they have, .mejeely moralised on life, death, and the resurrection/' But this, we know, is the same definite legend from which the Rosicrucians started, and they moralised after the same fashion, and in the same strictly Baconian manner, metaphorically and by analogy ; or, as our author here formidably puts it, " correspondentially with the increase and decrease and the palingenesia of nature.,, He pays a proper tribute to the superiority of the Rosicrucians over the Freemasons when he says that, as the science of mathe- matics contains the rude germs of things, and the science of words comprehends the application of these forms and intel- lectual purification, so " the Rosicrucian doctrine specifically pointed out the uses and inter-relations between the qualities and substances in nature, although their enlarged ideas admitted of a moral survey. The Freemasons, while they have deserved the esteem of mankind for charity and works of love, have never accomplished, and, by their inherent sphere of operation, never can accomplish, what these isolated students effected"
But, although the extent and precise nature of the connec- tion between the two societies may not be accurately definable ; though, indeed, it may be unknown, excepting to a select few, in the very highest degree of initiation, yet, the ceremonies and symbols of this degree of Prince Rouge Croix approach more nearly to those of the Rosy Cross Brotherhood than they do even to other degrees of their own Masonic lodges. For the Rose Croix alone, of all the degrees in Masonry, is said by " the
f,
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 247
best authorities" to be "eminently a Christian degree,1' and hence unattainable by an immense number of Masons. We observe, moreover, that the " monk " mentioned by the Masonic writer whom we are about to cite is none other than our old friend Johann Valentin Andreas, the formerly accredited author of the " Chemical Marriqge of Christian Rosenkreuz" which we now find to have been written by Francis Bacon at the age of fifteen.
It will also be observed in the following extracts that Ragon attributes to Andreas the same motive for inaugurating the secret society as that which chiefly influenced Bacon, the grief, namely, which he felt at the loss of truth through vain disputes and pedantic pride. Clavel, as we shall see, adds another thread to strengthen the evidence which we have collected to show that, whilst on the one hand the Rosicrucians were bound in every way to oppose the bigotry and superstition of the Church of Rome, and the anti-Christian pretences of the pope to infalli- bility, yet it was not the Church of Rome, or its chief head or pope, against which the Rosy Cross brothers were militant ; it was against the errors, the bigotry and superstition which that Church indulged in ; against the ignorance aud darkness in which the mass of its members were intentionally kept by its priesthood. The highly cultivated and sometimes heavenly- minded members of the Society of Jesus must doubtless have often had reason to share the distress attributed to the monk Andreas, and we think that it will probably be found that the Rosy Cross brethren did, in fact, obtain great, though secret, help from the more liberal amongst the Jesuit communities.
Ragon, in his treatise entitled Orthodoxie Maconnique, at- tributes the origin of the Eighteenth Degree, or the " Sovereign Prince of Rose- Croix Heredom," to a pious monk named John Valentine Andreas, who flourished in the early part of the seven- teenth century, and who wrote, amongst other works, two trea- tises, one entitled Judicorum de Fraternitate R. C, the other Noces Chimiques de Rosen Crutz. Ragon says that Andreas, grieved at seeing the principles of Christianity forgotten in idle and vain disputes, and that science was made subservient to the pride of man, instead of contributing to his happiness, passed his days in devising what he supposed to be the most appro- priate means of restoring each to its legitimate moral and
248 FRANCIS BACON
benevolent tendency. Clavel absurdly affirms that the degree was founded by the Jesuits, for the purpose of counteracting the insidious attacks of free-thinkers upon the Eomish faith, but he offers no evidence in support of his assertion ; in fact, the Jesuits were the great enemies of Masonry, and, so far from supporting it, wrote treatises against the order. Many of the Eosicrucians were amongst the reformers of the age, and hence the hostility of the Romish Church. The almost universal recognition of this degree in all countries would favour the theory of its being of long standing.
Hurdy in his Treatise on Religions, speaks of the Brethren of the Rose, or Ne Plus Ultra. " They were to declare openly that the Pope was Antichrist, and that the time would come when they should pull down his triple crown. . . . They claimed a right of naming their successors, and bequeathing to them all their privileges ; to keep the devil in subjection ; and that their fraternity could not be destroyed, because God always opposed an impenetrable cloud to screen them from their enemies."
Rosetti, in his work on the Antipapal Spirit of Italy, asserts similar statements with regard to this and other societies con- nected with Freemasonry. " The ceremonies of the degree of the Rose-Croix are of the most imposing and impressive character, and it is eminently a Christian degree. Its ritual is remarkable for elegance of diction, while the symbolic teaching is not only pleasing, but consistent with the Christian faith, figuratively expressing the passage of man through the valley of the shadow of death, accompanied and sustained by the Masonic virtues — faith, hope, and charity — and his final reception into the abode of light, life, and immortality." *
In the Rose-Croix transparency which is used during the ceremonies there is a cross of Calvary raised on three steps. On the cross is hung a crown of thorns with one large rose in the centre ; two smaller crosses are on either side, with skulls and cross-bones.
These symbols would alone be almost sufficient to satisfy our readers of the Christian character of that degree ; but the jewel worn by the initiate is even more distinct in its announcement.
