What is a Mason? He is a man who in his heart
has been duly and truly prepared, has been found worthy and well qualified, has
been admitted to the fraternity of builders and travel in foreign lands in
search of that which was lost. A Word.
"In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God and the Word was God." (John 1:1) Here then is the
eternal paradox. The Word is lost, yet it is forever with us. The light that
illuminates the distant horizon shines in our hearts. "Thou would'st not seek
me hadst thou not found me." "That which we seek lives in our
souls." We travel afar only to find that which we hunger for at home.
Freemasonry, is not a religion, but it is
essentially religious. Most of its legends are of a sacred nature; much of it
is woven into the structure of Christianity. A religion is a divinely inspired
code of morals. A religious person is one inspired to living by this code. He
is identified by the code, which is his source of illumination. Each religion
that seek to unfold and preserve that invisible spark in man named SPIRIT, are
said to be spiritual.
That which gives man a knowledge of himself
can be inspired only by the Self and God is the Self in all things. In truth,
He is the inspiration and the thing inspired. It has been stated in scripture
that God was the Word and that the Word was made flesh. Man's task now is to
make flesh reflect the glory of that Word, which is within the soul of himself.
It is this task which has created the need of religion, not one faith alone but
many creeds, each searching in its own way, each meeting the needs of
individual people, each emphasizing one point above all the others.
Most of the religions of the world are like
processions: some lead and many follow. Man follows in his search for truth and
illumination. The Christian follows the gentle Nazarene up the winding slopes
of Calvary. The Buddhist follows his great emancipator through his wanderings
in the wilderness. The Muslim makes his pilgrimage across the desert sands to
the black tent at Mecca. Many travel in confusion to enter their own sanctuary
to find Truth and light.
Man is climbing an
endless flight of steps, with his eyes fixed upon the goal at the top. Many
cannot see the goal, and only one or two steps are visible before them. He has
learned, however, one great lesson, namely, that as he builds his own character
he is given strength to climb the steps. Hence a Mason is a builder of the
temple of character. He realizes that he best serves God when he joins with the
Great Architect in building more noble structures in the universe below. All
who are attempting to attain mastery through constructive efforts are Masons at
heart, regardless of religious sect or belief. The Masonic brother pledges
himself to assist all other temple-builders in whatever endeavors he may
choose. Freemasonry is a philosophy,
which is essentially creedless. It is the truer for it. Its brothers bow to
truth regardless of the bearer; they serve light, instead of wrangling over the
one who brings it. In this way they prove that they are seeking to know better
the will and the dictates of the Invincible One.
According to the legends contained in the
rituals of Freemasonry, the origins of the Masonic fraternity date from the
construction of the Temple of King Solomon, as described in the Bible The
undertaking was so vast that a new form of organization was required to ensure
that the Temple was completed in a timely and correct fashion, and this led to
the development of organization of the stonemasons and architects into various
grades and classes with responsibilities as described in the rituals.
Many of the characters mentioned in the books
of Kings and Chronicles in the Hebrew Scriptures are encountered in the context
of various degrees of Masonry; they include King Solomon himself, Hiram (King
of Tyre, who supplied many of the materials, especially cedar wood, used to
construct the temple), Hiram Abiff, and others.
Some of the degrees of the Scottish Rite and
other now-defunct degrees date to even earlier periods and other cultures, such
as the times of the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness (Book of Numbers)
and the mythologies of the Ancient Egyptians, as well as the immediate
postdiluvian period of the sons of Noah.
Although some Masonic brothers may take the
ritual to be historical truth, there are no true Masonic authorities who give
any credence to an actual organization of Masons in ancient times.
What is known is that there were fraternal
organizations of the ancient world, both among the pagans and among the
Hebrews. In the former case, the organizations were generally connected with
the so called mysteries, of which the Eleusinian Mysteries were among the best known. The most prominent example
of the latter is the group known as the Pharisees.
