The Beginnings
of Free and
Accepted Masonry
submitted by Bro Percy Aga
The Beginnings
of Free and
Accepted Masonry
By
The Ven. Archdeacon A.P. Hayes
PREFACE
At the request of many brethren, these lectures, delivered to the brethren of Ashlar and Perfection Lodges, Calgary, have been printed in the hopes that they may be found useful and instructive to a larger audience than that for which they' were prepared. The writer claims no originality for them, but has drawn freely from all sources of history within his reach. The lectures are but a synopsis of such works as Freke Gould's and Mackay's and are published in the hope of inducing readers to consult the larger works. He has been, as the reader will readily see, obliged to abridge, compress and epitomise, and has made only incidental reference to many interesting subjects, such as the Symbolism of Masonry, the Marks adopted by Craft Masons, etc. The plan was not to give a detailed account of Masonry, but to place before his hearers some of the principal points that mark the growth of an operative art into a speculative science.
It has not been thought necessary in such a sketch as this to quote authorities, but pains have been taken to make the account as accurate and impartial as possible. The writer wishes to express his great in debtedness and thanks to those writers of Masonic history, from the reading of whose monumental works he has derived pleasure and profit; also to W. Bro. S. Houlton for reading the proofs and for his excellent suggestions and criticism.
The object desired by this publication is that as we read of the obstructions overcome, the difficulties faced and met by our elder brethren of the Craft, we, in our turn, by sacrifice and service, may continue to add lustre to those ennobling virtues of Brotherly Love and Truth.
A. P. H.
Calgary, March 1921.
The Beginnings of
Free and Accepted Masonry
The Ven. Archdeacon A.P. Hayes
It is a somewhat audacious, nay, even presumptuous, task to attempt to outline the beginnings of Freemasonry. According to the "Old Charge" delivered to initiates, "Freemasonry is an ancient and hon orable institution; ancient, no doubt it is, as having subsisted from time immemorial, and honorable, it must be acknowledged to be, as by a natural tendency it conduces to make those so, who are obedient to its precepts ..... to so high a degree has its credit been advanced that in every age, monarchs themselves have been promoters of the art, have not thought it derogatory from their dignity to exchange the sceptre for the gavel, have patronized our mysteries and joined in our assemblies."
The precise origin of the fraternity has yet to be ascertained. Although the early records have been lost, there is ample evidence remaining to justify the claim for its antiquity and honorable character. Many have been the attempts to unravel the mystery of its origin, but the methods have been so unhistorical, that many writers have confirmed the pre-existing belief that all masonic history is untrue. The Bishop of Grahamstown in 1847 pleasantly characterized the vagaries of these writers as "the sprightly and vivacious accounts of modern masonic annalists, who display in their histories a haughty independence of facts and make up for the scarcity of evidence by a surprising fecundity of invention. Speculative masonry seems to have favored them with a large portion of her airy materials, and with ladders, scaffolding and bricks of air, they have run up their historical structures with wonderful ease."
"If history be no ancient fable, freemasons came from the Tower of Babel." Thus said a poem published in London, England, in 1723. In considering the beginnings of Freemasonry, it will be useless to load the investigation by devoting a considerable space to the examination in detail of those laws and customs of older societies which may have been utilized or imitated by the fraternity, but which in no sense can be accepted as the actual forbear of the present society of free and accepted masons.
The mother Grand Lodge of the World is that of England, which was inaugurated in the Metropolis on St. John the Baptist's Day, 1717, by four old lodges, three of which still flourish. There were other lodges at work in London and the country, but whether they were invited or not, is not now known. Likewise in Scotland, many lodges were at work, and undoubtedly the craft was widely patronized in Ireland, though not so extensively as in Britain. Ireland quickly followed the example of England by forming a Grand Lodge in 1725; while Scotland did not make any change until 1736, many lodges even then holding aloof from such an organization. The lodges and grand lodges, as we now know them, in both hemispheres, trace their origin and authority back to these three grand lodges for working what are known as the Three Degrees of the Craft, controlled by regular grand lodges.
