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Masonry (Freemasonry)
The subject is treated under the following heads:
I. Name and Definition;
II. Origin and Early History;
III. Fundamental Principles and Spirit;
IV. Propagation and Evolution;
V. Organization and Statistics;
VI. Inner Work;
VII. Outer Work;
VIII. Action of State and Church.

Name and definition

Leaving aside various fanciful derivations we may trace the word
mason to the French maon (Latin matio or machio), "a builder of
walls" or "a stone-cutter" (cf. German Steinmetz, from metzen,
"to cut"; and Dutch vrijmetselaar).
The compound term Freemason occurs first in 1375 according
to a recently found writing, even prior to 1155 [1] and,
contrary to Gould [2] means primarily a mason of superior skill,
though later it also designated one who enjoyed the freedom, or
the privilege, of a trade guild. [3] In the former sense it is
commonly derived from freestone-mason, a mason hewing or
building in free (ornamental) stone in opposition to a rough
(stone) mason. [4] This derivation, though harmonizing with the
meaning of the term, seemed unsatisfactory to some scholars.
Hence Speth proposed to interpret the word freemasons as
referring to those masons claiming exemption from the control of
local guilds of the towns, where they temporarily settled. [5] In
accordance with this suggestion the "New English Dictionary of
the Philological Society" (Oxford, 1898) favours the interpretation
of freemasons as skilled artisans, emancipated according to the
medieval practice from the restrictions and control of local guilds
in order that they might be able to travel and render services,
wherever any great building (cathedral, etc.) was in process of
construction. These freemasons formed a universal craft for
themselves, with a system of secret signs and passwords by
which a craftsman, who had been admitted on giving evidence of
competent skill, could be recognized. On the decline of Gothic
architecture this craft coalesced with the mason guilds. [6]
Quite recently W. Begemann [7] combats the opinion of Speth
[8] as purely hypothetical, stating that the name freemason
originally designated particularly skilled freestone-masons,
needed at the time of the most magnificent evolution of Gothic
architecture, and nothing else. In English law the word freemason
is first mentioned in 1495, while frank-mason occurs already in
an Act of 1444-1445. [9] Later, freemason and mason were used
as convertible terms.
The modern signification of Freemasonry in which, since about
1750, the word has been universally and exclusively understood,
dates only from the constitution of the Grand Lodge of England,
1717. In this acceptation Freemasonry, according to the official
English, Scottish, American, etc., craft rituals, is most generally
defined: "A peculiar [some say "particular" or "beautiful"] system
of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." Mackey
[10] declares the best definition of Freemasonry to be: "A science
which is engaged in the search after the divine truth." The
German encyclopedia of Freemasonry, "Handbuch" [11] defines

Freemasonry as "the activity of closely united men who,

employing symbolical forms borrowed principally from the
mason's trade and from architecture, work for the welfare of
mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others and
thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind
[Menschheitsbund], which they aspire to exhibit even now on a
small scale". The three editions which this "Handbuch" (Universal
Manual of Freemasonry) has had since 1822 are most valuable,
the work having been declared by English-speaking Masonic
critics by far the best Masonic Encyclopedia ever published. [12]

Origin and early history

Before entering upon this and the following divisions of our
subject it is necessary to premise that the very nature of
Freemasonry as a secret society makes it difficult to be sure even
of its reputed documents and authorities, and therefore we have
consulted only those which are acknowledged and recommended
by responsible members of the craft, as stated in the
bibliography appended to this article. "It is the opprobrium of
Freemasonry", says Mackey [13]
that its history has never yet been written in a spirit
of critical truth; that credulity . . . has been the
foundation on which all masonic historical
investigations have been built, . . . that the missing
links of a chain of evidence have been frequently
supplied by gratuitous invention and that statements
of vast importance have been carelessly sustained by
the testimony of documents whose authenticity has
not been proved.
"The historical portion of old records", he adds [14]
as written by Anderson, Preston, Smith, Calcott and
other writers of that generation, was little more than a
collection of fables, so absurd as to excite the smile of
every reader.
The germs of nearly all these fantastic theories are contained in
Anderson's "The Constitutions of Free Masons" (1723, 1738)
which makes Freemasonry coextensive with geometry and the
arts based on it; insinuates that God, the Great Architect,
founded Freemasonry, and that it had for patrons, Adam, the
Patriarchs, the kings and philosophers of old. Even Jesus Christ is
included in the list as Grand Master of the Christian Church.
Masonry is credited with the building of Noah's Ark, the Tower of
Babel, the Pyramids, and Solomon's Temple. Subsequent authors
find the origin of Masonry in the Egyptian, Dionysiac, Eleusinian,
Mithraic, and Druidic mysteries; in sects and schools such as the
Pythagoreans, Essenes, Culdees, Zoroastrians, and Gnostics; in
the Evangelical societies that preceded the Reformation; in the
orders of knighthood (Johannites, Templars); among the
alchemists, Rosicrucians, and Cabbalists; in Chinese and Arabic
secret societies. It is claimed also that Pythagoras founded the
Druidic institution and hence that Masonry probably existed in
England 500 years before the Christian Era. Some authors,
considering geological finds as Masonic emblems, trace Masonry
to the Miocene (?) Period [15] while others pretend that Masonic
science "existed before the creation of this globe, diffused amidst
the numerous systems with which the grand empyreum of
universal space is furnished". [16]
It is not then difficult to understand that the attempt to prove
the antiquity of Freemasonry with evidence supplied by such
monuments of the past as the Pyramids and the Obelisk
(removed to New York in 1879) should have resulted in an
extensive literature concerning these objects. [17] Though many
intelligent Masons regard these claims as baseless, the majority
of the craft [18] still accept the statement contained in the

"Charge" after initiation: "Ancient no doubt it is, having subsisted

from time immemorial. In every age monarchs [American rituals:
"the greatest and best men of all ages"] have been promoters of
the art, have not thought it derogatory to their dignity to
exchange the sceptre for the trowel, have participated in our
mysteries and joined in our assemblies". [19] It is true that in
earlier times gentlemen who were neither operative masons nor
architects, the so-called geomatic Masons [20] joined with the
operative, or dogmatic, Masons in their lodges, observed
ceremonies of admission, and had their signs of recognition. But
this Masonry is by no means the "speculative" Masonry of modern
times, i.e., a systematic method of teaching morality by means of
such principles of symbols according to the principles of modern
Freemasonry after 1723.
As the best German authorities admit [21], speculative Masonry
began with the foundation of the Grand Lodge of England, 24
June, 1717, and its essential organization was completed in 1722
by the adoption of the new "Book of Constitutions" and of the
three degrees: apprentice, fellow, master. All the ablest and most
conscientious investigations by competent Masonic historians
show, that in 1717 the old lodges had almost ceased to exist. The
new lodges began as convivial societies, and their characteristic
Masonic spirit developed but slowly. This spirit, finally, as
exhibited in the new constitutions was in contradiction to that
which animated the earlier Masons. These facts prove that
modern Masonry is not, as Gould [22] Hughan [23] and Mackey
[24] contend, a revival of the older system, but rather that it is a
new order of no greater antiquity than the first quarter of the
eighteenth century.

Fundamental principles and spirit

There have been many controversies among Masons as to the
essential points of Masonry. English-speaking Masons style them
"landmarks", a term taken from Deuteronomy 19:14, and
signifying "the boundaries of Masonic freedom", or the
unalterable limits within which all Masons have to confine
themselves. Mackey [25] specifies no less than twenty-five
landmarks. The same number is adopted by Whitehead [26] "as
the pith of the researches of the ablest masonic writers". The
principle of them are [27]
l
l
l
l

l
l
l
l
l
l
l

the method of recognition by secret signs, words, grips,

steps, etc.;
the three degrees including the Royal Arch;
the Hiram legend of the third degree;
the proper "tiling" of the lodge against "raining" and
"snowing", i.e., against male and female "cowans", or
eavesdroppers, i.e., profane intruders;
the right of every regular Mason to visit every regular lodge
in the world;
a belief in the existence of God and in future life;
the Volume of the Sacred Law;
equality of Masons in the lodge;
secrecy;
symbolical method of teaching;
inviolability of landmarks.

In truth there is no authority in Freemasonry to constitute such

"unchangeable" landmarks or fundamental laws. Strictly
judicially, even the "Old Charges", which, according to Anderson's
"Constitutions", contain the unchangeable laws have a legal
obligatory character only as far as they are inserted in the "Book
of Constitution" of each Grand Lodge. [28] But practically there
exist certain characteristics which are universally considered as
essential. Such are the fundamental principles described in the
first and sixth articles of the "Old Charges" concerning religion, in
the texts of the first two English editions (1723 and 1738) of
Anderson's "Constitutions". These texts, though differing slightly,
are identical as to their essential tenor. That of 1723, as the

original text, restored by the Grand Lodge of England in the

editions of the "Constitutions", 1756-1813, and inserted later in
the "Books of Constitutions" of nearly all the other Grand Lodges,
is the most authoritative; but the text of 1738, which was
adopted and used for a long time by many Grand Lodges, is also
of great importance in itself and as a further illustration of the
text of 1723.
In the latter, the first article of the "Old Charges" containing the
fundamental law and the essence of modern Freemasonry runs
(the text is given exactly as printed in the original, 1723):
I. Concerning God and Religion. A Mason is obliged by
his Tenure, to obey the moral law: and if he rightly
understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist
[Gothic letters] nor an irreligious Libertine [Gothic
letters]. But though in ancient times Masons were
charged in every country to be of the religion of that
country or nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now
thought more expedient only to oblige them to that
religion in which all men agree, leaving their
particular Opinions to themselves: that is, to be good
men and true or Men of Honour and Honesty, by
whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be
distinguished; whereby Masonry becomes the Centre
of Union and the Means of conciliating true Friendship
among Persons that must have remained at a
perpetual Distance.
Under Article VI, 2 (Masons' behaviour after the Lodge is closed
and the Brethren not gone) is added:
In order to preserve peace and harmony no private
piques or quarrels must be brought within the door of
the Lodge, far less any quarrels about Religion or
Nations or State Policy, we being only, as Masons, of
the Catholick Religion, above mentioned, we are also
of all Nations, Tongues, Kindreds and Languages and
are resolved against all Politicks [printed in the
original in Gothic letters] as what never yet conduced
to the welfare of the Lodge nor ever will. This charge
has been always strictly enjoin'd and observ'd; but
especially ever since the Reformation in Britain or the
dissent and secession of these Nations from the
communion of Rome.
In the text of 1738 the same articles run (variation from the
edition of 1723 are given in italics):
I. Concerning God and Religion. A Mason is obliged by
his Tenure to observe the moral law as true Noahida
(sons of Noah, the first name of Freemasons) and if
he rightly understands the craft, he will never be a
stupid atheist or an irreligious libertine nor act against
conscience. In ancient times the Christian masons
were charged to comply with the Christian usages of
each country where they travelled or worked; but
Masonry being found in all nations, even of diverse
religions, they are now generally charged to adhere to
that religion, in which all men agree, (leaving each
Brother his own particular opinion), that is, to be good
men and true, men of honour and honesty, by
whatever names, religions or persuasions they may be
distinguished; for they all agree in the three great
articles of Noah, enough to preserve the cement of
the lodge. Thus Masonry is the centre of their union
and the happy means of conciliating true friendship
among persons who otherwise must have remained at
a perpetual distance.
VI. 1. Behaviour in the Lodge before closing: . . . No

private piques nor quarrels about nations, families,

religions or politics must by any means or under any
colour or pretence whatsoever be brought within the
doors of the lodge; for as Masons we are of the most
ancient catholic religion, above mentioned and of all
nations upon the square, level and plumb; and like
our predecessors in all ages we are resolved against
political disputes, as contrary to the peace and
welfare of the Lodge.
In order to appreciate rightly these texts characterizing modern
"speculative" Freemasonry it is necessary to compare them with
the corresponding injunction of the "Gothic" (Christian)
Constitutions regulating the old lodges of "operative" Masonry till
and after 1747. These injunctions are uniformly summed up in
the simple words: "The first charge is this that you be true to God
and Holy Church and use no error or heresy". [29] The radical
contrast between the two types is obvious. While a Mason
according to the old Constitution was above all obliged to be true
to God and Church, avoiding heresies, his "religious" duties,
according to the new type, are essentially reduced to the
observation of the "moral law" practically summed up in the rules
of "honour and honesty" as to which "all men agree". This
"universal religion of Humanity" which gradually removes the
accidental divisions of mankind due to particular opinions "or
religious", national, and social "prejudices", is to be the bond of
union among men in the Masonic society, conceived as the model
of human association in general.
"Humanity" is the term used to designate the essential principle
of Masonry. [30] It occurs in a Masonic address of 1747. [31]
Other watchwords are "tolerance", "unsectarian", "cosmopolitan".
The Christian character of the societyundertheoperativergime
of former centuries, says Hughan [32] "was exchanged for the
unsectarian regulations which were to include under its wing the
votaries of all sects, without respect to their differences of colour
or clime, provided the simple conditions were observed of
morality, mature age and an approved ballot". [33] In
Continental Masonry the same notions are expressed by the
words"neutrality","lacit","Confessionslosigkeit",etc.Inthe
text of 1738 particular stress is laid on "freedom of conscience"
and the universal, non-Christian character of Masonry is
emphasized. The Mason is called a "true Noahida", i.e. an
adherent of the pre-Christian and pre-Mosaic system of undivided
mankind. The "3 articles of Noah" are most probably "the duties
towards God, the neighbour and himself" inculcated from older
times in the "Charge to a newly made Brother". They might also
refer to "brotherly love, relief and truth", generally with "religion"
styled the "great cement" of the fraternity and called by Mackey
[34] "the motto of our order and the characteristic of our
profession".
Of the ancient Masons, it is no longer said that they were obliged
to "be of the religion" but only "to comply with the Christian
usages of each Country". The designation of the said
"unsectarian" religion as the "ancient catholick" betrays the
attempt to oppose this religion of "Humanity" to the Roman
Catholic as the only true, genuine, and originally Catholic. The
unsectarian character of Masonry is also implied in the era chosen
on the title page: "In the year of Masonry 5723" and in the
"History". As to the "History" Anderson himself remarks in the
preface (1738):
Only an expert Brother, by the true light, can readily
find many useful hints in almost every page of this
book which Cowans and others not initiated (also
among Masons) cannot discern.
Hence, concludes Krause [35], Anderson's "History" is
allegorically written in "cipher language". Apart, then, from "mere
childish allusions to the minor secrets", the general tendency of

this "History" is to exhibit the "unsectarianism" of Masonry.

