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Whilst researching the history of Freemasonry I came across many victims of conspiracy theories, and there are many that involve Freemasonry. One such theory is that Freemasonry originated from Judaism, but that simply isn’t true. However, I acknowledge that to free someone of such beliefs is a monumental task, but at least I can provide the truth, the rest is up to the victim. Freemasonry is still grouped amongst the 18th century secret societies, when in fact Freemasons simply met in private, but they certainly paraded in public making no secret of their being Freemasons.
The coming together in London of four Freemason Lodges in 1717 resulted in the first acknowledged Grand Lodge of Freemasonry.
It was in 1738 when all Roman Catholics that had actually joined Freemasonry were threatened by excommunication, or worse, unless they left and, of course, many did. This was initially because Freemasons’ first, or accepted as their first, constitutions, published in 1723, moved away from the original Christian concept and opened its doors to all monotheistic religions. This is from the first of the ‘Old Charges’ (rules):
,,, yet ‘tis now thought more expedient 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.
However, at this time Freemasonry comprised almost exclusively Protestant and Catholic Christians, the first record of a Jew joining was in 1732. This was deemed as ‘Indifferentism’ by Pope Clement XII in 1738. As most Freemasons were Christian, with the exception of that one Jewish member, that assumption of ‘Indifferentism’ was clearly the main reason for the disdain of Freemasonry given in In Eminenti by Clement XII, the first Papal Encyclical to condemn Freemasonry. Roman Catholics define ‘Indifferentism’ as:
The term given, in general, to all those theories, which, for one reason or another, deny that it is the duty of man to worship God by believing and practicing the one true religion.
Pope Clement XII’s mistake, or at least that of his advising Cardinals, was in thinking of Freemasonry as a religion, which it is not, no worship of God, or worship of any kind, ever takes place, neither then, nor now, in any of Freemasonry’s meetings, although it is acknowledged that the ‘One True God’ is everywhere.
It was in the 16th century that non operative masons were accepted into a stonemason’s meetings, called Lodges. The first written record of this is in Scotland in the very late 1500’s, and that’s way before the Act of Union of 1706/7, when the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland joined together to form the single “political state,” Great Britain. These non-operative masons were known as ‘Free and Accepted Masons.’ So we could draw from this the term Free-Mason, but then others like to relate this term to the Freestone that many highly skilled in the craft of stonemasonry carved into wonderful statues, effigies, etc. The origin of the use of the term ‘Freemason’ has also created much speculation, but one thing that is certain is that this term belonged in stone masonry, or operative masons, in Britain, especially as it is universally used and is English in origin. These stonemasons were devout Christians.
However, prior to the forming of the first acknowledged Grand Lodge in London, and the publication of the Book of Constitutions in 1723, the stonemasons had already produced Constitutions, and it is thought that the ‘Old Charges’they all contained date back to 1390, perhaps even earlier.
A second Grand Lodge was formed in 1751 by a group of dissatisfied Freemasons, led by a Roman Catholic named Lawrence Dermott, and they named themselves ‘The Ancient’s Grand Lodge,’ they considered the first as ‘Moderns’and named it such. This was because the ‘Moderns’ had veered away for the ‘Old Charges’ that existed prior to 1723.
It was only in 1722 that a man named Roberts published for all to see a copy of these earlier constitutions, an annex to this version contained the year 1663. This annex contained ‘Old Charges’ belonging to ‘Entered Apprentices.’
The first of these earlier ‘Old Charges’ in the main part of these constitutions contained these words:
I am to admonish you to honour God in his Holy Church; that you use no heresy, schism or error in your understandings, or discredit man’s teaching.
Just to add further proof of the Christianity of these earlier Freemasons, these Constitutions are entitled:
The Old Constitutions Belonging to the Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons – Taken from a manuscript wrote about Five Hundred years since.
The History section of this manuscript has these words under the title of:
The History of the Free Masons, etc.
The Almighty Father of Heaven, with the Wisdom of the Glorious Son, through the Goodness of the Holy Ghost, Three Persons in one Godhead be with our Beginning and give us his Grace to govern our Lives, that we shall come to His Bliss, that never shall end.
It was this link to Christianity that was rumbling in the minds of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons that Lawrence Dermott and his fellow Freemasons anchored after. Alas for them, and a great acknowledgement to Brother Lawrence Dermott, these two Grand Lodges united in 1813 to form the United Grand Lodge of England. Scotland and Ireland formed their own independent Grand Lodges, tied together with each other and with the United Grand Lodge of England through friendship and brotherly love. The wording of the 1723 first ‘Old Charge’ became accepted by all Freemasons.
So that is the beginning of Freemasonry, no sign of any Jewish influence at all, it is pure Christianity, and this Christianity in 1390 was Roman Catholicism; this is the true story of the origin of Freemasonry.
So just where does the conspiracy theory of a Jewish origin really come from. It’s quite simple really, Freemasonry’s aim is to emphasise each members moral behaviour, and it often refers to a member’s Holy Book for guidance, and this is the only reference to religion. It emphasises moral integrity through a series of allegorical plays and in the pure, original first three degrees it refers to the building of the first Temple to the ‘One True God,’ and that’s the Temple of King Solomon, who chosen by God over his father King David, as King David had too much blood on his hands. This play is obviously from the Old Testament, the Book of Kings, but this is only the Old Testament acknowledged by Judaism, hence the confusion on the minds of these victims. But let’s not forget that the Old Testament is also acknowledged by Christianity and Islam, but Freemasonry accepts that there are many other pathways to the ‘One True God,’ as there is only ‘One God.’ Freemasonry has no other comment, the discussing of religion and politics are banned for all Freemasonry meetings as it can lead to harming the harmony of the Lodge.
Many people become very confused and find it difficult to separate the allegorical plays in Freemasonry to its true history, and this is one of the main reasons that some prefer to believe in a conspiracy theory driven ‘false history’ rather than from factual history, and this misconception held is by many. Could this belief also belong to a prejudiced view of other folk in the world rather than the brotherly love of all found in Freemasonry? That’s for you to ponder, it is nothing that is in the mind of any true Freemason.
This article was written by W Bro Steve Froggatt PPDepGReg. They do not represent the view of any Grand/Provincial Grand Lodge.
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