The year 1717 may be deemed the date from which the real history of freemasonry begins and the era of lodge records commences. But preceding this date, there is an era dating from the 14th century, when we find records of lodges in what are known as "The Old Charges," and "Manuscript Constitutions." These furnish testimony of the working of lodges, consisting of "free masons" or operatives who enjoyed a monopoly of the trade of mason and were free to practise their craft whithersoever they went; and also consisting of "accepted masons" or admitted masons or speculatives, that is, noblemen, gentlemen and men of other trades who were admitted as honorary members. Again, prior to this, there is an age reaching far back into the past, when masonry may be said to have had its beginning, and although this is the period of myth and legend, there is evidence to be obtained from the rules and customs of those primitive societies so analogous to our customs that one is forced to the conclusion that this fact is no mere coincidence. It is of these two early periods, the age of myth and legend and the age of the craft guilds of Mediaeval Europe that I wish to speak.
Though it is true that the influence of ancient secret societies upon modern freemasonry may be very small, yet past events leave relics behind them more certainly than coming events cast their shadows before them. Of Stonehenge; on Salisbury Plain, it has been asserted that nearly every historical personage from the devil to the Druids have at one time or another been credited with its erection. Both the devil and the Druids have had a large share ascribed to them in the institution of freemasonry. In India today the masonic halls are called "Shaitan" or "Devils' Bungalow." The Druidical theory of the origin of freemasonry has long been abandoned, but how devoutly it was held may be judged by Cleland's derivation of the word "mason." He says, "Considering that the May-pole was the great sign of Druidism, as the Cross is of Christianity, is there anything farfetched in the conjecture that the adherents should take the name of `men of the may' or 'maysons.' He had evidently, never heard of the Norman French word `maconner' meaning to build - a word which has given us our English words `mason' and `mansion.' "
Valerius Maximus, a writer of the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, says, "One would have laughed at these long-robed philosophers, the Druids; if we had not found their doctrines under the cloak of Pythagoras. " Pythagoras was a Graecian philosopher who was born at Samos in 586 B.C. and died of starvation when he was 86 years old. He taught the mystical powers of numbers, was a great geometrician and the inventor of several problems, the most famous of which is the 47th problem of Euclid and which is the present symbol of a past master. Euclid, a follower of Pythagoras, was also a great geometrician and has left several books of problems which form the basis of archi tectural designs. His name has always been associated with the history of freemasonry and the legend of Euclid is found in almost all the old constitutions in every conceivable variety of corrupted form. The following is a fair example: "Abram and Sara went to Egypt and taught the Seven Sciences. He had a worthy scholar Euclid, who learned right well and was a master of the Seven Sciences. In his days, the lords and estates of the realm had so many sons that they had gotten, some by their wives and some by other ladies of the realm (for that land is a hot land and plenteous in generation) that the king took counsel how he might find their children honestly as gentlemen. Euclid asked that he might have power to rule them after the manner that the Sciences ought to be ruled. The king granted this request and Euclid taught them the science of Geometrie in practice for to work in stone all manner of worthy work. And he gave them a charge on this manner." Here follow the usual charges of a freemason, and then the legend concludes with these words: "And thus was the science grounded there and that worthy master Euclid gave it the name of geometric and now it is called through all this land masonrie."
Another source of freemasonry has been found in the Ancient Mysteries of Greece and Rome. Each of the pagan gods, besides a public and open worship, had a secret worship paid to him, to which none was admitted but those who had been selected by preparatory ceremonies, called Initiation. This secret worship was called the Mysteries, and the rites had their origin in the cultus of the Egyptian Isis and Osiris and the worship of the Persian Mithras which, it was supposed, was carried there from Egypt by the philosopher Zoroaster. Plutarch writes: "All the mysteries refer to a future life and to the state of the soul after death," Cicero, the Roman orator, says that the initiated are taught to live happily here and to die in the hope of a blessed futurity. The secret character of the Mysteries was preserved by the most powerful sanctions and oaths. The oath of secrecy was administered to the initiate in a most solemn form and to violate the oath was considered a most sacrilegious crime, the prescribed punishment for which was immediate death. Livy, the Latin historian, tells us of one instance at least of the infliction of the full penalty. The ancient writers were extremely reluctant to approach the subject and there are many examples of the cautious manner in which they shrank from discussing or divulging any explanation of a symbol or sign which had been interpreted to them at initiation. Horace, the Latin poet, sings "I would forbid that man who would divulge the sacred rites of the Mysterious Ceres (the goddess of crops) from being under the same roof with me."