* From the Freemason's Manual, J. How, K. T. 30°, pp. 272-3, 3rd edn. revised and illustrated. J. Hogg, London, 1881.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 249
This jewel includes all the most important symbols of the degree. It is a golden compass, extended on an arc to twenty-two and a- half degrees, or the sixteenth part of a circle ; the head of the compass is surmounted by a crown with seven emerald points. The compass encloses a cross of Calvary formed of rubies or garnets, having in its centre a full-blown rose, whose stem twines round the lower limb of the cross. At the foot of the cross is a pelican, wounding her breast to feed her young, which are in a nest beneath.
On the reverse is an eagle instead of the pelican, and on the arc of the circle is engraved in cipher the pass-word of the degree.*
Taking all things together, evidence favours the following conclusions with regard to the Rosicrucians and the Free- masons :
1. That the aims of the Freemasons are (in a lower degree) much the same as those of the Rosicrucians.
2. That the Masons begin by meeting on a common platform of humanity, and that they propose to raise their initiates step by step to a somewhat higher level.
3. That their highest level is a kind of theosophy or deism, or at least that no more than this is required, excepting in the Rose Croix degree. | Here the Rosicrucians, therefore, seem to part from them, and to continue to mount. Whereas with the Freemasons Christ and His Church are practically ignored, with the Rosicrucians Christianity is the life and soul of all that they have done, and are doing. Whereas the words " Christ," " Church," " Religion," are almost banished from Freemason books, the mighty literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and all that is good, great, and enduring in the present age, will probably be traced to the agency of this universal Church literary society.
* How's Manual. For the meaning of the symbols above mentioned, see ante, Emblems and Symbols.
fin connection with the Rose Croix degree, it may be observed, says the same authority, that the initials of the Latin inscription placed on the cross, I. N. R. I., representing Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Judceorum, were used by the Rosicrucians as the initials of their Hermetic Secrets — Igne Natura Renovatur Integra — " By fire, Nature is perfectly renewed." They also adopted them to express the names of their three elementary principles, Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, by making the initials of the sentence, Igne Nitrum Roris Invenitur.
R
250 FRANCIS BACON
4. There seems to be no evidence that Freemasonry, in the present acceptation of the term, or as a mutual benefit society, existed before the middle of the sixteenth century. Church architects and builders, who had secrets of their own, and to whom, probably, we owe the magnificent structures which con- tinue to be models to our own time, were a trade guild and a church guild too. Their secrets were of the nature of the printer's secrets of the present day, not only for mutual use and protection, but also enclosing certain information to their craft and, perhaps, to a select few, beyond that enchanted circle. But in no way can we say that these old builders filled the places of the ubiquitous, many-headed Freemasons. Moreover, if we mix them up with the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, we still find ourselves linked with " the Holy Catholic Church " of our forefathers, to which the Eosicrucians were inseparably bound, but from which the Freemason writers seem most anxious to separate themselves.
Hep worth Dixon* tells us that the scheme which Sir Nicholas Bacon presented to Henry VIII. for the endowment of a school of law, policy, and languages, in London, was, perhaps, the original germ of the New Atlantis ; the idea being transferred from statecraft to nature. It is, therefore, possible that Francis Bacon, whose admiration and reverence for his father is very perceptible, may have considered that the foundation-stone of his Solomon's House was laid by Sir Nicholas. Nowhere can we find irrefutable statements or proofs that this society had any earlier history. The professed records of its antiquity seem, like the similar records of the Rosicrucians, to be fictitious, mere shams, which cannot pass current amongst initiated readers ; playing upon words, intended to convey to some members a knowledge or reminder of their true origin, whilst veiling it from the profane vulgar.
The object of this concealment was probably the same as with the greater mysteries of the Rosicrucians, and two-fold. It enabled the society to work more freely, and unsuspected of dangerous or reforming aims. It also bestowed upon the fraternity a fictitious dignity and importance, by the glamour shed over its ceremonies of a supposed " antiquity," which, as
* Story of Bacons Life, p. 17.
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Bacon shows, men are prone to adore ; for in history, as in other matters, we often see "'tis distance lends enchantment to the view." Freemasonry frequently lay under the charge of irre- ligion, and not always without cause. Yet the goodness of the institution should not be rashly maligned because of the wicked- ness or weakness of some o| its members, and its " authorities " come forward to defend it from this charge.
" Masonry is not an irreligious institution, but it assumes no special dogmatic form ; it demands at the hands of its candidates a sincere and honest belief in a Creative Being, ever attentive to the honourable aspirations of those who seek Him in spirit and in truth, and it rejects with scorn those who would degrade the Contriver into a part of the contrivances, and thus would set bounds to the limitless Author of all Being." *
The estimation in which the Masons hold themselves is so amusing to non-Masons, and their traditions concerning them- selves so quaint, that we cannot refrain from quoting a few passages :
" Freemasonry is undoubtedly the oldest society in the world, and it is not a political, but a religious society, strange as such an assertion must be to the uninitiated. Before letters were invented, the only means of teaching divine truths, and handing down divine traditions, was by symbols and signs. In that way, before the deluge, the people of the old world had the whole history of the creation, the fall of our first parents, etc., handed down to them by tradition in the primitive lodges, the serpent being a common symbol employed for the purpose then, as it has been since. After the deluge, the ark became one of the com- monest symbols, and the history of that event was thereby taught to the initiated. A lodge must have been in full working order on the plains of Shinar during the lifetime of Noah : for, when the dispersion took place, lodges of a similar nature were estab- lished in every part of the world, though, probably, not for many years after the settlement of the emigrants in their new countries. . . . They all, however, used the same symbols, and it has generally been admitted by scholars that they had one common origin. That common origin was Freemasonry. . . . According to the traditions of our venerable society, Enoch was a very eminent Mason, and preserv^jjie^ti^e name of God. which the Jews subsequently lost, 'fhe descendants ~ol Abraham
* Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia.