Two points deserve special mention: the utterances on the
"Augustan" and the "Gothic" style of architecture and the
identification of Masonry with geometry. The "Augustan" which is
praised above all other styles alludes to "Humanism", while the
"Gothic" which is charged with ignorance and narrowmindedness, refers to Christian and particularly Roman Catholic
orthodoxy. The identification of Masonry with geometry brings out
the naturalistic character of the former. Like the Royal Society, of
which a large and most influential proportion of the first
Freemasons were members [36], Masonry professes the empiric
or "positivist" geometrical method of reason and deduction in the
investigation of truth. [37] In general it appears that the
founders of Masonry intended to follow the same methods for
their social purposes which were chosen by the Royal Society for
its scientific researches. [38] "Geometry as a method is
particularly recommended to the attention of Masons." "In this
light, Geometry may very properly be considered as a natural
logic; for as truth is ever consistent, invariable and uniform, all
truths may be investigated in the same manner. Moral and
religious definitions, axioms and propositions have as regular and
certain dependence upon each other as any in physics or
mathematics." "Let me recommend you to pursue such
knowledge and cultivate such dispositions as will secure you the
Brotherly respect of this society and the honour of your further
advancement in it". [39]
It is merely through inconsistency that some Grand Lodges of
North America insist on belief in the Divine inspiration of the
Bible as a necessary qualification and that not a few Masons in
America and Germany declare Masonry an essentially "Christian
institution". According to the German Grand Lodges, Christ is
only "the wise and virtuous pure man" par excellence, the
principal model and teacher of "Humanity". [40] In the Swedish
system, practised by the German Country Grand Lodge, Christ is
said to have taught besides the exoteric Christian doctrine,
destined for the people and the duller mass of his disciples, an
esoteric doctrine for his chosen disciples, such as St. John, in
which He denied that He was God. [41] Freemasonry, it is held, is
the descendant of the Christian secret society, in which this
esoteric doctrine was propagated.
It is evident, however, that even in this restricted sense of
"unsectarian" Christianity, Freemasonry is not a Christian
institution, as it acknowledges many pre-Christian models and
teachers of "Humanity". All instructed Masons agree in the
objective import of this Masonic principle of "Humanity",
according to which belief in dogmas is a matter of secondary
importance, or even prejudicial to the law of universal love and
tolerance. Freemasonry, therefore, is opposed not only to
Catholicism and Christianity, but also to the whole system of
supernatural truth.
The only serious discrepancies among Masons regarding the
interpretation of the texts of 1723 and 1738 refer to the words:
"And if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid
Atheist or an irreligious Libertine". The controversy as to the
meaning of these words has been particularly sharp since 13
September, 1877, when the Grand Orient of France erased the
paragraph, introduced in 1854 into its Constitutions, by which
the existence of God and the immortality of soul were declared
the basis of Freemasonry [42] and gave to the first article of its
new Constitutions the following tenor: "Freemasonry, an
essentially philanthropic, philosophic (naturalist, adogmatic) and
progressive institution, has for its object the search after truth,
the study of universal morality, of the sciences and arts and the
practice of beneficence. It has for its principles absolute liberty of
conscience and human solidarity. It excludes none on account of
his belief. Its device is Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." On 10
September, 1878, the Grand Orient, moreover, decreed to

expunge from the Rituals and the lodge proceedings all allusions
to religious dogmas as the symbols of the Grand Architect, the
Bible, etc. These measures called out solemn protests from nearly
all the Anglo-American and German organs and led to a rupture
between the Anglo-American Grand Lodges and the Grand Orient
of France. As many freethinking Masons both in America and in
Europe sympathize in this struggle with the French, a world-wide
breach resulted. Quite recently many Grand Lodges of the United
States refused to recognize the Grand Lodge of Switzerland as a
regular body, for the reason that it entertains friendly relations
with the atheistical Grand Orient of France. [43] This rupture
might seem to show, that in the above paragraph of the "Old
Charges" the belief in a personal God is declared the most
essential prerequisite and duty of a Mason and that AngloAmerican Masonry, at least, is an uncompromising champion of
this belief against the impiety of Latin Masonry.
But in truth all Masonry is full of ambiguity. The texts of 1723
and 1738 of the fundamental law concerning Atheism are
purposely ambiguous. Atheism is not positively condemned, but
just sufficiently disavowed to meet the exigencies of the time,
when an open admission of it would have been fatal to Masonry.
It is not said that Atheists cannot be admitted, or that no Mason
can be an Atheist, but merely that if he rightly understands the
Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist, etc., i.e., he will not hold or
profess Atheism in a stupid way, by statements, for instance that
shock religious feeling and bring Masonry into bad repute. And
even such a stupid Atheist incurs no stronger censure than the
simple ascertaining of the fact that he does not rightly
understand the art, a merely theoretical judgment without any
practical sanction. Such a disavowal tends rather to encourage
modern positivist or scientific Atheism.
Scarcely more serious is the rejection of Atheism by the British,
American and some German Grand Lodges in their struggle with
the Grand Orient of France. The English Grand Lodge, it is true, in
its quarterly communication of 6 March, 1878 [44] adopted four
resolutions, in which belief in the Great Architect of the Universe
is declared to be the most important ancient landmark of the
order, and an explicit profession of that belief is required of
visiting brethren belonging to the Grand Orient of France, as a
condition for entrance into the English lodges. Similar measures
were taken by the Irish, Scottish, and North American Grand
Lodges. But this belief in a Great Architect is so vague and
symbolical, that almost every kind of Atheism and even of
"stupid" Atheism may be covered by it. Moreover, British and
American Grand Lodges declare that they are fully satisfied with
such a vague, in fact merely verbal declaration, without further
inquiry into the nature of this belief, and that they do not dream
of claiming for Freemasonry that it is a "church", a "council", a
"synod". Consequently even those are acknowledged as Masons
who with Spencer and other Naturalist philosophers of the age
call God the hidden all-powerful principle working in nature, or,
like the followers of "Handbuch" [45] maintain as the two pillars
of religion "the sentiment of man's littleness in the immensity of
space and time", and "the assurance that whatever is real has its
origin from the good and whatever happens must be for the
best".
An American Grand Orator Zabriskie (Arizona) on 13 November,
1889, proclaimed, that "individual members may believe in many
gods, if their conscience and judgment so dictate". [46] Limousin
[47] approved by German Masons [48] says: "The majority of
men conceive God in the sense of exoteric religions as an allpowerful man; others conceive God as the highest idea a man
can form in the sense of esoteric religions." The latter are called
Atheists according to the exoteric notion of God repudiated by
science, but they are not Atheists according to the esoteric and
true notion of God. On the contrary, add others [49] they are less
Atheists than churchmen, from whom they differ only by holding
a higher idea of God or the Divine. In this sense Thevenot, Grand
Secretary of the Grand Orient of France, in an official letter to the

Grand Lodge of Scotland (30 January, 1878), states: "French

Masonry does not believe that there exist Atheists in the absolute
sense of the word" [50] and Pike himself [51] avows:
A man who has a higher conception of God than those
about him and who denies that their conception is
God, is very likely to be called an Atheist by men who
are really far less believers in God than he, etc.
Thus the whole controversy turns out to be merely nominal and
formal. Moreover, it is to be noticed that the clause declaring
belief in the great Architect a condition of admission, was
introduced into the text of the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge
of England, only in 1815 and that the same text says: "A Mason
therefore is particularly bound never to act against the dictates of
his conscience", whereby the Grand Lodge of England seems to
acknowledge that liberty of conscience is the sovereign principle
of Freemasonry prevailing over all others when in conflict with
them. The same supremacy of the liberty of conscience is implied
also in the unsectarian character, which Anglo-American Masons
recognize as the innermost essence of masonry. "Two principles",
said the German Emperor Frederick III, in a solemn address to
Masons at Strasburg on 12 September, 1886, "characterize above
all our purposes, viz., liberty of conscience and tolerance"; and
the "Handbuch" [52] justly observes that liberty of conscience
and tolerance were thereby proclaimed the foundation of Masonry
by the highest Masonic authority in Germany.
Thus the Grand Orient of France is right from the Masonic point of
view as to the substance of the question; but it has deviated
from tradition by discarding symbols and symbolicalformul,
which, if rightly understood, in no way imply dogmatic assertions
and which cannot be rejected without injuring the work of
Masonry, since this has need of ambiguous religiousformul
adaptable to every sort of belief and every phase of moral
development. From this point of view the symbol of the Grand
Architect of the Universe and of the Bible are indeed of the
utmost importance for Masonry. Hence, several Grand Lodges
which at first were supposed to imitate the radicalism of the
French, eventually retained these symbols. A representative of
the Grand Lodge of France writes in this sense to Findel: "We
entirely agree with you in considering all dogmas, either positive
or negative, as radically contradictory to Masonry, the teaching of
which must only be propagated by symbols. And the symbols
may and must be explained by each one according to his own
understanding; thereby they serve to maintain concord. Hence
our Grand Lodge facultatively retains the Symbol of the Grand
Architect of the Universe, because every one can conceive it in
conformity with his personal convictions. [Lodges are allowed to
retain the symbols, but there is no obligation at all of doing so,
and many do not.] To excommunicate each other on account of
metaphysical questions, appears to us the most unworthy thing
Masons can do". [53] The official organ of Italian Masonry even
emphasizes: "The formula of the Grand Architect, which is
reproached to Masonry as ambiguous and absurd, is the most
large-minded and righteous affirmation of the immense principle
of existence and may represent as well the (revolutionary) God of
Mazzini as the Satan of Giosue Carducci (in his celebrated hymn
to Satan); God, as the fountain of love, not of hatred; Satan, as
the genius of the good, not of the bad". [54] In both
interpretations it is in reality the principle of Revolution that is
adored by Italian Masonry.

Propagation and evolution of Masonry

The members of the Grand Lodge formed in 1717 by the union of
four old lodges, were till 1721 few in number and inferior in
quality. The entrance of several members of the Royal Society
and of the nobility changed the situation. Since 1721 it has
spread over Europe. [55] This rapid propagation was chiefly due
to the spirit of the age which, tiring of religious quarrels, restive

under ecclesiastical authority and discontented with existing

social conditions, turned for enlightenment and relief to the
ancient mysteries and sought, by uniting men of kindred
tendencies, to reconstruct society on a purely human basis. In
this situation Freemasonry with its vagueness and elasticity,
seemed to many an excellent remedy. To meet the needs of
different countries and classes of society, the original system
(1717-23) underwent more or less profound modifications. In
1717, contrary to Gould [56], only one simple ceremony of
admission or one degree seems to have been in use [57]; in
1723 two appear as recognized by the Grand Lodge of England:
"Entered Apprentice" and "Fellow Craft or Master". The three
degree system, first practised about 1725, became universal and
official only after 1730. [58] The symbols and ritualistic forms, as
they were practised from 1717 till the introduction of further
degrees after 1738, together with the "Old Charges" of 1723 or
1738, are considered as the original pure Freemasonry. A fourth,
the "Royal Arch degree [59] in use at least since 1740, is first
mentioned in 1743, and though extraneous to the system of pure
and ancient Masonry [60] is most characteristic of the later
Anglo-Saxon Masonry. In 1751 a rival Grand Lodge of England
"according to the Old Institutions" was established, and through
the activity of its Grand Secretary, Lawrence Dermott, soon
surpassed the Grand Lodge of 1717. The members of this Grand
Lodge are known by the designation of "Ancient Masons". They
are also called "York Masons" with reference, not to the
ephemeral Grand Lodge of all England in York, mentioned in 1726
and revived in 1761, but to the pretended first Grand Lodge of
England assembled in 926 at York. [61] They finally obtained
control, the United Grand Lodge of England adopting in 1813
their ritualistic forms.
In its religious spirit Anglo-Saxon Masonry after 1730
undoubtedly retrograded towards biblical Christian orthodoxy.
[62] This movement is attested by the Christianization of the
rituals and by the popularity of the works of Hutchinson, Preston,
and Oliver with Anglo-American Masons. It is principally due to
the conservatism of English-speaking society in religious matters,
to the influence of ecclesiastical members and to the institution
of "lodge chaplains" mentioned in English records since 1733.
[63] The reform brought by the articles of union between the two
Grand Lodges of England (1 December, 1813) consisted above all
in the restoration of the unsectarian character, in accordance with
which all allusions to a particular (Christian) religion must be
omitted in lodge proceedings. It was further decreed "there shall
be the most perfect unity of obligation of discipline, or working . .
. according to the genuine landmarks, laws and traditions . . .
throughout the masonic world, from the day and date of the said
union (1 December, 1813) until time shall be no more". [64] In
taking this action the United Grand Lodge overrated its authority.
Its decree was complied with, to a certain extent, in the United
States where Masonry, first introduced about 1730, followed in
general the stages of Masonic evolution in the mother country.
The title of Mother-Grand Lodge of the United States was the
object of a long and ardent controversy between the Grand
Lodges of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. The prevailing opinion
at present is, that from time immemorial, i.e., prior to Grand
Lodge warrants [65] there existed in Philadelphia a regular lodge
with records dating from 1731. [66] In 1734 Benjamin Franklin
published an edition of the English "Book of Constitutions". The
principal agents of the modern Grand Lodge of England in the
United States were Coxe and Price. Several lodges were chartered
by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. After 1758, especially during the
War of Independence, 1773-83, most of the lodges passed over
to the "Ancients". The union of the two systems in England
(1813) was followed by a similar union in America. The actual
form of the American rite since then practised is chiefly due to
Webb (1771-1819), and to Cross (1783-1861).
In France and Germany, at the beginning Masonry was practised
according to the English ritual [67] but so-called "Scottish"

Masonry soon arose. Only nobles being then reputed admissible

in good society as fully qualified members, the Masonic
gentlemen's society was interpreted as society of Gentilshommes,
i.e., of noblemen or at least of men ennobled or knighted by their
very admission into the order, which according to the old English
ritual still in use, is "more honourable than the Golden Fleece, or
the Star or Garter or any other Order under the Sun". The
pretended association of Masonry with the orders of the warlike
knights and of the religious was far more acceptable than the
idea of development out of stone-cutters' guilds. Hence an
oration delivered by the Scottish Chevalier Ramsay before the
Grand Lodge of France in 1737 and inserted by Tierce into his
first French edition of the "Book of Constitutions" (1743) as an
"oration of the Grand Master", was epoch-making. [68] In this
oration Masonry was dated from "the close association of the
order with the Knights of St. John in Jerusalem" during the
Crusades; and the "old lodges of Scotland" were said to have
preserved this genuine Masonry, lost by the English. Soon after
1750, however, as occult sciences were ascribed to the Templars,
their system was readily adaptable to all kinds of Rosicrucian
purposes and to such practices as alchemy, magic, cabbala,
spiritism, and necromancy. The suppression of the order with the
story of the Grand Master James Molay and its pretended revival
in Masonry, reproduced in the Hiram legend, representing the fall
and the resurrection of the just or the suppression and the
restoration of the natural rights of man, fitted in admirably with
both Christian and revolutionary high grade systems. The
principal Templar systems of the eighteenth century were the
system of the "Strict Observance", organized by the swindler
Rosa and propagated by the enthusiast von Hundt; and the
Swedish system, made up of French and Scottish degrees in
Sweden.
In both systems obedience to unknown superiors was promised.
The supreme head of these Templar systems, which were rivals to
each other, was falsely supposed to be the Jacobite Pretender,
Charles Edward, who himself declared in 1777 that he had never
been a Mason. [69] Almost all the lodges of Germany, Austria,
Hungary, Poland, and Russia were, in the second half of the
eighteenth century, involved in the struggle between these two
systems. In the lodges of France and other countries [70] the
admission of women to lodge meetings occasioned a scandalous
immorality. [71] The revolutionary spirit manifested itself early in
French Masonry. Already in 1746 in the book "La FrancMaonnerie,crase",anexperiencedex-Mason, who, when a
Mason, had visited many lodges in France and England, and
consulted high Masons in official position, described as the true
Masonic programme a programme which, according to Boos, the
historian of Freemasonry (p. 192), in an astonishing degree
coincides with the programme of the great French Revolution of
1789. In 1776 this revolutionary spirit was brought into Germany
by Weisshaupt through a conspiratory system, which soon spread
throughout the country. [72] Charles Augustus of Saxe-Weimar,
Duke Ernest of Gotha, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, Goethe,
Herder, Pestalozzi, etc., are mentioned as members of this order
of the Illuminati. Very few of the members, however, were
initiated into the higher degrees. The French Illuminati included
Condorcet,theDukeofOrlans,Mirabeau,andSieys.[73]
After the Congress of Wilhelmsbade (1782) reforms were made
both in Germany and in France. The principal German reformers,
L.Schrder(Hamburg)andI.A.Fessler,triedtorestorethe
originalsimplicityandpurity.ThesystemofSchrderisactually
practised by the Grand Lodge of Hamburg, and a modified system
(Schrder-Fessler) by the Grand Lodge Royal York (Berlin) and
most lodges of the Grand Lodge of Bayreuth and Dresden. The
Grand Lodges of Frankfort-on-the-Main and Darmstadt practice
an eclectic system on the basis of the English ritual. [74] Except
the Grand Lodge Royal York, which has Scottish "Inner Orients"
and an "Innermost Orient", the others repudiate high degrees.
The largest Grand Lodge of Germany, the National (Berlin),
practises a rectified Scottish (Strict Observance) system of seven

degrees and the "Landes Grossloge" and Swedish system of nine

degrees. The same system is practised by the Grand Lodge of
Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. These two systems still declare
Masonry a Christian institution and with the Grand Lodge Royal
York refuse to initiate Jews. Findel states that the principal reason
is to prevent Masonry from being dominated by a people whose
strong racial attachments are incompatible with the unsectarian
character of the institution. [75]
The principal system in the United States (Charleston, South
Carolina) is the so-called Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite,
organized in 1801 on the basis of the French Scottish Rite of
perfection, which was established by the Council of the Emperors
of the East and West (Paris, 1758). This system, which was
propagated throughout the world, may be considered as the
revolutionary type of the French Templar Masonry, fighting for the
natural rights of man against religious and political despotisms,
symbolized by the papal tiara and a royal crown. It strives to
exert a preponderant influence on the other Masonic bodies,
wherever it is established.
This influence is insured to it in the Grand Orient systems of Latin
countries; it is felt even in Britain and Canada, where the
supreme chiefs of craft Masonry are also, as a rule, prominent
members of the Supreme Councils of the Scottish Rite. There are
at the present time (1908) twenty-six universally recognized
Supreme Councils of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite: U.S.
of America: Southern Jurisdiction (Washington), established in
1801; Northern Jurisdiction (Boston), 1813; Argentine Republic
(Buenos Aires), 1858; Belgium (Brussels), 1817; Brazil (Rio de
Janeiro), 1829; Chile (Santiago), 1870; Colon, for West India
Islands (Havana), 1879; Columbia (Cartagena); Dominican
Republic (S. Domingo); England (London), 1845; Egypt (Cairo),
1878; France (Paris), 1804; Greece (Athens), 1872; Guatemala
(for Central American), 1870; Ireland (Dublin), 1826; Italy
(Florence), 1858; Mexico (1868); Paraguay (Asuncion); Peru
(Lima), 1830; Portugal (Lisbon), 1869; Scotland (Edinburgh),
1846; Spain (Madrid), 1811; Switzerland (Lausanne), 1873;
Uruguay (Montevideo); Venezuela (Caracas). Supreme Councils
not universally recognized exist in Hungary, Luxemburg, Naples,
Palermo, Rome, Turkey. The founders of the rite, to give it a great
splendour, invented the fable that Frederick II, King of Prussia,
was its true founder, and this fable upon the authority of Pike and
Mackey is still maintained as probable in the last edition of
Mackey's "Encyclopedia" (1908). [76]