The Mysteries had rites of initiation,
division into lesser and greater mysteries, with trials to be passed before
receiving knowledge, and secrets to be concealed. The secrets of these
Mysteries were kept well enough that later ages can only guess at what some of
them were. It is possible that knowledge of the nature of the Mysteries was in
the hands of the founders of the Masonic order and gave form to some of the
present-day structure of Masonry
The Pharisees did not have concealed
knowledge, but they did have limitations on membership and addressed one
another as "chaver" cha VER), analogous to the usage of Brother or
Companion in today's Freemasonry. New members were also required to take an
oath to obey the Commandments and the Law in the presence of three
members. The Pharisees are viewed quite
different by adherents to Judaism than by Christians; to the latter the term
"Pharisee" is given an extremely negative connotation, nearly
synonymous with hypocrite. To the Jew,
the Pharisaic structure is essentially that which constitutes Judaism of the
past 2000 years; the Pharisees were seen as the group that prevented the
religion from becoming extinct with the final destruction of the Temple at
Jerusalem. A full exploration of the historical circumstances for this
divergence of opinion is beyond the scope of this document.
However, some knowledge of Pharisaic
practices may have been available to the founders of Masonry; it is also
possible that there is only one really effective way to organize a fraternity,
and that that way has been persistently and independently discovered
repeatedly.
The Mediaeval Period
The generally accepted origin of
Freemasonry, until recently, has been in the stonemason's guilds of the Middle Ages. The tern "free" in Freemason indicated that the Mason was not
bound to the land as a serf, or otherwise restricted as in villeinage or
socage, but was free to travel about the country, as was necessary for one
whose trade might require construction in many different locations. This was
remarkable in an age when almost no one traveled more than twenty miles from
his home during his entire lifetime
Masons in the Middle Ages
constructed many edifices, but particular attention has always focused on the
great cathedrals built during that period. In order to construct such marvels,
it was necessary to have considerable education in the principles of geometry,
arithmetic, and engineering, and the guild of stonemasons, including the
architects, became one of the few repositories of learning outside the clergy.
As the wave of cathedral building
ebbed and the Renaissance began, it is supposed that the Freemasons of the time
sought to maintain their organizations by accepting into membership for
discussion of the philosophical and other knowledge of the Lodge, certain
gentlemen and members of the upper classes who were not actual workers in
stone. It is this process of acceptance, along with the original freedom, that
the term "Free and Accepted Masons" comes from. These lodges are then
supposed to have evolved into the modern, purely philosophical (or
"speculative," as the Masonic tern has it) Lodges.
However, two other theories of
the mediaeval origin of Freemasonry have recently been advanced. One, whose
best known advocate was the late John
Robinson (author of Born in Blood), suggests that the Masons were descendants
of the Knights Templar. The Templars were a powerful and wealthy order of
knights during the Crusades who were suppressed by the King of France and the
Pope during the early 14th century. Many Templars were put to death, but some
survived. Some of the Masonic degrees and orders deal with these events. It is
hypothesized that the former Templars preserved their fraternity by disguising
it in the form of Freemasonry.
An even more recent theory traces
the origin of Masonry not to the stonemason guilds, most of which appear to
have simply ceased to exist, rather than converting into speculative lodges,
but to persecuted Catholics of the conflict that raged in England during much
of the 17th century. Cyril Batham, of the famous Quatuor Coronati Research
Lodge in England, suggests that these individuals founded Lodges as a way to
preserve their contacts
while hiding from the Anglicans
during the various Jacobite upheavals. The lengthy hostility of the Catholic
Church to Freemasonry would appear to cast
doubt upon this thesis, but
Batham's reputation is so prodigious that his work deserves serious
consideration.
The Modern Period In Europe
The modern period of Freemasonry
dates from the founding of the first Grand Lodge on St. John's Day, 1717, in
London. Four "old lodges" gathered together at the Goose and Gridiron
Ale House and organized the first Grand Lodge.
The time was ripe for an
institution of free-thinkers such as Masonry to spread in the Western world.
The Enlightenment was beginning on the Continent, while England itself was
still in transition to a more liberal state, having cast off the
"divine-right" concept of monarchy with James II only a few years
previously; the insurrection of "The 15" was just past, with that of
"the 45" yet to come. The organizations of Masonry spread rapidly
from England to the Continent, particularly to France, Austria-Hungary, and the
Germanic states. Shortly, lodges would be organized in the New World as well.
