Illustrations of Masonry (A Seat of Knowledge)

This volume is created as a part of "A Seat of Knowledge Series," to further the good cause of Masonry, as the information contained herein is of primary importance to Masonic research. Illustrations of Masonry by William Preston, providing much of the history before and after the 1717 creation of the United Grand Lodge of Freemasonry of England. A reproduction of the original with modern English editorial work, 12 pt. font, which includes definitions as well as illustrations including a glossary and an index. This edition was designed for readability and understanding in modern-day English. Philosophy of William Preston - Excerpt from Philosophy of Masonry - PHILOSOPHERS are by no means agreed concerning the scope and subject matter of philosophy. Nor are Masonic scholars at one concerning the scope and purpose of Freemasonry. Hence one may not expect to define and delimit Masonic theory according to the natural method of Dickens editor who wrote upon Chinese metaphysics by reading in the Encyclopedia upon China and upon metaphysics and combining this information. It is enough to say at the outset that in the sense in which philosophers of Masonry have used the term, philosophy is the science of fundamentals. Possibly it would be correct to think of the philosophy of Masonry as organized Masonic knowledge-as a system of Masonic knowledge. However, there has come to be a distinct branch of Masonic learning which has to do with specific fundamental questions; and these fundamental questions may be called the problems of Masonic philosophy since that branch of Masonic learning which treats of them has been named the philosophy of Masonry. These fundamental questions are three: 1.What is the nature and purpose of Masonry as an institution?For what does it exist? What does it seek to do? Of course for the philosopher this also involves and chiefly the questions, what ought Masonry to be? For what ought it to exist? What ought it to seek as its end? 2.What is and this involves what should be- the relation of Masonry to other human institutions, especially to those directed toward similar ends? What is its place in a rational scheme of human activities? 3.What are the fundamental principles by which Masonry is governed in attaining the end it seeks? It is again, to the philosopher, involves the question what those principles ought to be. Four eminent Masonic scholars have essayed to answer these questions and in so doing have given us four systems of Masonic philosophy, namely, William Preston, Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, George Oliver and Albert Pike. Of these four systems of Masonic philosophy, two, if I may put it so, are intellectual systems. They appeal to and are based upon reason only. These two are the system of Preston and that of Krause. The other two are, if I may put it that way, spiritual systems. They do not flow from the rationalism of the eighteenth century but spring instead from a reaction toward the mystic ideas of the hermetic philosophers in the seventeenth century. As I shall try to show here-after, this is characteristic of each, though much more marked in one. Summarily, then, we have four systems of Masonic philosophy. Two are intellectual systems: First that of Preston, whose keyword is Knowledge; second, that of Krause, whose keyword is Morals. Two are spiritual systems: First that of Oliver, whose keyword is Tradition; and second, that of Pike, whose keyword is Symbolism. Comparing the two intellectual systems of Masonic philosophy, the intrinsic importance of Preston's is much less than that of Krause's. Krause's philosophy of Masonry has a very high value in and of itself. On the other hand, the chief interest in Preston's philosophy of Masonry, apart from his historical position among Masonic philosophers, is to be found in the circumstance that his philosophy is the philosophy of our American lectures and hence is the only one with which the average American Mason acquires any familiarity.