252 FRANCIS BACON
♦
write it Jao ; in the mysteries it was Om, but most commonly expressed in a triliteral form, Aum, as we learn from Wilkins' notes on Bhagvat Veta. Both in the genuine and spurious lodges the doctrine of a trinity in unity was taught.
" The Mysteries, or spurious Masonic rites, were introduced into India by Brahma ; into Egypt by Thoth ; into China and Japan by Buddha ; into Persia by Zeradusht, i.e., Zoroaster ; into Greece by Melampus, according to Herodotus, II. 4, or by Cadmus, according to Epiphanius ; into Boetia by Prometheus ; into Samothrace by Dardanus ; into Crete by Minos ; into Athens by Erectheus ; into Thrace by Orpheus ; into Italy by Pelasgis ; into Gaul and Britain by Gomer ; into Scandinavia by Odin ; into Mexico by Vitziphtzli (Purch. VIII. 10) ; and into Peru by Manco Capac." *
There is no date to the little tract at the British Museum from which these extracts are made, but it seems to be of recent production, and continues throughout in the same strain, assuming that because ancient symbols are introduced into Masonic language and ceremonies, therefore Masonry is of extremest antiquity.
This same line of argument is adopted in many books which seem to be of Freemason extraction, and in some of the modern an ti- Christian works on Buddhism and " Theosophy." These go farther still, maintaining not only the superior antiquity, but the superior beauty and value of the religions of India and Arabia, which, well suited as they doubtless were to the rude or ignorant minds which they were to impress, can only be regarded by Christians as gropings before daylight, or as the altars erected by ignorant but well-meaning worshippers of the unknown God.
In the ancient mysteries, all sorts of uncomfortable methods were resorted to in order to test the nerves and constancy of the initiate. He was made suddenly to see great lights which were as suddenly eclipsed, leaving him plunged in total darkness. Terrible sounds and sights were in succession forced upon him. Thunder and lightning, visions of hideous monsters and horrible objects were designed to fill him with awe and consternation. Finally he was restored to daylight, and to a delightful calm in a lovely garden, where music and dancing revived his spirits,
* Freemasonry : An Address. Bro. J. Milner, M.A., F.R.G.S. Lond. : Simpkin, Marshall & Co.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 253
and, perhaps, charmed him the more by reason of all the horrors to which he had been subjected. It seems to have been held as a crime, punishable only by death, for a man to reveal what he had seen in these mysteries, which for ages were kept secret. But, as with the somewhat similar ordeals said to be imposed upon Masonic initiates, die secrets which now seem to us foolish, and almost cruel, have, by some means or another, leaked out. In the present day such things appear to be anachronisms, profane rather than impressive. Nevertheless, they would, doubtless, have an effect on weak nerves, and may possibly aid in deterring the lower orders of initiates from revealing these secrets, or others of greater importance.
In all cases initiation represents death, and a renaissance or renovation, a new birth, not a resurrection from the dead. " In the British mysteries, the novitiate passed the Eiver of Death in the boat of Garanhir, the Charon of antiquity (the boat typified the corporal body) ; and before he could be admitted to this privilege, it was requisite that he should be mystically buried, as well as mystically dead, which is implied in the ancient Greek formulary, ' I was covered in the bed,' the body being a sort of grave or bed of the spirit." * With the Freemasons, this sym- bolic death and burial is or was initiated by the ceremony of putting the novitiate into a coffin and covering him with a pall. We have heard, but cannot answer for the fact, of a young man who fainted under this " nerve test." It is hard to conceive that such things should be done in civilised countries at the present hour, and if it be true that they are yet practised, it must be that vows taken by the initiates bind them to continue a system which, at its first invention, had some use in conveying certain instruction to very rude minds, incapable of otherwise receiving it.
The earliest Rosicrucian documents do not enforce the special doctrines of any Church. The later documents are, however, professedly Christian. We know that Bacon " was religious ; . . . well able to render a reason of the hope which was in him ; " that he conformed to the ordinances of the Christian religion ; |
* The Book of God, Vol. II., p. 125, quoting from Davies' Mythology of the Druids, p. 392.
* Life of Bacon, by his Chaplain and Secretary, p. 14. See ante, Bacon's character.
