the original Grand Lodge of Freemasonry, from which charters were
issued for the organization of subordinate lodges in all the principal
cities throughout the Roman Empire.

Becoming cognizant of the true object of Freemasonry, the Hierarchy of
the Church of Rome resolved to suppress the order, and to that end
maintained such a strict espionage upon its members that, no longer
able to assemble in their lodges, they determined to defend themselves
by an appeal to arms, and gathering together in strongholds, for a long
time successfully resisted the armies of the church; but ultimately,
being almost exterminated, the residue disbanded, and we hear no more
of Freemasonry, as a secret order, until the conclusion of the Dark
Ages, when the Reformation, making it possible, a form of the order,
recognizing Christianity, was revived among the Protestants; but the
Church of Rome, true to her traditions, has never ceased to hurl
anathemas against it and all other secret societies outside of her own
body. Thus, having made it apparent that Freemasonry, as primarily
instituted, was but a perpetuation of the temple form of Astral
worship, we can readily see that, while some of its symbols are as old
as the ancient Egyptian religion, it did not, as a secret order, take
its rise until Christian persecution made it necessary. Hence it cannot
justly lay claim to a greater antiquity than the fifth century of the
Christian era.

According to Masonic annals a Grand Lodge was organized at York,
England, early in the tenth century, but, like the lodges of Southern
Europe, was suppressed by the Church of Rome. In 1717 a Grand Lodge was
organized at London, England, and soon afterwards the old Grand Lodge
at York was revived, and its members took the name of Free and Accepted
Ancient York Masons, from which emanated the charter of the Grand Lodge