Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/828

 MASONRY 772 MA80NBT

and recommended by responsible members of the craft, of the Grand Lodge of England, 24 June, 1717, and iti

as stated in the bibliography appended to this article, essential orcanization was completed in 1722 by the

" It is the opprobrimn of Freemasonry", says Mackey adoption of the new '* Book of Ccmstitutions " and of

(Encycl(^>edia, 296), "that its history has never yet the three degrees:— apprentice, fellow, master. All the

been written in a spirit of critical truth; that credulity ablest and most conscientious investi^tions by compe-

. . . has been the foundation on which all masonic his- tent Masonic historians show, that in 1717 the old lodges

torical investigations have been built,. . . that the had almost ceased to exist. The new lodges began as

missing links of a chain of evidence have been fre- convivial societies, and their characteristic Masonic

quently supplied by gratuitous invention and that spirit developed but slowly. This spirit, finally, as

statements of vast importance have been carelessly sus- exhibited in the new constitutions was in contradic-

tained by the testimony of documents whose authen- tion to that which animated the earlier Masons. These

ticityhas not been proved.'' "The historical portion of facts prove that modern Masonry is not, as Gould

old records", he adds, "as written by Anderson, Pres- (History, II, 2, 121), Hughan (A. Q. C.» X, 128) and

ton. Smith, Calcott and otherwriters of that generation, Mackev (Encyclopedia, 296 so.) contend, a revival of

was little more than a<collection of fables, so absurd as the older system, out rather tnat it is a new order of

to excite the smile of every reader" (Chr., 1890, II, no greater antiquity than the first quarter of the eight-

145). The germs of nearly all these fantastic theories eenth century.

are contained in Anderson's "The Constitutions of III. Fundamental Principles and Spirit. — Free Masons" (1723, 1738) which makes Freemasonry There have been many controversies among Masons coextensive with geometry and the arts based on it* as to the essential points of Masonrv. English-speak- insinuates that God, the Great Architect, founded ing Masons style them "landmarks", a term taken Freemasonry, and that it had for patrons, Adam, the from Deut., xix, 14. and signifying " the boundaries Patriarchs, the kings and philosophers of old. Even of Masonic freedom", or the unalterable Umits within Jesus Christ is included in the list as Grand Master of which all Masons have to confine themselves. Mackey the Christian Church. Masonry is credited with the (3, 17-39) specifies no less than twenty-five land- building of Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, the Pvra- marks. The same number is adopted by Whitehead mids, and Solomon's Temple. Subsequent authors (Chr.. 1878, I, 187. 194 sqq.) " as the pith of the re- find the origin of Masonry in the Egyptian, Dionysiac, searcnes of the ablest masonic writers". The prin- Eleusinian, Mithraic, and Druidic mysteries; in sects cipal of them are: the method of recognition by secret and schools such as the Pythagoreans, Essenes, Cul- signs, words, grips, steps, etc.; the three degrees in- dees, Zoroastrians, and Gnostics; in the Evangelical cludingtheKoyai Arch; the Hiram legend of the third societies that preceded the Reformation; in the orders degree; the proper "tiling" of the lodge against of knighthood (Johannites, Templars); among the "raining" and "snowing", i.e., against male and fe- alchemists, Rosicrucians, and Cabbalists; in Chinese male "cowans", or eavesdroppers, i.e., profane in- and Arabic secret societies. It is claimed also that truders; the right of eveiy regular Mason to visit every Pythagoras founded the Druidic institution and hence regular lodge in the world; a belief in the existence of that Masonrv probaUv existed in England 500 years God and in future life; the Volume of the Sacred Law; before the Christian Era. Some authors, considering equality of Masons in the lodge; secrecy; symboli- geological finds as Masonic emblems, trace Masonry to cal method of teaching; inviolability of landmarks ttie Miocene (?) Period (Donnelly, "Atlantis the Ante- (Mackey, "Jurisprudence", 17-39; Chr., 1878, 1, 194 diluvian World"); while others pretend that Masonic sqq.; 1888, I, 11). In truth there is no authority in science "existed before the creation of this globe, dif- Freemasonry to constitute such "unchangeable" fused amidst the numerous systems with which the landmarks or fundamental laws. Strictly judicially, erand empyreum of universal space is furnished " even the " Old Charges ", which, according to Ander- (Oliver, I, 20, sq.). son's " Constitutions ", contain the unchangeal^le laws, It is not then difiicult to understand that the at- have a legal obligatoiy character only as far as they tempt to prove the antiquity of Freemasonry with are inserted in the "Book of Constitution" of each evidence supplied by such monuments of the past as Grand Lodge (Fischer, I, 14 sq.; Groddeck, 1 sqc)., 91 the Pjrramios and the Obelisk (removed to New York sqq.; " Handbuch", 3rd ed., II, 154). But practicaUy in 1879) should have resulted in an extensive litera- there exist certain characteristics which are univer- ture concerning these objects (Chr., 1880, I, 148; II, sally considered as essential. Such are the funda- 139; 1884, II, 130; Gruber, 5, 122-128). Though mental principles described in the first and sixth arti- many intellijgent Masons regard these claims as base- cles of the "Old Charges" concerning religion, in the less, the majority of the craft (see, for instance, "llie texts of the first two ^glish editions (1723 and 1738) Voice" of Chica^, Chr., 1885, I, 226) still accept the of Anderson's "Constitutions". These texts, thou^ statement contamed in the "Chaige" after initiation: differing slightly, are identical as to their essential "Ancient no doubt it is, having subsisted from time tenor. That of 1723, as the original text^ restored by immemorial. In everv age monarchs [American rit- the Grand Lodge of England in the editions of the uals: "the greatest and best men of all ages"] have been "Constitutions", 1756-1813, and inserted later in the promoters of the art, have not thought it aerogatorv " Books of Constitutions " of nearly all the other to their dignity to exchange the sceptre for the trowel. Grand Lodges, is the most authoritative; but the text have participated in our mvsteries and joined in our of 1738, which was adopted and used for a long fime assemolies" (En^ish ritual, 1908, almost identictd by many Grand Lodges, is also of great importance in with other English, Irish, Scottish, and American itself and as a further illustration of the text of 1723. rituals). It is true that in earlier times gentlemen In the latter, the first article of the "Old Charges" who were neither operative masons nor architects, the containing the fundamental law and the essence of so-called geomatic Masons (see Gould, " Hist.", 1, 408, modern Freemasonry runs (the text is given exactly 473, etc.) joined with the ooerative, or domatic, as printed in the original, 1723): — I. Concerning Goa Masons in their lodges, observea ceremonies of admis- ana Religion, A Mason is obhged by his Tenure, to flion, and had their signs of recognition. But this obey the moral law; and if he rightljr imderstands the Masonry is by no means the "speculative" Masonry of Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist [Gothic letters] modern times, i. «., a systematic method of teaching nor an irreli^ous Libertine [Gothic letters]. But moralitv by means of such symbols according to the though in ancient times Masons were charged in every principles of modern Freemasonry after 1723. As the coimtry to be of the religion of that country or nation, best German authorities admit ("Handbuch ", 3rd ed., whatever it was, vet 'tb now thou^t more expedient I, 321; Begemann, " Vorgeschichte, etc.", 1909, I, 1 only to oblige them to that rehgion in which all iqq.), speculative Masonry began with the foundation men agree, mving their particular Opiniona to them*