254 FRANCIS BACON
that he died in the communion of the Church of England ; and the thought suggests itself that, during the period of his life when he was "running through the whole round" of the ancient philosophies (a terrible and unsettling process to young, excitable minds) — at that time, when his ardent soul was striving after definite truth, and trying to free itself from the clouds of error, bigotry, and superstition which obscured it — he may have found himself, like Malvolio, " more puzzled than the Egyptians in their fog.1' Besides this, the quarrels and division on religious questions sorely disturbed him. He could not believe in the religion of men who hated each other, who would " dash the first table against the second, and who would so act as Christians as to make us forget that they are men.11 Such divisions, he says, " were evils unknown to the heathen ; " yet he lived in the very midst of such divisions. He was eleven years old at the time of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, when 60,000 Huguenots or Protestants were butchered by the order of Charles IX. and his mother, the victims including Admiral de Coligny, one of the most virtuous men that France possessed, and the mainstay of the Protestant cause. He was a child when the tyranny and barbarity of the Inquisition was in full force, and for thirty-one years of his life he was witness to the scenes of intolerable cruelty and iniquity which were perpetrated under the name of religion by the Spanish Tiberius, Philip II., not only in his own country and amongst the unhappy Moors, but, almost worse, in Flanders or the Netherlands, where the miserable Protestants, at first patient under the extravagant oppression to which they were subjected, at last rebelled, and, at the sight of the tribunals of the Inquisition erected in their principal cities, forgot their own weakness, and, impelled by rage and fury, pulled down churches, subverted altars, and obliged the clergy to fly. The atrocities which followed, the execrable cruelties which were committed, and the detestation of the papists which was inspired in the formerly peaceable Flemings, are matters of history. No one will read Motley's graphic narrative of the events of this time, and marvel that a thoughtful man, witnessing such scenes, should be led to doubt if religion, if Christianity, in whose name such deeds of dark- ness were performed, could be a true thing ?
In the Essay of Unity, Bacon speaks of " Lucretius, the poet,
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 255
who, when he beheld the act of Agamemnon, that could endure the sacrificing of his own daughter, exclaimed : ' Could religion prompt to deeds so dreadful ? ' What would he have said if he had known of the massacre in France, or the powder treason in England ? He would have been seven times more epicure and atheist than he was.11 V
But Bacon seems to have said to himself : " Since men thus quarrel over their religious opinions, I will seek for some ground upon which all mankind may meet in common consent and harmony. All men who have any claim to intelligence and goodness acknowledge the existence of a God, an all-wise, all-powerf ul Being, to whom we must render an account of our- selves. Let us, then, leave quarrelling and controversies, and meet as men and brethren on this wide platform of belief in a God, and desire to benefit each other." Some such sentiment seems certainly to have been in the mind of the Founder of Masonry, and, perhaps, the method adopted in rude times for enlisting the sympathies of the majority of ignorant but intelligent persons of various nationalities and creeds was the best that could be devised. There is no doubt that to the great society of the Freemasons we owe a vast debt of gratitude, for the many humanitarian works which they have inaugurated ; for the many " fair houses," for purposes of charity and education, which they have reared ; for many good lessons in morality and self-control which they have systematically endeavoured to teach. And yet, although the society was founded expressly to uphold order, and respect for authority, as well as to promote learning and works of charity ; though its members were to consist of " men who are not only true patriots and loyal subjects, but the patrons of science and the friends of all mankind,1' there is reason to believe that Bacon found the rules of the society, and the doctrines of pure Deism, insufficient to ensure either patriotism or loyalty ; insufficient to ensure the attainment of the highest truth, or of the greatest good to the greatest number.
It is clear that he himself could not endure to remain in this low ground, and he mounted, as we have seen, into the clearest and sublimest heights to which the human intelligence or the human spirit is permitted to penetrate. Not so all his followers, if the scanty gleanings which we have been able to make in this
256 FBANCIS BACON
field are of any value. There is reason to think that more than once the harmony of the Masonic brethren has been broken ; selfishness, ambition, and other ills which frail humanity is heir to — ills not to be checked by any code of human laws, by morality, however philosophical, by philanthropy, however well meaning — seem to have crept in, creating quarrels and ruptures, and, doubtless, in every case, fresh divergence from the original scheme.
If we read aright some ambiguous narratives in books which are nothing if not mystical, and which bear marks of being of Masonic origin, there have been, not only quarrels, but faithless members in the society, who, instead of "handing down the lamp " which had been consigned to their charge — instead of merely preserving or publishing, in due season, some work, not their own, have clung to it, claimed it, and endeavoured to profit by it Is that true, which such hints in books, endorsed by verbal information, incline us to believe, namely, that the Masons are no longer all " true patriots and loyal subjects," and that, in some countries, at least, " mutual toleration in matters of specu- lative opinion and belief " is no longer one of the " valuable characteristics of the craft " ? These, joining to their disrespect for religion the kindred disrespect for any authority except their own, are applying themselves to degrade, if possible to demolish, all forms of church worship, defacing the Beauty of Holiness, reducing Christianity to Humanitarianism, and landing their followers in a cold Agnosticism, or a worse spirit of antagonism to Christianity.
The causes of atheism are, Bacon says, " divisions in religion, scandal of priests, custom of profane scoffing in holy matters, which doth little by little deface the reverence of religion ; and, lastly, learned times with peace and prosperity ; for troubles and adversities do more bow men's minds to religion. They that deny a God, destroy man's nobility ; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body ; and if he be not of kin to God by his spirit he is a base and ignoble creature. It destroys, likewise magnanimity and the raising of human nature, . . . and as atheism is in all respects hateful, so in this, that it deprives human nature of the means to exalt itself above human frailty." * Bacon's axiom, " Thought is free," expressed some-
* Essay Of Atheism.
