and Orateur de l'Ordre.' It was again
printed in 1742 by Bro. De la Tierce in his _Histoire, Obligations et
Statuts, etc.,..._ and De la Tierce says that it was 'prononce par le
Grand Maitre des Francs-Macons de France' in the year 1740.... A. G.
Jouast (_Histoire du G.O._, 1865) says the Oration was delivered at the
Installation of the Duc d'Antin as G.M. on 24th June, 1738, and the same
authority states that it was first printed at the Hague in 1738, bound
up with some poems attributed to Voltaire, and some licentious tales by
Piron.... Bro. Gould remarks: 'If such a work really existed at that
date, it was probably the original of the "_Lettre philosophique par M.
de V---- _, _avec plusieurs pieces galantes_," London, 1757.'" Mr. Gould
has, however, provided very good evidence that Ramsay was the author of
the oration by Daruty's discovery of the letter to Cardinal Fleury,
which together with the oration itself (translated from De la Tierce's
version) he reproduces in his _History of Freemasonry_, Vol. III. p. 84.

[367] _A.Q.C., XXII_. Part I. p. 10.

[368] _Les plus secrets mysteres des Hants Grades de la Maconnerie
devoiles, ou le vrai Rose-Croix._ A Jerusalem. M.DCC.LXVII. (_A.Q.C._,
Vol. XXXII. Part I. p. 13, refers, however, to an edition of 1747).

[369] As Godefroi de Bouillon died in 1100, I conclude his name to have
been introduced here in error by de Berage or the date of 1330 to have
been a misprint.

[370] Dr. Mackey confirms this assertion, _Lexicon of Freemasonry_, p.
304.

[371] _Etoile Flamboyante_, I. pp. 18-20.

[372] The same theory that Freemasonry originated in Palestine as a
system of protection for the Christian faith is given almost verbatim in
the instructions to the candidate for initiation into the degree of
"Prince of the Royal Secret" published in _Monitor of Freemasonry_
(Chicago, 1860), where it is added that "the brethren assembled round
the tomb of Hiram, is a representation of the disciples lamenting the
death of Christ on the Cross." Weishaupt, founder of the
eighteenth-century Illuminati, also showed--although in a spirit of
mockery--how easily the legend of Hiram could be interpreted in this
manner, and suggested that at the periods when the Christians were
persecuted they enveloped their doctrines in secrecy and symbolism.
"That was necessary in times and places where the Christians lived
amongst the heathens, for example in the East at the time of the
Crusades."--_Nachtr