DIFFUSION OF THE ORDER

DIFFUSION OF THE ORDER



  FREEMAS0NRY in Spain and Portugal.—^In 1726, the Grand Lodge of England granted a patent for the establishment of a lodge at Gibraltar; another was founded in the following year at Madridj whichj declaring itself independent of foreign supervision, established lodges at Cadiz, Barcelona, Valladolid, and other places. The Inquisition, seeing the danger that threatened the Church, fersecuted the order; hence the mystery that surrounds the labours of the brotherhood in the Iberian peninsula.

  In Portugal, the first lodges were founded, not under English, but under French auspices; but English influence soon made itself felt in the establishment of additional lodges, though in great aecresy ; which, however, did not save many Freemasons from becoming the victims of the Inquisition.

  Freemasonry in Russia. —In 1731, Freemasonry dared to oppose itself to Russian despotism which, not fearing and probally despising it, did not molest it. The times were unpropitious. The sanguinary Biren ruled the Empress Anne, when by ipeans of the amorous fascination he exercisec upon her, he easily persuaded to commit all Idndi of folly and cruelty ; and Masonry, though it knew itself to be tolerated, yet did not feel secure, and cautiously kept itself in the background. In 1740 England founded a lodge at St. Petersburg, anc sent thither a Grand Master. The order spread ii the provinces, and in 1763 the lodge " Glio" wa opened at Moscow. Catherine II. wished to know its statutes, perceiving the advantage or injury the; might bring to her government as she either pro moted or persecuted the association. In the em she determined to protect the order; and in country where the court leads opinion, lodges soo: become the fashion. But Masonry thus becomia ,the amusement of a wealthy nobility, it soon Ids sight of its primitive objects. In no other countr probably did the brotherhood possess such gorgeou temples ; but, deprived of the vivifying and iavigc rating air of liberty, its splendour could not save : from a death of inanition.

   Freemasonry in Switzerland.—English preselytism, always the most activej established a lodge at Geneva in 1737, whose first Grand Master was George Hamilton. Two years afterwards, the foreigners dwelling at Lausanne united and founded the lodge called the " Perfect Union of Foreigners." Lodges were also opened at Berne ; but the mancuevres of the Grand Lodges of the states surrounding Switzerland introduced long and fierce dissensions. In 1765, the Strict Observance founded at Basle the lodge " Liberty, " which became the mother-lodge of many others, and, calling itself the " German Helvetic Directory," chose for its chief the celebrated Lavater. Then followed suppressions; but the order revived, and in 1844 the different territorial Grand Lodges united into one federal Grand Lodge, caUed "Alpina," which revised the ancient statutes. The Swiss Freemasons intend to erect a grand temple, which perhaps could nowhere find a more fitting site than in a country where four nations of diverse languages and races dwell in perfect liberty.

  Freemasowry in Sweden and Poland.—In 1748, Sweden already had many and flourishing lodges. In 1754, was instituted the Grand Lodge of Sweden, under a patent from the Grand Lodge of Scotland; it afterwards declared its autonomy, which has been recognized by aU the masonic bodies of Europe.

  Freemasonry, at first suppressed in Poland, was revived under Stanislaus Augustus, and the auspices of tlie Grand Orient of France, who estabUshec lodges in various towns of that country. These united in 1784 to form a Grand Orient, having its seat at Warsaw.

  Freemasonry in Holland amd Germany.—In Holland the Freemasons opened, a lodge in 1731, under the warrant of the Grand Lodge of England it was, however, only what is called a lodge of emergency, having been called to initiate the Duke of Tuscany, afterwards Francis I., Emperor of Germany. The first regular lodge was established at the Hague in 1734, which, five years after, took the name of " Mother-lodge." Numerous lodges were opened throughout the country, and also in the Dutch colonies ; and the Freemasons founded many schools, with the avowed object of withdrawing instruction from clerical influence.

  In Germany lodges were numerous as early as the middle of last century, so that in the present one we have witnessed the centenaries of many of them—as for instance, in 1887, of that of Hamburg ; in 1840, of that of Berlin ; in 1841, of those of Breslau, Baireuth, Leipzig, and many more.

  Freemasonry in Turkey, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.—The order also spread into Turkey, where, however, as may be supposed, for a long time it led but a harassed existence. Lodges were established at Constantinople, Smyrna, and Aleppo, and it may be mentioned, as a fact in favour of Freemasonry, that the Turkish Freemasons are in a more advanced state of civilization than is usual among Orientals generally. They reject polygamy, and at the Masonic banquets the women appear unveiled ; so that whatever their western sisters may have to say against Masonry, the women of the Bast certainly are gainers by the introduction of the order.

  The most 'important masonic lodges of Asia are in India; they are under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodges of England "and Scotland. Freemasonry was introduced into Africa by the establishment of a lodge at Cape Coast Castle in 1735. There are now lodges at the Cape of Good Hope ; in the islands of Mauritius, Madagascar and St. Helena ; and at Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, Cairo, and Alexandria.

  Lodges have existed since 1828 at Sydney, Melbourne, Paramatta, and other places ; in all about two hundred.