Organization and statistics

The characteristic feature of the organization of speculative
Masonry is the Grand Lodge system founded in 1717. Every
regular Grand Lodge or Supreme Council in the Scottish, or Grand
Orient in the mixed system, constitutes a supreme independent
body with legislative, judicial, and executive powers. It is
composed of the lodges or inferior bodies of its jurisdiction or of
their representatives regularly assembled and the grand officers
whom they elect. A duly constituted lodge exercises the same
powers, but in a more restricted sphere. The indispensable
officers of a lodge are the Worshipful Master [77] the Senior and
Junior Warden, and the Tiler. The master and the wardens are
usually aided by two deacons and two stewards for the
ceremonial and convivial work and by a treasurer and a secretary.
Many lodges have a Chaplain for religious ceremonies and
addresses. The same officers in large numbers and with sounding
titles (Most Worshipful Grand Master, Sovereign Grand
Commander, etc.) exist in the Grand Lodges. As the expenses of
the members are heavy, only wealthy persons can afford to join
the fraternity. The number of candidates is further restricted by
prescriptions regarding their moral, intellectual, social, and
physical qualifications, and by a regulation which requires
unanimity of votes in secret balloting for their admission. Thus,
contrary to its pretended universality, Freemasonry appears to be

a most exclusive society, the more so as it is a secret society,

closed off from the profane world of common mortals.
"Freemasonry", says the "Keystone" of Philadelphia [78]
"has no right to be popular. It is a secret society. It is
for the few, not the many, for the select, not for the
masses."
Practically, it is true, the prescriptions concerning the intellectual
and moral endowments are not rigourously obeyed:
"Numbers are being admitted . . . whose sole object is
to make their membership a means for advancing
their pecuniary interest". [79]
"There are a goodly number again, who value
Freemasonry solely for the convivial meetings
attached to it."
"Again I have heard men say openly, that they had
joined to gain introduction to a certain class of
individuals as a trading matter and that they were
forced to do so because every one did so. Then there
is the great class who join it out of curiosity or
perhaps, because somebody in a position above them
is a mason."
"Near akin to this is that class of individuals who wish
for congenial society". [80]
"In Masonry they find the means of ready access to
society, which is denied to them by social
conventionalities. They have wealth but neither by
birth nor education are they eligible for polite and fine
intercourse."
"The shop is never absent from their words and
deeds."
"The Masonic body includes a large number of
publicans." [81]
Of the Masonic rule brotherly love, relief, and truth certainly
the two former, especially as understood in the sense of mutual
assistance in all the emergencies of life, is for most of the
candidates the principal reason for joining. This mutual
assistance, especially symbolized by the five points of fellowship
and the "grand hailing sign of distress" in the third degree, is one
of the most fundamental characteristics of Freemasonry. By his
oath the Master Mason is pledged to maintain and uphold the five
points of fellowship in act as well as in words, i.e., to assist a
Master Mason on every occasion according to his ability, and
particularly when he makes the sign of distress. In Duncan,
"American Ritual" (229), the Royal Arch-Mason even swears:
I will assist a companion Royal Arch-Mason, when I
see him engaged in any difficulty and will espouse his
cause so as to extricate him from the same whether
he be right or wrong.
It is a fact attested by experienced men of all countries that,
wherever Masonry is influential, non-Masons have to suffer in
their interests from the systematical preferment which Masons
give each other in appointment to offices and employment. Even
Bismarck [82] complained of the effects of such mutual Masonic
assistance, which is detrimental alike to civic equality and to
public interests. In Masonic books and magazines unlawful and
treacherous acts, performed in rendering this mutual assistance,
are recommended and praised as a glory of Freemasonry."The
inexorable laws of war themselves", says the official orator of the

GrandOrientdeFrance,Lefbvred'Aumale[83]"hadtobend
before Freemasonry, which is perhaps the most striking proof of
its power. A sign sufficed to stop the slaughter; the combatants
threw away their arms, embraced each other fraternally and at
once became friends and Brethren as their oaths prescribed", and
the "Handbuch" [84] declares: "this sign has had beneficial
effect, particularly in times of war, where it often disarms the
bitterest enemies, so that they listen to the voice of humanity
and give each other mutual assistance instead of killing each
other". [85] Even the widely spread suspicion, that justice is
sometimes thwarted and Masonic criminals saved from due
punishment, cannot be deemed groundless. The said practice of
mutual assistance is so reprehensible that Masonic authors
themselves [86] condemn it severely. "If", says Bro. Marbach
(23), "Freemasonry really could be an association and even a
secret one of men of the most different ranks of society, assisting
and advancing each other, it would be an iniquitous association,
and the police would have no more urgent duty than to
exterminate it."
Another characteristic of Masonic law is that "treason" and
"rebellion" against civil authority are declared only political
crimes, which affect the good standing of a Brother no more than
heresy, and furnish no ground for a Masonic trial. [87] The
importance which Masonry attaches to this point is manifest from
the fact that it is set forth in the Article II of the "Old Charges",
which defines the duties of a Freemason with respect to the State
and civil powers. Compared with the corresponding injunction of
the "Gothic" constitutions of operative masonry, it is no less
ambiguous than Article I concerning God and religion. The old
Gothic Constitutions candidly enjoined: "Also you shall be true
liegemen to the King without treason or falsehood and that you
shall know no treason but you mend it, if you may, or else warn
the King or his council thereof". [88] The second article of
modern speculative Freemasonry (1723) runs:
Of the civil magistrates, supreme and subordinate. A
Mason is a peaceable subject to the Civil Powers,
wherever he resides or works, and is never to be
concerned in Plots and Conspiracies against the peace
and welfare of the Nation, nor to behave himself
undutifully to inferior Magistrates; for as Masonry hath
always been injured by War, Bloodshed and Confusion
so ancient Kings and Princes have been much
disposed to encourage the craftsmen, because of their
Peaceableness and Loyalty, whereby they practically
answer'd the Cavils of their adversaries and promoted
the Honour of Fraternity, who ever flourished in Times
of Peace. So that if a Brother should be a Rebel
against the State, he is not to be countenanc'd in his
Rebellion, however he may be pitied as an unhappy
man; and, if convicted of no other Crime, though the
loyal Brotherhood must and ought to disown his
Rebellion, and give no Umbrage or Ground of political
Jealousy to the Government for the time being; they
cannot expel him from the Lodge and his Relation to it
remains indefeasible.
Hence rebellion by modern speculative Masonry is only
disapproved when plots are directed against the peace and
welfare of the nation. The brotherhood ought to disown the
rebellion, but only in order to preserve the fraternity from
annoyance by the civil authorities. A brother, then, guilty of
rebellion cannot be expelled from the lodge; on the contrary, his
fellow Masons are particularly obliged to have pity on his
misfortune when he (in prison or before the courts) has to suffer
from the consequences of his rebellion, and give him brotherly
assistance as far as they can. Freemasonry itself as a body is very
peaceable and loyal, but it does not disapprove; on the contrary,
it commends those brethren who through love of freedom and the
national welfare successfully plot against monarchs and other
despotic rulers, while as an association of public utility it claims

privilege and protection through kings, princes, and other high

dignitaries for the success of its peaceful work. "Loyalty to
freedom", says "Freemason's Chronicle" [89] "overrides all other
considerations". The wisdom of this regulation, remarks Mackey
[90] "will be apparent when we consider, that if treason or
rebellion were masonic crimes, almost every mason in the United
Colonies, in 1776, would have been subject to expulsion and
every Lodge to a forfeiture of its warrant by the Grand Lodges of
England and Scotland, under whose jurisdiction they were at the
time".
A misleading adage is "once a Mason always a Mason". This is
often taken to mean that "the Masonic tie is indissoluble, that
there is no absolution from its consequences" [91] or
"Obligations" [92] that not even death can sever the connection
of a Mason with Freemasonry. [93] But certainly a Mason has the
"right of demission" [94] and this right, whatever be the opinion
of Masonic jurisprudence, according to the inalienable natural
rights of man, extends to a complete withdrawal not only from
the lodge but also from the brotherhood. In the scale of Masonic
penalties, "expulsion" is the most severe. [95] Besides those who
have been expelled or who have resigned there are many
"unaffiliated" Masons who have ceased to be "active" members of
a lodge, but, according to Masonic law, which, of course, can
oblige no more than is authorized by the general rules of
morality, they remain subject to the lodge within the jurisdiction
of which they reside.
As to unity, Masonic authorities unanimously affirm that
Freemasonry throughout the world is one, and that all
Freemasons form in reality but one lodge; that distinct lodges
exist only for the sake of convenience, and that consequently
every regular Mason is entitled to be received in every regular
lodge of the world as a brother, and, if in distress, to be relieved.
The good understanding among Masons of different countries is
furthered by personal intercourse and by correspondence,
especially between the grand secretary offices and international
congresses [96] which led to the establishment, in 1903, of a
permanentinternationalofficeatNeuchtel,Switzerland. [97]
There is no general Grand Lodge or direction of Freemasonry,
though various attempts have been made in nearly every larger
state or country to establish one. Incessant dissensions between
Masonic systems and bodies are characteristic of Freemasonry in
all countries and times. But the federative unity of Freemasonry
suffices to prove a true solidarity among Masons and Masonic
bodies throughout the world; hence the charge of complicity in
the machinations which some of them carry on. This solidarity is
openly avowed by Masonic authorities. Pike, for instance, writes
[98]
When the journal in London which speaks of the
Freemasonry of the Grand Lodge of England,
deprecatingly protested that the English Freemasonry
was innocent of the charges preferred by the Papal
Bull (Encycl. 1884) against Freemasonry, when it
declared that English Freemasonry had no opinions
political or religious, and that it did not in the least
degree sympathize with the loose opinions and
extravagant utterances of part of the Continental
Freemasonry, it was very justly and very conclusively
checkmated by the Romish Organs with the reply, 'It
is idle for you to protest. You are Freemasons and you
recognize them as Freemasons. You give them
countenance, encouragement and support and you
are jointly responsible with them and cannot shirk
that responsibility'.
As accurate statistics are not always to be had and the methods
of enumeration differ in different countries, total numbers can
only be approximated. Thus in most of the Lodges of the United
States only the Masters (third degree) are counted, while in other

countries the apprentices and fellows are added. There are

besides many unaffiliated Masons (having ceased to be members
of a lodge) who are not included. Their number may be estimated
at two-thirds of that of the active Masons. In England a Mason
may act as member of many lodges. Confirming our statement as
to the active members of the strictly Masonic bodies, which in
calendars and year books are registered as such, we may, upon
recent and reliable sources [99] estimate the actual state of
Freemasonry as follows: Grand Orients, Grand Lodges, Supreme
Councils, and other Scottish G. Bodies, 183; lodges 26,500;
Masons, about 2,000,000; the number of the Grand Chapters of
Royal Arch is: in the United States 2968 subordinate chapters,
under one General Grand Chapter; England, 46 Grand Chapters
with 1015 subordinate chapters; English colonies and foreign
Masonic centres, 18 Grand Chapters with 150 subordinate
chapters. The census of craft masonry is as follows:
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l

Great Britain and Colonies (excluding Canada): 4,670

lodges; 262,651 members
Canada: 727 lodges; 60,728 members
United States (White): 12,916 lodges; 1,203,159 members
United States (Colored): 1,300 lodges; 28,000 members
Latin countries: 2,500 lodges; 120,000 members
Other European countries: 771 lodges; 90,700 members
Africa: 53 lodges; 2,150 members
Total: 22,937 lodges; 1,767,388 members

Inner work of Freemasonry: Masonic

symbolism and oaths
"From first to last", says Pike [100] "Masonry is work". The
Masonic "work", properly so called, is the inner secret ritualistic
work by which Masons are made and educated for the outer work,
consisting in action for the welfare of mankind according to
Masonic principles. Masons are made by the three ceremonies of
initiation (first degree), passing (second degree), and raising
(third degree). The symbols displayed in these ceremonies and
explained according to the Masonic principles and to the verbal
hints given in the rituals and lectures of the third degrees, are
the manual of Masonic instruction. The education thus begun is
completed by the whole lodge life, in which every Mason is
advised to take an active part, attending the lodge meetings
regularly, profiting, according to his ability, by the means which
Masonry affords him, to perfect himself in conformity with
Masonic ideals, and contributing to the discussions of Masonic
themes and to a good lodge government, which is represented as
a model of the government of society at large. The lodge is to be
a type of the world [101] and Masons are intended to take part in
the regeneration of the human race. [102] "The symbolism of
Freemasonry", says Pike in a letter to Gould, 2 December, 1888
[103] "is the very soul of Masonry." And Boyd, the Grand Orator
of Missouri, confirms: "It is from the beginning to the end
symbol, symbol, symbol". [104]
The principal advantages of this symbolism, which is not peculiar
to Freemasonry but refers to the mysteries and doctrines of all
ages and of all factors of civilization, are the following: (1) As it is
adaptable to all possible opinions, doctrines, and tastes, it
attracts the candidate and fascinates the initiated. (2) It
preserves the unsectarian unity of Freemasonry in spite of
profound differences in religion, race, national feeling, and
individual tendencies. (3) It sums up the theoretical and practical
wisdom of all ages and nations in a universally intelligible
language. (4) It trains the Mason to consider existing institutions,
religious, political, and social, as passing phases of human
evolution and to discover by his own study the reforms to be
realized in behalf of Masonic progress, and the means to realize
them. (5) It teaches him to see in prevailing doctrines and
dogmas merely subjective conceptions or changing symbols of a
deeper universal truth in the sense of Masonic ideals. (6) It

