Post by Tamrin on Jul 3, 2008 21:34:42 GMT 10
A Precis
Bearing all the above in mind, we are now able to construct a brief example history of Freemasonry. It certainly won’t please everyone; but it is a pragmatic reasoning – not one based on fairy stories
A fairly simple, two-degree masonic ceremony originated in Scotland, and gradually spread throughout England. This was the one in general use in 1717, when the premier Grand Lodge was formed in London.
Around 1725, Desaguliers and others within the premier Grand Lodge, decided that the ceremony needed to be dechristianised – possibly to make it attractive to a wider membership – and they added a third degree.
Several years later another group – termed the Antients – added a fourth (Royal Arch) degree; and in this "mode" also carried out a wide variety of decidedly Christian and chivalric ceremonies. None of these were accepted by the premier Grand Lodge (Moderns).
However the Antient structure proved so popular with many Moderns lodges, that in 1766 the premier Grand Lodge formed a separate Royal Arch Grand Chapter, so that their members could conduct "Antient" degrees without infringing the Craft ceremonies. Indeed, so popular was this "Antient" practice of a multitude of degrees, that there were dozens, perhaps hundreds, created outside Freemasonry.
In 1813 the two rival English Grand Lodges came together, and achieved the compromise of "fusing" the Antients’ Royal Arch onto the Craft third degree – then proceeded to ignore the rest of the Antient degrees.
Some Conclusions
It has to be emphasized again that the 1813 "compromise" applies only to the English Constitution. Everywhere else in the world, it is recognized that the Craft consists of only the three "blue" degrees, without the Royal Arch. However, the rest of the world has also got it wrong, because "pure, ancient" Freemasonry consisted of two degrees only. All the rest is innovation!
What are we to make of the above, on the assumption that it is reasonably correct? The main one is that there is no Grand Design. The first and second degrees almost certainly originated from a different source to that of the third; and the Royal Arch also came from somewhere else. It seems highly likely that the Royal Arch story originated in Greece around 400 AD – and the third degree could well have been adapted from one of many biblical stories.
This is important, because there is a general acceptance among masons (even Grand Lodges) that our ceremonies have a fixed, if slightly esoteric, meaning taken as a whole. That our ceremonies have been passed down unaltered through the centuries – and that there is a message, even a great secret, bound up in the complete "parcel". This, obviously, is not the case, because as we can see from the above, the overall picture is derived from several different sources, and the whole structure "just grew" – it really wasn’t planned.
What we originally had, has been expanded dramatically over the centuries. It is generally recognized that the three degrees as "exposed" in Pritchard’s Masonry Dissected, are a fair representation of the degrees at that time (1730). Just compare them with the three degrees we have now, and it’s obvious that something which was originally fairly simple, became repetitive, convoluted, pompous and bloated in the period from 1717 to 1813. We have not – most definitely not – "always done it that way". Bearing in mind the considerable decline in membership of the major masonic countries (USA, Britain, Australia etc) could it be time to get back to basics?
What is needed now, is to concentrate on the three distinct divisions of masonic ritual – the first two degrees; the third; and the Royal Arch – and work out the history of each as a separate entity. In that way we may start to unravel the complex structure that is Freemasonry. To attempt to imagine the first, second, third and Royal Arch as an integral whole historically, is inaccurate and will only tend to confuse – unless you prefer fairy tales…
Bearing all the above in mind, we are now able to construct a brief example history of Freemasonry. It certainly won’t please everyone; but it is a pragmatic reasoning – not one based on fairy stories
A fairly simple, two-degree masonic ceremony originated in Scotland, and gradually spread throughout England. This was the one in general use in 1717, when the premier Grand Lodge was formed in London.
Around 1725, Desaguliers and others within the premier Grand Lodge, decided that the ceremony needed to be dechristianised – possibly to make it attractive to a wider membership – and they added a third degree.
Several years later another group – termed the Antients – added a fourth (Royal Arch) degree; and in this "mode" also carried out a wide variety of decidedly Christian and chivalric ceremonies. None of these were accepted by the premier Grand Lodge (Moderns).
However the Antient structure proved so popular with many Moderns lodges, that in 1766 the premier Grand Lodge formed a separate Royal Arch Grand Chapter, so that their members could conduct "Antient" degrees without infringing the Craft ceremonies. Indeed, so popular was this "Antient" practice of a multitude of degrees, that there were dozens, perhaps hundreds, created outside Freemasonry.
In 1813 the two rival English Grand Lodges came together, and achieved the compromise of "fusing" the Antients’ Royal Arch onto the Craft third degree – then proceeded to ignore the rest of the Antient degrees.
Some Conclusions
It has to be emphasized again that the 1813 "compromise" applies only to the English Constitution. Everywhere else in the world, it is recognized that the Craft consists of only the three "blue" degrees, without the Royal Arch. However, the rest of the world has also got it wrong, because "pure, ancient" Freemasonry consisted of two degrees only. All the rest is innovation!
What are we to make of the above, on the assumption that it is reasonably correct? The main one is that there is no Grand Design. The first and second degrees almost certainly originated from a different source to that of the third; and the Royal Arch also came from somewhere else. It seems highly likely that the Royal Arch story originated in Greece around 400 AD – and the third degree could well have been adapted from one of many biblical stories.
This is important, because there is a general acceptance among masons (even Grand Lodges) that our ceremonies have a fixed, if slightly esoteric, meaning taken as a whole. That our ceremonies have been passed down unaltered through the centuries – and that there is a message, even a great secret, bound up in the complete "parcel". This, obviously, is not the case, because as we can see from the above, the overall picture is derived from several different sources, and the whole structure "just grew" – it really wasn’t planned.
What we originally had, has been expanded dramatically over the centuries. It is generally recognized that the three degrees as "exposed" in Pritchard’s Masonry Dissected, are a fair representation of the degrees at that time (1730). Just compare them with the three degrees we have now, and it’s obvious that something which was originally fairly simple, became repetitive, convoluted, pompous and bloated in the period from 1717 to 1813. We have not – most definitely not – "always done it that way". Bearing in mind the considerable decline in membership of the major masonic countries (USA, Britain, Australia etc) could it be time to get back to basics?
What is needed now, is to concentrate on the three distinct divisions of masonic ritual – the first two degrees; the third; and the Royal Arch – and work out the history of each as a separate entity. In that way we may start to unravel the complex structure that is Freemasonry. To attempt to imagine the first, second, third and Royal Arch as an integral whole historically, is inaccurate and will only tend to confuse – unless you prefer fairy tales…
