The Apprentice's Book

52 Pages·2.202 MB·English

by  Oswald Wirth

INDEX

Note, page 4.

To the New Initiates, page 5.

Ritualistic Interrogations to the Visiting Brethren, page 6.

Philosophical Knowledge on the General History of the Freemasonry, page 8.

The Masonic Situation in 1920, page 48.

Foreign Masonry, page 56.

Future of Freemasonry, page 65.

The Masonic Initiation, page 66.

Philosophical Concepts Relating to Ritualism of the Apprentice Degree, page 78.

Duties of the Apprentice Mason, page 81.

Interpretive Catechism of the Apprentice Degree, page 85.

Main Elements of Initiatic Philosophy, page 92.
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NOTE
This manual was first published in 1894: but its authors had conceived the idea as early as 1888, when the Masonic Group of Initiatic Studies
was founded, the program of which was to be adopted in 1897 by the Lodge Travail et Vrais Amis Fidèles.
The Apprentice Book was first printed in 3,000 copies, which little by little ran out by 1908. It was then necessary to prepare a new edition of
5,000 copies. It included a reworking of the historical part, which was brought into harmony with the most recent conquests of Masonic history.
The third edition was delayed by circumstances until the end of 1920. The 1908 text is maintained there, except for a few slight alterations and
the addition of a few pages devoted to the events which upset the world starting from 1914.
*
TO THE NEWLY INITIATED

Very Dear Brethren,
By initiating you into its mysteries, Freemasonry invites you to become elite men, wise men, or thinkers, raised above the mass of beings who do
not think.
Not to think is to consent to be dominated, led, directed, and treated too often as a beast of burden.
It is by his intellectual faculties that man is distinguished from the brute. — Thought makes him free and gives him the rule of the world. — To
think is to reign.
But the Thinker has always been an exception. — In the past, when man had the leisure to devote himself to meditation, he got lost in dreams;
nowadays it falls into the opposite excess. The struggle for life so absorbs him that there is no time left to calmly meditate and cultivate the supreme
Art of Thinking.
Well, this Art, called the Great Art, the Royal Art or Art par excellence, it is up to Freemasonry to revive it among us.