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thing very different from irreverent license of thought ; neither did he advocate the idea that " the raising of human nature " was to be achieved by disregard of the Powers that be. The majority of right-minded and loyal Masons are, doubtless, of his opinion, and it is suggested that the large and increasing number of the members oMhe Rose-Croix degree may be a tacit protest against the irreligious tendencies of some of the other lodges.* It is possible that Bacon perceived the beginnings of such deviations as have been indicated, and that his foresight as to the ultimate issue caused him to make Rosy Cross the highest and most secret degree, whose members form a com- munity of the ablest, most earnest and influential Christians in the Masonic ranks.
Since the statements and opinions of Masonic writers differ, it is, of course, impossible for a non-Mason to obtain information so accurate as to be incapable of contradiction or refutation. These remarks, therefore, are merely intended to form a basis for further inquiries and researches. No one hook must be taken as an absolute authority ; for if anything is made plain to the uninitiated student of Masonic literature, it is that comparatively few Masons know much about the true origin and aims of their own society. Books ostensibly published for the purpose of giving information consist, for the most part, of names of persons and lodges, of places and orders, with very scanty notices on any subject which will not be found discussed in ordinary cyclo- paedias. The Masonic books are palpably constructed so as to disclose nothing of any value ; some contradict others, and doubtless they are only intended to be thoroughly useful to those who have other and verbal information imparted to them.
Under these circumstances, the most helpful plan which can be adopted seems to be to ignore recent utterances, and to give transcripts from a book whose ninth edition was published nearly a hundred years ago, and which is still continually referred to in the chief Masonic manuals. The subject is " The Idea of Masonry," | its tenets, objects, and practical works, the place
* In 1881 there were eighty-five Rose Croix chapters on the roll, and the members numbered nearly 4,000.
| " Illustrations of Masonry" by Wm. Preston, Past Master of the Lodge of Antiquity, 9th edn., with considerable additions. London : Wilkie, 57, Paternoster Row, 1796. In the volume before us (carefully preserved
258 FRANCIS BACON
where, and the person by whom it was first introduced into England. The reader will judge for himself as to how much or how little of the historical part he will credit ; but he may observe that this author tells us nothing of Masonic lodges before the Deluge, or on the plains of Shinar.
The Illustrations are in six " books," of which the first displays the excellence of Masonry, and deals with reflections on the symmetry and proportion perceptible in the works of nature, and on the harmony and affection amongst other species of things.
"Whoever attentively observes the objects which surround him, will find abundant reason to admire the works of nature, and to adore the Being, who directs such wonderful operations. He will be convinced that infinite wisdom could alone design, and infinite power finish, such amazing works. . . . Besides the symmetry, good order, and proportion which appear in all the works of creation, something farther attracts the reflecting mind and draws its attention nearer to the Divinity — the universal harmony and affection among the different species of beings of every rank and denomination. These are the cements of the rational xoorld, and by these alone it subsists. When they cease nature must be dissolved, and man, the image of his Maker, and the chief of His works, be overwhelmed in the general chaos."
As to the origin of Masonry, we are told that we may trace its foundations from the beginning of the world. " Ever since symmetry began and harmony displayed her charms, our order has a being." It almost seems as if the idea of the extreme antiquity of the order was encouraged by the frequent use of quibbles on the word order. Bacon's aim was to reduce know- ledge and all else to a method, or order, for " Order is heaven's first law." In the dark and rude ages of the world knowledge was withheld from our forefathers incapable of receiving it. * Masonry then diffused its influence, science was gradually unveiled, arts arose, civilisation took place, and the progress of
as it has been) abundant " marks " of six or seven different kinds assure us that the publishers and printers — yes, and the readers themselves — have wished to draw especial attention to it as a work of importance to their society.
* Compare with Preston's Illustrations of Masonry, Section III., Bacon's concluding paragraphs in his preface to the Wisdom of the Ancients.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 259
knowledge and philosophy gradually dispelled the gloom of ignorance * and barbarism.
Next we read of the advantages of secrecy, and of a system of secret signs carefully preserved among the fraternity. A Univer- sal Language is thus formed, and contributes to the union, in an indissoluble bond of affection and mutual interest, of men of the most opposite tenets, of the most distant countries, and of the most contrary opinions. The Chinese, the wild Arab, the American savage, will embrace a brother Briton, and will find a stronger obligation than even the common tie of humanity to induce him to kind and friendly offices.
" As all religions teach morality, if a brother is found to act the part of a truly moral man his private speculative opinions are left to God and himself."
" Masonry,11 we are told, is a term which expresses a double meaning, the work, that is, and the abstract ideas of which that work is the symbol or type. Masonry passes under two denomi- nations, operative and speculative.
" By the former we allude to a proper application of the use- ful rules of architecture, whence a structure derives figure, strength, and beauty, and whence result a due proportion and a just correspondence in all its parts. By the latter we learn to subdue the passions, act upon the square, keep a tongue of good report, maintain secrecy, and practise charity.
