The Master Masons
Is Freemasonry a Phoenician institution?
Researchers have had difficulty in tracing the precise origins of Freemasonry, with numerous theories being advanced. In his 1903 book, Egyptian Mysteries and Modern Freemasonry, American historian Henry Ridgely Evans begins with the usual suspects:
“A hundred or more works have been written to prove that Freemasonry is the lineal descendant of the Mysteries. Similar claims have been made in favour of the following systems or sects: 1. The Pythagoreans, 2. The Essenes, 3. The Roman Collegia, 4. The Culdees, 5. The Druids, 6. The Knights Templars, 7. The Rosicrucians, 8. The Mediaeval Cathedral Builders.”1
But is there sufficient evidence to show that the symbols and rituals of Freemasonry are in fact a legacy of the ancient Phoenician mysteries?
In The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly P. Hall, this exact claim is disclosed; “John Leylande was appointed by King Henry VIII to go through the archives of the various religious institutions dissolved by the king and remove for preservation…