The Father of Modern Speculative Masonry

[Tamrin]

THE FATHER OF MODERN SPECULATIVE MASONRY

REV. Dr. JOHN THEOPHILUS DESAGULIERS (1683 – 1744)

HUGUENOT, FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY & THIRD GRAND MASTER

Presented to the Hunter Valley College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia

By R.W. Fr. Philip Carter, #8, Nosce te ipsum, 3 June 2006

Tonight we will briefly examine the creation of Freemasonry, as we know it; especially its principal founder, ‘the father of modern, speculative masonry’, the Rev. Dr. John Theophilus Des­aguliers. In doing so, we will be led to conclude that, rather than faithfully reviving the secrets and mysteries of medieval, Operative Stonemasons, Desaguliers and his assoc­iates created a novel instit­ution, (with some real or imagined ancient elements, which were, however, more or less distinct, from those of the Operatives[1]). This new institution they contrived to skilfully graft to the four or more London lodges which still per­pet­u­ated a few remnants of the rudi­mentary customs and usages of Jour­ney­men Stone­masons.[2]

The Premier Grand Lodge was established in 1717. In the first year, the inaugural Grand Master, Anthony Sayer, did little other than warm the chair; the following year, the second Grand Master, George Payne, proved to be a competent but otherwise unremark­able administrator; then, in 1719, we find the languishing Grand Lodge revived by the leader­ship of John Theophilus Des­agul­iers, after he was elected as the third Grand Master. His extraordinary vision transformed what had been little more than a convivial combination of drink­ing clubs into a noble and fashionable institution, eminently suited to the dawning Age of Enlightenment. All subsequent Grand Masters have been more or less nominal patrons of aristocratic or royal birth, with their routine duties often being per­formed by a deputy, (a post to which Des­aguliers was thrice appointed).

Desaguliers had been largely credited with the creation of the Premier Grand Lodge.[3] In his Cyclopaedia (p.154), Kenneth Mackenzie tells us:

By his ardour he awoke the energies of the Masons of his time, and after preliminary [and perhaps apo­cryphal] conferences with the aged Chris­topher Wren [(1632-1723)], he managed to obtain a meeting of the four London Lodges in 1717, when the Grand Lodge was constituted... Under Dr. Desaguliers the Craft rapidly increased in numerical strength, respect­ability and influ­ence, many noble­men taking part in the ceremonies, and subsequently officiating as officers. Another point in which Desaguliers took much inter­est was the collection of anterior documents concerning the Craft; and we are indebted to him for the preservation of the ‘Charges of a Freemason,’ and the pre­par­ation of the ‘General Regulations.’

In his Constitutions of 1723, James Anderson credited his mentor Desagul­iers with hav­ing assisted in the work, probably overstating Desaguliers’ role so as to add lustre to what was essentially Anderson’s own creation which, despite having departed far from his initial brief in its product­ion, subsequently gained the approbation of the Grand Lodge. Referring again to Mackenzie’s Cyclopaedia, we find, (pp.154/5):

After retiring from office in 1720, he [Desaguliers] was thrice appointed Deputy Grand Master – in 1723, 1724, and 1725, and he first founded that scheme of charity now known as the Fund of Benevolence. During this period he visited the Operative Lodges of Edinburgh. He after­wards went to Holland, and was W.M. of a Lodge especially convened for initiating the Duke of Lorraine, after­wards Grand Duke of Tuscany and Emperor of Germany, in 1731. He also initiated the Prince of Wales at Kew, at a special Lodge held for that purpose.[4]

In Albert Mackey’s Encyclopedia (p.240) we read:

Of those who were engaged in the revival of Freemasonry in the beginning of the eighteenth century, none performed a more important part than he to whom may well be applied the epithet of the Father of Modern Specul­ative Masonry, and to whom, perhaps more than any other person, is the present Grand Lodge of England indebted for its existence.

Mackey also said (Encyclopedia, p.242):

To few masons of the present day … is the name of Desaguliers very familiar. But it is well that they should know that to him, perhaps more than to any other man, are we indebted for the present existence of Free­masonry as a living institution.

In an oration, entitled, Desaguliers and the March of Militant Masonry, George E. Main says of Desaguliers:

He took an old dying order and gave to it a philosophy which was peculi­arly his own. He added a touch of science, and then a practical concept of the Great Architect and Organizer of the world; into this he breathed a prayer and Speculative Freemasonry was born. Through the force of his own personality he brought to this new institution the important men of England, royalty, the nobility, the elite, the great minds. Because of the purity of its principles, and because of the importance of its early leaders brought in by Desaguliers, Freemasonry since his day has been a living thing, pulsating with the very best that is to be found in man.

