the date of 1330 to have been a
- Dr. Mackey confirms this assertion, Lexicon of Freemasonry, p. 304.
- Étoile Flamboyante, I. pp. 18-20.
- The same theory that Freemasonry originated in Palestine as a system of protection for the Christian faith is given almost verbatim in the instructions to the candidate for initiation into the degree of "Prince of the Royal Secret" published in Monitor of Freemasonry (Chicago, 1860), where it is added that "the brethren assembled round the tomb of Hiram, is a representation of the disciples lamenting the death of Christ on the Cross." Weishaupt, founder of the eighteenth-century Illuminati, also showed--although in a spirit of mockery--how easily the legend of Hiram could be interpreted in this manner, and suggested that at the periods when