m the building guilds and were imported to
England by means of the Roman Collegia. Mr. Churchward, however,
strongly dissents from this view:

In the new and revised edition of the Perfect Ceremonies, according
to our E. working, a theory is given that Freemasonry originated
from certain guilds of workmen which are well known in history as
the "Roman College of Artificers." There is no foundation of fact
for such a theory. Freemasonry is now, and always was, an
Eschatology, as may be proved by the whole of our signs, symbols,
and words, and our rituals.[280]

But what Mr. Churchward fails to explain is how this eschatology reached
the working masons; moreover why, if as he asserts, it derived from
Egypt, Assyria, India, and Persia, Freemasonry no longer bears the stamp
of these countries. For although vestiges of Sabeism may be found in the
decoration of the lodges, and brief references to the mysteries of Egypt
and Phoenicia, to the secret teaching of Pythagoras, to Euclid, and to
Plato in the Ritual and instructions of the Craft degrees--nevertheless
the form in which the ancient tradition is clothed, the phraseology and
pass-words employed, are neither Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek, nor Persian,
but Judaic. Thus although some portion of the ancient secret tradition
may have penetrated to Great Britain through the Druids or the
Romans--versed in the lore of Greece and Egypt--another channel for its
introduction was clearly the Cabala of the Jews. Certain masonic writers
recognize this double tradition, the one descending from Egypt, Chaldea,
and Greece, the other from the Israelites, and assert that it is from
the latter source their system is derived.[281] For after tracing its
origin from Adam, Noah, Enoch, and Abraham, they proceed to show its
line of descent through Moses, David, and Solomon[282]--descent from
Solomon is in fact officially recognized by the Craft and forms a part
of the instructions to candidates for initiation into the first degree.
But, as we have already seen, this is the precise genealogy attributed
to the Cabala by the Jews. Moreover, modern Freemasonry is entirely
built up on the Solomonic, or rather the Hiramic legend. For the sake of
readers unfamiliar with the ritual of Freemasonry a brief _resume_ of
this "Grand Legend" must be given here.

Solomon, when building the Temple, employed the services of a certain
artificer in brass, named Hiram, the son of a