However, such glowing tributes give us pause when, on the one hand we find Freemasons proudly espousing their ‘time immemorial’ traditions, while on the other hand, Main , in speaking of Desag­ul­iers and Freemasonry, said (ibid.): ‘He wrote most of its ritual.’ And, we read in Mackey’s account (Encyclopedia, p.241): “‘The peculiar principles of the Craft,” says Dr. Oliver, “struck him [Desagul­iers] as being eminently calculated to contribute to the benefit of the community at large, if they could be redirected into the channel from which they had been diverted by the retirement of Sir Christopher Wren’.” We may be led to suppose that Desaguliers did indeed redirect them, into, however, an entirely new channel (the influence of Wren[5] is doubtful and was probably invoked in order to legitimise Desaguliers’ innovations).

Looking at The Ritual of Operative Freemasons (Carr), we are struck by the dissimilar­ities between London’s Guild system of seven degrees and the present three degrees of Craft Freemasonry. The word of each of the first two degrees is entirely differ­ent (not simply transposed, as occurred later) to those in use among mod­ern, Specu­lat­ive Free­masonry and the pillars which feature so prominently in the Specul­ative degrees have an entirely different significance in the Operative degrees. More­over, we are told there is no record of the Third Degree among the Specul­ative Free­masons, or of its Hiramic Legend (Jones, pp.303/322), until around 1726 and, when it did appear, it bore no resemblance to any of the degrees as practiced by London’s Operative Stone­masons.

Well may we wonder what Desaguliers had in mind when creating the Freemasonry with which we are familiar? Our wonderings inevitably lead us to behold the man. Des­aguliers was a renowned scientist, becoming close friends with Sir Isaac Newton, (Pres­ident of the Royal Society[6] from 1703 until his death in 1727), and Desaguliers being, himself elected as a Fellow of that Society. This influence is reflected in Freemasonry’s rituals, with it emphasis on the ‘Hidden mysteries of Nature and Science’, the ‘Seven Liberal Arts and Sciences,’ its call for a ‘daily advancement in Masonic Knowledge’ and, as Hamill and Gilbert tell us:

There seems little doubt that the many Fellows of the Royal Society who became Free masons were influenced by Desaguliers example, and it is surely no accident that no less than 12 Grand Masters were also Fellows of the Royal Society during the 20 years following Desaguliers.

Indeed, the idea that Speculative Freemasonry was a product of the Royal Society is among the more plausible theories of Freemasonry’s origins (e.g., Mackey’s History, pp.301/­314). However, despite the fash­ion­able pre­val­ence of rosicrucianism in the early eigh­teenth century, when alchemy was still considered a science, and despite the influence rosicrucianism may have had on both the Royal Society and on Freemasonry, ultimately a direct connection between the two appears to lack a suit­able motive: While the practical aspects of Operative Stonemasonry may have aroused some passing interest among the members of the Royal Society, there is little, about Spec­ulative Freemasonry to explain why they would would, as science enthusiasts, wish to involve themselves in its creation. I suggest their common origins can be traced to rosicrucianism, (as a body of thought rather than as a corporate identity).

Returning to Desaguliers, we find another aspect of the man which lends itself to yet another theory which we ought to consider. He was a Huguenot. When Desaguliers was just two years of age, his Reverend father smuggled him to England in a wine cask to escape persecution in France. All Protestant clergy were compelled to leave France while all other Protestants were required to remain, (although many managed to escape). In England, Desaguliers also became a Protestant clergyman, (albeit an Anglican Minister, in keeping with his new home).

A disproportionate number Huguenots were skilled artisans because of which, religious prejudices aside, they were welcomed in most of the countries in which they sought refuge. A disproportionate number were also enthusiastic scientists. Indeed, of France’s Académie Royale des Sciences, we are told (Institute and Museum of the History of Science): ‘The Academy declined after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685), when many Huguenot scientists fled France.’ Not surprisingly, London’s Royal Society soon flourished upon subsequently attracting a disproportionate number of Hugue­not members, such as Desaguliers (Cryer, pp.156/7). I suggest that it is here, among the Huguenots and like-minded Protestants, that the grain of truth in the theory of Freemasonry’s Royal Society origins may be found.

Indeed, Margaret Kilner, in speaking of the Huguenot chapel in Leicester Square, tells us:

Adjoining the chapel was the house of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) generally acknowledged to be the world’s greatest scientist of his time... It appears that his close proximity to the chapel enabled him to offer the ground floor of his house for further French refugees from France as a place of worship. Many Huguenots came to worship there.