allows Freemasonry to conceal its real purposes from the profane

and even from those among the initiated, who are unable to
appreciate those aims, as Masonry intends. "Masonry", says Pike,
"jealously conceals its secrets and intentionally leads conceited
interpreters astray". [105] "Part of the Symbols are displayed . . .
to the Initiated, but he is intentionally misled by false
interpretations". [106] "The initiated are few though many hear
the Thyrsus". [107] "The meaning of the Symbols is not unfolded
at once. We give you hints only in general. You must study out
the recondite and mysterious meaning for yourself". [108] "It is
for each individual Mason to discover the secret of Masonry by
reflection on its symbols and a wise consideration of what is said
and done in the work". [109] "The universal cry throughout the
Masonic world", says Mackey [110] "is for light; our lodges are
henceforth to be schools, our labour is to be study, our wages are
to be learning; the types and symbols, the myths and allegories
of the institution are only beginning to be investigated with
reference to the ultimate meaning and Freemasons now
thoroughly understand that often quoted definition, that Masonry
is a science of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by
symbols."
Masonic symbols can be and are interpreted in different senses.
By orthodox Anglican ecclesiastics the whole symbolism of the
Old and New Testament connected with the symbolism of the
Temple of Solomon was treated as Masonic symbolism and
Masonry as the "handmaid of religion" [111] which, "in almost
every part of every degree refers distinctly and plainly to a
crucified Saviour". [112] Many Masonic authors in the Latin
countries [113] and some of the principal Anglo-American
authors [114] declare that Masonic symbolism in its original and
proper meaning refers above all to the solar and phallic worship
of the ancient mysteries, especially the Egyptian. [115] "It is in
the antique symbols and their occult meaning", says Pike [116]
"that the true secrets of Freemasonry consist. These must reveal
its nature and true purposes." In conformity with this rule of
interpretation, the letter G in the symbol of Glory (Blazing Star)
or the Greek Gamma (square), summing up all Masonry is very
commonly explained as meaning "generation"; the initial letter of
the tetragrammaton (Yahweh) and the whole name is explained
as male or male-female principle. [117] In the same sense
according to the ancient interpretation are explained the two
pillars Boaz and Jachin; the Rosecroix (a cross with a rose in the
centre); the point within the circle; the "vesica piscis", the wellknown sign for the Saviour; the triple Tau; Sun and Moon; Hiram
and Christ (Osiris); the coffin; the Middle Chamber and even the
Sancta Sanctorum, as adyta or most holy parts of each temple,
usually contained hideous objects of phallic worship. [118]
As Masons even in their official lectures and rituals, generally
claim an Egyptian origin for Masonic symbolism and a close
"affinity" of "masonic usages and customs with those of the
Ancient Egyptians" [119] such interpretations are to be deemed
officially authorized. Pike says, moreover, that "almost every one
of the ancient Masonic symbols" has "four distinct meanings, one
as it were within the other, the moral, political, philosophical and
spiritual meaning". [120] From the political point of view Pike
with many other Anglo-American Scotch Masons interprets all
Masonic symbolism in the sense of a systematic struggle against
every kind of political and religious "despotism". Hiram, Christ,
Molay are regarded only as representatives of "Humanity" the
"Apostles of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity". [121] The Cross (a
double or quadruple square) is "no specific Christian symbol", "to
all of us it is an emblem of Nature and of Eternal life; whether of
them only let each say for himself". [122] The Cross X (Christ)
was the Sign of the Creative Wisdom or Logos, the Son of God.
Mithraism signed its soldiers on the forehead with a cross, etc.
[123] I.N.R.I., the inscription on the Cross is, Masonically read:
"Igne Natura Renovatur Integra". The regeneration of nature by
the influence of the sun symbolizes the spiritual regeneration of
mankind by the sacred fire (truth and love) of Masonry, as a
purely naturalistic institution. [124] "The first assassin of Hiram

is Royalty as the common type of tyranny", striking "with its rule

of iron at the throat of Hiram and making freedom of speech
treason." The second assassin is the Pontificate (Papacy) "aiming
the square of steel at the heart of the victim". [125] Christ dying
on Calvary is for Masonry "the greatest among the apostles of
Humanity, braving Roman despotism and the fanaticism and
bigotry of the priesthood". [126] Under the symbol of the Cross,
"the legions of freedom shall march to victory". [127]
The Kadosh (thirtieth degree), trampling on the papal tiara and
the royal crown, is destined to wreak a just vengeance on these
"high criminals" for the murder of Molay [128] and "as the
apostle of truth and the rights of man" [129] to deliver mankind
"from the bondage of Despotism and the thraldom of spiritual
Tyranny". [130] "In most rituals of this degree everything
breathes vengeance" against religious and political "Despotism".
[131] Thus Masonic symbols are said to be "radiant of ideas,
which should penetrate the soul of every Mason and be clearly
reflected in his character and conduct, till he become a pillar of
strength to the fraternity". [132] "There is no iota of Masonic
Ritual", adds the "Voice" of Chicago, "which is void of
significance". [133] These interpretations, it is true, are not
officially adopted in Anglo-American craft rituals; but they appear
in fully authorized, though not the only ones authorized even by
its system and by the first two articles of the "Old
Charge" (1723), which contains the fundamental law of
Freemasonry. As to the unsectarian character of Masonry and its
symbolism, Pike justly remarks: "Masonry propagates no creed,
except its own most simple and sublime one taught by Nature
and Reason. There has never been a false Religion on the world.
The permanent one universal revelation is written in visible
Nature and explained by the Reason and is completed by the
wise analogies of faith. There is but one true religion, one dogma,
one legitimate belief". [134] Consequently, also, the Bible as a
Masonic symbol, is to be interpreted as a symbol of the Book of
Nature or of the Code of human reason and conscience, while
Christian and other dogmas have for Freemasonry but the import
of changing symbols veiling the one permanent truth, of which
Masonic "Science" and "Arts" are a "progressive revelation", and
application. [135]
It should be noted, that the great majority of Masons are far from
being "initiated" and "are groveling in Egyptian darkness". [136]
"The Masonry of the higher degrees", says Pike [137] "teaches
the great truths of intellectual science; but as to these, even as
to the rudiments and first principles, Blue Masonry is absolutely
dumb. Its dramas seem intended to teach the resurrection of the
body". "The pretended possession of mysterious secrets, has
enabled Blue Masonry to number its initiates by tens of
thousands. Never were any pretences to the possession of
mysterious knowledge so baseless and so absurd as those of the
Blue and Royal Arch Chapter Degrees". [138] "The aping
Christianity of Blue Masonry made it simply an emasculated and
impotent society with large and sounding pretences and slender
performances. And yet its multitudes adhere to it, because
initiation is a necessity for the Human Soul; and because it
instinctively longs for a union of the many under the control of a
single will, in things spiritual as well as in things temporal, for a
Hierarchy and a Monarch". [139] "It is for the Adept to
understand the meaning of the Symbols [140] and Oliver
declares: "Brethren, high in rank and office, are often
unacquainted with the elementary principles of the science".
[141] Masons "may be fifty years Masters of the Chair and yet not
learn the secret of the Brotherhood. This secret is, in its own
nature, invulnerable; for the Mason, to whom it has become
known, can only have guessed it and certainly not have received
it from any one; he has discovered it, because he has been in the
lodge, marked, learned and inwardly digested. When he arrives at
the discovery, he unquestionably keeps it to himself, not
communicating it even to his most intimate Brother, because,
should this person not have capability to discover it of himself, he
would likewise be wanting in the capability to use it, if he

received it verbally. For this reason it will forever remain a

secret". [142]
In view of the fact that the secrets of Masonry are unknown to
the bulk of Masons, the oaths of secrecy taken on the Bible are all
the more startling and unjustifiable. The oath, for instance, of the
first degree is as follows: "I, in the presence of the Great
Architect of the Universe, . . . do hereby and hereon solemnly and
sincerely swear, that I will always hide, conceal and never reveal
any part or parts, any point or points of the secrets or mysteries
of or belonging to Free and Accepted Masons in Masonry which
may heretofore have been known by, shall now or may at any
future time be communicated to me" etc. "These several points I
solemnly swear to observe under no less penalty, than to have
my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the root and my
body buried in the sands of the sea", "or the more efficient
punishment of being branded as a wilfully perjured individual,
void of all moral worth". "So help me God", etc.
Similar oaths, but with severer penalties attached, are taken in
the advanced degrees. The principle contents of the promises are
according to Pike:
Eighteenth degree: "I obligate and pledge myself
always to sustain, that it belongs to Masonry to teach
the great unsectarian truths, that do not exclusively
belong to any religion and acknowledge that I have no
right whatever to exact from others the acceptation of
any particular interpretation of masonic symbols, that
I may attribute to them by the virtue of my personal
belief. I obligate and solemnly pledge myself to
respect and sustain by all means and under any
circumstances Liberty of Speech, Liberty of Thought
and Liberty of Conscience in religious and political
matters". [143]
Thirtieth Degree: A. "I solemnly and freely vow
obedience to all the laws and regulations of the Order,
whose belief will be my belief, I promise obedience to
all my regular superiors. . . . I pledge myself to be
devoted, soul and body, to the protection of
innocence, the vindication of right, the crushing of
oppression and the punishment of every infraction
against the law of Humanity and of Man's rights . . .
never, either by interest or by fear, or even to save
my existence, to submit to nor suffer any material
despotism, that may enslave or oppress humanity by
the usurpation or abuse of power. I vow never to
submit to or tolerate any intellectual Despotism, that
may pretend to chain or fetter free thought, etc."
B. "I solemnly vow to consecrate my life to the ends
of the Order of Knights of Kadosh, and to co-operate
most efficaciously by all means prescribed by the
constituted authorities of the order to attain them. I
solemnly vow and consecrate, to these ends, my
words, my power, my strength, my influence, my
intelligence and my life. I vow to consider myself
henceforward and forever as the Apostle of Truth and
of the rights of man."
C. "I vow myself to the utmost to bring due
punishment upon the oppressors, the usurpers and
the wicked; I pledge myself never to harm a Knight
Kadosh, either by word or deed . . .; I vow that if I
find him as a foe in the battlefield, I will save his life,
when he makes me the Sign of Distress, and that I
will free him from prison and confinement upon land
or water, even to the risk of my own life or my own
liberty. I pledge myself to vindicate right and truth
even by might and violence, if necessary and duly

ordered by my regular superiors."

D. "I pledge myself to obey without hesitation any
order whatever it may be of my regular Superiors in
the Order". [144]

Outer work of Freemasonry: its

achievements, purposes and methods
The outer work of Freemasonry, though uniform in its
fundamental character and its general lines, varies considerably
in different countries and different Masonic symbols.
"Charitable"or "philanthropic" purposes are chiefly pursued by
English, German, and American Masonry, while practically at
least, they are neglected by Masons in the Latin countries, who
are absorbed by political activity. But even in England, where
relatively the largest sums are spent for charitable purposes,
Masonic philanthropy does not seem to be inspired by very high
ideals of generosity and disinterestedness, at least with respect
to the great mass of the brethren; the principal contributions are
made by a few very wealthy brethren and the rest by such as are
well-to-do.
Moreover, in all countries it is almost exclusively Masons and their
families that profit by Masonic charity. Masonic beneficence
towards the "profane" world is little more than figurative,
consisting in the propagation and application of Masonic
principles by which Masons pretend to promote the welfare of
mankind; and if Masons, particularly in Catholic countries,
occasionally devote themselves to charitable works as ordinarily
understood, their aim is to gain sympathy and thereby further
their real purposes. In North America, especially in the United
States a characteristic feature of the outer work is the tendency
toward display in the construction of sumptuous Masonic
"temples", in Masonic processions, at the laying of cornerstones
and the dedication of public buildings and even of Christian
churches. This tendency has frequently been rebuked by Masonic
writers. "The Masonry of this continent has gone mad after high
degreeism and grand titleism. We tell the brethren, that if they
do not pay more attention to the pure, simple, beautiful
symbolism of the Lodge and less to the tinsel, furbelow, fire and
feathers of Scotch Ritism and Templarism, the Craft will yet be
shaken to its very foundations!" "Let the tocsin be sounded".
[145] "Many masons have passed through the ceremony without
any inspiration; but, in public parades of the Lodges (also in
England) they may generally be found in the front rank and at
the masonic banquets they can neither be equalled nor excelled".
[146]
Even with regard to the most recent Turkish Revolution, it seems
certain that the Young Turkish party, which made and directed
the Revolution, was guided by Masons, and that Masonry,
especially the Grand Orients of Italy and France, had a
preponderantrleinthisRevolution.[153]Inconductingthis
work Freemasonry propagates principles which, logically
developed, as shown above, are essentially revolutionary and
serve as a basis for all kinds of revolutionary movements.
Directing Masons to find out for themselves practical reforms in
conformity with Masonic ideals and to work for their realization, it
fosters in its members and through them in society at large the
spirit of innovation. As an apparently harmless and even
beneficent association, which in reality is, through its secrecy and
ambiguous symbolism, subject to the most different influences, it
furnishes in critical times a shelter for conspiracy, and, even
when its lodges themselves are not transformed into conspiracy
clubs, Masons are trained and encouraged to found new
associations for such purposes or to make use of existing
associations.
Thus, Freemasonry in the eighteenth century, as a powerful ally

of infidelity, prepared the French Revolution. The alliance of

Freemasonry with philosophy was publicly sealed by the solemn
initiation of Voltaire, the chief of these philosophers, 7 February,
1778, and his reception of the Masonic garb from the famous
materialist Bro. Helvetius. [154] Prior to the Revolution various
conspiratory societies arose in connection with Freemasonry from
which they borrowed its forms and methods; Illuminati, clubs of
Jacobins, etc. A relatively large number of the leading
revolutionists were members of Masonic lodges, trained by lodge
life for their political career. Even the programme of the
Revolution expressed in the "rights of man" was, as shown above,
drawn from Masonic principles, and its device: "Liberty, Equality,
Fraternity" is the very device of Freemasonry. Similarly,
Freemasonry, together with the Carbonari, cooperated in the
Italian revolutionary movement of the nineteenth century. Nearly
all the prominent leaders and among them Mazzini and Garibaldi,
are extolled by Masonry as its most distinguished members. In
Germany and Austria, Freemasonry during the eighteenth century
was a powerful ally of the so-called party, of
"Enlightenment" (Aufklaerung), and of Josephinism; in the
nineteenth century of the pseudo-Liberal and of the anti-clerical
party.
In order to appreciate rightly the activity of Freemasonry in
Germany, Sweden, Denmark and England, and in France under
the Napoleonic regime, the special relations between
Freemasonry and the reigning dynasties must not be overlooked.
In Germany two-thirds of the Masons are members of the old
Prussian Grand Lodges under the protectorship of a member of
the Royal Dynasty, which implies a severe control of all lodge
activity in conformity with the aims of the Government. Hence
German Freemasons are scarcely capable of independent action.
But they certainly furthered the movement by which Prussia
gradually became the leading state of Germany, considered by
them as the "representative and the protector of modern
evolution" against "Ultramontanism", "bigotry", and "Papal
usurpations". They also instigated the "Kulturkampf". The
celebrated jurisconsult and Mason, Grandmaster Bluntschli, was
one of the foremost agitators in this conflict; he also stirred up
the Swiss "Kulturkampf". At his instigation the assembly of the
"Federation of the German Grand Lodges", in order to increase
lodge activity in the sense of the "Kulturkampf", declared, 24
May, 1874: "It is a professional duty for the lodges to see to it,
that the brethren become fully conscious of the relations of
Freemasonry to the sphere of ethical life and cultural purposes.
Freemasons are obliged to put into effect the principles of
Freemasonry in practical life and to defend the ethical
foundations of human society, whensoever these are assailed.
The Federation of the German Grand Lodges will provide, that
every year questions of actuality be proposed to all lodges for
discussion and uniform action". [155] German Freemasons put
forth untiring efforts to exert a decisive influence on the whole
life of the nation in keeping with Masonic principles, thus
maintaining a perpetual silent "Kulturkampf". The principal
means which they employ are popular libraries, conferences, the
affiliation of kindred associations and institutions, the creation,
where necessary, of new institutions, through which the Masonic
spirit permeates the nation. [156] A similar activity is displayed
by the Austrian Freemasons.
The chief organization which in France secured the success of
Freemasonry was the famous "League of instruction" founded in
1867byBro.F.Mac,lateramemberoftheSenate.Thisleague
affiliated and implied with its spirit many other associations.
French Masonry and above all the Grand Orient of France has
displayed the most systematic activity as the dominating political
element in the French "Kulturkampf" since 1877. [157] From the
official documents of French Masonry contained principally in the
official "Bulletin" and "Compte-rendu" of the Grand Orient it has
been proved that all the anti-clerical measures passed in the
French Parliament were decreed beforehand in the Masonic lodges
and executed under the direction of the Grand Orient, whose

avowed aim is to control everything and everybody in France.