Modern intellectuality cannot continue to grapple between two teachings which both exclude thought: between churches based on blind faith and
schools which decree the dogmas of our new scientific beliefs.
Now that everything conspires to spare our contemporaries the trouble of thinking, it is essential that a powerful institution rekindle the torch of
forgotten traditions. — We lack thinkers, and it is not our university education that can form them.
The thinker is not the man who knows a lot. His memory is not overloaded with cumbersome memories. He is a free spirit, who has no need to
be catechized or indoctrinated.
The thinker is formed by himself: he is the son of his works. — Freemasonry knows it and avoids instilling dogmas in him. — Unlike all
churches, it does not claim to be in possession of the Truth. — In Masonry, we limit ourselves to warning against error, then we urge everyone to seek
the True, the Just and the Beautiful.
Freemasonry is loath to phrases and formulas, which vulgar minds seize on to feast on all the tinsel of false knowledge. — It wants to force her
followers to think and, therefore, offers its teaching under the veil of allegories and symbols. It thus invites reflection, so that we apply ourselves to
understanding and discovering. Strive therefore, very dear Brethren, to show yourself diviners, in the highest sense of the word. — You will only
know in Masonry what you have found by yourselves.
Strictly speaking, it should be superfluous to tell you more. — But, given the so little meditative dispositions of our time, experienced Masons
have thought it necessary to come to the aid of the too common gravity of the current spirit.
They therefore set out to make Freemasonry intelligible to its followers. — After having already published an Interpretative Ritual for the
Apprentice Degree, they now publish this Manual which will be followed by the Book of the Fellowcraft and the Book of the Master.
Their task is thankless, but they count on the support and the help of all those who feel the need for an initiatory regeneration of Freemasonry. —
They will show themselves deeply grateful for the advice and the information which anyone wishes to send to the Lodge Travail et Vrais Amis Fidèles
[Work and True Faithful Friends].
8, rue Puteaux.
Orient of Paris XVII
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RITUALISTIC QUESTIONS
TO ASK THE VISITING BRETHREN
When a Mason shows up to take part in the work of a Lodge, he is not allowed to enter until after he has been tuilé [examined] by the Brother
Expert.
On entering, he performs the step and the customary salutes [sign], then he remains standing and to order between the two columns, until he is
invited take a seat.
On this occasion, the Worshipful Master will be able to ask the visiting Brother the following questions, to which he must know how to answer:
Q.- My brother, whence come you?
A.- From the Saint John Lodge, W. Master.
Q.- What is done in a Saint John Lodge?
A.- Temples are raised there to virtue, and graves are dug for vices.
Q.- What do you bring from there?
A.- Health, prosperity and a warm welcome to all the brethren.
Q.- What are you here to do?
A.- To overcome my passions, control my wishes, and make new progress in Masonry.
The W. Master: Take a seat, my brother and be welcome to this atelier [quarry], which receives with gratitude the contribution of your lights
[knowledge].
The authors, who have studied Freemasonry in its esotericism, that is to say in its occult teaching, have insisted a lot on the importance of the
question: whence come you?
It must be taken by the thinker in its highest sense and thus lead him to the problem of the origin of things.
The Apprentice must seek where we came from, just as the Fellowcraft must ask himself what are we? and the Master where are we going?
These three questions formulate the eternal enigma that all science and all philosophy continually try to solve. Our efforts can only lead to
temporary solutions, intended to momentarily quench our thirst for curiosity. But soon we conceive the fragility of the answers we were satisfied with,
and we always seek, never deluding ourselves in believing that we have found them.
Like the legendary Wandering Jew, the human mind is always on the move. But when men are grouped together, their social bond rests
essentially on ideas that are made of the past, the present and the future of things.
There is therefore an obligation for the thinker to enlighten his contemporaries on this point of view. Like Oedipus, he must know how to answer
the questions of the Sphinx, unless, in imitation of Hercules, he knows how to deceive Cerberus's hunger, by throwing handfuls of earth into the triple
jaws of the guardian of the underworld.
The question whence come you? is not only philosophical in scope: the Ritual answers it by referring us to the History of Freemasonry. — Our
institution derives, in fact, from the confraternities of Saint John, a title held in the Middle Ages by the builders' corporations to which we owe all the
masterpieces of ogival architecture.
It has also been wanted to see in Saint John the god Janus of the Latins. This double-sided God symbolized the permanent principle for which
the past and the future are but one. His image should induce the Masons to look backwards as well as forward; because, in order to prepare the
progress of humanity, it is necessary to take into account the lessons of history.
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APERÇU PHILOSOPHIQUE SUR L'HISTOIRE GÉNÉRALE DE LA FRANC-MAÇONNERIE
[PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW ON THE GENERAL HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY]
Preliminary considerations
Certain ideas are likely to exert an attractive power on isolated individuals. They group them together and thus become the intellectual backbone
of an association.
But these associations cannot be constituted by groups devoid of all stability and cohesion. An aggregation of disparate individualities can only
be transformed into a permanent whole by the intervention of an organic law that establishes collective life.
In any association, it is necessary, therefore, to distinguish the idea and the form.
The Idea or the Spirit works as an abstract generator: It is the Father of the community, where the mother is represented by the plastic principle
which gives it its form.
These two elements of generation and organization are represented in Masonry by two columns, where the first (masculine-active) refers to that
which establishes and founds, while the second (feminine-passive) refers to that which consolidates and maintains.
The historian who is enlightened by the lights of philosophy cannot ignore these two essential factors. For him, the annals of our institution go
back beyond the year 1717, the date of the founding of modern Freemasonry; because the ideas, which then succeeded in taking shape, had inspired,
in earlier times, many attempts at similar creations.
A [newly formed] community cannot, on the other hand, improvise its organization. Every being is constituted in accordance with its species,
and in this it benefits from ancestral experience. Every new Being thus becomes the heir of an ancient race, which lives again in him, as he himself
lived in the whole chain of his predecessors.
From this point of view, it is permissible to assign to Freemasonry one of the oldest origins, because it is linked to all the initiatory
confraternities of the past.
But these seem to come from the first associations of builders, as one can judge from the circumstances which gave birth to the Art of Building.
The Origins of Freemasonry
Freemasonry no longer engages in material construction work these days, but derives directly from a brotherhood of stonemasons and architects,
whose ramifications extended throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages.
By handing down the secrets of their art, these builders conformed to ancient customs. They practiced initiation rites, which corporate legends
trace back to the most remote antiquity.
We must be careful not to take these naive traditions literally. They are mythical and most often hide an allegorical meaning. 1)
But it is necessary to reflect on the influence originally exerted by the art of building, in order to form a fair idea of the civilizing role that the
oldest associations have necessarily played.
These associations were formed as soon as architecture became an art. They were called, no doubt, to build first the walls of the primitive cities.
These carved stone ramparts could only have been the work of trained workers grouped into tribes. We readily imagine these craftsmen moving from
one place to another to exercise their profession where they were called.
These craftsmen could not fail to be associated for two reasons: first, because any important construction could not be the work of isolated
individuals, and secondly because the practice of the art of building requires a professional initiation.
It is therefore evident that, from the earliest times, masons have formed corporate groups, and that, by force of circumstances, they have divided
themselves into apprentices, fellows, and masters.
As for their civilizing mission, it manifested itself from a double point of view:
On the one hand, the cities, protected against the assaults of barbaric brutality by solid walls, became centers of peaceful activity, inviolable
asylums reserved for an elite more cultivated than the multitude outside.
On the other hand, the Masons set the example of associating in view of a common work.
It can, thus, be stated that Architecture is the mother of all civilization, 2) and it is rightly so that the ancient masons considered their art as the
first and the most esteemed of all.