The close resemblance of the Ancient Mysteries to Freemasonry lies in a natural coincidence of human thought. The legend of our Third Degree and the legend of the Mysteries are identical in their object, namely, to teach the reality of a future life for which this life is a preparation. This lesson is taught by the use of the same symbolism and almost the same scenic representation. This is not because the Masonic rites are in a lineal succession from the Ancient Mysteries, but more likely because there has been at all times a proneness, of the human heart to nourish this belief in a future life and a natural tendency of the human mind to clothe this belief in a symbolic dress. If there is any closer connection, it must be looked for in the Roman Colleges of Artificers, who did exercise some influence over the rising freemasons of the early ages and, as contemporaries of the Mysteries, were imbued with something of their organization.
Krause was the first to discover the close resemblance of Freemasonry to the Roman Colleges of Artificers. The chief characteristics, social, political, professional and religious, the interior organization, the modes of thought and action, the very design and object of these early colleges pass with little change to the craft guilds of the Middle Ages right up to the English organization of 1717. These colleges were founded by Numa, the second king of Rome, 700 B.C. that ,the numerous tribes of Latins, Sabines, Etruscans, etc., instead of contending one with another, might become an united people by a harmonious mingling of all with all. The college grew with the Republic. In 80 B.C. the Senate looked upon their political power with jealousy and passed a law abolishing them, but they were revived twenty years afterwards and many new ones established. They continued throughout the Empire and were extended into the provinces. When the Roman army subdued a people,a. portion of the army was left behind to form a colony and overcome the barbarism and ignorance of the conquered people by the refinements and civilization of Rome. Now to each legion of soldiers there was a college of artificers, who were responsible in times of war for the construction of fortifications, and in times of peace for the building of temples and dwellings. A specimen of their work exists in the ruins of the great Roman Wall between the Solway and the Tyne in Britain. They established a colony at Eboracum, which gave birth to the city of York, afterwards to become so famous in Masonic history. When paganism gave way to Christianity, the art of building, begun by these colleges and carried on by the corporation of architects, was applied to the erection of those magnificent churches, cathedrals and abbeys; and the ecclesiastical architecture speedily suggested improvements in civil buildings.
What was the form of these colleges? The first regulation, which was an indispensable one, was that no college could consist of less than three members. "Tres faciunt collegium." "Three make a college," became a maxim of the civil law. The officers of a college were the "Magister," which is exactly translated by the word "master." In addition to the magister or president, there were two " decuriones, " who were over two sections into which the college was divided, analogous to the two columns into which Continental lodges are divided, and over which a warden rules and communicates to the brethren of the column the commands of the master. Other officers of the college were the "Scribe" or secretary, who recorded the proceedings; the "thesaurius" or treasurer, who had charge of the common chest; the "tabularius" or registrar who kept the archives; and as these colleges combined a peculiar religious worship with their operative labors, there was a "sacerdos" or chaplain, who conducted the religious ceremonies. The colleges consisted of "seniores" or elders, travelling workers and apprentices. Many of the colleges, owing to their religious character, were held in the "Curia" or meeting place near a temple and the deity to whom the temple was consecrated became the patron saint of the college. When pagan gods were abolished, a Christian saint was adopted by the college and afterwards by the mediaeval craft guilds; hence freemasons - derive the dedication of their lodge to St. John, the patron saint of the corporation of builders. The meetings of the colleges were held in secret and the business transacted consisted of the initiation of neophytes to the fraternity, and of mystical instruction of journeymen and apprentices. There were periodical contributions from the members for the support of the college and a common fund was accumulated for the maintenance of indigent members and the relief of destitute strangers of the same society. There were "collegia licita" or lawful colleges, and "collegia illicita" or colleges which were unrecognized and were forbidden to members of lawful colleges. The terms "licita" and "illicita" had the same import as "legally constituted" and "clandestine" as applied to Masonic lodges. The candidates for admission were elected by the members and were called "cooptati," a word signifying beholders of the secrets and corresponding to our word "initiated." Finally, these colleges made a symbolic use of their working tools to inculcate moral and religious truths.
That the Steinmetzen of Germany, the Culdees of Britain and the Craft Guilds of Mediaeval and Tudor England formed their organizations after the manner of these colleges is beyond all doubt, and it is a reasonable conjecture that in form at least modern Freemasonry derived much from the same source. But when we view Freemasonry in its higher aspects, when we look at it as a science of symbolism directed to but one point, the great doctrine of the immortality of the soul, the lesson that the present life is the preparation for the future life, we must go beyond the colleges of artificers to the Ancient Mysteries in which the same doctrine was taught in precisely the same manner.
