62 



"Rush-bearings," and other annual village feasts, hardly quite 

 extinct even now. 



Under such a policy as that of Gregory the Great, no wonder 

 that the old veneration for the east as the point to which prayer 

 should be directed should not only be allowed, but in accordance 

 with the same feeling coming from the Latin churches, be firmly 

 established, and the principle of orientation become universal. 



We sometimes hear the opinion hazarded that it is to the 

 Crusaders' veneration for the east, as the position of Jerusalem, we 

 owe the eastward position of churches ; we have seen, however, 

 that the principle of orientation was fixed centuries before the 

 Crusades took place. Besides, Jerusalem is not east, but south- 

 east, of England ; and the famous Temple Church in London 

 built by the Knights Templars, does not point south-east to Jeru- 

 salem, but is set ten degrees north of the true east; clearly 

 proving that the Knights Templars did not regard the geographical 

 eastward position of Jerusalem in placing their church, but set it 

 to the typical east, as indicated by the rising sun. 



In the building of a superior class of churches — whether these 

 were monastic, cathedral, or parochial — the highest constructive 

 talent was employed, and that was found amongst the various lodges 

 of Freemasons. Freemasonry then was by no means identical with 

 the society bearing that name at the present time ; the old free- 

 masons were the hard thinkers and workers of their time ; with 

 them lay the mysteries and secrets of constructive art, which they 

 guarded with the most vigilent care from the uninitiated. I have 

 no doubt, however, that these secrets related principally to only 

 such technical knowledge of science and art as any studious youth, 

 any builder's apprentice, may now acquire if he is so disposed. 



That one of the freemason's secrets was the knowledge of how 

 to fix the true eastern orientation of a church, may, I think, be 

 inferred from the fact that generally the superior churches are set 

 as near as may be true east. It may also be inferred from a 

 curious event well authenticated, that in the eleventh century a 

 certain Bishop of Utrecht was killed by the father of a young free- 

 mason from whom the prelate had extracted "the mystery of laying 



