1 INTRODUCTION. IT is forty years since this work was in embryo-the mysterious "yugs" of the East, reverenced as they are by far the greater portion of mankind, led me to believe there must be mysteries hidden by them, and that the 4, 3, 2, meant more than the mere esoteric symbols of the apprentice V, the fellow craft A, and the master mason. When known, what is more simple than the common alphabet? yet when unknown it is incomprehensible,— forty years ago I knew not there was a classical universal alphabet to a universal celestial language. Time passed on, and I discovered that the religions of the Budhists, of the Hindoos, of the Chinese, and the Mahomedans, were all more or less astronomical, and assuredly all were astro-masonical. Believing as I do that there can be but one God, one grand Architect of the universe, I was induced to examine the orthodox Bible dedicated to James. I waded seriatim through the list of substantives as indexed by Cruden: and, after a fashion, I construed celestially upwards of 2,400 biblical passages. When arriving at the word "wall" a sudden gleam of light dawned upon me, and I reasoned that "wall" might indicate a celestial partition or celestial colure, but whether equinoxial or solstitial I then had no means of deciding: all was chaos, for my adopted "wall" did not correspond with the equinox or solstice of any known celestial spheres. Unwittingly I had partly opened a mystic lock, and yet I knew nothing of keys that had long been in my possession, and which keys were constructed to open wide the celestial Sesame! Year after year passed away and I became more and more convinced that the foundation of all intellectual religions, ancient as well as modern, had but one and the same origin, and that origin. was heavenly or celestial. The Revelation of St. John strongly confirmed my opinion, for I soon found that the strange personations of the Apocalypse were to be traced to Eastern creeds, and that their similars or rather their original types were to be found in all ordinary celestial atlases. The text of the Revelation specifies the symbols, but I afterwards discovered that keys and laws were required in order to comprehend the language and the meaning of the writer. Day by day, as I advanced in my researches, I learnt that the knowledge I was acquiring constituted the "lost mysteries" of Masonry, and being one of the fraternity, and believing that the fearful obligations really meant sacred pledges, in the year 1848 I voyaged some 15,000 miles expressly to lay my discoveries before the Earl of Zetland, the then Grand Master of England. I brought with me to London influential masonic introductory letters setting forth my discoveries, but the Grand Master of England and his Grand Secretary (White) treated my introductions, my discoveries, and myself with silent contumely, for as good Dr. Geo. Oliver then observed-"Secretary Bro. White considered Freemasonry as a commercial speculation, and estimated its value by the amount of money it put into his purse." Verily, with Bro. White, Masonry was a shell without a kernel, a skull without the brains. Dispirited I returned to my adopted country, yet perseverance urged me on, and as it were a secret silent monitor, "VERITAS," ruled me "to write and make plain that he may run that readeth,"Hab. ii. 2, and I have since endeavoured to do so. As I advanced in my researches I became master of certain combinations in the heavens which rendered portions of the sacred writings celestially intelligible. Without being aware I had stumbled on results * Vide Letter to H. M., dated Scopwick Vicarage, 4 Oct., 1849. depending on Median and Persian Laws. Imperceptibly those Median and Persian Laws perfected themselves, but the rules for their construction long remained unknown to me. Multitudes have attempted to prove that the Bible cannot be true, and at one time I doubted its veracity, but now I not only became convinced of the truth of the sacred volume, but am in a position to prove every word to be true according to heavenly laws, which never alter. In the year 1864 an esteemed friend, Bro. W. N. Crawford, to whom I had entrusted a few MS. pages of my work on Cosmogony, read the papers before the Archæological Society in Paris. His doing so was to me most fortunate, for it led to an introduction to Mrs. General Lane, of Franc Fief, Jersey,† whose powerful mind at once induced her to believe that a new and extensive field of investigation might be opened by interpreting the sacred celestial mysteries of the Eastern nations. Although residing in the antipodes to each other, I soon found I had gained a sincere supporter in Mrs. Lane, and happy am I now to record that I also found her endowed with a master mind. I found that my new friend would not condemn discoveries because antagonistical to fashionable creeds; nor would Mrs. Lane disparage reasonable theories merely because they were not in accordance with modern European parrot-taught scholastic philosophy. From our introduction I have received from her continual assistance in preparing this work for publication. At the suggestion of my friends I again came to England in 1866, for the purpose of bringing my discoveries in an improved state before the Grand Lodge, it being considered that the sacred truths should be retained by the Order to whom they properly belonged. This time I applied to a gentleman and a scholar, although a Mason. I applied to the then Deputy Grand Master of England, but without success, as Earl de Grey and Ripon decided, See Galignani's Messenger, 9th March, 1864, headed "Speculative Astronomy." + The General and Lady had long resided in India, and Mrs. Lane is well versed in Oriental literature. "I have received your two letters of the 20th May and 3rd June, and have conferred with Brother McIntyre upon the subject to which they relate. "It appears to me that the questions on which you have been in communication with Brother McIntyre, however interesting in themselves, lie beyond the scope of ordinary Masonry, to which alone I have leisure to devote my attention, and I regret, therefore, to say that it will not be in my power to enter further into the subject with you. "I remain, "Yours fraternally, "DE GREY." I concluded that, as a rule, in this enlightened age a bishop must know what are sacred mysteries better than can an ordinary curate, and that a Deputy Grand Master must know more of the lost mysteries of Masonry than an ordinary R or RA Companion. Subsequently, in 1869, I endeavoured, in the Freemasons' Magazine, to excite the curiosity of the brethren by indirect reference to the mysteries, in the hope of awakening or regenerating the dormant science, but I only aroused a set of masonic scorpions.* Suffering in health, I again left England, but Mrs. Lane, with unabated interest in my discoveries, was kind enough ultimately to procure for Bro. F. Tennyson and myself an interview with the Duke of Leinster, the Grand Master of Ireland-it was the last * On a late occasion, at an encampment of Knights Templars, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales stated that "he had to make an agreeable announcement. They were all aware that the Queen was the patroness of Craft Masonry, and he had Her Majesty's permission to state now that she would be the patroness of their order (Templars).” expiring hope, and if that failed no other course remained than the publication of the mysteries. We came to London and met the Grand Master, and in justice to his Grace it must be said that he expressed himself most anxious that the discoveries should be properly inquired into, and, as will be seen by the correspondence hereafter set forth, a "Special Irish Committee" was appointed, consisting of the Deputy Grand Master, the Hon. Judge Townsend, and George Chatterton, Esq.; and by this Committee, as will be seen, we have been treated with silent contempt, proving clearly, to my mind, that men may become very exalted Masons without necessarily becoming fraternal. And now, |