This, however, is not the end of the matter. Yet other historical
testimonies are alleged--the Temple cultus in Freemasonry, the "Jewish
Ritual" of the Order, and the direct activities of Jews in its
anti-monarchical and anti-Christian machinations.
(_a_) The first of these arguments may best be judged by the
_Morning Post's_ own witnesses. Whether Freemasonry was or was
not derived from the Templars and whether or not the Templars
became infected with Jewish ideas transmitted through the
Assassins, nothing is more certain than that the founders of
Templarism established their Order on the Temple cultus long
before they could have known anything of the Assassins, and
while they were still impeccable Knights of the Cross. Hence, if
the Freemasons took the Temple from them, it was innocent of
Jewishness. But Robison--one of the main authorities of the
_Morning Post_--will not even have it that the Freemasons were
indebted to the Templars, much less to the Jews. He states that
the theory, and even the Temple cultus, were unknown to
Freemasonry before 1743, when they were introduced to them for
the first time by the Jacobite, Andrew Ramsay.[12]
(_b_) The so-called "Jewish Ritual" of Masonry is equally a
delusion, as the _Morning Post_ could have found out for itself,
had it taken the trouble to consult somebody who knows Hebrew
and Hebrew literature. The grammatical forms and the
transliteration of the limited number of Hebrew words found in
the Masonic rituals prove conclusively their non-Jewish origin.
The legendary matter, too, has but few traces of Jewish
_provenance_, and is clearly not due to Jewish redaction. If the
rituals were Jewish, one might expect to find parallel passages
in the Hebrew Prayer-Book and similar literature, but nothing of
the kind is discoverable. It is really remarkable that Jews had
nothing to do--and indeed, I believe, never have had anything to
do--with the composition of the Masonic rituals, seeing that the
lodges, in this country, at least, have always been open to
them, and at an early date learned Jews were interested in them
and possibly joined them; but so it is. The true explanation of
the Hebrew elements in Freemasonry, as in Templarism, is that
both borrowed from the Old Testament, as a Christian document.
(_c_) As for the activities of Jews in the anti-monarchical and
anti-Christian machinations of Masonry, the answer is that
orthodox Masonry has never been anti-monarchical or
anti-Christian, and if there have been spurious lodges open to
this reproach, and if orthodox lodges have been improperly used
for this purpose, they were, at any rate, free of the added
reproach of Jewish control or inspiration. The only evidence on
this head cited by the _Morning Post_--or, rather, by Mrs.
Webster on its behalf--is that a Jew known by the nickname of
Piccolo Tigre issued a scandalously anti-social manifesto to the
Piedmontese Alta Vendita in 1822, and that he was abetted by
"others of his race."[13] We are not told who these "others"
were, nor even what Piccolo Tigre's real name was. If Mrs.
Webster does not know his name, how can she know that he was a
Jew? The answer is that she got the story from Gougenot des
Mousseaux, but even he naively admits that he never knew who
Piccolo Tigre was.[14] And yet he is positive he was a Jew. This
is typical of all the _Morning Post's_ evidence.