PREFACE
I ONCE delivered an address
before a Lodge on the subject of the external changes which Freemasonry had
undergone since the period of its revival in the commencement of the eighth
century.
The proper treatment of the
topic required a reference to German, to French, and to English authorities,
with some of which I am afraid that many of my auditors were not familiar. At
the close of the address, a young and intelligent Brother inquired of me how
he could obtain access to the works which I had cited, and of many of which he
confessed, as well as of the facts that they detailed, he now heard for the
first time. It is probable that my reply was not altogether satisfactory for I
told him that I knew of no course that he could adopt to attain that knowledge
except the one that had been pursued by myself, namely, to spend his means in
the purchase of Masonic books and his time in reading them.
But there are few men who have
the means, the time, and the inclination for the purchase of numerous books,
some of them costly and difficult to be obtained, and for the close and
attentive reading of them which is necessary to master any given subject. It
was this thought that, years ago, suggested to me the task of collecting
materials for a work which would furnish every Freemason who might consult its
pages the means of acquiring a knowledge of all matters connected with the
science, the philosophy, and the history of his Order.
But I was also led to the
prosecution of this work by a higher consideration. I had myself learned, from
the experience of my early Masonic life, that the character of the Institution
was elevated in every one's opinion just in proportion to the amount of
knowledge that he had acquired of its symbolism, philosophy, and history. If
Freemasonry was not at one time patronized by the learned, it was because the
depths of its symbolic science and philosophy had not been sounded. If it is
now becoming elevated and popular in the estimation of scholars, it owes that
elevation and that popularity to the labors of those who have studied its
intellectual system and given the result of their studies to the world. The
scholar will rise from the perusal of Webb's Monitor, or the Hieroglyphic
Chart of Cross, with no very exalted appreciation of the literary character of
the Institution of which such works profess to be an exponent. But should he
have met with even Hutchinson's spirit of Masonry, or Town's speculative
Masonry, which are among the earlier products of Masonic literature, he will
be conscious that the system which could afford material for such works must
be worthy of investigation. Oliver is not alone in the belief that the higher
elevation of the Order is to be attributed almost solely to the judicious
publications on the subject of Freemasonry which have appeared during the
present (nineteenth) and the end of the last (eighteenth) century. It is the
press that is elevating the Order ; it is the labor of its scholars that is
placing it in the rank of sciences. The more that is published by scholarly
pens on its principles, the more will other scholars be attracted to its
investigation. At no time, indeed, has its intellectual character been more
justly appreciated than at the present day. At no time have its members
generally cultivated its science with more assiduity. At no time have they
been more zealous in the endeavor to obtain a due enlightenment on all the
topics which its system comprehends.
It was the desire to give my
contribution toward the elevation of the Order, by aiding in the dissemination
of some of that light and knowledge which are not so easy of access, that
impelled me years ago to commence the preparation of this work, a task which I
have steadily toiled to accomplish, and at which, for several years, I have
wrought with un-intermitted labor that has permitted but little time for other
occupation, and none for recreation. And now I present to my Brethren the
result not only of those years of toil, but of more than thirty years of study
and research-a work which will, I trust, or at least I hope, supply them with
the materials for acquiring a knowledge of much that is required to make a
Masonic scholar. Encyclopedia learning is not usually considered as more than
elementary. But knowing that but few Freemasons can afford time to become
learned scholars in our art by an entire devotion to its study, I have in
important articles endeavored to treat the subject exhaustively, and in all to
give that amount oi information that must make future ignorance altogether the
result of disinclination to learn.
I do not present this work as
perfect, for I well know that the emanating point of perfection can never be
attained by human effort.
But, under many adverse
circumstances, I have sought to make it as perfect as I could. Encyclopedias
are, for the most part, the result of the conjoined labor of many writers. In
this work I have had no help. Every article was written by myself. I say this
not to excuse my errors for I hold that no author should wilfully permit an
error to pollute his pages, but rather to account for those that may exist. I
have endeavored to commit none.
Doubtless there are some. If I
knew them, I would correct them, but let him who discovers them remember that
they have been unwittingly committed in the course of an exhaustive and
unaided task.
For twelve months, too, of the
time in which I have been occupied upon this work, I suffered from an
affection of the sight, which forbade all use of the eyes for purposes of
study. During that period, now happily passed, all authorities were consulted
under my direction by the willing eyes of my daughters, all writing was done
under my dictation by their hands. I realized for a time the picture so often
painted of the blind bard, John Milton, dictating his sublime verses to his
daughters. It was a time of sorrow for the student who could not labor with
his own organs in his vocation ; but it was a time of gladness to the father
who felt that he had those who, with willing hearts, could come to his
assistance. To the world this is of no import ; but I could not
conscientiously close this prefatory address without referring to this
circumstance so gratifying to a parent's heart. Were I to dedicate this work
at all, my dedication should be, To FILIAL AFFECTION.
ALBERT G. MACKEY