[158]"Isaidintheassemblyof1898",statesthedeputyMass,
the official orator of the Assembly of 1903, "that it is the supreme
duty of Freemasonry to interfere each day more and more in
political and profane struggles". "Success (in the anti-clerical
combat) is in a large measure due to Freemasonry; for it is its
spirit, its programme, its methods, that have triumphed." "If the
Bloc has been established, this is owing to Freemasonry and to
the discipline learned in the lodges. The measures we have now
to urge are the separation of Church and State and a law
concerning instruction. Let us put our trust in the word of our
Bro. Combes". "For a long time Freemasonry has been simply the
republic in disguise", i.e., the secret parliament and government
of Freemasonry in reality rule France; the profane State,
Parliament, and Government merely execute its decrees. "We are
the conscience of the country"; "we are each year the funeral bell
announcing the death of a cabinet that has not done its duty but
has betrayed the Republic; or we are its support, encouraging it
by saying in a solemn hour: I present you the word of the
country . . . its satisfecit which is wanted by you, or its reproach
that to-morrow will be sealed by your fall". "We need vigilance
and above all mutual confidence, if we are to accomplish our
work, as yet unfinished. This work, you know . . . the anti-clerical
combat, is going on. The Republic must rid itself of the religious
congregations, sweeping them off by a vigorous stroke. The
system of half measures is everywhere dangerous; the adversary
must be crushed with a single blow". [159] "It is beyond doubt",
declared the President of the Assembly of 1902, Bro. Blatin, with
respect to the French elections of 1902, "that we would have
been defeated by our well-organized opponents, if Freemasonry
had not spread over the whole country". [160]
Along with this political activity Freemasonry employed against
its adversaries, whether real or supposed, a system of spying and
false accusation, the exposure of which brought about the
downfall of the masonic cabinet of Combes. In truth all the "anticlerical" Masonic reforms carried out in France since 1877, such
as the secularization of education, measures against private
Christian schools and charitable establishments, the suppression
of the religious orders and the spoliation of the Church,
professedly culminate in an anti-Christian and irreligious
reorganization of human society, not only in France but
throughout the world. Thus French Freemasonry, as the standardbearer of all Freemasonry, pretends to inaugurate the golden era
of the Masonic universal republic, comprising in Masonic
brotherhood all men and all nations. "The triumph of the
Galilean", said the president of the Grand Orient, Senator
Delpech, on 20 September, 1902, "has lasted twenty centuries.
But now he dies in his turn. The mysterious voice, announcing (to
Julian the Apostate) the death of Pan, today announces the death
of the impostor God who promised an era of justice and peace to
those who believe in him. The illusion has lasted a long time. The
mendacious God is now disappearing in his turn; he passes away
to join in the dust of ages the divinities of India, Egypt, Greece,
and Rome, who saw so many creatures prostrate before their
altars. Bro. Masons, we rejoice to state that we are not without
our share in this overthrow of the false prophets. The Romish
Church, founded on the Galilean myth, began to decay rapidly
from the very day on which the Masonic Association was
established". [161]
The assertion of the French Masons: "We are the conscience of
the country", was not true. By the official statistics it was
ascertained, that in all elections till 1906 the majority of the
votes were against the Masonic Bloc, and even the result in 1906
does not prove that the Bloc, or Masonry, in its anti-clerical
measures and purposes represents the will of the nation, since
the contrary is evident from many other facts. Much less does it
represent the "conscience" of the nation. The fact is, that the Bloc
in 1906 secured a majority only because the greater part of this
majority voted against their "conscience". No doubt the claims of
Freemasonry in France are highly exaggerated, and such success

as they have had is due chiefly to the lowering of the moral tone
in private and public life, facilitated by the disunion existing
among Catholics and by the serious political blunders which they
committed. Quite similar is the outer work of the Grand Orient of
Italy which likewise pretends to be the standard-bearer of
Freemasonry in the secular struggle of Masonic light and freedom
against the powers of "spiritual darkness and bondage", alluding
of course to the papacy, and dreams of the establishment of a
new and universal republican empire with a Masonic Rome,
supplanting the papalandCsareanasmetropolis.TheGrand
Orient of Italy has often declared that it is enthusiastically
followed in this struggle by the Freemasonry of the entire world
and especially by the Masonic centres at Paris, Berlin, London,
Madrid, Calcutta, Washington. [162] It has not been contradicted
by a single Grand Lodge in any country, nor did the German and
other Grand Lodges break off their relations with it on account of
it shameful political and anti-religious activity. But though the
aims of Italian Masons are perhaps more radical and their
methods more cunning than those of the French, their political
influence, owing to the difference of the surrounding social
conditions, is less powerful. The same is to be said of the Belgian
and the Hungarian Grand Lodges, which also consider the Grand
Orient of France as their political model.
Since 1889, the date of the international Masonic congress,
assembled at Paris, 16 and 17 July, 1889, by the Grand Orient of
France, systematic and incessant efforts have been made to bring
about a closer union of universal Freemasonry in order to realize
efficaciously and rapidly the Masonic ideals. The special allies of
the Grand Orient in this undertaking are: the Supreme Council
and the Symbolical Grand Lodge of France and the Masonic Grand
Lodges of Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Portugal,
Greece; the Grand Lodges of Massachusetts and of Brazil were
also represented at the congress. The programme pursued by the
Grand Orient of France, in its main lines, runs thus: "Masonry,
which prepared the Revolution of 1789, has the duty to continue
its work". [163] This task is to be accomplished by the
thoroughly and rigidly consistent application of the principles of
the Revolution to all the departments of the religious, moral,
judicial, legal, political, and social order. The necessary political
reforms being realized in most of their essential points,
henceforth the consistent application of the revolutionary
principles to the social conditions of mankind is the main task of
Masonry. The universal social republic, in which, after the
overthrow of every kind of spiritual and political tyranny", of
"theocratical" and dynastical powers and class privileges, reigns
the greatest possible individual liberty and social and economical
equality conformably to French Masonic ideals, the real ultimate
aims of this social work.
The following are deemed the principal means: (1) To destroy
radically by open persecution of the Church or by a hypocritical
fraudulent system of separation between State and Church, all
social influence of the Church and of religion, insidiously called
"clericalism", and, as far as possible, to destroy the Church and
all true, i.e., superhuman religion, which is more than a vague
cult of fatherland and of humanity; (2) To laicize, or secularize,
by a likewise hypocritical fraudulent system of "unsectarianism",
all public and private life and, above all, popular instruction and
education. "Unsectarianism" as understood by the Grand Orient
party is anti-Catholic and even anti-Christian, atheistic,
positivistic, or agnostic sectarianism in the garb of
unsectarianism. Freedom of thought and conscience of the
children has to be developed systematically in the child at school
and protected, as far as possible, against all disturbing
influences, not only of the Church and priests, but also of the
children's own parents, if necessary, even by means of moral and
physical compulsion. The Grand Orient party considers it
indispensable and an infallibly sure way to the final
establishment of the universal social republic and of the
pretended world peace, as they fancy them, and of the glorious
era of human solidarity and of unsurpassable human happiness in

the reign of liberty and justice. [164]

The efforts to bring about a closer union with Anglo-American and
German Freemasonry were made principally by the Symbolical
Grand Lodge of France and the "International Masonic Agency" at
Neuchtel(directedbytheSwiss Past Grand Master Quartier-La
Tente), attached to the little Grand Lodge "Alpina" of Switzerland.
These two Grand Lodges, as disguised agents of the Grand Orient
of France, act as mediators between this and the Masonic bodies
of English-speaking and German countries. With English and
American Grand Lodges their efforts till now have had but little
success. [165] Only the Grand Lodge of Iowa seems to have
recognized the Grand Lodge of France. [166] The English Grand
Lodge not only declined the offers, but, on 23 September, 1907,
through its registrar even declared: "We feel, that we in England
are better apart from such people. Indeed, Freemasonry is in
such bad odour on the Continent of Europe by reason of its being
exploited by Socialists and Anarchists, that we may have to break
off relations with more of the Grand Bodies who have forsaken
our Landmarks". [167] The American Grand Lodges
(Massachusetts, Missouri, etc.), in general, seem to be resolved
to follow the example of the English Grand Lodges.
The German Grand Lodges, on the contrary, at least most of
them, yielded to the pressure exercised on them by a great many
German brothers. Captivated by the Grand Orient party on 3
June, 1906, the Federation of the eight German Grand Lodges, by
6 votes to 2, decreed to establish official friendly relations with
the Grand Lodge, and on 27 May, 1909, by 5 votes to 3, to
restore the same relations with the Grand Orient of France. This
latter decree excited the greatest manifestations of joy, triumph
and jubilation in the Grand Orient party, which considered it as
an event of great historic import. But in the meantime a public
press discussion was brought about by some incisive articles of
the "Germania" [168] with the result, that the three old Prussian
Grand Lodges, comprising 37,198 brothers controlled by the
protectorate, abandoned their ambiguous attitude and
energetically condemned the decree of 27 May, 1909, and the
attitude of the 5 other so-called "humanitarian" German Grand
Lodges, which comprise but 16,448 brothers. It was hoped, that
the British and American Grand Lodges, enticed by the example
of the German Grand Lodges, would, in the face of the common
secular enemy in the Vatican, join the Grand Orient party before
the great universal Masonic congress, to be held in Rome in
1911. But instead of this closer union of universal Freemasonry
dreamt of by the Grand Orient party, the only result was a split
between the German Grand Lodges by which their federation
itself was momentarily shaken to its foundation.
But in spite of the failure of the official transactions, there are a
great many German and not a few American Masons, who
evidently favour at least the chief anti-clerical aims of the Grand
Orient party. Startling evidence thereof was the recent violent
world-wide agitation, which, on occasion of the execution of the
anarchist, Bro. Ferrer, 31, an active member of the Grand Orient
of France [169] was set at work by the Grand Orient of France
[170] and of Italy [171] in order to provoke the organization of
an international Kulturkampf after the French pattern. In nearly
all the countries of Europe the separation between State and
Church and the laicization or neutralization of the popular
instruction and education, were and are still demanded by all
parties of the Left with redoubled impetuosity.
The fact that there are also American Masons, who evidently
advocate the Kulturkampf in America and stir up the international
Kulturkampf, is attested by the example of Bros. J.D. Buck, 33
and A. Pike, 33. Buck published a book, "The Genius of
Freemasonry", in which he advocates most energetically a
Kulturkampf for the United States. This book, which in 1907, was
in its 3rd edition, is recommended ardently to all American
Masons by Masonic journals. A. Pike, as the Grand Commander of

the Mother Supreme Council of the World (Charleston, South

Carolina) lost no opportunity in his letters to excite the anticlerical spirit of his colleagues. In a long letter of 28 December,
1886, for instance, he conjures the Italian Grand Commander,
Timoteo Riboli, 33, the intimate friend of Garibaldi, to do all in his
power, in order to unite Italian Masonry against the Vatican. He
writes:
The Papacy . . . has been for a thousand years the
torturer and curse of Humanity, the most shameless
imposture, in its pretence to spiritual power of all
ages. With its robes wet and reeking with the blood of
half a million of human beings, with the grateful
odour of roasted human flesh always in its nostrils, it
is exulting over the prospect of renewed dominion. It
has sent all over the world its anathemas against
Constitutional government and the right of men to
freedom of thought and conscience.
Again,
"In presence of this spiritual 'Cobra di capello', this
deadly, treacherous, murderous enemy, the most
formidable power in the world, the unity of Italian
Masonry is of absolute and supreme necessity; and to
this paramount and omnipotent necessity all minor
considerations ought to yield; dissensions and
disunion, in presence of this enemy of the human race
are criminal".
"There must be no unyielding, uncompromising
insistence upon particular opinions, theories,
prejudices, professions: but, on the contrary, mutual
concessions and harmonious co-operation".
"The Freemasonry of the world will rejoice to see
accomplished and consummated the Unity of the
Italian Freemasonry". [172]
Important Masonic journals, for instance, "The American TylerKeystone" (Ann Arbor), openly patronize the efforts of the French
Grand Orient Party. "The absolute oneness of the Craft", says the
Past Grand Master Clifford P. MacCalla (Pennsylvania), "is a
glorious thought." "Neither boundaries of States nor vast oceans
separate the Masonic Fraternity. Everywhere it is one." "There is
no universal church, no universal body of politic; but there is an
universal Fraternity, that Freemasonry; and every Brother who is
a worthy member, may feel proud of it". [173] Owing to the
solidarity existing between all Masonic bodies and individual
Masons, they are all jointly responsible for the evil doings of their
fellow-members.
Representative Masons, however, extol the pretended salutary
influence of their order on human culture and progress.
"Masonry", says Frater, Grand Orator, Washington, "is the shrine
of grand thoughts, of beautiful sentiments, the seminary for the
improvement of the moral and the mental standard of its
members. As a storehouse of morality it rains benign influence on
the mind and heart". [174] "Modern Freemasonry", according to
other Masons, "is a social and moral reformer". [175] "No one",
says the "Keystone" of Chicago, "has estimated or can estimate
the far reaching character of the influence of Masonry in the
world. It by no means is limited the bodies of the Craft. Every
initiate is a light bearer, a center of light". [176] "In Germany as
in the United States and Great Britain those who have been
leaders of men in intellectual, moral and social life, have been
Freemasons. Eminent examples in the past are the Brothers
Fichte, Herder, Wieland, Lessing, Goethe. Greatest of them all
was I.W. von Goethe. Well may we be proud of such a
man" [177] etc. German Masons [178] claim for Freemasonry a
considerable part in the splendid development of German

literature in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These

claims, however, when critically examined, prove to be either
groundless or exaggerated. English Freemasonry, being then at a
low intellectual and moral level and retrograding towards
orthodoxy, was not qualified to be the originator or a leading
factor in the freethinking "Culture of Enlightenment." German
Masonry, then dominated by the Swedish system and the Strict
Observance and intellectually and morally degenerated, as
Masonic historians themselves avow, was in no better plight. In
truth the leading literary men of the epoch, Lessing, Goethe,
Herder, etc. were cruelly disabused and disappointed by what
they saw and experienced in their lodge life. [179] Lessing spoke
with contempt of the lodge life; Goethe characterized the Masonic
associations and doings as "fools and rogues"; Herder wrote, 9
January, 1786, to the celebrated philologist Bro. Heyne; "I bear a
deadly hatred to all secret societies and, as a result of my
experience, both within their innermost circles and outside, I
wish them all to the devil. For persistent domineering intrigues
and the spirit of cabal creep beneath the cover". [180]
Freemasonry, far from contributing to the literary greatness of
these or other leading men, profited by the external splendour
which their membership reflected on it. But the advantage was
by no means deserved, for even at the height of their literary
fame, not they, but common swindlers, like Johnson, Cagliostro,
etc., were the centres round which the Masonic world gravitated.
All the superior men belonging to Freemasonry: Fichte, Fessler,
Krause,Schrder,Mossdorf,Schiffman,Findel,etc.,sofarasthey
strove to purge lodge life from humbug, were treated
ignominiously by the bulk of the average Masons and even by
lodge authorities. Men of similar turn of mind are stigmatized by
English and American Masonic devotees as "materialists" and
"iconoclasts". [181] But true it is that the lodges work silently
and effectually for the propagation and application of
"unsectarian" Masonic principles in human society and life. The
Masonic magazines abound in passages to this effect. Thus Bro.
Richardson of Tennessee avers: "Freemasonry does its work
silently, but it is the work of a deep river, that silently pushes on
towards the ocean, etc." [182] "The abandonment of old themes
and the formation of new ones", explained Grand High Priest,
J.W. Taylor (Georgia),
"do not always arise from the immediately perceptible
cause which the world assigns, but are the
culmination of principles which have been working in
the minds of men for many years, until at last the
proper time and propitious surroundings kindle the
latent truth into life, and, as the light of reason flows
from mind to mind and the unity of purpose from
heart to heart, enthusing all with a mighty common
cause and moving nations as one man to the
accomplishment of great ends. On this principle does
the Institution of Freemasonry diffuse its influence to
the world of mankind. It works quietly and secretly,
but penetrates through all the interstices of society in
its many relations, and the recipients of its many
favors are awed by its grand achievements, but
cannot tell whence it came". [183]
The "Voice" (Chicago) writes: "Never before in the history of ages
has Freemasonry occupied so important a position, as at the
present time. Never was its influence so marked, its membership
so extensive, its teaching so revered." "There are more Masons
outside the great Brotherhood than within it." Through its "pure
morality" with which pure Freemasonry is synonomous, it
"influences society, and, unperceived, sows the seed that brings
forth fruit in wholesome laws and righteous enactments. It
upholds the right, relieves the distressed, defends the weak and
raises the fallen (of course, all understood in the masonic sense
above explained). So, silently but surely and continually, it builds
into the great fabric of human society". [184]

