Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from History of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons in New York, From the Earliest Date, Vol. 2: Embracing the History of the Grand Lodge in the State, From Its Formation in 1781, and a Sketch of Each Lodge Under Its Jurisdiction; Preceded by a Brief Account of Early Masonry in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Several Continental Nations
The liberty of the Masonic press and the free expression of their thoughts, which has been now conceded to Masonic writers, is a victory that has not been gained without an arduous struggle. It was the general opinion of those who were high in office, but not deep in Masonic knowledge, that all the learning of Masonry should be confined to a mere recital of the ritual and an acquaintance with the Lodge lectures. They supposed that the whole curriculum of Masonic science and philosophy was embraced within the narrow limits of oral instruction or, rather, that they knew nothing of anv science or philosophy, and were wont to deem him the most learned Mason who could but recite by rote the stereotyped catechism that he had acquired by fre quent repetition.
But there were some few scholars who thought that there was more in Speculative Masonry than was to be found within the meagre limits of the ritual. They believed that this ritual was a mere skeleton, which, to make it presenta ble to men of cultivated intellects, required to be clothed with elevated thoughts that there was, indeed, a system of profound religious philosophy in Masonry, which could only be developed by research that of this system, the ritual was only an. Index pointing out the subjects that were to be investigated and, finally, to give to these investigations any value, it was absolutely necessary that they should be given to the world, like the investigations in any other science or philosophy, by means of publications which Masons could read, and thus enlarge within their homes the ideas, the rudi ments of which they had first acquired at the Lodge.
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