" Speculative Masonry is so far interwoven with religion as to lay us under the strongest obligations to pay that rational homage to the Deity which at once constitutes our duty and our happiness. It leads the contemplative to review with reverence and admiration the glorious works of creation, and inspires them with the most lofty ideas of the perfections of the divine Creator.
" Operative Masonry furnishes us, indeed, with dwellings and sheltering edifices, and demonstrates how much can be done for the benefit of man by science and industry. Yet the lapse of time and the ruthless hand of ignorance, and the devastations of war, have laid waste and destroyed many valuable monuments of antiquity on which the utmost exertions of human genius have been employed. Even the Temple of Solomon, so spacious and magnificent, and constructed by so many celebrated artists, escaped not the unsparing ravages of barbaric force."
* " There is no darkness but ignorance.'1 (Twelfth Night, IV. 2).
260 FRANCIS BACON
We are arrested by the very Baconian and Shakespearian sentiments, and the combination of words in which they are expressed.
" Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme ;
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory." *
" The monuments of wit survive the monuments of power," etc. f
" We see, then, how far the monuments of wit and learning are more durable than the monuments of power or of the hands. For have not the verses of Homer continued twenty-five hundred years or more, without the loss of a syllable or letter ; during which time infinite palaces, temples, castles, cities, have been decayed and demolished. . . . But the images of men's wits and knowledges remain in books, exempted from the wrong of time, and capable of perpetual renovation/' J
Throughout the Masonic books the reader is led to suppose that the survival and transmission of Freemasonry is the matter of extremest importance. Read, however, by the light of Bacon, we perceive that the whole object is to get possession of the rude and ignorant, and, by working upon their innate vanity — or shall we say their self-respect ? — to draw them on to works of mutual benefit, and to raise them by gentle stages up the steps of knowledge and morality under the impression that their superiority consists chiefly in the possession of some great and mysterious secret. The lower orders are indeed the stepping- stones for the cleverer and more helpful higher initiates. The subscriptions of the vast number of members are of immense value in promoting many useful works, which, without some such organisation, would never have been attempted ; and doubtless the members of every degree share in the pleasure and pride which Freemasons evidently take in the numerous charitable works which they have inaugurated and liberally supported.
* Sonnet LV. Compare Sonnets LXXXL, LXIV., LXV., CVII.
| Device of Philantia, Hermit's Sp.
$ Advt. of L. I.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 261
Yet it is much to be doubted if the lower orders of Masons either guess at their own origin, or perceive that the true aim of the society is to raise the level of patriotism and morality until the former may fulfil Heaven's first law of universal order and harmonious obedience to earthly authority, and the latter shall lift man above the flats £>f mere worldly wisdom and morality to the sublime heights of divinity or religion, to heights, indeed, to which probably many Freemasons do not aspire ; they are content to live in the valley.
" The attentive ear," says the Masonic Manual, " receives the soul from the instructive tongue, and the sacred mysteries are safely lodged in the repository of faithful breasts. Tools and implements the most expressive ! [sic] are selected by the frater- nity, to imprint on the memory serious truths ; and thus the excellent tenets of the institution are transmitted unimpaired, under circumstances precarious and adverse, through a succes- sion of ages."
The fraternity is said to consist of three classes, each with distinct privileges. Honour and probity are recommendations to the first class. Diligence, assiduity, and application are qualifications for the second class, in which is given an accurate elucidation of science, both in theory and practice. The third class is restricted to a selected few, whom truth and fidelity have distinguished, whom years and experience have improved, and whom merit and abilities have entitled to preferment. We should expect this class to be initiated into some of the mysteries of the printing-house, and of the collating-room, and the ciphers, for, in the next section, the author enters into a discussion of the objections raised to the secrets of Masonry, which, he says, are not mere trivialities, but " the keys to our treasure." He exhorts his readers not to regard the mysteries or the cere- monials of the order as nominal and frivolous. Those who hurry through the degrees or stages, without considering the steps which they pursue, or without possessing a single qualifi- cation for the duties which they undertake, are doing a positive injury to the society which they profess to aid, and deriving no benefit themselves ; for " the substance is lost in the shadow."
Then comes an explanation of some of the causes why Masons have, from time to time, brought upon themselves dis- credit and censure. The very " variety of members of which
262 FKANCIS BACON
the society of Masons is composed, and the small number who are really conversant with the tenets of the institution" render it almost certain that some will transgress, and prove faithless to their calling. When mild endeavours to reform such persons are fruitless, they are expelled the lodge, as unfit members of the society. But no wise man will condemn a whole community on account of the errors of a few individuals. " Friendship and social delights cannot be the object of reproach, nor can that wisdom which hoary time has sanctified be subject to ridicule. Whoever attempts to censure what he does not comprehend, degrades himself ; and the generous heart will always be led to pity the mistakes of such ignorant presumption" In the " charge, at the initiation into the first degree," the initiate is enjoined never to suffer his zeal for the institution, however laudable, to lead him into argument with those who may ridi- cule it ; " but rather extend your pity toward all who, through ignorance, contemn what they never had an opportunity to comprehend." *
Charity is next extolled as the chief of every social virtue, and the distinguishing characteristic of the order, and of the Deity Himself. f
" The bounds of the greatest nation, or the most extensive empire, cannot circumscribe it. It is a God-like disposition, . . . since a mutual chain of dependence subsists throughout the animal creation. The whole human species are, therefore, proper objects of charity."