It has been said that if the fraternity of Freemasons had flourished during the reign of King Solomon, we should have found trace of it in the immediate subsequent history. In the oldest of the Chinese classics, which embrace a period reaching from the 24th to the 7th century B.C., we meet with distinct allusions to the symbolism of the masons' craft. The compasses and square constantly represent order, regularity and propriety. In the 7th century B.C., 200 years after King Solomon, we meet with peculiar masonic expressions in common use. A book called "The Great Learning," has the words that a man should abstain from doing unto others what he would not they should do unto him, and this adds the writer, "is called the principle of acting on the square." Confucius, the Chinese philosopher who lived 481 B.C., writes, and his follower Menicus, who flourished nearly 200 years later, says "that men should apply the square and compasses figuratively to their lives, and the level and the marking line besides, if they would walk in the straight and even paths of wisdom and keep themselves within the bounds of honor and virtue." In Book VI. of his philosophy, we find these words: "A master mason in teaching his apprentices, makes use of the compasses and square. Ye who are engaged in the pursuit of wisdom must also make use of the compasses and the square. "
Moreover, there did exist after the building of the Temple an association of men resembling freemasons in their nature and ceremonies. They were known as Chassidim in Hebrew and as Essenes in Greek. At the time of our Lord, there were three Jewish sects, to one of which every Jew was compelled to unite himself. These were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes ; and it is thought that Jesus united himself to the latter sect, not only because, while he repeatedly denounces the Pharisees and Sadducees, he never utters a word of censure against the Essenes, but also because of the strict observance of the Mosaic laws of purity and the high character of the Essenes. They had a common treasury and their needs were supplied by stewards. There were no distinctions of rich and poor, master and servant; but the society was divided into ranks or degrees of aspirates, associates and companions. Advancement depended on holiness of character alone. When a candidate was proposed for admission, the strictest scrutiny was made into his character. If his life hitherto had been exemplary, and if he appeared capable of curbing his passions and regulating his conduct according to the virtuous, though austere, maxims of their order, he was presented at the expiration of his novitiate with a white garment as an emblem of the purity of his heart and the regularity of his conduct. A solemn oath was then administered to him that he would never divulge the mysteries of the order; that he would make no innovations in the doctrines of the society, and that he would continue in that honorable course of piety and virtue which he had begun to pursue. They had particular signs for recognizing each other. No women could be admitted to the order. Treasurers were appointed in every town to supply the wants of indigent strangers. Their earnestness and determination were seen in their self-denying and godly lives, and it may fairly be questioned whether any other religious system has produced such a community of saints.
In this period of myth and legend, the root ideas of masonic philosophy-the unity and existence of God, and the immortality of the soul-may be traced. While the Ancient Mysteries of Greece and Rome, the Hebrew sect of the Essenes, the Egyptian and Persian cults, may have held ideas analogous to those of modern speculative freemasonry, they cannot by any stretch of imagination be regarded as progenitors of the craft. They were forerunners and their doctrines lent color to those of subsequent fraternities; yet it is in the Roman College of Artificers that we must look for the beginning of masonic organization. When we remember that these artificers; not only journeyed with the Imperial army as it sought to conquer the world, but were left behind in the conquered territory to inculcate Roman civilization amongst the conquered barbarian people, it is easy to think of these great road-makers and bridgebuilders of wartime turning their attention to building and other industries in times of peace, bequeathing a legacy of organization which has been the mainstay of all like fraternities and societies.
We now pass to the immediate successors of these colleges, namely, the Craft Guilds of Mediaeval Europe. In the history of these guilds, we can clearly trace the gradual growth of the modern system of speculative masonry from the fraternities of operative masons. Though speculative and operative masonry have never been and can never be identical, yet it must always be remembered that the former sprang from the latter by a process of mental elaboration. Operative masonry is the foundation and speculative masonry the superstructure that has been erected upon it. It is necessary, therefore, to glance briefly at the history of architecture, if we would understand how freemasonry was transmuted from an art of building to a science of philosophy.
It has often been noted that a building in the north of Italy of the time of Caesar differed more from a building in the south, though the regions were adjacent, than a church reared in England or Scotland did from one erected in Sicily, though the places were so remote from one another. How came this unity of design in building? In Italy, in France, in Germany, in England, there was an union of principles which began to distinguish the work of architects as early as the 10th century. How can this be accounted for?