Rival English Grand Lodges
The first Grand Lodge in England
was soon to be challenged by a rival organization. Some authors have termed
this a schism, but other recent scholarship claims that the rival Grand Lodge
originated from Lodges in other parts of tile British Isles, notably Ireland.
Whatever the case, the new organization sought to attract members by claiming
greater authenticity through the use of the term "Antient" as part of
their name. The Antient (or Ancient) Masons were also known as
"Athol" Masons, from the Duke of Athol being one of their early Grand
Masters.
Lodges in the New World
The Ancient and Modern Lodges in
England were eventually merged into one organization, the United Grand Lodge of
England, in 1813. By this time, however, both groups of Masons had been
chartering lodges in the New World. This fact accounts for the great diversity
of ritual content among the states in America, although the precise nature of
the ritual cannot be determined by examining whether a particular Grand Lodge
styles itself as "Ancient Free and Accepted Masons" or merely
"Free and Accepted Masons." There is considerable disagreement among
scholars as to what the various origins are, in fact, but it appears to this
author that the "Ancient" ritual is considerably briefer than the
"Modern" version; the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania probably has what
is closest to the pure Ancient ritual in use, while a number of states
near and along the northern
border of the US (e.g., Connecticut, Minnesota, Wisconsin) seen' to have the
most lengthy form of ritual A significant
difference among states is
whether the ritual is kept unwritten or whether a cipher of the ritual is
permitted to be used; the presence of a cipher indicates influence by the
Modern organization, although recent changes in the introduction of ciphers in
some jurisdictions have undermined this particular distinction. (Note that some
parts of the ritual, termed the monitorial or exoteric work, have always been
permitted to be printed.)
Lodges in the US
The first Lodges in the US were
chartered directly by Lodges or Grand Lodges in Britain; after awhile, however,
Lodges in the colonies would issue warrants to form new Lodges themselves and
eventually organized their own (Provincial, during the colonial period, but
independent later on) Grand Lodges. The first truly independent Grand Lodge in
America was organized by four Lodges meeting in Virginia. As each had been chartered by a different
Grand Lodge in other states, the resulting ritual was a mixture of that in use
in the other states. At the present time (1995), there is a Grand Lodge for
each of the 50 states, as well as one for the District of Columbia. That is a
fairly recent development; until just a few years ago, the Grand Lodge of
California had jurisdiction over the Lodges in Hawaii. The Grand Lodges in the
United States observed a custom of exclusive geographic jurisdiction (with some
few exceptions In Alaska); no Grand Lodge may charter Lodges in the territory
of another Grand Lodge. This custom does not prevail in other parts of the
world.
Masonry in Latin America
Masonry also reached Latin America
during the late 18th and early 19th century, despite opposition from conservative political
and religious elements. Their opposition was probably well founded, as a number
of the liberators of South America (e.g., Simon Bolivar)
were Freemasons.
Later American Masonic History
Masonry played a considerable
role in early American history. Many of the Founding Fathers were Masons (about
1/3 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and a like
proportion of those attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in
1787 were Masons), including Franklin and Washington. The tale that a Lodge
meeting was held and adjourned to organize the Boston Tea Party, however, is
entirely apocryphaL It is probable that some of those who dressed as Indians
and dumped tea overboard into the Boston Harbor were Masons, but the Lodge
itself was not used to program the event. There are tales of British troops
carefully presening American Masonic property during the Revolutionary War and
turning it over to proper Masonic authorities under a flag of truce.
Masony in America experienced a
considerable setback during the 1820's, when a period of Anti-Masonic sentiment
reached such a level as to have a candidate run for President on a platfom of
opposition to the Lodge. During that period, many Masonic bodies turned in
their charters and ceased to exist. The uproar stemmed from a fraudulent claim that Masons had executed a turncoat brother in New York for exposing the secrets of the Lodge.
Like the Know-nothings and anti-Catholic fever of a few years later, the
fanaticism passed from the scene, but it was some time before Masonic bodies
returned to their former prominence.
During the American Civil War, Masons fought on both sides, but there are many tales of battlefield kindness
rendered to a Brother found wearing a uniform of the other color, as well as
stories of prisoners of war allowed to attend Lodge on parole, or Masonic
funerals conducted for a fallen enemy soldier.