   Freemasowy in America.—^The first lodge established in Canada was at Cape Breton, in the year 1745. Lodges existed from as early a period in the West Indian Islands. On the establishment of the Brazilian empire, a Grand Lodge was initiated ; and in 1825 Don Pedro I. was elected its Grand Master. In 1825, the Grand Lodge of Mexico was instituted, where the Liberals and Federalists joined the York rite, whilst the Clerics, Monarchists, and Centralizers adopted the Scotch rite ; the two parties carrying on a relentless war. Texas, Venezuela, and the turbulent republics of South America, all had their masonic lodges, which were in many cases political clubs in disguise.

  The lodges in the territory now forming the United States date as far back as 1729. Until the close of the revolutionary war these were under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England ; but almost every state of the Union now has its own Grand Lodge, independent of all foreign power.




FUTILITY OF MODERN FREEMASONRY



  VAIN Pretensions of Modern Freemasonry. —After this necessarily brief account of Freemasonry, past and present, . the question naturally suggests itself, What is its present use ? Is it not an institution that has outlived the object of its foundation ? Are its pretensions not groundless, and its existence a delusion and anachronism ? The answers to all these questions must be unfavourable to Freemasonry. Its present use is confined to that of any other benefit society. It was founded in ages when the possession of true religious and scientific knowledge was the privilege of the few, who made the cultivation and propagation of such knowledge the occupation of their lives. But now that knowledge is the birthright of all, and may openly raise its head, a society that professes to keep science for the few is but a retrograde institution.

   Vanity of Masonic Ceremonial.—There are thousands of excellent men who have never seen the inside of a lodge, and yet are genuine Freemasons, i. e. liberal-minded and enlightened men, devoted to the study of nature and the progress of mankind, moral and intellectual ; men devoid of all political and religious prejudices, true cosmopolitana. And there are thousands who have passed through every masonic degree, and yet are not masons; men who take appearances for realities, the means for the end, the ceremonies of the lodge for Freemasonry. But the lodge with all its symbols is only the form of the masonic thought. In the present age, however, this form, which was very suitable, nay, necessary, for the time when it was instituted, becomes an anachronism. The affectation of possessing a secret is a childish and mischievous weakness. The objects modern masons profess to pursue are brotherly love, relief, and truth ; surely the pursuit of these objects cannot need any secret rites, traditions, and ceremonies. In spite of the great parade made in masonic publications about the science and learning peculiar to the craft, what discovery of new scientific facts or principles can masons claim for the order ? Nay, are well-known and long- established truths familiar to them, and made the objects of study in the lodges ? Nothing of the kind.

  Masonry diffuses no knowledge.—We get neither- science nor learning from a mason, as a mason. The order, in fact, abjures religious and political discussion, and yet it pretends that to it mankind is indebted for its progress, and that, were it abolished, mental darkness would again overshadow the world. But how is this progress to be effected, if the chronic diseases in the existing religious and political systems of the world are not to be neddled with ? As well might an association for the advancement of learning abjure inquiry into chemical and mechanical problems, and then boast of the benefits it conferred on science ! It is Hamlet with the part of Hamlet omitted. If then Masonry wishes to live on, and be something more than a society of Odd Fellows or Druids, new lodges must be formed by educated men—not by the mere , publicans and other tradesmen that now found lodges to create a market for their goods—who might do some good by teaching moral and natural philosophy from a deeper ground than the scholastic and .grossly material basis on which all teaching at present is founded, and by rescuing science from the degraded position of handmaiden to mere physical comfort, into which modern materialism has forced it. They might found Masonic Colleges, where the night-side of physics and metaphysics, which is the very mother of all Vax e tenebris, as the Masonic motto has it, would be revealed to the properly qualified student, who would thus be enabled to see not only how a thing is, but why it is so.

   Masonry is unfitted for the task.—That is to say, let such masonic societies be formed, if Masonry can be shown to be a necessary institution, and societies the best means for promoting the discovery of truth, and the spread of knowledge. But are societies the most suitable means for the discovery of scientific or any other truths ? Learned societies as a rule are merely mutual admiration societies, diversified by occasional junketings under pretence of the pursuit of knowledge. Discoveries are made by private individuals, whilst societies simply seek to guide all the rills of knowledge into their reservoir, to proclaim themselves the possessors of the treasures, the search after which, had they been consulted beforehand, they would probably have condemned or ridiculed. No invention or discovery of any note can be named that owes its existence to any society. Hence masonic societies would do very little good. Besides the Freemasons who are men of talent, are not such because they belong to the brotherhood, but in spite of it. If the highest knowledge now possessed by men were taught in the lodge, it would still be knowledge not confined to masons, but diffused among all studious men. Of course, if Masonry had. the practical meaning which I theoretically ascribe to it, then the case would be altered ; but modern Masonry will never reach that standard needed to make it really the instructor of mankind.