Further : all kinds of men may, in their different spheres, prove useful ; but the officers of a lodge in Freemasonry ought to be principally restricted to those " whose early years have been dedicated to literary pursuits, or whose circumstances and situation in life render them independent." They should also be men of superior prudence and good address, with a tranquil, well-cultivated mind and retentive memory. But " he who v:ishes to teach, must be content to learn." A self-sufficient, conceited person, however able, can, therefore, never be a good Mason. " Arrogance and presumption appear not on the one
* " Disparage not the faith thou dost not know." (Midsummer Night's Dream.)
t See Merchant of Venice, IV. 1, 193 —7.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 263
hand, or diffidence and inability on the other, but all unite in the same plan."
The second book of Masonry gives an illustration of the ceremonies connected with the opening and closing of a lodge, in which account we seem to see a reflection of Bacon's cogita- tions on the means of ensuring help from worthy and capable men, who should prepare to guard the entrances and approaches to the Temple of Wisdom. In the first sentence note the use of of his Promus entry, " Avenues." *
" Our care is first directed to the external avenues of the lodge, and the proper officers, whose province it is to discharge that duty, execute the trust with fidelity." f
By certain mystic forms these officers intimate that it is safe for the ceremonies to proceed, or they detect impostors and unfit persons who must be excluded. The ceremonies are religious, and intended not only to remind the master and brethren of their many duties, but also to inculcate a reverential awe of the Deity, that " the eye may be fixed on that object from whose radiant beams light only can be derived."
At the closing of the lodge, " each brother faithfully locks up the treasure which he has acquired in his own repository, and, pleased with his own reward, retires to enjoy and dis- seminate among the private circle of his friends the fruits of his labour and industry in the lodge." This paragraph seems to imply that the brethren adopted Bacon's advice regarding the taking of notes, and that they habitually stored up their newly gained treasures of learning in order to add to the common fund, and to distribute them at a later period for the benefit of the world in general.
We observe amongst other peculiarities in Rosicrucian books the large number of fly-leaves at one or both ends. These, however, in the old volumes, have been in most instances cut out. Only one explanation of this singular circumstance seems satisfactory, namely, that the brethren, by Bacon's original instructions, took notes of all that they heard or read, and that these fly-leaves, or note-books, were thus made the " repositories
* Promus, 1432 ; and comp. Montaigne Ess. " To Learn to Die " — Ed. Hazlitt, p. 76. t Preston, p. 33.
264 FJRANCIS BACON
of treasure stored up," so that nothing should be lost, but that ultimately all newly acquired learning should flow into the common treasury.
" No brother is supplanted, or put out of his work, if he be capable of filling it. All meekly receive their rewards . . . and never desert the master till the work is finished. ... In a lodge Masons meet as members of the same family, and representa- tives, for the time being, of all the brethren throughout the world. All prejudices, therefore, on account of religion, country, or private opinion, are removed."
In the charge delivered at the closing of the lodge, the Masons are instructed to be " very cautious in your words and carriage, that the most penetrating stranger' may not discover or find out what is not proper to be intimated, and, if necessary, you are to waive a discourse* and manage it prudently, for the honour of the fraternity. ... If a stranger apply . . . beware of giving him any secret hints of knowledge." The charge ends with renewed exhortations to " brotherly love, the foun- dation and cap-stone, the cement and glory of this ancient fraternity.1 '
In the first Masonic " lecture," " virtue is painted in the most beautiful colours," and the duties of morality are strictly enforced. In it the Masons are prepared for " a regular advance- ment in knowledge and philosophy, and these are imprinted on the memory by lively and sensible images, the lecture being suited to all capacities, and necessary to be known by every person who would wish to rank as a Mason."
Unhappily for the uninitiated, the author can annex to this remark no explanation consistent with the rules of Masonry, but refers " the more inquisitice to our regular assemblies for further instruction." So, " out goes the candle, and we are left dark- ling ; " yet we need not despair, but may believe that by a due study of Bacon's Colours of Good and Evil (and other works based upon it), his Advancement of Learning, and his emblematic and metaphoric language, we may furnish ourselves with all the useful knowledge which the Masonic initiates will gain by their lecture on the colours of virtue, the advance-
* This injunction is excellently complied with, and is, no doubt, a chief obstruction to non-Masons in the attainment of information.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 265
ment of philosophy, and the images by which the novices are instructed.
Just as the Eosicrucians in The New Atlantis, and else- where, are commanded to dispense their medicines gratis, so Masons are called upon solemnly to declare themselves un- influenced by mercenary motives, but prompted by a desire for knowledge, and a sincere wish of being serviceable to their fellow-creatures.
They pledge themselves to study the Bible, to consider it as the unerring standard of truth and justice, and to regulate their lives according to its divine precepts. The three great moral duties to be observed are : (1) To God, by reverence and submission to His Will ; (2) To your neighbour, by " acting on the square," and by unselfishness in dealing with him ; (3) " To yourself, by avoiding irregularity and intemperance, which might impair your faculties and debase the dignity of your profession."