The real force of Freemasonry in its outer work is indeed, that

there are more Masons and oftentimes better qualified for the
performance of Masonic work, outside the brotherhood than
within it. Freemasonry itself in Europe and in America founds
societies and institutions of similar form and scope for all classes
of society and infuses into them its spirit. Thus according to
Gould [185] Freemasonry since about 1750 "has exercised a
remarkable influence over all other oath-bound societies". The
same is stated by Bro. L. Blanc, Deschamps, etc. for Germany
and other countries. In the United States, according to the
"Cyclopedia of Fraternities", there exist more than 600 secret
societies, working more or less under the veil of forms patterned
on Masonic symbolism and for the larger part notably influenced
by Freemasonry, so that every third male adult in the United
States is a member of one or more of such secret societies.
"Freemasonry", says the "Cyclopedia", p.v., "of course, is shown
to be the mother-Fraternity in fact as well as in name." "Few who
are well informed on the subject, will deny that the masonic
Fraternity is directly or indirectly the parent organization of all
modern secret societies, good, bad and indifferent". [186]
Many Anglo-American Freemasons are wont to protest strongly
against all charges accusing Freemasonry of interfering with
political or religious affairs or of hostility to the Church or
disloyalty to the public authorities. They even praise Freemasonry
as "one of the strongest bulwarks of religions" [187] "the
handmaid of religion" [188] and the "handmaid of the church".
[189] "There is nothing in the nature of the Society", says the
"Royal Craftsman", New York, "that necessitates the renunciation
of a single sentence of any creed, the discontinuance of any
religious customs or the obliteration of a dogma of belief. No one
is asked to deny the Bible, to change his Church relations or to be
less attentive to the teaching of his spiritual instructors and
counsellors". [190] "Masonry indeed contains the pith of
Christianity". [191] "It is a great mistake to suppose it an enemy
of the Church." "It does not offer itself as a substitute of that
divinely ordained institution." "It offers itself as an adjunct, as an
ally, as a helper in the great work of the regeneration of the race,
of the uplifting of man". [192] Hence, "we deny the right of the
Romish Church to exclude from its communion those of its flock
who have assumed the responsibility of the Order of
Freemasonry". [193]
Though such protestations seem to be sincere and to reveal even
a praiseworthy desire in their authors not to conflict with religion
and the Church, they are contradicted by notorious facts.
Certainly Freemasonry and "Christian" or "Catholic" religion are
not opposed to each other, when Masons, some erroneously and
others hypocritically understand "Christian" or "Catholic" in the
above described Masonic sense, or when Masonry itself is
mistakenly conceived as an orthodox Christian institution. But
between "Masonry" and "Christian" or "Catholic" religion,
conceived as they really are: between "unsectarian" Freemasonry
and "dogmatic, orthodox" Christianity or Catholicism, there is a
radical opposition. It is vain to say: though Masonry is officially
"unsectarian", it does not prevent individual Masons from being
"sectarian" in their non-Masonic relations; for in its official
"unsectarianism" Freemasonry necessarily combats all that
Christianity contains beyond the "universal religion in which all
men agree", consequently all that is characteristic of the
Christian and Catholic religion. These characteristic features
Freemasonry combats not only as superfluous and merely
subjective, but also as spurious additions disfiguring the
objective universal truth, which it professes. To ignore Christ and
Christianity, is practically to reject them as unessential
framework.
But Freemasonry goes farther and attacks Catholicism openly.
The "Voice" (Chicago), for instance, in an article which begins:
"There is nothing in the Catholic religion which is adverse to
Masonry", continues,

for the truth is, that masonry embodies that religion

in which all men agree. This is as true as that all
veritable religion, wherever found, is in substance the
same. Neither is it in the power of any man or body of
men to make it otherwise. Doctrines and forms of
observance conformable to piety, imposed by spiritual
overseers, may be as various as the courses of wind;
and like the latter may war with each other upon the
face of the whole earth, but they are not religion.
Bigotry and zeal, the assumptions of the priestcraft,
with all its countless inventions to magnify and
impress the world . . . are ever the mainsprings of
strife, hatred and revenge, which defame and banish
religion and its inseparable virtues, and work
unspeakable mischief, wherever mankind are found
upon the earth. Popery and priestcraft are so allied,
that they may be called the same; the truth being,
that the former is nothing more nor less than a
special case of the latter, being a particular form of a
vicious principle, which itself is but the offspring of
the conceit of self-sufficiency and the lust of
dominion. Nothing which can be named, is more
repugnant to the spirit of masonry, nothing to be
more carefully guarded against, and this has been
always well understood by all skillful masters, and it
must in truth be said, that such is the wisdom of the
lessons, i.e. of masonic instruction in Lodges, etc.
[194]
In similar discussions, containing in almost every word a hidden
or open attack on Christianity, the truly Masonic magazines and
books of all countries abound. Past Grand Deacon J.C. Parkinson,
an illustrious English Mason, frankly avows: "The two systems of
Romanism and Freemasonry are not only incompatible, but they
are radically opposed to each other" [195] and American Masons
say: "We won't make a man a Freemason, until we know that he
isn't a Catholic." [196]
With respect to loyalty towards "lawful government" American
Masons pretend that "everywhere Freemasons, individually and
collectively, are loyal and active supporters of republican or
constitutional governments". [197] "Our principles are all
republican". [198] "Fidelity and Loyalty, and peace and order,
and subordination to lawful authorities are household gods of
Freemasonry" [199] and English Freemasons declare, that, "the
loyalty of English Masons is proverbial". [200] These
protestations of English and American Freemasons in general
may be deemed sincere, as far as their own countries and actual
governments are concerned. Not even the revolutionary Grand
Orient of France thinks of overthrowing the actual political order
in France, which is in entire conformity with its wishes. The
question is, whether Freemasons respect a lawful Government in
their own and other countries, when it is not inspired by Masonic
principles. In this respect both English and American
Freemasons, by their principles and conduct, provoke the
condemnatory verdict of enlightened and impartial public opinion.
We have already above hinted at the whimsical Article II of the
"Old Charges", calculated to encourage rebellion against
Governments which are not according to the wishes of
Freemasonry. The "Freemason's Chronicle" but faithfully
expresses the sentiments of Anglo-American Freemasonry, when
it writes:
If we were to assert that under no circumstances had
a Mason been found willing to take arms against a
bad government, we should only be declaring that, in
trying moments, when duty, in the masonic sense, to
state means antagonism to the Government, they had
failed in the highest and most sacred duty of a
citizen. Rebellion in some cases is a sacred duty, and
none, but a bigot or a fool, will say, that our

countrymen were in the wrong, when they took arms

against King James II. Loyalty to freedom in a case of
this kind overrides all other considerations, and when
to rebel means to be free or to perish, it would be idle
to urge that a man must remember obligations which
were never intended to rob him of his status of a
human being and a citizen. [201]
Such language would equally suit every anarchistic movement.
The utterances quoted were made in defence of plotting Spanish
Masons. Only a page further the same English Masonic magazine
writes: "Assuredly Italian Masonry, which has rendered such
invaluable service in the regeneration of that magnificent
country", "is worthy of the highest praise". [202] "A Freemason,
moved by lofty principles", says the "Voice" (Chicago), "may
rightly strike a blow at tyranny and may consort with others to
bring about needed relief, in ways that are not ordinarily
justifiable. History affords numerous instances of acts which have
been justified by subsequent events, and none of us, whether
Masons or not, are inclined to condemn the plots hatched
between Paul Revere, Dr. J. Warren and others, in the old Green
Dragon Tavern, the headquarters of Colonial Freemasonry in New
England, because these plots were inspired by lofty purpose and
the result not only justified them, but crowned these heroes with
glory". [203] "No Freemason" said Right Rev. H.C. Potter on the
centenary of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch, New York, "may
honourably bend the knee to any foreign potentate (not even to
King Edward VII of England) civil or ecclesiastical (the Pope) or
yield allegiance to any alien sovereignty, temporal or spiritual".
[204] From this utterance it is evident that according to Potter no
Catholic can be a Mason. In conformity with these principles
American and English Freemasons supported the leaders of the
revolutionary movement on the European continent. Kossuth,
who "had been leader in the rebellion against Austrian tyranny",
was enthusiastically received by American Masons, solemnly
initiated into Freemasonry at Cincinnati, 21 April, 1852, and
presented with a generous gift as a proof "that on the altar of St.
John's Lodge the fire of love burnt so brightly, as to flash its light
even into the deep recesses and mountain fastnesses of
Hungary". [205] Garibaldi, "the greatest freemason of
Italy" [206] and Mazzini were also encouraged by AngloAmerican Freemasons in their revolutionary enterprises. [207]
"The consistent Mason", says the "Voice" (Chicago), "will never
be found engaged in conspiracies or plots for the purpose of
overturning and subverting a government, based upon the
masonic principles of liberty and equal rights". [208] "But"
declares Pike, "with tongue and pen, with all our open and secret
influences, with the purse, and if need be, with the sword, we will
advance the cause of human progress and labour to enfranchise
human thought, to give freedom to the human conscience (above
all from papal 'usurpations') and equal rights to the people
everywhere. Wherever a nation struggles to gain or regain its
freedom, wherever the human mind asserts its independence and
the people demand their inalienable rights, there shall go our
warmest sympathies". [209]

Action of state and Church authorities

Curiously enough, the first sovereign to join and protect
Freemasonry was the Catholic German Emperor Francis I, the
founder of the actually reigning line of Austria, while the first
measures against Freemasonry were taken by Protestant
Governments: Holland, 1735; Sweden and Geneva, 1738; Zurich,
1740; Berne, 1745. In Spain, Portugal and Italy, measures
against Masonry were taken after 1738. In Bavaria Freemasonry
was prohibited 1784 and 1785; in Austria, 1795; in Baden 1813;
in Russia, 1822. Since 1847 it has been tolerated in Baden, since
1850 in Bavaria, since 1868 in Hungary and Spain. In Austria
Freemasonry is still prohibited because as the Superior Court of
Administration, 23 January, 1905, rightly declared, a Masonic
association, even though established in accordance with law,

"would be a member of a large (international) organization (in

reality ruled by the 'Old Charges', etc. according to general
Masonic principles and aims), the true regulations of which would
be kept secret from the civil authorities, so that the activity of the
members could not be controlled". [210] It is indeed to be
presumed that Austro-Hungarian Masons, whatever statutes they
might present to the Austrian Government in order to secure
their authorization would in fact continue to regard the French
Grand Orient as their true pattern, and the Brothers Kossuth,
Garibaldi, and Mazzini as the heroes, whom they would strive to
imitate. The Prussian edict of 1798 interdicted Freemasonry in
general, excepting the three old Prussian Grand Lodges which the
protectorate subjected to severe control by the Government. This
edict, though juridically abrogated by the edict of 6 April, 1848,
practically, according to a decision of the Supreme Court of 22
April, 1893, by an erroneous interpretation of the organs of
administration, remained in force till 1893. Similarly, in England
an Act of Parliament was passed on 12 July, 1798 for the "more
effectual suppression of societies established for seditions and
treasonable purposes and for preventing treasonable and
seditious practices". By this Act Masonic associations and
meetings in general were interdicted, and only the lodges
existing on 12 July, 1798, and ruled according to the old
regulations of the Masonry of the kingdom were tolerated, on
condition that two representatives of the lodge should make oath
before the magistrates, that the lodge existed and was ruled as
the Act enjoined. [211] During the period 1827-34, measures
were taken against Freemasonry in some of the United States of
America. As to European countries it may be stated, that all those
Governments, which had not originated in the revolutionary
movement, strove to protect themselves against Masonic secret
societies.
The action of the Church is summed up in the papal
pronouncements against Freemasonry since 1738, the most
important of which are:
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l

Clement XII, Constitution "In Eminenti", 28 April, 1738;

Benedict XIV, "Providas", 18 May, 1751;
Pius VII, "Ecclesiam", 13 September, 1821;
Leo XII, "Quo graviora", 13 March, 1825;
Pius VIII, Encyclical "Traditi", 21 May, 1829;
Gregory XVI, "Mirari", 15 August, 1832;
Pius IX, Encyclical "Qui pluribus", 9 November, 1846;
Pius IX, Allocution "Quibus quantisque malis", 20 April,
1849;
Pius IX, Encyclical "Quanta cura", 8 December, 1864;
Pius IX, Allocution "Multiplices inter", 25 September, 1865;
Pius IX, Constitution "ApostolicSedis", 12 October, 1869;
Pius IX, Encyclical "Etsi multa", 21 November, 1873;
Leo XIII, Encyclical "Humanum genus", 20 April, 1884;
Leo XIII,"Prclara",20June,1894
Leo XIII, "Annum ingressi", 18 March, 1902 (against Italian
Freemasonry);
Leo XIII, Encyclical"Etsnos",15February,1882
Leo XIII, "Ab Apostolici", 15 October, 1890.

These pontifical utterances from first to last are in complete

accord, the latter reiterating the earlier with such developments
as were called for by the growth of Freemasonry and other secret
societies.
Clement XII accurately indicates the principal reasons why
Masonic associations from the Catholic, Christian, moral, political,
and social points of view, should be condemned. These reasons
are:
l

The peculiar, "unsectarian" (in truth, anti-Catholic and antiChristian) naturalistic character of Freemasonry, by which
theoretically and practically it undermines the Catholic and
Christian faith, first in its members and through them in

the rest of society, creating religious indifferentism and

contempt for orthodoxy and ecclesiastical authority.
The inscrutable secrecy and fallacious ever-changing
disguise of the Masonic association and of its "work", by
which "men of this sort break as thieves into the house and
like foxes endeavour to root up the vineyard", "perverting
the hearts of the simple", ruining their spiritual and
temporal welfare.
The oaths of secrecy and of fidelity to Masonry and Masonic
work, which cannot be justified in their scope, their object,
or their form, and cannot, therefore, induce any obligation.
The oaths are condemnable, because the scope and object
of Masonry are "wicked" and condemnable, and the
candidate in most cases is ignorant of the import or extent
of the obligation which he takes upon himself. Moreover the
ritualistic and doctrinal "secrets" which are the principal
object of the obligation, according to the highest Masonic
authorities, are either trifles or no longer exist. [212] In
either case the oath is a condemnable abuse. Even the
Masonic modes of recognition, which are represented as the
principal and only essential "secret" of Masonry, are
published in many printed books. Hence the real "secrets"
of Masonry, if such there be, could only be political or antireligious conspiracies like the plots of the Grand Lodges in
Latin countries. But such secrets, condemned, at least
theoretically, by Anglo-American Masons themselves, would
render the oath or obligation only the more immoral and
therefore null and void. Thus in every respect the Masonic
oaths are not only sacrilegious but also an abuse contrary to
public order which requires that solemn oaths and
obligations as the principal means to maintain veracity and
faithfulness in the State and in human society, should not
be vilified or caricatured. In Masonry the oath is further
degraded by its form which includes the most atrocious
penalties, for the "violation of obligations" which do not
even exist; a "violation" which, in truth may be and in
many cases is an imperative duty.
The danger which such societies involve for the security and
"tranquility of the State" and for "the spiritual health of
souls", and consequently their incompatibility with civil and
canonical law. For even admitting that some Masonic
associations pursued for themselves no purposes contrary
to religion and to public order, they would be nevertheless
contrary to public order, because by their very existence as
secret societies based on the Masonic principles, they
encourage and promote the foundation of other really
dangerous secret societies and render difficult, if not
impossible, efficacious action of the civil and ecclesiastical
authorities against them.

