In preparing this work it has been my chief aim to give to the Masonic reader a brief, concise and interesting documentary compilation of the origin of Freemasonry and Knights Templar. The authorities consulted have been those of the world's best historians and Masonic writers.

In this brief history all historical facts, chronological dates, and documentary evidence have been taken from such works as Ridpath's History of the World, Joseph Francis Michaud's History of the Crusades, English and American Encyclopedias, Biblical History, Masonic Encyclopedias by Albert G. Mackey, M.- D., Robert Macoy, 33, and George Oliver, D. D., with many other works of renown, and arranged in such form as to give to the reader the greatest amount of information in the least space, saving many hours of necessary labor in the research of a large number of volumes of dry and uninteresting reading, obtaining in the end only such results as one will find within this little volume.