The Roman Colleges, founded by Numa, were originally Greeks whom he had brought to establish the buildings of his capital city. They continued throughout the days of the Empire, but on the decline of Roman power, at the time of the great barbarian invasions which swept away the Empire, they were poor in numbers and respectability. On the conversion of southern Europe to Christianity, they were succeeded by fraternities of a similar character. The Goths, who had overrun the north of Italy, were in turn succeeded by a Scandinavian people, called the "Longbeardi" or Longbeards, a title which they obtained from wearing that appendage. These we now know as the Lombards. Their kingdom existed for nearly 200 years and was finally obliterated by the victorious arms of Charlemagne in 774. During the repeated invasions of Rome by the barbarians and the continual recurrence of war, the arts and sciences would have been totally extinguished, had they not found a place of refuge among the priests and bishops and monastic orders. Whatever of the old culture remained was thus kept alive by the erection of schools, churches and monasteries, where the youth were instructed in the knowledge of the seven liberal arts and sciences by the bishops, clerics and monks. When Anthairs, the third Lombard monarch, embraced Christianity, the Church began to gain control of architecture. In the age in which individuals, from the lowest. subject to the sovereign, sought only shelter and protection in their private dwellings and avoided an elegance which might lessen their security, churches and monasteries were the only buildings to combine extent and elegance, and sacred architecture could alone furnish an extensive field for the exercise of skill and art in building. When the king became a Christian, Lombardy began to be studded with churches, magnificent in design and workmanship. Architecture and masonry were sacred arts and for a time were under the entire control of the clergy. The ancient architecture of the Romans, derived from the colleges of artificers, was imitated by the Lombards, and as at this time, many Greeks, banished from their own country, sought refuge in Lombardy and brought with them an eastern style of design in building, there arose that architecture which has played so great a part in the modern world, - a style differing from both the Roman and Byzantine or Greek, though it adapted and appropriated portions of both.
Soon the number of architects and masons began to exceed the number of buildings wanted; but meanwhile the Church had been sending out its missionaries beyond the Alps and into remote countries. Therefore these corporations of builders, whose services ceased to be necessary in the country in which they had arisen, began to look abroad in those northern climes for that occupation which could not be found at home. They banded themselves into a single greater association and bent their steps into any region, however rude and remote, where new religious edifices and skilful artists to erect them were wanted. The Popes encouraged their designs and many bulls were despatched conferring on them extensive privileges. They were given a monopoly of erecting all religious buildings; they were declared independent of the sovereigns in whose dominions they might be temporarily engaged; they were subject only to their private laws; they were permitted to regulate the amount of wages to be paid; no mason, not of their own association, was permitted to oppose or compete with them in the pursuit of employment. One decree states that these regulations were framed "after the example of Hiram, king of Tyre, when he sent artisans to King Solomon for the purpose of building the Temple of Jerusalem." After filling the Continent with Cathedrals and religious edifices, gaining in numbers from the natives of the countries through which they went, they passed over to England and up into Scotland, where they established at Kilwining, near Edinburgh, at which place they were building an abbey, the germ of Scottish Freemasonry, which has descended through the Grand Lodge of Scotland to this present day.
The policy of kings led them to give various craftsmen the privilege of exercising their own trades and under the form of guilds or corporations to establish bodies which were governed by their own peculiar laws. These guilds were sought to be perpetuated by the introduction into them of youths, who were to be instructed by the masters, so that having served a due probation as apprentices, usually a period of five or seven years, they might become fellows or workers in the guild, after submitting an essay or trial piece of work exhibiting their skill or craft. It was in this way that all trades and professions were organized. In a document, dated 1364, there are enumerated thirty-six different companies or guilds in London, such as tailors, bakers, glovers, goldsmiths, etc. The seventeenth on the list is the company of masons. The twelve great livery companies are too well known to need other than passing mention. What happened in England, had happened all over Europe in the 14th century. In so far as union in a corporation, endowed with peculiar privileges, the masons did not differ essentially, from the mercers, shoemakers or tailors or any other of the companies. Each had its master, wardens and other officers and was recruited from a body of apprentices. There were however very important differences between the masons and other crafts, which were productive of singular results.