In an address entitled, Huguenot Freemasons, presented to the Huguenot Lodge in London, Rev. Neville Barker Cryer, said (p.154):

… the place of the Huguenot male citizen of the early 18th century in the development and establishing of the English Grand Lodge was notable and extensive.

On their continuing influence, Cryer said (p.155):

… no less than one quarter of all the recorded Stewards’ names in Grand Lodge are those of recognisable Huguenot origin – but what of those whose names have, or had soon, become totally anglicised?

The Huguenots followed the doctrines of John Calvin. English speaking Calvinists such the Huguenot and Walloon émigrés in England, the Scottish Covenanters, the English Puritans, etc., enthusiastically held to the Geneva Bible, even after the use of the Author­ised King James Version had been mandated. In another address, Cryer proves that the V.S.L. in use by the Premier Grand Lodge was indeed, the Geneva Bible. Incidentally, the bond between the Huguenots and the Covenanters was especially strong because of the ‘Auld Alliance’ between the French and Scots, against their common enemy, the English. In the aftermath of the Reformation, and especially in the context of the persecution of the Huguenots (e.g., the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre), this aspect of Desaguliers’ life may have influenced the insistence upon toler­ance, especially in matters of religion, as espoused by the Premier Grand Lodge.

At this juncture, I ask that you bear in mind that common themes among the early Protestants included the translation of the Bible into the vernacular and the restoration of the mysteries of the early church (i.e., gnosticism), which they accused Rome of having neglected. The translations of the Bible are now readily available but what of the mysteries? Protestant churches and their ceremonials are, if anything, even more austere than those of the Catholics. For the mysteries, I suggest we need to look to rosicrucianism, as being a more or less separate arm of the Reformation.

Next, we turn to Desaguliers’ protégé, the Rev. Dr. James Anderson (1684-1746), the creator of Freemasonry’s Constitutions. His fame has proved to be more enduring among Freemasons and we may be surprised to find that he was not an orthodox clergyman but rather a member of the Presbyterian, Scottish Reformed Church, having Calvinistic, Cov­en­anter roots. Moreover, ‘...he, as a Presbyterian minister, took over the lease of a chapel in Swallow Street, Piccadilly, from a congregation of French Protestants...’ (i.e., Hugue­nots; in Clegg, v.1, p.77). Indeed, Desaguliers had been the Pastor there (Cryer, p.158). In this light, the ‘errors, omissions [and] inventions,’ which Waite (p.25) and others have pointed out as characterising his Constitutions, are but the product of Anderson having followed the example of his friend and mentor, Desaguliers, in fabricating modern, Speculative Freemasonry.

Also in this light, we may reflect upon the exasperation expressed by supposedly staunch British Freemasons at the proliferation of degrees in France, after ‘their’ sup­pose­­dly ‘basic’, ‘pure’ and ‘unadulterated’ Craft crossed the Channel. We can now see that Spec­ulative Freemasonry, although originating in England, had a French influ­ence from its con­cept­ion and per­haps the French simply recognised the institution for what it was and adroitly interpreted, faith­fully developed and further unfolded its alleg­ories and symbols.

Finally, in suggesting the French recognised the institution for what it was, we may natur­ally ask: ‘What was it?’ The answer which I suggest has to do with the Calvinists’ enthus­iasm for trans­lating the Bible into the vernacular and what they found in doing so; with a conflict between their self-righteous ideals and their prejudices; and with their ideas about ‘Prim­itive Christianity’ and the milieu and legacy of so-called ‘heresies’ in Europe; will have to wait until another night.

THE END

REFERENCES

Carr, Thomas, n.d., ‘The Ritual of the Operative Freemasons’, in Martin’s, British Masonic Miscellany, v.11

Clegg, Robert I., 1946, Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, The Masonic History Company, Chicago

Cryer, Neville Barker, 1995, ‘The Geneva Bible and its Contribution to the Development of English Ritual,’ in A Masonic Panorama, Selected Papers of the Reverend Neville Barker Cryer, Australian Masonic Research Council, Melbourne

Cryer, Neville Barker, 1995, ‘Huguenot Freemasons,’ in A Masonic Panorama, Selected Papers of the Reverend Neville Barker Cryer, Australian Masonic Research Council, Melbourne

Hamill, John and Gilbert, Robert, 1992, The First Grand Lodge, (excerpt) www.mastermason.com/3rdnorthern/MasonicHistoryfiles/firstgl.htm