1)   According to one of these legends, Adam would have been regularly received a Mason according to all the rites by the Eternal Father, in the Orient of Paradise. This is
a way of saying that Freemasonry has always existed, if not in action, at least in the potential to become, since it responds to a primordial need of the human spirit.
2)   Barbarism is the primitive state of insecurity, which places the weakest at the mercy of the strongest. The townspeople took shelter from the barbarians, taking refuge
behind impassable ramparts. Once safe, they were able to civilize themselves by passing laws protecting the weak against the strong. Architecture is therefore the
primordial factor of any real civilization.

The Sacred Art.
Initially everything took on a religious character. But the art of building was more particularly imbued with a divine character. The men who
dedicated themselves to it exercised a priesthood. They were priests in their own way. — By cutting stones and assembling them to raise sacred
buildings, they believed they were worshiping the divinity.
Every useful construction was holy: destroying it was a sacrilege, and the oldest inscriptions threaten with the vengeance of the gods any
ungodly man who destroyed or attacked the monuments.
The builders had a religion of their own, based entirely on the art of building. The universe was in their eyes a immense construction quarry,
where each being was called to contribute by his efforts to the construction of a unique monument. — They imagined an incessant work, which had
never begun and should never end, which was being carried out everywhere according to the data of the same plan.
Hence the Great Work concept of building an ideal Temple, achieving more and more perfection. Hence, furthermore, the traditional custom
among Masons to dedicate their work to the Glory of the Great Architect of the Universe.
First historical data.
We have only precarious information on the oldest construction corporations of the peoples of the East. But it is singular to find in Accadian
writing the triangle Δ as a sign of the syllable rou which has the meaning of doing, building. — If it is only a simple coincidence, it is at least striking,
and enthusiastic Masons will be able to see in it an indication of the high antiquity of their symbolism, because the Chaldean monuments in question
date back to more than 4,500 years before our era.
The unknown authors of the oldest sacred books of China were not unaware, moreover, of the symbolic value of the square and the compass,
insignia of the sage, who possessed the secret and knew how to conduct himself according to the instructions of the First Builder. 3)
In Egypt, the priest taught the sciences and the arts. Some hierophants specialized in Engineering and Architecture. The craftsmen placed under
their command were not entitled to any initiative.
Sculptors and stonecutters were much freer in Syria. They formed there religious associations which traveled all over Asia Minor to erect
temples everywhere, according to the requirements of the various cults.
Thus, around the year 1,000 BC, Hiram, king of Tire, was able to send to Solomon the workers necessary for the construction of the temple of
Jerusalem, the royal palace and the walls of the city. These same builders also took part in the founding of Palmyra.
Later, architecture was exercised throughout Greece by the Dionysian pontiffs, whose organization Numa Pompilius perfected around the year
715 BC.
The Roman legislator established colleges of builders, responsible for carrying out all public works. These corporations had their autonomy and
the law guaranteed them many privileges. Each of them practiced its particular religious ceremonies, appropriate to the profession exercised by its
members. 4) These exercised all the professions necessary for religious, civil, military, naval and hydraulic architecture.
These laborious confraternities spread throughout the empire. They followed the march of the Roman legions to build bridges, roads, aqueducts,
entrenched camps, towns, temples, amphitheaters, etc. Everywhere they helped to civilize the vanquished peoples by instructing them in the arts of
peace. They continued to flourish until the invasion of the barbarians.
In the third century, Theophrastus describes them to us in the following terms: "According to the traditions of ancient statuary, sculptors and
stonemasons traveled from one end of the earth to the other with the tools necessary to work with marble, ivory, wood, gold and other metals. The
shapeless matter was provided to them by the temples which they erected on divine models." 5)

3)   R. F. Gould, A Concise History of Freemasonry, London, 1903, pp. 3 and 4.