1. The important place, occupied by the Church in the revival of architecture gave a religious trend to masonic laws to a much greater extent than is found in the laws of other companies. The bishops or abbots designed the plan of the religious houses and the monks. executed these plans, and even if the architects and masons were laymen, as indeed they sometimes were, the house was always built under the superintendence of some ecclesiastic of high rank. This influence can be seen in the symbols employed by stone masons in the decoration of buildings, most of which have been derived from Christian sources. The charters and constitutions, by which masons were governed, teach a deep religious faith and respect for the church. It is to this influence that we owe the transmission of a religious character to speculative masonry, of which institution it has been said that "if freemasonry be not an universal religion, it is at any rate an auxiliary to every system of faith. "
2. Another difference arose from the nature of the work to be done, which affected the relations of the craftsmen to each other. The trade of a shoemaker or tailor was local. The custom was derived from the place in which he lived. Hence the work done by these trades was work that was brought to them by neighbours. Every shoemaker in a city knew every other shoemaker; every tailor was familiar with the face, the life and character of every other tailor. Whilst such intimacy existed, there was no necessity for the establishment of any peculiar guards against impostors, for the trade was seldom troubled by strangers. But it was not so with masons. Work did not come to them; they had to go to the work. Whenever a building was to be erected in a place which exhausted the number of masons living there, other masons had to be sent for, oftimes being brought from great distances to complete the building. There was therefore a great need of caution in admitting these strangers to the work, lest some should intrude who were not entitled to employment by not having acquired their knowledge of the craft in a regular way through the probation of an apprentice to the status of a fellow or master. Hence arose the necessity of a mode of secret signs and words by which a stranger could be recognized as a true craftsman or be detected at once as an imposter. At a time when writing was almost unknown amongst the laity, and not one mason in a thousand could either read or write, it is evident that some expedient had to be found by which a mason travelling to his work might claim assistance and hospitality from his brother masons on the road, by means of which he might take his rank at once on reaching the lodge, without going through the tedious examination or giving practical proof of his skill. For this purpose, a set of secret signs was invented, which enabled all masons to recognize one another as such, and by which also each man could make known his grade to those of similar rank without further trouble than a manual sign, or the utterance of some recognized password. Other trades had something of the same sort, but it was never necessary for them to carry it either to the same extent or to practise it so often as masons, they being for the most part resident in the same place and knowing each other personally. In Hope's History of Architecture, we find these words: "Often obliged, from regions the most distant, singly to seek the common place of rendezvous and departure of the troop, or singly to follow its earlier detachments to places of employment, equally distant, and that at an era when travellers met on the road every obstruction and no convenience, when no inns existed at which to purchase hospitality, but lords dwelt everywhere, who only prohibited their tenants from waylaying the travellers, because they considered this, like killing game, one of their own exclusive. privileges, the members of these communities contrived to render their journeys more easy and safe by engaging with each other, and perhaps even in many places with individuals, not directly participating in their profession, in compacts of mutual assistance, hospitality and good services, most valuable to men so circumstanced. They endeavoured to compensate for the perils which attended their expeditions by institutions for their needy or disabled brothers; but lest such as belonged not to their communities should benefit surreptitiously by these arrangements for their advantage, they framed signs of mutual recognition as carefully concealed from the knowledge of the uninitiated as the mysteries of their art. Thus supplied with whatever could facilitate such distant journeys and labors as they contemplated, the members of these corporations were ready to obey any summons with the utmost alacrity, and they soon received the encouragement they anticipated. The militia of the Church of Rome, which diffused itself all over Europe in the shape of missionaries to instruct nations and to establish their allegiance to the pope, took care not only to make them feel the want of churches and monasteries, but likewise to learn the manner in which the want might be supplied. It may be asserted that a new apostle of the gospel no sooner arrived in the remotest corner of Europe, either to convert the inhabitants to Christianity or to introduce a new religious order, than speedily followed a tribe of itinerant freemasons to back him and provide the inhabitants with the necessary places of worship. Thus freemasons dispersed themselves in every direction, every day began to advance farther and farther and proceed from country to country to the utmost verge of the faithful in order to meet the unceasing demand for their work or to seek more distant custom. The architects of all the sacred edifices of the Latin Church, wherever such was found, north, south, east or west, derived their science from the same central school; obeyed in their designs the same hierarchy; were directed in their construction by the same principles of propriety and taste; kept up with each other in the most distant parts of the earth to which they might be sent a constant correspondence, and rendered every minute improvement the property of the whole body. The result of this unanimity was that at each successive period of the masonic dynasty, on whatever point a new church or monastery might be erected, it resembled all those raised at the same period in every other place, however distant it might be, as if both had been built by the same artist in the same place."