Jones, Bernard E., 1956 (1st 1950) Freemasons’ Guide and Compendium, New and Revised Edition, Harrap, London

Kilner, Margaret K., n.d., The Huguenot Heritage, www.ensignmessage.com/archives/hugher.html

Mackenzie, Kenneth, 1987 (1st 1877), The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia, Aquarian Press, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire

Mackey, Albert Gallatin, 1917 (org. 1874), Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences Comprising the Whole Range of Arts, Sciences and Literature as Connected with the Institution, McClure Publishing, Philadelphia

Mackey, Albert Gallatin, 1996, The History of Freemasonry, Gramercy Books, Avenel, New Jersey

Maine, George E., 1939, Desaguliers and the March of Militant Masonry, from: web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/d/r/dryfoo/www/Masonry/Essays/desag.html

Piatigorsky, Alexander, 1999, (1st 1997), Freemasonry: The Study of a Phenomenon, The Harvill Press, London

Times, The, 1961, The Royal Society Tercentenary, The Times Publishing Co., London

Waite, Arthur, n.d., A New Encyclopædia of Freemasonry, (new & revised edition), Rider & Co., London
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[1] Both used building construction, (especially that of temples), as allegories of self-improvement.

[2] These Journeymen Lodges had presumably separated from Guilds, which con­ducted the five Oper­ative degrees beyond those of the Apprentice and Journeyman or Fellowcraft. According to the Encyc­lo­pædia Britannica (1962, v.10, p.966):

In the 14th century the journey­men or yeo­men began to set up frat­ernities in defence of their rights. The form­ation of these societies marks a cleft with­in the ranks of some particular class of artisans – a conflict between employers, or master artisans, and workmen. The journeymen combined to protect their special inter­ests, notably as regards hours of work and rates of wages, and they fought with the masters over the labour quest­ion in all its aspects. The resulting struggle of organized bodies of masters and journey­men was wide­spread throughout western Europe, but it was more prominent in Germany than in France or England. This con­flict was in­deed one of the main features of German industrial life in the 15th century. In England the fratern­ities of journey­men, after struggl­ing for a while for complete independence, seem to have fallen under the super­vision and control of the masters’ gilds; in other words, they became sub­sidiary or affiliated organs of the older craft fraternities.

[3] Conversely, according to Gould ‘...there is not one scrap of evidence that Payne, Desaguliers, and Anderson ... took part in the formation of the Grand Lodge in 1717 ... though all three had a share in the compilation of the First Book of Constitutions’ (Piatigorsky, p.55; q. Gould, 1903, p.286)

[4] Mackenzie also tells us (p.155)

His latter years were clouded by adversity and even by fits of insanity. His great connections had brought him fame but no bread; his unaffected endeavours to aid, instruct, and benefit his fellow-men met with no return; and Desaguliers died in want, obscurity, and, mental darkness, after an ineffectual struggle with the world and its ways.

[5] Wren had been a President of the Royal Society (Times, p.29), an institution mentioned below.

[6] The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledgearted in 1662 and originating c.1645.

[Tamrin]

The Appeal of Early Grand Lodge:
The Significance of Freemasonry within the Multifaceted Career of
John Theophilus Desaguliers

[Abstract - Paper by Audrey T. Carpenter, U.K., 2007 -
inaugural International Conference on the History of Freemasonry]

John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683—1744) is known in masonic circles as one of the founders of Grand Lodge. He was third Grand Master, three times Deputy Grand Master, and a proponent of standardised ritual and masonic charity. When and where he was introduced to freemasonry is unclear, but there are many sides to this remarkable man which are worth exploring in examining why the craft was so important to him.

Educated by his father, a persecuted Protestant minister who had fled his native France, and later at Oxford, Desaguliers became an Anglican clergyman. He would have welcomed the tolerant approach to religion and charitable sentiments found in the lodges for he understood at first hand the plight of the Huguenot refugees. A fascination with science, and a gift for explaining difficult physical concepts in a practical and systematic way, led to another career as a bilingual lecturer and writer on experimental philosophy. Desaguliers offered public courses from his family home in Westminster, and also demonstrated at the Royal Society, where several of the Fellows were freemasons. He had practical skills, working on engineering projects such as the ventilation of buildings, pumping water from flooded mines, and water supply, often aiding his patron, the Duke of Chandos.

Desaguliers was a social climber whose circle ranged from the scientific instrument makers who worked for him to members of the Royal Family. Much of his time was spent in London, but he would sometimes undertake masonic duties when on his travels. For example, when in Edinburgh to advise on water piping he also visited Mary's Chapel lodge; and when lecturing in Bath on an eclipse of the sun, he initiated some eminent gentlemen into the lodge there. Various aspects of Desaguliers' life will be used to illustrate the significance of freemasonry in early eighteenth century society.

