the commencement of the eighteenth century, and during
the reign of Queen Anne, who died, it will be remembered, in 1714, a
proposition was agreed to by the society "that the privileges of Masonry
should no longer be restricted to operative masons, but extend to men of
various professions, provided that they were regularly approved and
initiated into the order."

Accordingly the records of the society show that from the year 1717, at
least, the era commonly, but improperly, distinguished as the restoration
of Masonry, the operative element of the institution has been completely
discarded, except so far as its influence is exhibited in the choice and
arrangement of symbols, and the typical use of its technical language.

* * * * *

The history of the origin of the order is here concluded; and in briefly
recapitulating, I may say that in its first inception, from the time of
Noah to the building of the temple of Solomon, it was entirely speculative
in its character; that at the construction of that edifice, an operative
element was infused into it by the Tyrian builders; that it continued to
retain this compound operative and speculative organization until about
the middle of the seventeenth century, when the latter element began to
predominate; and finally, that at the commencement of the eighteenth
century, the operative element wholly disappeared, and the society has
ever since presented itself in the character of a simply speculative
association.

The history that I have thus briefly sketched, will elicit from every
reflecting mind at least two deductions of some importance to the
intelligent Mason.

In the first place, we may observe, that ascending, as the institution
does, away up the stream of time, almost to the very fountains of history,
for its source, it comes down to us, at this day, with so venerable an
appearance of antiquity, that for that cause and on that claim alone it
demands the respect of the world. It is no recent invention of human
genius, whose vitality has yet to be tested by the wear and tear of time
and opposition, and no sudden growth of short-lived enthusiasm, whose
existence may be as ephemeral as its birth was recent. One of the oldest
of these modern institutions, the Carbonarism of Italy, boasts an age that
scarcely amounts to the half of a century, and has not been able to extend
its progress beyond the countries of Southern Europe, immediately adjacent