The world is indebted to this association for the introduction of the Gothic or, as it is sometimes called, the pointed, style of architecture. This style, so different from all that had preceded it, a style whose pointed arches and delicate tracery distinguished the solemn temple of olden time, whose ruins arrest the attention and claim the admiration of all who behold them, is due to this company of operative masons.
One of the countries into which these travellers went was Germany and in the Steinmetzen or Stonecutters of Germany we find the direct lineal descendants of the Comacine Masters or Travelling Masons of Lombardy.
The Germans or Allemanni, first heard of in the times of Julius Caesar, were an illiterate and warlike people, who dwelt between the Rhine and the Danube, the Carpathian Mountains and the Baltic Sea. Their religion, resting upon gross superstition, did not nourish a knowledge of the arts or express itself in noble architecture. The Roman Colleges, which had sent their branches into Spain, Gaul and Britain, were never established among these ferocious tribes. Beyond a very few buildings on the banks of the Rhine, there are no remains attesting the skill of the Roman builders. The progress of architecture must be sought from another source. In the 5th century a confederation of German tribes under their King, Clovis, overran the province of Gaul and settled permanently in it, establishing the kingdom of the Franks, which is now our modern France. During the 5th and 6th centuries, the Franks returning to their own country from time to time introduced the customs of the civilised nation, whom they had conquered. Charlemagne, king of the Franks, after subduing the Lombards, introduced the art of architecture amongst the Teutonic people. At the same time Christianity was introduced, not only from the South, but also from the West, from Gaul, and as we saw in Britain, so in Germany, the clergy were engaged in directing the construction of churches and convents for their new converts. Michelet, speaking of the wonderful architecture of the Middle Ages, says: "To whom belonged this science of numbers and divine mathematics? To no mortal man, but to the Church of God. Under the shadow of the Church, in chapters and in monasteries, the secret was transmitted, together with instruction in the mysteries of Christianity. The Church alone could accomplish these miracles of architecture."
As early as the 10th century, there are traces of an organization of operative masons. Boisseree in his History of Cologne tells of the motives which led the Stonecutters to unite in a fraternity. Whoever wished to become an architect must first become proficient in cutting stone, and only after his work had been duly examined, could he become a master. There, we find the three ranks of the Steinmetzen, "meister" or master, "gesellen" or fellow, and "lehrling" or apprentice. Like the craft guilds, their secrets were transmitted only to those who had been lawfully initiated, and the adoption of signs, tokens and words as a means of recognition precluded the imposture of strangers or aliens. The Steinmetzen erected "Bauhutten" or building-huts where they kept their tools, and sometimes lived, near the building which was being erected. The word "hutten" or huts is almost the exact German equivalent of our English word "lodges." During the building of the great cathedrals of Bamburg, Worms, Spire, Constance and Bonn in the 11th century the Steinmetzen enjoyed many privileges. But it is not until the time of the building of the Cathedral of Strassburg in 1459 and of Cologne in 1509 that German freemasonry developed its peculiar style of architectural symbolism. Paley in his Manual of Gothic Architecture says that the building was not a mere result of piling together stone and timber by mechanical cunning and ingenious device, but it was the visible embodying of the highest feelings of adoration and worship and holy abstraction; the expression of a sense which must have a language of its own and which could have utterance in no worthier or more significant way. The stonecutter preached his "sermons in stones." Owing to the grandeur of these magnificent structures it is not surprising to find that each has been claimed as the birthplace of German freemasonry in its guild or corporate form, and the sodality of each place has received the title of Haupthutte or Grand Lodge. This latter title must not be confused with that of the modern Grand Lodge of speculative masonry, which was introduced from England three centuries later.
It has been asserted that the Freemasons of today have derived their ritual and ceremonial practices from the Mediaeval Stone-cutters. There is no doubt that many words and signs, used in speculative masonry, are the same as those used by the Steinmetzen, but it is extremely probable in view of the close connection of masonry with the Church that the customs and laws were borrowed in a large measure from the older regulations of monastic orders. The Steinmetzen sprang into existence after the introduction of the art and science of architecture from Lombardy and Gaul; bands of these masons had already reached Britain and were later reinforced by the accession of Continental masons from Italy and France as well as Germany, hence it would be just as likely that speculative masonry derived these words and signs from the same source as the Steinmetzen.