4)   Plutarque, Life of Illustrious Men, Numa, 17.

5)   Theophrastus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana, Translation of Chassang, p. 202.
Christianity
The professional religions conformed to the genius of Greco-Roman polytheism; so that, as long as he [Numa] reigned, no one could dream of
asking architectural corporations to account for their particular religious teaching. But, it was no longer the same when Christianity, which became the
state religion with Constantine, claimed to establish the unity of worship and belief.
The Supreme Architect of the Universe undoubtedly fitted in with monotheism, which Numa seemed to have anticipated. But this simplicity, this
vagueness conducive to contradictory adaptations, could no longer satisfy the new religion which formulated imperious and precise dogmas, to which,
of all necessity, it was henceforth necessary to submit.
Faithful to their traditions, the builders were careful not to enter into revolt against the official faith. 6) They were baptized, while reserving the
right to secretly adapt Christianity to the doctrines of architectural metaphysics. Thus arose an occult heresy, related to Gnosticism, which carefully
refrained from any outward manifestation. At most, one would find an indication of it in this singular facility with which Byzantine and Copht artists
indifferently put themselves at the service, first of the various Christian sects, then of the Muslim ones.
Outwardly submissive to Christian absolutism, the builders' associations were able to prosper under the aegis of the Eastern Empire, while they
disappeared in the West, submerged in the waves of barbarian invasions. A period came when people were much more concerned with destroying old
buildings than with erecting new ones.
Christianity, however, did not take long to impose itself on the invaders. Religious architecture was then restored to honor, and new schools of
builders were formed little by little. They gave birth to the Romanesque style.

6)   The Golden Verses of Pythagoras begin by ordering the Initiate to render consecrated worship to the immortal gods externally, but to keep his own conviction
inwardly.
The Monastic Orders.
For many centuries all of Western Europe was plagued by the brutality of ignorant warriors, who trembled only at the ghosts of their crude
imaginations. The Christian clergy, applying in this the traditions of all the priesthoods, very quickly learned to dominate these spirits inclined to
superstitious terrors. They had the boldness to threaten these savage conquerors in the name of a heavenly Judge, whose pitiless rigor could only be
flexed by pious donations. This was the source of immense wealth for the Church.
We then saw Christianity surrounded by a lavish apparatus. After growing up in self-denial and poverty, it now wanted to seduce by
magnificence. The ancient temples, once sacked by the greed of the barbarians, or demolished by the iconoclastic fury of the new believers, had to be
rebuilt to the glory of the God of the Christians. As the building activity was never entirely ceased, the methods of the trade were preserved among the
craftsmen; but, when it came to constructing buildings suitable for the unforeseen demands of Christian worship, there was at first a lack of architects.
The most educated monks were thus called to study architecture, and their ability to draw plans did not take long to take hold. Some abbots, in
particular those of the congregation of Cluny, even displayed a real talent in this respect. Rivaling each other, these prelates were soon no longer
satisfied with technically crude constructions, for the execution of which they could have recourse to hire craftsmen, resident or nomadic. When, from
simple brick or hollow walls, they wanted to move on to dressed stone assemblies, they had to train real artists, especially when ambition struck their
minds due to the daring in the more and more complex vaulting.
The monks were thus forced to associate, on a permanent basis, with "the lay stone carvers" who, as lay brothers, wore robes and received their
subsistence from the convent.
Freemasonry.
Among the workers subject to monastic discipline, the best gifted did not fail to acquire sufficient knowledge to enable them to direct the work
of their companions themselves. Thus, lay architects were formed, with a spirit all the more independent, as they became more aware of their abilities
and talent. Their authority soon took precedence over that of the monks, who gradually saw the construction brotherhoods withdraw from their
tutelage.