[Tamrin]

Desaguliers' Visit to Edinburgh, 1721

[Abstract - Paper by Trevor Stewart, U.K., 2007 -
inaugural International Conference on the History of Freemasonry]

Previous Masonic historians and others have tried to make much of the possible Masonic implications of the visit paid by Rev. John Theophilus Desaguliers (1683—1744), a Past Grand Master of the English Freemasons, to Edinburgh in the summer of 1721. This paper seeks to set out, more clearly than hitherto, the real practical and scientific background to his short visit and to debunk some claims that it resulted in the introduction of the Third Degree ceremony in the Scottish Masonic system immediately thereafter. This paper uses recently discovered and long neglected documentary sources in the non-Masonic municipal and local newspaper archives to create a more rounded picture of the events and the personalities involved, especially in the famous meeting which Desaguliers had with some members of the Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary's Chapel).

[Tamrin]

Desaguliers and The March of Militant Masonry

An Oration delivered before The Grand Lodge of Washington June, 1939, by George E. Maine

[Excerpt - Linked Above]

For at least two centuries people on all sides had been looking for such a thing as Freemasonry. Inquiring minds, irritated by the social and Intellectual discipline imposed by the Church, had been centers of resistance, around which formed societies which took issue with the Church. For a long time those forces had been turning expectantly toward Masonry. Every ism indeed had sought the influence of some one or more of the Masonic Guilds, and one can well imagine the chaos in that multitude of loosely organized associations which seemed groping without aim or purpose.

For a time it looked as though even this newborn Masonry was to fail, but in 1719 Desaguliers was elected Grand Master, and he brought to Freemasonry the life it needed. He wrote most of its ritual. He brought to it his experimental philosophy, and gave to it a touch of Newtonian Christianity, a belief in Newton's God, now and for the first time, "The Great Artificer and Creator of the Universe." The world had been openly venal and immoral. It had been attacking religion in self defense, and all the more easily because religion seemed but an ancient dogma. But here was a new idea in religion, one appealing to the intelligence instead of offering a creed, for it based upon analysis and reality. Here a contemplation of nature produced certain logical facts. It taught men to think.

[Tamrin]

DESAGULIERS
The Masonic Trowel

(Excerpt)

John Theophilus Desaguliers (pronounced De-zah-gyou-le- a) is far less well known to American Freemasons than his services to and influence upon the Craft deserve. For in spite of the many tales which now seem apocryphal - his supposed labors in writing "The Master's Part" - his alleged endeavors to introduce English Freemasonry into Scotland, via the Lodge at Mary's Chapel - his alleged poverty and death in "a cell" - and all the other fairy tales now discredited - this eminent scientist, educator, minister, writer, lecturer, experimenter, civil engineer, doctor of laws, physicist, Fellow of the Royal Society, and friend of Sir Isaac Newton, did exert a most profound influence upon the Freemasonry of London, and thus of all localities, during the years immediately following the formation of the Mother Grand Lodge in 1717.

Of him our own Albert Gallatin Mackey wrote:

"To few Freemasons of the present day, except to those who have made Freemasonry a subject of especial study, is the name of Desaguliers very familiar. But it is well that they should know that to him, perhaps, more than to any other man, are we indebted for the present existence of Freemasonry as a living Institution, for it was his learning and social position that gave a standing to the Institution, which brought to its support noblemen and men of influence so that the insignificant assemblage of four London Lodges at the Apple-Tree Tavern has expanded into an association which now shelters the entire civilized world. And the moving spirit of all this was John Theophilus Desaguliers."

[Tamrin]

JOHN THEOPHILUS DESAGULIERS

[Excerpt - Article by Julian Rees, The Cornerstone Society - Linked Above]