  Decay of Freemasonry.—Selfishness, an eye to business, vanity, frivolity, gluttony, and a love of mystery-ongering, concealed under the specious pretence of brotherly love and a longing for instruction—these are the motives that lead men into the lodge. The facility and frequency with which' worthless characters are received into the order; the manner in which all its statutes are disregarded ; the dislike with which every brother who insists on reform is looked upon by the rest ; the difficulty of expelling obnoxious members ; the introduction of many spurious rites, and the deceptiveness of the rites themselves, designed to excite curiosity without ever satisfying it ; the puerility of the symbolism ; the paltriness of the secret when revealed to the candidate, and his ill-concealed disgust when at last he gets behind the scenes and sees through the rotten canvas that forms so beautiful a landscape in front —all these too plainly show that the lodge has banished Freemasonry. And like monasticism or chivalry, it is no longer wanted. Having no political influence and no political aspirations, or, when it has such aspirations revealing them by insane excesses, sucli as the late citation before masonic tribunals of Napoleon III., the Emperor of Germany, the Crown Prince, the Pope, and Marshal Prim, by French, Italian, and Spanish masons respectively, and under the Grand Masterships of Cremieux, Garibaldi, and others of the same revolutionary and violent principles, and after a farcical sham trial, condemning the accused so cited—to which summons of course they paid no attention—to death, or in plain English, to assassination, a crime really perpetrated on the person of Marshal Prim ; being no longer even a secret society—for a society sanctioned by the State, as Freemasonry is, cannot be called a secret society ; having no industrial or intellectual rallying-point,it must eventually die from sheer inanition. It may prolong its existence by getting rid of all the rites and ceremonies which are neither simple nor grand, nor founded on any authority or symbolic meaning, and by renouncing the silly pretence of secrets, and undertaking to teach what I have sketched in various portions of this work, concerning the origin and meaning of Masonry and its symbols, illustrating its teaching by the ornaments and practice of the lodges. This seems to be the only ground on which Freemasonry could claim to have its lease of existence, as Freemasonry, renewed.

   Masonic Literature.—It is almost absurd to talk of masonic literature; it scarcely exists Except the works written by Oliver, Mackay, Findel, and Ragon, there is scarcely anything worth reading about Freemasonry, of which a Freemason is the author. The countless lectures by brethren, with a few exceptions, consist of mere truisms and platitudes, very much like twaddling sermons, published by request. Its periodical literature—in this country at all events —^is essentially of the Grub Street kind, consisting of mere trade-circulars, supported bypuffing masonic tradesmen and vain officials, who like to have their working in the lodge trumpeted forth in this fashion : " The way in which he had worked the ceremonies that evening was a great treat to the lodge." ''The W. M. proceeded to instal him in that fluent and impressive manner for which he is known," &c. &c.—or by brethren who like to have their speeches or attempted speeches recorded, in this style : " Brother W. felt a little nervous, but hoped to be an ornament to the lodge "(!) "^ Brother D. had presided at a dish, and it had afforded him much satisfaction, inasmuch as he had had it in his power to make some brethren comfortable," &c. I am not inventing, but actually copying from a masonic newspaper, and might fill pages with siinilar stuff. All attempts permanently to establish masonic periodicals of a higher order have hitherto failed from want of encouragement. The fact is, men of education take very little interest in Masonry, for it has nothing to offer them in an intellectual point of view; because even masons who have attained to every ne plus ultra of the institution, know nothing of its origin and meaning. As to masonic poetry, the poet laureate to Moses and the Profits would not acknowledge one line of it ; the bard Close would indignantly repudiate it.

  The Quatuor Coronati Lodge.-Theliterary' shortcomings of Masonry I have, in the interests of truth, and as an impartial historian been compelled to point out in the previous section, have been recognised by intelligent Masons, and such recognition has, in .1884, led to the foundation of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge. Members must be possessed of literary or artistic qualifications ; to belong to it, therefore, is in itself a distinction, and, as may be supposed, the lodge is composed chiefly of well-known masonic historians and antiquaries, and thus occupies a position totally different from all other masonic lodges. Its objects are the promotion of masonic knowledge, by papers read and discussions thereon in the lodge; by the publication of its transactions, and the reprinting of scarce and valuable works on Freemasonry, such as MSS., e.g. "The Masonic Poem"(circa 1390), the earliest MS. relating to Freemasonry; Matthew Cooke's Harleian and Lansdowne MSS. ; or printed works, as e .g., "Anderson's Constitutions" of 1738, or Reproductions of Masonic Certificates. All these have been issued by this lodge in volumes, entitled "Ars Quatuor Coronatorum," well printed, and expensively illustrated. Connected with the lodge is a "Correspondence Circle," whose members reside in all parts of the globe, and form a literary society of Masons, aiming at the progress of the craft. But by progress can only be meant extension of Masonry; the "Transactions" and "Reprints" can add nothing to the knowledge the best-informed members already possess; but the "Reprints," by their aesthetic sumptuousness and the learned comments accompanying them, invest Masonry with a dignity which may attract to it more of the intelligence of mankind than it has hitherto done, and the labours of Quatuor Coronatorum therefore deserve the hearty support of the craft.