Part I

. p. 14. It should be noted that no Mason who took part in the discussion brought evidence to show that it dated from before this period. Cf. _Freemasonry Before the Existence of Grand Lodges_ (1923), by Wor. Bro. Lionel Vibert, I.C.S., p. 135, where it is suggested that the Hiramic legend dates from an incident in one of the French building guilds in 1401.

[292] Yarker, op. cit., p. 348; Eckert, op. cit., II. 36.

[293] Eckert, op. cit., II. 28.

[294] "The Essenes, in common with other Syrian sects, possessed and adhered to the 'true principles' of Freemasonry."--Bernard H. Springett, _Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon_, p. 91.

[295] "The esoteric doctrine of the Judeo-Christian mysteries evidently penetrated into the masonic guilds (ateliers) only with the entry of the Templars after the destruction of their Order."--Eckert, op. cit., II. 28.

[296] _La Comtesse de Rudolstadt_, II. 185.

[297] Ragon, _Cours philosophique des Initiations_, p. 34.

[298] Mr. Sidney Klein in _Ars Quatuor Coronatorum_, XXXII.