From the Constitution of Strassburg, we learn that there were two classes of workmen, one of which corresponded with the "Rough Masons, " who were chiefly engaged with the trowel and mortar; the other class, who deemed themselves of a higher order and whose' working tools were the chisel, the plumb-line, the pencil, gavel, the square and compasses, formed themselves into a brotherhood and were forbidden to hold any communication with the layer or rough mason. As in speculative masonry, the master was of chief importance, but there is no evidence of a system of government by a master and two wardens: What the ceremony of initiation was, we cannot now determine, but that there was such a ceremony is self-evident from the words of the Constitution. The "Gesell" or fellow could only be admitted after first proving himself to be freeborn of respectable parents in wedlock; secondly, that he himself bore a good reputation; thirdly that he was mentally and physically efficient. These having been satisfactorily proved, he was then given a mark that was to be cut into every stone upon which he might be engaged. The rules for an apprentice are very explicit. No bastard could be received. The apprentice must serve under a master for a period of five years, at least, and then he must travel one year before he could become a fellow. He could only be married after gaining the consent of his master. The duties of a master are defined as those of ruling his lodge, keeping it free from all disorder and administering justice to all within the lodge. He must govern himself also by the ancient usages of the craft.
Thus we see that, while the differences are great, there are many close resemblances between operative masonry of the Middle Ages and speculative masonry of modern times. The steps which led from one to the other are slow and gradual, sometimes almost imperceptible. At the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century, freemasons became independent of the clergy, but the clergy were often admitted to the brotherhoods, though not masons by profession. Others also appear to have been received into the corporation of the craft. We find that Elias Ashmole and Henry Mainwaring were made "gentlemen free masons" in 1646 in a lodge at Warrington, Lancashire, and their admission is recorded in such terms that the custom of admitting other than masons does not seem to have been infrequent. The records of Scottish lodges of the 17th century contain many references to the admission of nobleborn persons of exalted rank to the privileges of freemasons. They are designated by various names, such as "gentlemen masons," "theoretic masons," "honorary masons," etc. At first, they were not charged any fees on admission to a lodge, but in order that they might hold the highest offices which the craft could bestow, this exemption from dues was done away with. Gradually, these speculative or theoretic masons became predominant and the operative or practical masons had less voice in the government of the fraternity. This was due in part to the abandonment of scientific methods of building by operative masons and partly by the gradual decline of Gothic architecture and the consequent dispersion of the bands of masons who had been engaged on those great' masterpieces of the building art, such as St. Paul's Cathedral, London. Moreover, the intellectual revolution in Europe or the Renaissance was reaching out in ever widening circles, and clubs and societies of all sorts were being formed and united men by their common interest in literature, art and science. But the departing masons left behind them an organization which had taken many years to build up and which was to constitute the frame-work and scaffolding upon which so many modern benevolent and fraternal societies have raised their structures.
In conclusion; the way was prepared for that great change when Freemasonry was no longer an operative art but became a speculative science of philosophy. The material cathedral, where, in building, God was worshipped in all the splendour of human skill and art, was transmuted to the spiritual temple of the soul, in the building up of which, the same worship was to be given to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe by the practice of those great masonic virtues of brotherly love, purity and truth. By the consolidation of four lodges in the city of London, was inaugurated the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of England in the famous old inn, "The Goose and Gridiron," on St. John the Baptist's Day, 1717. From this time the record of the Craft is no longer derived from myth and legend but a matter of authentic history which has been faithfully recorded in our illustrious annals. On the expansion of a guild of working men, limited in their design and numbers, into an ever growing fraternity of moralists and philosophers, whose object is the elevation of their fellow men by virtuous conduct in the sight of the All-Seeing Eye, the symbolism of the craft is applied to the lives of the craftsmen. The study of the history of our order ought to arouse in every mason's heart feelings of reverence and awe, as he realizes the great honor that this honorable and ancient institution has conferred upon him, by giving him the privilege of wearing its badge, and lead him to live according to the Sacred Word, which tells him of his duties to the Grand Master above. Thus will he learn to square his actions and keep them within due bounds, that the rule of his conduct towards the Great Architect, his brother and himself may be approved when at last he is raised to the Immortal Grand Lodge.
"I will strive to live
With love and care
Upon the Level
By the Square."
