em makes still more absurd the idea that
Ashmole himself created Masonry, whereas he was only a student of its
antiquities. Wren was probably never an Operative Mason--though an
architect--but he seems to have become an Accepted member of the
fraternity in his last years, since his neglect of the order, due to
his age, is given as a reason for the organization of the first Grand
Lodge.

GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND

/#
_The doctrines of Masonry are the most beautiful that it is
possible to imagine. They breathe the simplicity of the earliest
ages animated by the love of a martyred God. That word which the
Puritans translated_ CHARITY, _but which is really_ LOVE, _is the
key-stone which supports the entire edifice of this mystic
science. Love one another, teach one another, help one another.
That is all our doctrine, all our science, all our law. We have no
narrow-minded prejudices; we do not debar from our society this
sect or that sect; it is sufficient for us that a man worships
God, no matter under what name or in what manner. Ah! rail against
us bigoted and ignorant men, if you will. Those who listen to the
truths which Masonry inculcates can readily forgive you. It is
impossible to be a good Mason without being a good man._

--WINWOOD READE, _The Veil of Isis_
#/

CHAPTER IV

_Grand Lodge of England_

While praying in a little chapel one day, Francis of Assisi was
exhorted by an old Byzantine crucifix: "Go now, and rebuild my Church,
which is falling into ruins." In sheer loyalty he had a lamp placed;
then he saw his task in a larger way, and an artist has painted him
carrying stones and mortar. Finally there burst upon him the full
import of the allocution--that he himself was to be the corner-stone
of a renewed and purified Church. Purse and prestige he flung to the
winds, and went along the highways of Umbria calling men back from the
rot of luxury to the ways of purity, pity, and gladness, his life at
once a poem and a power, his faith a vision of the world as love and
comradeship.

That is a perfect parable of the history of Masonry. Of old the
working Masons built the great cathedrals, and we have seen them not
only carrying stones, but drawing triangles, squares, and circles in
such a manner as to show that they assigned to those figures high
mystical meanings. But the real Home of the Soul cannot be built of
brick and stone; it is a house not made with h