Masonry played an important role
in the social life of a significant number of Americans throughoot the later
19th and early 2Oth centuries Most prominent members of society were also
members of the Lodge, and often, Lodge events were the lion's share of what
constituted entertainment in manv small towns. Other fraternal organizations
arose to compete with the Masons, such as the Grange, the Elks, the Moose, and
the Odd Fellows. Masonic charity nipported many through hard times, long before
the invention of the social safety net in the 1930s.
Membership in the Masonic
fraternity reached a peak in the late 1950s and has been declining since that
time. Similar phenomena have affected other fraternal organizations, as well as
business clubs, churches, and the like. There are a member of explanations
advanced for this decline, such as the rise of mass forms of entertainment
available in the home, the greater demands of the work and commuting
environment, and so on. No one has a certain answer of how the decline may be
reversed, but it seems that the prominent role that the Lodge played in the
social structure of many towns and urban areas is not likely to be seen again
until the overall social structure of the United States changes back to a more
outward orientation. Surveys currently show that many American men are simply
unaware of the existence of the Masonic fraternity but might he interested in
joining an organization of its description; fifty or more years ago, there was
virtually no one unaware of the nature of the Lodge.
African-American
Freemasonry
Prince Hall is recognized as the Father of Black Masonry in the United
States. He made it possible for us to be recognized and enjoy all the
privileges of free and accepted masonry. Many rumors of the birth of Prince
Hall have arisen. Few records and papers have been found of him either in
Barbados where it was rumored he was born, but no record of birth, by church,
or state has been found there, and none in Boston. One wildly circulated rumor
states that "Prince Hall was free born in the British West Indies. His
Father, Thomas Prince Hall was an Englishman and his mother a free colored woman
of French extraction. In 1765 he worked his passage on a ship to Boston, where
he worked as a leather worker, a trade learned from his father. Eight year
later he became a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) with
a charge in Cambridge, "This account paraphrased from the widely discredit
Grimshaw book of 1903, is suspect in many areas.
Black Freemasonry began when Prince Hall and fourteen other free Black
men were initiated into Lodge No.441, Irish Constitution, attached to the 38th Regiment
of Foot, British Army Garrisoned at Castle Williams (now Fort Independence)
Boston Harbor on March 1775. The Master of the Lodge was Sergeant John Batt.
Along with Prince Hall, the other newly made masons were Cyrus Johnson, Bueston
Slinger, Prince Rees, John Canton, Peter Freeman, Benjamin Tiler, Duff Ruformm,
Thomas Santerson, Prince Rayden, Cato Speain, Boston Smith, Peter Best, Forten
Howard and Richard Titley.
When the British Army left Boston, this Lodge No.441 gianted Prince Hall
and his brethren authority to meet as a lodge, to go in procession on St. Johns
Day and as a Lodge to bury their dead; but they could not confer degrees nor
perlorni any other Masonic "work " nine years these brethren enjoyed
their limited privileges as Masons.
Finally in March 1784 Prince Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England,
through a Worshipful Master of a subordinate Lodge in London (William Moody of
Brotherly Love Lodge No.55) for a warrant or charter. The Warrant to African
Lodge No 1 of Boston is the most significant and highly prize document known to
the Prince Hall Masonic Fraternity. Through it our legitimacy is traced, and on
it our case rests. It was granted on September 29 1784 delivered, Boston
on April 29, 1787 By Captain James Scott, brother-in-law of John Hancock.
International Free and Accepted Masons and Order of the Eastern Star was
first Incorporated as a religious fraternity in 1950 by our founder the Rev.
Dr. William V. Banks, and today is the largest international Masonic fraternity
known in the country. There are over 1 million members and their families
making up our total membership.
International Masons is a professional fraternal order. Its first purpose is to guide new members in
carrying out an obligation of self-discipline, to become better members of
society. To provide an educational
program to impart the latest proceedings and moral practices, and foster such
knowledge, understanding, and unity as well as afford you the greatest help and
protection while you are carrying out the part of a leader of your society.
International Masons
provide the millions of dollars in capital to construct the 1st Black owned
Television and Radio station in the city of Detroit. International Masons have operated a school to train leadership
among our people throughout the country.
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