In 1598, after the infamous wars of religion in France, Henri IV promulgated a law, known as the Edict of Nantes, granting religious and civil liberties to his Protestant Huguenot subjects. However, in 1685, this Edict was revoked by Louis XIV, and Protestants were called on by the State to convert to Catholicism. Many refused, and this resulted in the fiercest persecution imaginable of Protestants. In 1683 John Theophilus (Theophilus = “lover of God”) was born in La Rochelle. His father, being himself a Protestant Minister, was staunchly opposed to conversion, and like many of his Huguenot countrymen was forced to flee in consequence. Accordingly, in 1687, the Desaguliers family came to England, the four year old John Theophilus being hidden in a linen basket! His father obtained a ministership in London, under the protection of Bishop Compton (incidentally a distant relative of the Marquess of Northampton). On completion of his schooling, John Theophilus went up to Oxford where he read the classics, and came down in 1712. He returned to London, married and lived near the Rummer Tavern where the Westminster Lodge no. 4 met (now Royal Somerset House and Inverness). Here he met Isaac Newton and other members of The Royal Society and became in consequence a lecturer at The Royal Society, put up by Newton himself, and in 1714 he became its Curator. At some time he became a Freemason and in 1719 he became the third Grand Master (after Anthony Sayer and George Payne). As a member of The Royal Society, Desaguliers was the first to prove the existence of the atom.

This was a period marked by the flowering of the Age of Enlightenment. Here then was a man who must have understood more deeply than most the seven liberal arts and sciences and their relevance to the way we lead our daily lives. He was possessed of a vivid appreciation of the precepts of Freemasonry, but who also, by the experience of his parents under persecution, understood more keenly than most the vital importance of freedom of conscience, humanity in its broadest sense, tolerance and the brotherhood of man. Subsequent generations, subsequent centuries, wars and unspeakable atrocities have tempered the steel of our resistance to inhumanity and intolerance, and if we, as Freemasons, succeed from time to time in highlighting injustice, of righting wrongs against the individual and stemming the tide of indifference where compassion is needed, then we have men like Desaguliers to thank for it.

Frontispiece to the Constitutions of 1723
John Montague, 2nd Duke of Montagu
presenting the Roll of Constitutions and the compasses to Philip, Duke of Wharton.
The Rev. Dr. John Desaguliers can be seen at the far right

[Tamrin]

John Theophilus Desaguliers,
the Huguenots and Freemasonry

[Abstract - by W. Bro. Ric Berman, Temple of Athene Transactions (Vol. 10) - Linked above]

Did you know that in the late seventeenth century, England in general and London in particular benefited from an influx of motivated, entrepreneurial Huguenot refugees fleeing religious persecution in Louis XIV’s France?

Among many now-famous names were a select few who achieved distinction as Fellows of the Royal Society and among this group was John Theophilus Desaguliers: a well-connected scientist who did more than anyone to popularize and legitimize the theories of Sir Isaac Newton.

Using his connections and position at the Royal Society and his relationship with many young Whig aristocrats, Desaguliers became the most prominent of many Huguenot Freemasons and for two decades was the power behind the Masonic throne.

Desaguliers exercised his influence not only during his reign as Grand Master but, subsequently, as an active Deputy Grand Master, standing in for succeeding Grand Masters and influencing the appointment of many of those who were to follow.

Desaguliers was instrumental in extending the reach of Grand Lodge among the aristocracy, the British Royal Family and into the upper strata of continental European society.

Find out more about the early days of Freemasonry in this enthralling paper.

[Paper attached, with the kind permission of the author]

Attachments:

[Tamrin]

"Huguenot Freemasons"

[Excerpts – Book, Did You Know This Too?, by Revd. Neville Barker Cryer, pp.87/91]

…One of the most distinguished early Freemasons of all, John Theophilus Desaguliers… He is the very epitome of the early 18th-century Huguenot Freemason, born at La Rochelle in 1683 as the son of a Pastor at Aitre, and himself becoming a parson of the Church of England, though ‘some while pastor of the French Chapel in Swallow Street’. He married Margaret Thomas La Chapelle in France…

It is in Desaguliers that we find all those characteristics that both bring distinction to the Huguenot contribution to this land and such great credit to the émigré company of which he was a part. We see his scholarship honoured by the Royal Society, in his being awarded the Copley Gold Medal in acknowledgment of his continuing experiments (at the age of 60) in bridge construction, water supplies and steam control. Perhaps those may seem odd matters for a clergyman to engage in but they simply reveal those great Huguenot traits of inventiveness and dedication. When we also recognise his wholesale devotion to the Masonic order, his leadership there and his assistance to Dr. Anderson in compiling those first Grand Constitutions that preserve tolerance in religion and freedom from any political bias, we again note the Huguenot characteristics. I was no part of these new Englishmen to return to the evil experiences of their mother country. To be part of a movement such as ours where a Free man of full age could associate naturally with all other adult men in an atmosphere of mutual concord and fraternal affection was an answer to all their prayers. From the persecution of Rome, from the brutality of political dragooning, and from the fear of not being able to practice their daily avocation, these men found in Freemasonry a code and a manner of life that they could truly cherish.

