Part 9 (1/2)

5

ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY

”The origin of Freemasonry,” says a masonic writer of the eighteenth century, ”is known to Freemasons alone.”[265] If this was once the case, it is so no longer, for, although the question would certainly appear to be one on which the initiated should be most qualified to speak, the fact is that no official theory on the origin of Freemasonry exists; the great ma.s.s of the Freemasons do _not_ know or care to know anything about the history of their Order, whilst Masonic authorities are entirely disagreed on the matter. Dr. Mackey admits that ”the origin and source whence first sprang the inst.i.tution of Freemasonry has given rise to more difference of opinion and discussion among masonic scholars than any other topic in the literature of the inst.i.tution.”[266] Nor is this ignorance maintained merely in books for the general public, since in those specially addressed to the Craft and at discussions in lodges the same diversity of opinion prevails, and no decisive conclusions appear to be reached. Thus Mr. Albert Churchward, a Freemason of the thirtieth degree, who deplores the small amount of interest taken in this matter by Masons in general, observes:

Hitherto there have been so many contradictory opinions and theories in the attempt to supply the origin and the reason whence, where, and why the Brotherhood of Freemasonry came into existence, and all the ”different parts” and various rituals of the ”different degrees.” All that has been written on this has. .h.i.therto been _theories_, without any facts for their fundation.[267]

In the absence, therefore, of any origin universally recognized by the Craft, it is surely open to the lay mind to speculate on the matter and to draw conclusions from history as to which of the many explanations put forward seems to supply the key to the mystery.

According to the _Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia_, no less than twelve theories have been advanced as to the origins of the Order, namely, that Masonry derived:

”(1) From the patriarchs. (2) From the mysteries of the pagans. (3) From the construction of Solomon's Temple, (4) From the Crusades. (5) From the Knights Templar. (6) From the Roman Collegia of Artificers. (7) From the operative masons of the Middle Ages. (8) From the Rosicrucians of the sixteenth century. (9) From Oliver Cromwell. (10) From Prince Charles Stuart for political purposes. (11) From Sir Christopher Wren, at the building of St. Paul's. (12) From Dr. Desaguliers and his friends in 1717.”

This enumeration is, however, misleading, for it implies that in _one_ of these various theories the true origin of Freemasonry may be found.

In reality modern Freemasonry is a dual system, a blend of two distinct traditions--of operative masonry, that is to say the actual art of building, and of speculative theory on the great truths of life and death. As a well-known Freemason, the Count Goblet d'Alviella, has expressed it: ”Speculative Masonry” (that is to say, the dual system we now know as Freemasonry) ”is the legitimate offspring of a fruitful union between the professional guild of mediaeval Masons and of a secret group of philosophical Adepts, the first having furnished the form and the second the spirit.”[268] In studying the origins of the present system we have therefore (1) to examine separately the history of each of these two traditions, and (2) to discover their point of junction.

Operative Masonry

Beginning with the first of these two traditions, we find that guilds of working masons existed in very ancient times. Without going back as far as ancient Egypt or Greece, which would be beyond the scope of the present work, the course of these a.s.sociations may be traced throughout the history of Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era.

According to certain masonic writers, the Druids originally came from Egypt and brought with them traditions relating to the art of building.

The _Culdees_, who later on established schools and colleges in this country for the teaching of arts, sciences, and handicrafts, are said to have derived from the Druids.

But a more probable source of inspiration in the art of building are the Romans, who established the famous collegia of architects referred to in the list of alternative theories given in the _Masonic Cyclopaedia_.

Advocates of the Roman Collegia origin of Freemasonry might be right as far as operative masonry is concerned, for it is to the period following on the Roman occupation of Britain that our masonic guilds can with the greatest degree of certainty be traced. Owing to the importance the art of building now acquired it is said that many distinguished men, such as St. Alban, King Alfred, King Edwin, and King Athelstan, were numbered amongst its patrons,[269] so that in time the guilds came to occupy the position of privileged bodies and were known as ”free corporations”; further that York was the first masonic centre in England, largely under the control of the Culdees, who at the same period exercised much influence over the Masonic Collegia in Scotland, at Kilwinning, Melrose, and Aberdeen.[270]

But it must be remembered that all this is speculation. No doc.u.mentary evidence has ever been produced to prove the existence of masonic guilds before the famous York charter of A.D. 936, and even the date of this doc.u.ment is doubtful. Only with the period of Gothic architecture do we reach firm ground. That guilds of working masons known in France as ”Compagnonnages” and in Germany as ”Steinmetzen” did then form close corporations and possibly possess secrets connected with their profession is more than probable. That, in consequence of their skill in building the magnificent cathedrals of this period, they now came to occupy a privileged position seems fairly certain.