Of the other papal edicts only some characteristic utterances

need be mentioned. Benedict XIV appeals more urgently to
Catholic princes and civil powers to obtain their assistance in the
struggle against Freemasonry. Pius VII condemns the secret
society of the Carbonari which, if not an offshoot, is "certainly an
imitation of the Masonic society" and, as such, already comprised
in the condemnation issued against it. Leo XII deplores the fact,
that the civil powers had not heeded the earlier papal decrees,
and in consequence out of the old Masonic societies even more
dangerous sects had sprung. Among them the "Universitarian" is
mentioned as most pernicious. "It is to be deemed certain", says
the pope, "that these secret societies are linked together by the
bond of the same criminal purposes." Gregory XVI similarly
declares that the calamities of the age were due principally to the
conspiracy of secret societies, and like Leo XII, deplores the
religious indifferentism and the false ideas of tolerance
propagated by secret societies. Pius IX [213] characterizes
Freemasonry as an insidious, fraudulent and perverse
organization injurious both to religion and to society; and
condemns anew "this Masonic and other similar societies, which
differing only in appearance coalesce constantly and openly or
secretly plot against the Church or lawful authority". Leo XIII

(1884) says: "There are various sects, which although differing in

name, rite, form, and origin, are nevertheless so united by
community of purposes and by similarity of their main principles
as to be really one with the Masonic sect, which is a kind of
centre, whence they all proceed and whither they all return." The
ultimate purpose of Freemasonry is "the overthrow of the whole
religious, political, and social order based on Christian institutions
and the establishment of a new state of things according to their
own ideas and based in its principles and laws on pure
Naturalism."
In view of these several reasons Catholics since 1738 are, under
penalty of excommunication, incurred ipso facto, and reserved to
the pope, strictly forbidden to enter or promote in any way
Masonic societies. The law now in force [214] pronounces
excommunication upon "those who enter Masonic or Carbonarian
or other sects of the same kind, which, openly or secretly, plot
against the Church or lawful authority and those who in any way
favour these sects or do not denounce their leaders and principal
members." Under this head mention must also be made of the
"Practical Instruction of the Congregation of the Inquisition, 7
May, 1884 [215] and of the decrees of the Provincial Councils of
Baltimore, 1840; New Orleans, 1856; Quebec, 1851, 1868; of the
first Council of the English Colonies, 1854; and particularly of the
Plenary Councils of Baltimore, 1866 and 1884. [216] These
documents refer mainly to the application of the papal decrees
according to the peculiar condition of the respective ecclesiastical
provinces. The Third Council of Baltimore, n. 254 sq., states the
method of ascertaining whether or not a society is to be regarded
as comprised in the papal condemnation of Freemasonry. It
reserves the final decision thereon to a commission consisting of
all the archbishops of the ecclesiastical provinces represented in
the council, and, if they cannot reach a unanimous conclusion,
refers to the Holy See.
These papal edicts and censures against Freemasonry have often
been the occasion of erroneous and unjust charges. The
excommunication was interpreted as an "imprecation" that
cursed all Freemasons and doomed them to perdition. In truth an
excommunication is simply an ecclesiastical penalty, by which
members of the Church should be deterred from acts that are
criminal according to ecclesiastical law. The pope and the
bishops, therefore, as faithful pastors of Christ's flock, cannot but
condemn Freemasonry. They would betray, as Clement XII
stated, their most sacred duties, if they did not oppose with all
their power the insidious propagation and activity of such
societies in Catholic countries or with respect to Catholics in
mixed and Protestant countries. Freemasonry systematically
promotes religious indifferentism and undermines true, i.e.,
orthodox Christian and Catholic Faith and life. Freemasonry is
essentially Naturalism and hence opposed to all supernaturalism.
As to some particular charges of Leo XIII (1884) challenged by
Freemasons, e.g., the atheistical character of Freemasonry, it
must be remarked, that the pope considers the activity of
Masonic and similar societies as a whole, applying to it the term
which designates the most of these societies and among the
Masonic groups those, which push the so-called "anti-clerical", in
reality irreligious and revolutionary, principles of Freemasonry
logically to their ultimate consequences and thus, in truth, are, as
it were, the advanced outposts and standard-bearers of the whole
immense anti-Catholic and anti-papal army in the world-wide
spiritual warfare of our age. In this sense also the pope, in
accordance with a fundamental biblical and evangelical view
developed by St. Augustine in his "De civitate Dei", like the
Masonic poet Carducci in his "Hymn to Satan", considers Satan as
the supreme spiritual chief of this hostile army. Thus Leo XIII
(1884) expressly states:
What we say, must be understood of the Masonic sect
in the universal acceptation of the term, as it
comprises all kindred and associated societies, but
not of their single members. There may be persons

amongst these, and not a few, who, although not free

from the guilt of having entangled themselves in such
associations, yet are neither themselves partners in
their criminal acts nor aware of the ultimate object
which these associations are endeavouring to attain.
Similarly some of the several bodies of the association
may perhaps by no means approve of certain extreme
conclusions, which they would consistently accept as
necessarily following from the general principles
common to all, were they not deterred by the vicious
character of the conclusions.
"The Masonic federation is to be judged not so much by the acts
and things it has accomplished, as by the whole of its principles
and purposes."

Sources
[1] The Freemason's Chronicle, 1908, I, 283, frequently referred to in this article as
Chr.
[2] Concise Hist., 109, 122.
[3] Gould, "Hist.", I, 378, 379, 410; II, 153 sqq.
[4] A. Q. C., VIII, 35, 155 sq.; Boos, 104 sqq.
[5] A. Q. C., X, 10-30; IX, 167.
[6] A. Q. C., XI, 166-168.
[7] Vorgeschichte, I, 1909, 42-58.
[8] A. Q. C., X, 20-22.
[9] Gould, "Concise History", 166 sq.
[10] Symbolism of Freemasonry, 1869, 303.
[11] 1900, I, 320 sq.
[12] "Transactions of the Lodge Ars Quatuor Coronatorum", XI (London, 1898), 64.
[13] Encyclopedia, 296.
[14] Chr., 1890, II, 145.
[15] Donnelly, "Atlantis the Antediluvian World".
[16] Oliver, I, 20, sq.
[17] Chr., 1880, I, 148; II, 139; 1884, II, 130; Gruber, 5, 122-128.
[18] See, for instance, "The Voice" of Chicago, Chr., 1885, I, 226.
[19] English ritual, 1908, almost identical with other English, Irish, Scottish, and
American rituals.
[20] See Gould, "Hist.", I, 408, 473, etc.
[21] "Handbuch", 3rd ed., I, 321; Begemann, "Vorgeschichte, etc.", 1909, I, 1 sqq.
[22] History, II, 2, 121.
[23] A. Q. C., X, 128.
[24] Encyclopedia, 296 sq.
[25] 3, 17-39.
[26] Chr., 1878, I, 187, 194 sqq.
[27] Mackey, "Jurisprudence", 17-39; Chr., 1878, I, 194 sqq.; 1888, I, 11).
[28] Fischer, I, 14 sq.; Groddeck, 1 sqq., 91 sqq.; "Handbuch", 3rd ed., II, 154.
[29] Grand Lodge Ms. No. 1, Gould, "Concise History", 236; Thorp, Ms. 1629, A. Q. C.,
XI, 210; Rawlinson Ms. 1729-39 A. Q. C., XI, 22; Hughan, "Old Charges".
[30] Groddeck; "Handbuch", 3rd ed., I, 466 sqq.
[31] Oliver, "Remains", I, 96; 332.
[32] Chr., 1876, I, 113.
[33] see also Chr., 1878, I, 180; 1884, II, 38; etc., Gould, "Conc. Hist.", 289 sq.
[34] Lexicon, 42.
[35] Kunsturkunden, 1810, I, 525.
[36] Begemann, "Vorgeschichte," II, 1910, 127 sq., 137 sq.
[37] Calcott, "A Candid Disquisition, etc.", 1769; Oliver, "Remains", II, 301.
[38] Gould, "History", II, 400.
[39] Calcott; Oliver, ibid., II, 301-303.
[40] "Sign.", 1904, 45 sq., 54; Gruber (5), 49 sqq.; Idem (4), 23 sq.
[41] Findel, "Die Schule der Hierarchie, etc.", 1870, 15 sqq.; Schiffmann, "Die
Entstehung der Rittergrade", 1882, 85, 92, 95 sq.
[42] Bulletin du Grand Orient de France, 1877, 236-50.
[43] "Intern. Bull.", Berne, 1908, No. 2.
[44] Chr., 1878, I, 161.
[45] 3rd ed., II, 231.
[46] Chr., 1890, I, 243.
[47] Acacia, 1907, I, 48.
[48] Sign., 1907, 133 sq.
[49] Sign., 1905, 54.
[50] Chr., 1878, I, 134.
[51] Morals and Dogma, 643 sqq.
[52] 3rd ed., II, 200.
[53] Sign., 1905, 27.
[54] Rivista, 1909, 44.
[55] Gould, "History", II, 284 sq.
[56] Concise History, 309.
[57] A. Q. C., X, 127 sqq.; XI, 47 sqq.; XVI, 27 sqq.
[58] Gould, "Conc. Hist., 272; 310- 17.
[59] Ibid., 280.
[60] Ibid., 318.
[61] Handbuch, 3rd ed., I, 24 sqq.; II, 559 sqq.
[62] Chr., 1906, II, 19 sq.; 1884, II, 306.
[63] A. Q. C., XI, 43.

[64] Preston, "Illustrations", 296 seq.

[65] Chr., 1887, II, 313.
[66] Drummond., "Chr.", 1884, II, 227; 1887, I, 163; II, 178; Gould, "Concise History",
413.
[67] Prichard, "Masonry Dissected", 1730.
[68] Gould, "Concise History", 274 sq., 357 sq.; Boos, 174 sq.
[69] Handbuch, 2nd ed., II, 100.
[70] Abafi, I, 132.
[71] Boos, 170, 183 sqq., 191.
[72] See ILLUMINATI, and Boos, 303.
[73] Robertson, "Chr.", 1907, II, 95; see also Engel, "Gesch. des Illuminatenordens",
1906.
[74]Bauhtte,1908,337sqq.
[75] Sign., 1898, 100; 1901, 63 sqq.; 1902, 39; 1905, 6.
[76], 292 sq.
[77] French Vnrable; German Meister von Stuhl.
[78] Chr., 1885, I, 259.
[79] Chr., 1881, I, 66.
[80] Chr., 1884, II, 196.
[81] Chr., 1885, I, 259), etc., etc.
[82] Gedanken und Erinnerungen, 1898, I, 302 sq.
[83]Solstice,24June,1841,Procs-verb., 62.
[84] 3rd ed., II, 109.
[85] See also Freemason, Lond., 1901, 181; Clavel, 288 sqq.; Ragon, "Cours", 164;
Herold, 191, no. 10; "Handbuch", 2nd ed., II, 451 sqq.
[86] E.g., Krause, ibid., 2nd ed., I, 2, 429; Marbach, "Freimaurer-Gelbde",22-35.
[87] Mackey, "Jurisprudence", 509.
[88] Thorp, Ms., 1629, A. Q. C., XI, 210; Rawlinson, Ms. 1900, A. Q. C., XI, 22;
Hughan, "Old Charges".
[89] Chr., 1875, I, 81.
[90] Jurisprudence, 510, note 1.
[91] Chr., 1885, I, 161.
[92] Chr., 1889, II, 58.
[93] Chr., 1883, II, 331.
[94] Mackey, "Jurisprudence", 232 sq.
[95] Mackey, op. cit., 514 sqq.
[96] Paris, 1889; Antwerp, 1894; Hague, 1896; Paris, 1900; Geneva, 1902; Brussells,
1904; Rome, intended for Oct., 1911.
[97] Chr., 1907, II, 119.
[98] Off. Bull., 1885, VII, 29.
[99] Mackey, "Encyclopedia", 1908, 1007 sq.: "Annual of Universal Masonry", Berne,
1909; "Mas. Year-Book1909",London"KalendarfrFreimaurer",Leipzig,1909.
[100] I, 340.
[101] Chr., 1890, I, 99.
[102] Chr., 1900, II, 3.
[103] A. Q. C., XVI, 28.
[104] Chr., 1902, I, 167.
[105] (1), 105.
[106] (1), 819.
[107] (1), 355.
[108] (3), 128.
[109] (1), 218.
[110] Inner Sanctuary I, 311.
[111] Oliver, Hist. Landmarks, I, 128.
[112] Oliver, ibid., I, 146, 65; II, 7 sq.
[113] Clavel, Ragnon, etc.
[114] Pike, Mackey, etc.
[115] Pike (1), 771 sq.
[116] (4), 397.
[117] Pike (1), 698 sq., 751, 849; (4), IV, 342 sq.; Mackey, "Symbolism", 112 sqq.,
186 sqq.; see also Preuss, "American Freemasonry", 175 sqq.
[118] Mackey, "Dictionary", s.v. Phallus; Oliver, "Signs", 206-17; V. Longo, La Mass.
Specul.
[119] Ritual, I (first) degree.
[120] Pike (3), 128.
[121] Pike (4), 141.
[122] Pike, ibid., 100 sq.
[123] (1), 291 sq.
[124] Pike (4), III, 81; (1), 291; Ragon, l. c., 76-86.
[125] (4), I, 288 sq.
[126] Ibid., III, 142 sq.
[127] Ibid., III, 146.
[128] Ibid., IV, 474 sq.
[129] Ibid., IV, 478.
[130] Ibid., IV, 476.
[131] Ibid., IV, 547.
[132] "Masonic Advocate" of Indianapolis, Chr., 1900, I, 296.
[133] Chr., 1897, II, 83.
[134] (4), I, 271.
[135] Ibid., I, 280; (1), 516 sq.
[136] Chr., 1878, II, 28.
[137] (4), I, 311.
[138] Ibid., IV, 388 sq.
[139] Ibid, IV, 389 sq.
[140] (1), 849.
[141] Oliver, "Theocratic Philosophy", 355.
[142] Oliver, Hist. Landmarks, I, 11, 21; "Freemasons' Quarterly Rev.", I, 31;
Casanova in Ragon, "Rit. 3rd Degree", 35.
[143] Pike (4), III, 68.
[144] Ibid., IV, 470, 479, 488, 520.

[145] Chr., 1880, II, 179.