This section concludes with another exhortation to secrecy and caution in recommending new initiates. Next we come to a page of observations on the origin and advantages of hiero- glyphical instruction, a subject which, in view of Bacon's in- structions on this very subject, and the evidently close relation which his remarks bear to the illustrations and ornaments of the books published during his life, and (with various modifica- tions) from that time till now, possesses for the inquirer a strong attraction and interest.
Since nothing can be more noble than the pursuit of virtue, nor any motive more alluring than the practice of justice, "what instruction," we are asked, " can be more beneficial than an accurate elucidation of those symbols which tend to embellish and adorn the mind ? Everything that strikes the eye more imme- diately engages the attention, and imprints on the memory serious and solemn truths. Hence, Masons have universally adopted the plan of inculcating the tenets of their order by typical figures and allegorical emblems, to prevent their mysteries from descend- ing to the familiar reach of inattentive and unprepared novices, from whom they might not receive due veneration. It is well known that the usages and customs of the Masons have ever corresponded with those of the ancient Egyptians, to which they bear a near affinity. These philosophers, unwilling to
266 FRANCIS BACON
expose their mysteries to vulgar eyes, concealed their particular tenets and principles of polity under hieroglyphical figures, and expressed their notions of government by signs and symbols, which they communicated to their Magi alone, who were bound by oath not to reveal them. Pythagoras seems to have estab- lished his system on a similar plan, and many orders of a more recent date have copied the example. Every character, figure, and emblem, depicted in a lodge, has a moral tendency, and tends to inculcate the practice of virtue.1'
Here, as will be seen when we come to emblems and hiero- glyphic pictures, Freemasons are again adopting Bacon's ideas and doctrines, and using his words, though their charm is lost by dilution and paraphrase. No addition or alteration seems to improve either his phraseology or his ideas ; usually the copyists limp after him in " what imitation they can borrow " ; but even where they most craftily prick in, or transfer to their own work his beauties of language and quaint conceits, it is easy to distinguish the original from the imitation, the pearls from the beads, and at least one-third of Preston's Illustrations is, we believe, taken directly from Bacon, perhaps originally dictated by him.
The charge at initiation into the second degree again enforces the study of the liberal arts, " especially of geometry, the basis of our art ; geometry and Masonry, originally synonymous terms, being of a divine and moral nature, which, while it proves the wonderful properties of nature, demonstrates the more im- portant truths of morality." It will readily be perceived that here is a double meaning ; for geometry does not really teach morality, and no one can believe that the terms geometry and Masonry were ever truly synonymous. The next instructions, concerning the five orders of architecture, confirm the notion that the teaching is symbolic, requiring verbal elucidation. The information on architecture is of the most elementary character, and converts itself, at the end of the second page, into " an analysis of the human faculties," where we are taught to con- sider the five senses as the gifts of nature, " the channels by which knowledge is conveyed."
In the treatment of the senses of hearing, seeing, and feeling,*
* See " Metaphors." Also of the book-marks, in which not only the sight, but the touch, is appealed to.
AND HIS SECRET SOCIETY. 267
the analogies between the bodily organs and the spiritual faculties are ever present to the writer. It is " the ear, the gate of the understanding ; the eye, the gate of the affections ; ''* the touch of nature which makes the whole world kin, which we perceive shadowed in the architectural instructions of Masonry.
When these topics are proposed in Masonic assemblies, the brethren " are not confined to any peculiar mode of explana- tion," which probably means that the eye may be interpreted the eye of the mind, as well as of the body ; that the ear, in the same way, may be intellectual or physical; that the Masonic signs may be palpable to the eye by symbols, gestures, or marks in printing, engraving, and sculptures, or sensible (as they have been found) to the touch, in the pages or edges of books ; that the contents of the books themselves may be tasted, chewed, and swallowed, or their secrets smelt out by discerning initiates. For, though " the senses are the gifts of nature, reason, properly employed, confirms the documents of nature, which are always true and wholesome ; she distinguishes the good from the bad ; rejects the last, and adheres to the first. Hearing is the sense by which we can best communicate to each other our thoughts and intentions, our purposes and desires, while our reason is capable of exerting its utmost power and energy. (The descrip- tion of this sense seems to point to the verbal teaching of the Masons.) But the " sight is the noblest of all the senses, the organ is the masterpiece of Nature's work," and the large amount of symbols and metaphors which connect themselves with this sense show the important place which it occupies in Masonic symbolism. Then, by feeling, we distinguish the different qualities of bodies (or, it might be added, of spirits). They are hot or cold, hard or soft, rough or smooth, and have other qualities which are seen to be connected " by some original principle of human nature, which far transcends our inquiry." " Hast thou," says Prospero to Ariel — " hast thou, though a spirit, some touch, some feeling of their afflictions ? " f Shake- speare makes great use of the metaphor, " The inly touch of love." X "A sweet touch, a quick venue of wit." § " The most bitter touch of sorrow." || " Touched with noble anger," 1[ with
* Promus, 1137, where are many Shakespeare references. t Temp. V. 1. X Tw. Gen. Ver. II. 7. § L. L. L. V. 1. || All's Well,