The Abbe Grandidier, writing from Strasbourg in 1778, traces the whole system of Freemasonry from these German guilds: ”This much-vaunted Society of Freemasons is nothing but a servile imitation of an ancient and useful _confrerie_ of real masons whose headquarters was formerly at Strasbourg and of which the const.i.tution was confirmed by the Emperor Maximilian in 1498.”[271]

As far as it is possible to discover from the scanty doc.u.mentary evidence the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries provide, the same privileges appear to have been accorded to the guilds of working masons in England and Scotland, which, although presided over by powerful n.o.bles and apparently on occasion admitting members from outside the Craft, remained essentially operative bodies. Nevertheless we find the a.s.semblies of Masons suppressed by Act of Parliament in the beginning of the reign of Henry VI, and later on an armed force sent by Queen Elizabeth to break up the Annual Grand Lodge at York. It is possible that the fraternity merely by the secrecy with which it was surrounded excited the suspicions of authority, for nothing could be more law-abiding than its published statutes. Masons were to be ”true men to G.o.d and the Holy Church,” also to the masters that they served.

They were to be honest in their manner of life and ”to do no villainy whereby the Craft or the Science may be slandered.”[272]

Yet the seventeenth-century writer Plot, in his _Natural History of Staffords.h.i.+re_, expresses some suspicion with regard to the secrets of Freemasonry. That these could not be merely trade secrets relating to the art of building, but that already some speculative element had been introduced to the lodges, seems the more probable from the fact that by the middle of the seventeenth century not only n.o.ble patrons headed the Craft, but ordinary gentlemen entirely unconnected with building were received into the fraternity. The well-known entry in the diary of Elias Ashmole under the date of October 16, 1646, clearly proves this fact: ”I was made a Freemason at Warrington in Lancas.h.i.+re with Col. Henry Mainwaring of Karticham [?] in Ches.h.i.+re. The names of those that were then of the Lodge, Mr. Rich. Penket, Warden, Mr. James Collier, Mr.

Rich. Sankey, Henry Littler, John Ellam, Rich. Ellam and Hugh Brewer.”[273]

”It is now ascertained,” says Yarker, ”that the majority of the members present were not operative masons.”[274]

Again, in 1682 Ashmole relates that he attended a meeting held at Mason Hall in London, where with a number of other gentlemen he was admitted into ”the Fellows.h.i.+p of the Freemasons,” that is to say, into the second degree. We have then clear proof that already in the seventeenth century Freemasonry had ceased to be an a.s.sociation composed exclusively of men concerned with building, although eminent architects ranked high in the Order; Inigo Jones is said to have been Grand Master under James I, and Sir Christopher Wren to have occupied the same position from about 1685 to 1702. But it was not until 1703 that the Lodge of St. Paul in London officially announced ”that the privileges of Masonry should no longer be restricted to operative Masons, but extended to men of various professions, provided they were regularly approved and initiated into the Order.”[275]

This was followed in 1717 by the great _coup d'etat_ when Grand Lodge was founded, and Speculative Masonry, which we now know as Freemasonry, was established on a settled basis with a ritual, rules, and const.i.tution drawn up in due form. It is at this important date that the official history of Freemasonry begins.

But before pursuing the course of the Order through what is known as the ”Grand Lodge Era,” it is necessary to go back and enquire into the origins of the philosophy that was now combined with the system of operative masonry. This is the point on which opinions are divided and to which the various theories summarized in the _Masonic Cyclopcaedia_ relate. Let us examine each of these in turn.

Speculative Masonry