[146] Ibid., 1892, I, 246. For similar criticism see Chr., 1880, II, 195; 1875, I, 394.
[147] Gould, "Concise History" 419.
[148] Chr., 1893, I, 147.
[149] Chr., 1906, I, 202.
[150] "New Age", May, 1910, 464.
[151] "Acacia", II, 409.
[152] SeeCongrsIntern.ofParis,1889,in"CompterenduduGrandOrientde
France",1889Browers,"L'action,etc."Brck,"Geh.Gesellsch.inSpanien"
"Handbuch"; articles on the different countries, etc.
[153] See"Rivista",1909,76sqq.1908,394"Acacia,"1908,II,36"Bauhtte",
1909, 143; "La Franc-Maonneriedmasque,1909,93-96; "Compte rendu du
Convent. Du Gr. Or. de France", 21-26 Sept., 1908, 34-38.
[154] Handbuch, 3rd ed., II, 517.
[155] Gruber (5), 6; Ewald, "Loge und Kulturkampf".
[156] See Herold, No. 37 and 33 sqq.
[157] See also Chr., 1889, I, 81 sq.
[158] "Que personne ne bougera plus en France en dehors de nous", "Bull. Gr. Or.",
1890, 500 sq.
[159] Compterendu Gr. Or., 1903, Nourrisson, "Les Jacobins", 266-271.
[160] Compte-rendu, 1902, 153.
[161] Compte-rendu Gr. Or. de France, 1902, 381.
[162] "Riv.", 1892, 219; Gruber, "Mazzini", 215 sqq. and passim.
[163] Circular of the Grand Orient of France, 2 April, 1889.
[164] See"Chaned'Union,"1889,134,212sqq.,248sqq.,291sqq.theofficial
comptes rendus of the International Masonic Congress of Paris, 16-17 July, 1889, and
31 August, 1 and 2 September, 1900, published by the Grand Orient of France, and
the regular official "Comptes rendus des travaux" of this Grand Orient, 1896-1910,
and the "Rivista massonica", 1880-1910.
[165] See Internat. Bulletin, 1908, 119, 127, 133, 149, 156; 1909, 186.
[166] Chr. 1905, II, 58, 108, 235.
[167] From a letter of the Registrator J. Strahan, in London, to the Grand Lodge of
Massachusetts; see "The New Age", New York, 1909, I, 177.
[168] Berlin, 10 May, 1908; 9 June, 12 November, 1909; 5, 19 February, 1910.
[169] Barcelona, 13 October, 1909.
[170] Circular of 14 October, 1909; "Franc-Ma.dm.",1906,230sqq.1907,42,
176; 1909, 310, 337 sqq.; 1910, an "International Masonic Bulletin", Berne, 1909, 204
sq.
[171] Rivista massonica, 1909, 337 sqq., 423.
[172] Official Bulletin, September, 1887, 173 sqq.
[173] Chr., 1906, II, 132.
[174] Chr., 1897, II, 148.
[175] Chr., 1888, II, 99.
[176] Chr., 1889, II, 146.
[177] "Keystone", quoted in Chr., 1887, II, 355.
[178] See Boos, 304-63.
[179] Gruber (6), 141-236.
[180] Boos, 326.
[181] Chr., 1885, I, 85, 1900, II, 71.
[182] Chr., 1889, I, 308.
[183] Chr., 1897, II, 303.
[184] Chr. 1889, II, 257 sq.
[185] Concise History, 2.
[186] Ibid., p. xv.
[187] Chr., 1887, II, 340.
[188] Chr., 1887, I, 119.
[189] Chr., 1885, II, 355.
[190] Chr., 1887, II, 49.
[191] Chr., 1875, I, 113.
[192] Chr., 1890, II, 101.
[193] Chr., 1875, I, 113.
[194] Chr., 1887, I, 35.
[195] Chr. 1884, II, 17.
[196] Chr., 1890, II, 347: see also 1898, I, 83.
[197] "Voice" quoted in Chr., 1890, I, 98.
[198] "Voice" in Chr., 1893, I, 130.
[199] "Voice" in Chr., 1890, I, 98.
[200] Chr., 1899, I, 301.
[201] Chr., 1875, I, 81.
[202] Chr., 1875, I, 82.
[203] Chr., 1889, I, 178.
[204] Chr., 1889, II, 94.
[205] "Keystone" of Philadelphia quoted by Chr., 1881, I, 414; the "Voice" of Chicago,
ibid., 277.
[206] "Intern. Bull.", Berne, 1907, 98.
[207] Chr., 1882, I, 410; 1893, I, 185; 1899, II, 34.
[208] Chr., 1892, I, 259.
[209] Pike (4), IV, 547.
[210]Bauhtte,1905,60.
[211] Preston, "Illustrations of Masonry", 251 sqq.
[212] Handbuch, 3rd ed., I, 219.
[213] Allocution, 1865.
[214]Const."ApostolicSedis",1869,Cap.ii,n.24.
[215]"DeSectaMassonum"(ActaSanctSedis,XVIII,43-47.
[216] See "Collect. Lacensis", III, 1875 and "Acta et decr. Concil. plen. Balt. III",
1884.
OTHER NOTES. The following are the abbreviations of masonic terms used in this
article: L., Ls., GL, GLs, GO, GOs, Supr. Counc., GBs = Lodge, Lodges, Grand Lodge,
Gr. Orient, Supreme Council, Gr. Bodies, etc.

Abbreviations of more frequently quoted books and magazines: K.=Keystone

(Philadelphia). V="Voice of Masonry", later on: "Masonic Voice and Review" (Chicago).
Chr.="Freemason's Chronicle" (London); A. Q. C.="Ars Quatuor Coronatorum".
Transactions(London),thebestscientificmasonicmagazineBauh.=Bauhtte
Sign.="SignalefrdiedeutscheMaurerwelt"(Leipzig)Enc.,Cycl.,
Handb.=Encyclopedia, "Allgemeines Handbuch der Freimaurerei" (Universal Manual of
Freemasonry) Leipzig. This latter German encyclopedia, in its three editions, quite
different from each other, but all of them containing valuable and accurate
information, is considered even by English and American masonic criticism (A. Q. C.,
XI, 1898, 64) as far and away the best masonic encyclopedia ever published.
Key to numbers: In the article above, an Arabic number after the name of an author
of several works indicates the work marked with the same number in the following
bibliography. Other numbers are to be judged according to the general rules
maintained throughout the ENCYCLOPEDIA.
The Freemason's Chronicle (Chr.), of which two volumes have been published every
year in London since 1875, reproducing on a large scale also the principle articles
published by the best American Masonic journals, offers the best and most authorized
general survey of Anglo-American Freemasonry. R. FR. GOULD styles it: "A first class
Masonic newspaper" (Chr., 1893, I, 339). The principle Masonic author quoted by us
is the late ALBERT PIKE, Grand Commander of the Mother- Supreme Council
(Charleston, South Carolina Washington), acknowledged as the greatest authority
in all Masonic matters. According to NORTON "the world-renowned BRO. PIKE (Chr.,
1888, II, 179) is generally admitted as the best authority on Masonic jurisprudence in
America" (Chr., 1876, II, 243). According to the Grand Orator ROBERT (Indian
Territory) he "was the greatest Masonic scholar and writer of this (19th) century,
whose name has been a household word wherever Masonry is known" (Chr., 1893, I,
25). According to the New Age, New York, he was "regarded as the foremost figure in
the Freemasonry of the world" (1909, II, 456), "the greatest Freemason of the
Nineteenth Century", "the Prophet of Freemasonry" (1910, I, 52). "His great work
his Magnum Opus as he called it", says the New Age (1910, I, 54), "was The
Scottish Rite Rituals, as they were revised and spiritualized by him." And his book
Morals and Dogma, currently quoted by us, is highly recommended to all Masons
searching for serious and sure information, by the celebrated Masonic scholars
TEMPLE (Brussels) and SPETH, the late secretary of the learned Quatuor-Coronati
Lodge at London (Chr., 1888, I, 389). The circulars (letters) of PIKE, according to
the Bulletin of the Supreme Council of Belgium (1888, 211) were "true codes of
Masonic Widsom". The well-known English BRO. YARKER, 33, says: "The late A. Pike .
. . was undoubtedly a masonic Pope, who kept in leading strings all the Supreme
Councils of the world, including the Supreme Councils of England, Ireland, and
Scotland, the first of which includes the Prince of Wales (now King Edward VII) Lord
Lathom and other Peers, who were in alliance with him and in actual submission" (A.
E. WAITE, Devil-Worship in France, 1896, 215). "The German Handbuch (2nd ed.,
1879, IV, 138) calls Pike: "The supreme General of the Order", and T.G. Findel, the
German historian of Masonry: "the uncrowned king of the High Degrees" (Bauhtte,
1891, 126).
Masonic Publications. Encyclopedias: MACKEY, (1) Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
(London, 1908), even this recent edition, according to American authorities, is
thoroughly antiquated and scarcely an improvement on that of 1860; IDEM, (2)
Lexicon of Freemasonry (London, 1884); OLIVER, Dict. of Symbolic Freemasonry
(London, 1853); MACKENZIE, The Royal Masonic Cycl. (1875-7); WOODFORD,
Kenning's Cycl. (1878); LENNING, Encycl. der Freimaurerei (1822-1828); IDEM AND
HENNE AM RHYN, Allgemeines Handbuch der Fr., 2nd ed. (1863-79); FISCHER, Allg.
Handb. d. Fr., 3rd ed. (1900); these editions contain valuable information and answer
scientific requirements far more than all the other Masonic cyclopedias (A. Q. C., XI,
64); STEVENS, Cyclopedia of Fraternities (New York, 1907).
Masonic Law and Jurisprudence: The Constitutions of the Freemasons, 1723, 1738;
Neues Constitutionen Buch, etc. (1741); DE LA TIERCE, Histoire, Obligations, et.
Statuts, etc. (Frankfort, 1742); OLIVER, Masonic Jurisprudence (1859, 1874);
CHASE, Digest of Masonic Law (1866); MACKEY, Text Book of Mason. Jurisprudence
(1889); VAN GRODDECK, etc., Versuch einer Darstellung des positiven innern
Freimaurer. Rechts (1877), the best general survey of Masonic laws of all countries.
Historical: ANDERSON, Hist. of Freemasonry in the first edition and translations of the
Book of Constitutions (most unreliable, even after 1717); PRESTON, Illustrations of
Masonry (1772), ed. OLIVER (1856), though not reliable in some historical particulars,
contains much valuable information of historical and ritualistic character; FORT, Early
Hist. and Antiquities of Freemasonry (Philadelphia, 1875); ROWBOTTOM, Origin of
Freemasonry as manifested by the Great Pyramid (1880); HOLLAND, Freemasonry
from the Great Pyramid historically illustrated (1885); CHAPMAN, The Great Pyramid,
etc. (1886); WEISSE, The Obelisk and Freemasonry, according to the discoveries of
Belzoni and Gorringe (New York, 1880); KATSCH, Die Entstehung und wahre
Endzweck der Freimaurerei (1897); FINDEL, History of Freemasonry (1861-2; 1905),
translated and revised by LYON, 1869; influential in spreading more accurate
historical notions among Masons; GOULD, Hist. of Freemasonry (3 vols., 1883-1887),
now reputed the best historical work on Freemasonry; CHETWODE CRAWLEY,
CmentariaHibernica (1895-1900); HUGHAN, Origin of the English Rite of
Freemasonry (1884); The Old Charges of British Freemasons (London, 1872; 1895);
KLOSS, Gesch. der Fr. in Engl., Irland und Schottland 1685-1784 (1847); BOOS,
Gesch. der Freimaurerei (1896); HASCALL, Hist. of Freemasonry (1891); Earl Hist.
and Transactions of Masons of New York (1876); McCLENACHAN, Hist. of the Frat. in
New York (1888-94); ROSS ROBERTSON, Hist. of Freemasonry in Canada (1899);
DRUMMOND, Hist. and Bibliogr. Memoranda and Hist. of Symb. and Royal Arch
Masonry in the U. S.; Supplement to GOULD, Hist.(1889); THORY, Annales, etc., du

Grand Orient de France (1812); KLOSS, Gesch. der Freimaurerei in Frankr. (1852-3);
JOUAST, Hist. du Grand Orient Fr. (1865); LEWIS, Gesch. d. Freimaurerei i.
Oesterreich (1861); ABAFI, Gesch. d. Freimaurerei in Oesterreich-Ungarn (1890
sqq.), Principles, Spirit, Symbolism of Freemasonry. Chief Sources:- - The
Constitutions of the Freemasons, 1723 and 1738; HUTCHINSON, Spirit of
Freemasonry (1775); TOWN, System of Spec. Masonry (1822, New York); OLIVER,
Antiquities of Freemasonry (1823); The Star in the East (1827); Signs and Symbols
(1830, 1857); PIKE, (1) Morals and Dogma of the A. A. Scot. Rite of Freemasonry
5632 (1882); IDEM, (2) The Book of the Words 5638 (1878); IDEM, (3) The Porch
and the Middle Chamber. Book of the Lodge 5632 (1872); IDEM, (4) The Inner
Sanctuary (1870-79); KRAUSE, DiedreiltestenKunsturkundenderFrmrei (1810),
still much esteemed, in spite of historical errors, as a critical appreciation of
Freemasonry; FINDEL (best German authority), Geist und Form der Fr. (1874, 1898);
IDEM, DieGrundstzederFr.imVolkerleben (1892); IDEM, Die moderne
Weltanschauung und die Fr. (1885); IDEM, Der frmische Gedanke (1898); Bauhtte
(1858-1891) and Signale (1895-1905).
Anti-masonic publications: From 1723-1743, English Freemasonry and ANDERSON,
History, were derided in many publications (GOULD, 2, 294, 327); against French
Freemasonry appeared: L'Ordre des Freemasons trahi 1738 (A. Q. C., IX, 85) and Le
SecretdesMopsesrvl (1745); Sceau romptu (1745); on the occasion of the
French Revolution: LEFRANC, Levoilelev (1792). In the United States the antiMasonic movement began 1783: CREIGH, Masonry and Antimasonry (1854); STONE,
Letters on Masonry and Antimasonry (1832); PENKIN, Downfall of Masonry (1838)
Catalogue of anti-Masonic books (Boston, 1862); SechsStmmenbergeheime
Gesellschaften und Frmrei (1824); ECKERT, Der Frmrorden in seiner wahren
Bedeutung (1852); HENGSTENBERG, Die Frmrei und das evang. Pfarramt (1854-56);
CiviltCattolica since 1866; NEGRONI, Storia passata e presente della setta
anticristiana ed antisociale (1876); MENCACCI, Memorie documentate della
rivoluzione italiana (1882); RINIERI, Cozetti Masonici (1900-01); ENIGMA, La setta
verde (1906-7); GRUBER, Mazzini; Massoneria e Rivoluzione (1901), traces the
revolutionary work of Italian Masonry from 1870 till 1900; GAUTRELET, La FrancmaonnerieetlaRvolution (1872); JANET, Lessocitssecrtesetlasocit 3rd
ed., 1880-83), best general survey of the revolutionary work of secret societies in all
countries; BROWERS, L'Action de la Franc-m. dans l'hist. moderne (1892); LEROUSE,
La Franc-m.sousla3eRpublique (1886); COPIN-ALBANCELLI, La Franc-m. (1892);
GOYAU, La Franc-m. en France (1899); NOURRISSON, Le club des Jacobins (1900);
IDEM, Les Jacobins au pouvoir (1904); BIDEGAIN, Le Grand Orient de France (1905);
NEUT, La F.-m.soumiseaugrandjourdelapublicit (1866), contains valuable
documents on French, Belgian, and German Masonry; MALLIE, LaMaonnerieBelge
(1906), documents on the most recent political activity of Belgian Masonry; DE LA
FUERTE, HistoriadelasSociedadessecretasantiquasymodernasenEspaa, etc.
(1870-71)BRCK,Die geheimen Gesellschaften in Spanien (1881); TIRADO Y ROYAS,
LaMasoneraenEspaa (1892- 3); DE RAFAEL, LaMasonerapintadaporsimisma
(1883); PACHTLER, Der stille Krieg gegen Thron und Altar (1876); BEUREN (M.
RAICH), Die innere Unwahrheit der Frmrei (1884); GRUBER, (4) Die Frmrei und die
ffent.Ordnung (1893); IDEM, (5) Einigungsbestrebungen, etc. (1898); IDEM, (6)
Der "giftige Kern", etc. (1899); IDEM, (7) Frmrei und Umsturzbewegung(1901);
StreifzgedurchdasReichderFrmrei (1897); EWALD, Loge und Kulturkampf (1899);
OSSEG, Der Hammer d. Frmrei, etc. (1875); W. B., BeitrgezurGeschichtederF.In
Oesterreich (1868); Die Frmrei in Oesterreich Ungarn (1897). In Poland: MICHALOW,
Diegeh.WerkstttederPoln.Erhebung (1830; 1877); ZALESKI, O Masonii w Polsce
1738-1820 (Cracow, 1908); for Anglo-Saxon and French Masonry see PREUSS, A
Study in American Freemasonry (St. Louis, 1908), a careful discussion on the basis
of the standard works of Mackey and Pike.

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APA citation. Gruber, H. (1910). Masonry (Freemasonry). In The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm
MLA citation. Gruber, Hermann. "Masonry (Freemasonry)." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09771a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Bobie Jo M. Bilz.
Dedicated to R. Michael Steinmacher, III.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor.
Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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