Above all else, they could in their Masonry express the new-found loyalty to a royal house that was also part of their scriptural upbringing… Those who want to pursue this great man’s fuller career should read Bro. John Stokes’s essay in AQC vol 38 (1925) where almost every known detail of the Masonic and secular career of Desaguliers is recorded.

[Tamrin]

John Theophilus Desaguliers

[Excerpts - MasonicDictionary.com - Linked Above]

Of all those who were engaged in the revival of Freemasonry in the beginning of the eighteenth century, none performed a more important part than he to whom may be well applied the epithet of the Father of Modern speculative Freemasonry, and to whom, perhaps, more than any other person, is the present Grand Lodge of England indebted for its existence. A sketch of his life, drawn from the scanty materials to be found in Masonic records, and in the brief notices of a few of his contemporaries, cannot fail to be interesting to the student of Masonic history.

It is, however, as a Freemason that Doctor Desaguliers will most attract our attention. But nothing is known as to his connection with Freemasonry until 1719, when he was elevated to the throne of the Grand Lodge, succeeding George Payne, and being thus the third Grand Master after the revival. He paid much attention to the interests of the Fraternity, and so elevated the character of the Order, that the records of the Grand Lodge show that during his administration several of the older Brethren who had hitherto neglected the Craft resumed their visits to the Lodges, and many noblemen were initiated into the Institution.

Doctor Desaguliers was peculiarly zealous in the investigation and collection of the old records of the society, and to him we are principally indebted for the preservation of the Charges of a Freemason and the preparation of the General Regulations, which are found in the first edition of the Constitutions; which, although attributed to Doctor Anderson, were undoubtedly compiled under the supervision of Desaguliers. Anderson, we suppose, did the work, while Desaguliers furnished much of the material and the thought.

To few Freemasons of the present day, except to those who have made Freemasonry a subject of especial study, is the name of Desaguliers very familiar.

But it is well they should know that to him, perhaps, more than to any other man, are we indebted for the present existence of Freemasonry as a living institution, for it was his learning and social position that gave a standing to the Institution, which brought to its support noblemen and men of influence, so that the insignificant assemblage of four London Lodges at the Apple-Tree Tavern has expanded into an association which now shelters the entire civilized world. And the moving spirit of all this was John Theophilus Desaguliers.

- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry

[Tamrin]

John Theophilus Desaguliers:
Promoter of the Enlightenment
and of Speculative Freemasonry

[Excerpts - Article by Prof. R. William Weisberger, AQC, v.113, pp.65/96]

Desaguliers and the Degree System of the Premier Grand Lodge

The degree system of speculative Freemasonry was quite distinctive and served various purposes. Desaguliers and other leaders of the Premier Grand Lodge used pertinent elements of operative masonry to develop their new degree system.⁵² Moreover, he and other speculative Masonic leaders succeeded in developing a new and unusual language to explain Enlightenment ideas in the light of ancient legends and myths relating to architecture.⁵³

To make the new degree system appealing, symbols were effectively used to explain eighteenth-century scientific, political, philosophical and moral beliefs. The importance of secrecy was also emphasised. Elaborate dramatisation of the speculative degrees was utilised to bind the candidate to the exclusive world of the Masonic community.⁵⁴

Thus, as a result of Desagulier’ efforts, important Enlightenment tenets became embodied in the degrees of speculative Freemasonry. In the Entered Apprentice degree, which centres on the building of King Solomon’s Temple, references to these tenets are made.⁵⁵ Allusion is made to Newtonian Laws of gravity and motion with reference to the movements of the planets and their moons around the Sun. Moreover, this degree emphasises that the operations of the Lodge are to be identified with those Laws governing nature and society.⁵⁶ The tools of the operative craftsman are used as symbols of significant ethical and classical architectural principles. representative of proper moral conduct, the Square and Plumb are applied to the building of the three great pillars of King Solomon’s Temple to represent the moral teachings of wisdom, strength, and beauty.⁵⁷

The Fellow Craft degree is particularly distinguished by its abundance of Enlightenment concepts. The significance of studying the liberal arts and physical sciences is emphasised in this degree. Speculative freemasons are to follow the light of knowledge and are expected to be benevolent and virtuous. They are expected to climb the winding stairs of Solomon’s Temple symbolically in their search for knowledge and to use reason and mathematics to aid them in discovering the principles of Deity and Nature. Geometry, the queen of mathematics, especially helps speculative Freemasons to understand the Laws of gravity and motion, the moral principles associated with the circle, square and triangle and the deistic attributes of the Supreme Architect.⁵⁸

The Master Mason’s degree also contains significant Enlightenment ideas. This degree centres on the completion of Solomon’s Temple and takes place in its inner chamber. Speculative freemasons learn from this degree that reason and the five senses which are emphasised by Enlightenment thinkers, are essential to understand the Laws of Nature and the moral principles of society. Furthermore, this degree helps to define features of the Enlightenment concept of virtue, while temperance, prudence and justice are described as being cardinal virtues of the Order.⁵⁹ Deistic tenets also relate to the third degree’s legend concerning the death of Hiram Abif and the Lost Word. Known only to Hiram, this word is associated with the Supreme Architect Who, in deistic terms, is perceived as being omnipotent and omniscient.⁶⁰

Desaguliers almost certainly appreciated that the major tenets embodied in the important teachings of the three degrees might well serve as the basis of a civil religion.⁶¹ Speculative Freemasons had discovered that Newtonian mechanical Laws revealed much about the orderliness of Nature and that deistic doctrines likewise helped to define tenets appropriate to moral conduct in society. Whig ideas embodied in the degree system of speculative Freemasonry undoubtedly affected the attitudes of freemasons towards the state and society. They were expected to respect the civil magistrates and his institutions, to comply with the laws of the state, to subscribe to natural liberties, to adhere to the doctrine of religious tolerance and to be just and honest in their pursuits.⁶² It would appear that Desaguliers and other leaders of the Premier Grand Lodge succeeded consequently in their efforts to develop the tenets of a civic morality in the light of architectural symbols and significant Enlightenment concepts.

⁵² For a discussion of the Art of Memory and for a treatment of the rituals of identification and initiation, see Stevenson, D., Origins of Freemasonry, pp. 87-96 + 125-165.
⁵³ Masonic scholars have not explored the relationship of the language of speculative Freemasonry to pertinent tenets of the Enlightenment.
⁵⁴ Tiger, Lionel, Men in Groups (1969), pp. 180-185.
⁵⁵ See Horne, Alex, King Solomon’s Temple in the Masonic Tradition (1974), pp. 89-124.
⁵⁶ Jones, Bernard E., Freemasons’ Guide and Compendium (1956), pp. 274-275 and Mackey, Albert, Symbolism of Freemasonry (1975), pp. 100-101 + 142-143.
⁵⁷ Mackey, A., op. cit., pp. 92-93.
⁵⁸ Op. cit., pp. 189, 209, 219, and 223-224.
⁵⁹ Jones, B.E., op. cit., pp. 289-290 + 305-306.
60 Mackey, A., op. cit., pp. 194-197, 232-234, + 251-254.
⁶¹ For an understanding of the concept of civil religion, see Bellah, Robert N., Beyond Belief: Essays on Religion in a Post-Traditional World (1970), pp. 168-186.
⁶² Jones, B., op. cit., p. 183.

Conclusion

A prominent Newtonian who did much to contribute to scientific life of his time, Desaguliers was known for promoting the use of the inductive techniques of experimental science and for demonstrating in a non-mathematical way the importance of the Newtonian Laws of motion, gravity and light. Unlike most Newtonian scientists, the realist Desaguliers attempted to apply Newtonian tenets to electrical studies and to the new industrial technology. More significantly, he became one of the most esteemed popular purveyors of Newtonianism in early eighteenth-century London, utilising coffee-houses and taverns to advance the causes of both science and speculative Freemasonry.

He is best remembered, however, for his active involvement in the Premier Grand Lodge wherein he proved to be a capable leader, playing an active part in its centralising and establishing its early stability. By assisting in the writing of the Constitutions of this new movement he helped the Premier Grand Lodge to become an important cultural and charitable institution of early Hanoverian London. Desaguliers, more importantly, seemed to be a cultural broker, for he played a major role in injecting major tenets of the English Enlightenment into its ritual system. As a result of his efforts, this system, with its distinctive Masonic language, proved to be an effective vehicle for the explication of salient eighteenth-century ideas — namely, the Newtonian concepts of motion and light, the architectural ideas of Palladianism, the doctrines of religious tolerance and benevolence and the ethical tenets of Deism. Moreover, the ritual system seemed to function as a civil religion and was recognised as a major source of Anglophilism during the early eighteenth century. Desaguliers was also known as an effective recruiter. He succeeded in attracting both aristocrats and middle-class gentlemen to the ranks of speculative Freemasonry. even after his death, new Masonic movements would develop during the eighteenth century illustrating the institutional importance of the Craft in England, in European states and in America.⁹⁶

⁹⁶ Weisberger, R.William, op. cit., pp.153-162.