Some autonomous associations, reminiscent in certain respects of the Roman colleges, were thus able to form. This development seems to have
been accomplished first of all in Lombardy, where the ancient traditions, which have always remained alive, were all the more easily restored to honor
through the mediation of Venice, where the Byzantine influence was strongly felt in this region. What is certain is that the town of Como long
remained the center where artists flocked eager to perfect themselves in the art of building. Their ambition was to be initiated into the secrets of the
Magistri Comacini, a title extended in the eleventh century, in a generic way, to all builders.
It is claimed that, in order to have their independence consecrated, the secular architectural associations, united among themselves by the bonds
of close solidarity, would have requested from the Pope the exclusive monopoly for the construction of all the religious buildings of Christendom.
Wanting to encourage such a pious enterprise, the Court of Rome would have taken the Masonic brotherhood under its special protection, declaring
that its members should be everywhere exempt from taxes and vassalage. These would be the franchises that are said to have been granted by
Nicholas III in 1277 and confirmed by Benedict XII in 1334, which would have earned the proteges of the Holy See the name of Freemasons. 7)
The patronage of the Sovereign Pontiff would explain the favor that Freemasonry met with all the Christian princes. In these times of religious
fervor, they could not feel, moreover, that sympathies for the builders of churches, which spread gradually in France, in Normandy, in Great Britain, in
Burgundy, then in Flanders and on the banks of the Rhine, from there penetrating all over Germany. Everywhere, these associations have left
monuments of a particular style, known as Gothic, or more exactly ogival, masterpieces, whose uniformity of character seems to be the indication of
an international understanding, maintained for centuries between the builders scattered all over Western Europe. This is what makes Mr. Hope say, in
his History of Architecture: "The architects of all the religious buildings of the Latin Church had drawn their science from the same central school,
they obeyed the laws of a same hierarchy; they carried out their buildings according to the same principles of convenience and taste; they maintained
together, wherever they were sent, an assiduous correspondence, so that the smallest improvements immediately became the property of the whole
body and a new conquest of the Art."

7)   Thus far, the documented proof of these daring assertions has not been provided.
The Saint John Confraternities.
The architects of the Middle Ages loved to celebrate the solstices, in accordance with customs dating back to the most remote pagan times. In
order to be able to remain faithful to equivocal traditions from the Christian point of view, they chose as patrons the two Saint Johns, whose feasts fall
during the solsticial periods.
We wondered if, sheltered from by choice, the ancient cult of Janus had not found more or less conscious followers. Like the two Solstitial
Saints, the double-faced god presided over the entry of the sun into each of the celestial hemispheres. Janus was, moreover, the genius of all
beginnings, both of the years and of the seasons, as of life and existence in general. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that beginning is
called initium in Latin. The Initiates had, therefore, to see the tutelary divinity of the initiation in this immortal in charge of the guard of the gates
(janua), from which he excluded those who should not enter. A rod (baculum) was used for this purpose. He also held a key to indicate that it was up
to him to open and close, to reveal the mysteries to elite spirits, or to hide them from the curiosity of laymen unworthy of knowing them.
Etymologically, it is true, John does not come from Janus, but from the Hebrew Jeho h'annan, which translates as: "He whom Jeho favors." The
same verb comes up in H'anni-Baal or Annibal, which means Favorite of Baal. But Jeho and Baal are none other than names or titles of the Sun. It
was considered by the Phoenicians as a burning star, often murderous, whose ravages are to be feared. The mystagogues [Greek priests] of Israel saw
in it, on the contrary, the image of the God-Light who enlightens the intelligences. Jeho h'annan, Johannes, Jehan or John, thus becomes synonymous
with Man enlightened or enlightened in the manner of the prophets. Like the artists of the cathedrals, no doubt educated in very ancient esoteric
doctrines, the true or initiate Thinker is therefore entitled to call himself the brother of Saint John.
We note, moreover, that Saint John the Baptist is presented to us as the immediate precursor of the redemptive Light or of the solar Christ. He is
the intellectual Aurora which, in the minds, precedes the day of full understanding. After and harsh, his voice resounds through the barren desert,
awakening sleeping echoes. His vehement accents shake up rebellious mentalities and prepare them to grasp the truths which must be revealed.
If the wild Precursor is symbolically attached to the pale whiteness of the morning it is appropriate, by opposition, to represent Saint John the
Evangelist as surrounded by all the purple glory of the setting sun. He personifies the evening twilight light, that which sets the sky ablaze when the
sun has just disappeared below the horizon. The Master's favorite disciple was, indeed, the confidant of his secret teachings, reserved for the elite
intelligences of future times. He is credited with the Apocalypse, which, under the pretext of unveiling the Christian mysteries, concealed them under
riddles calculated to draw shrewd minds beyond the narrow confines of dogma. Also, it is from the Johannine tradition that all the mystical schools
have prevailed, which, under the veil of esotericism, aimed at the emancipation of thought. Let us not forget, finally, that the fourth Gospel begins
with a text of great initiatory significance, on which the Masonic oath was taken for a long time. The doctrine of the Word made flesh, that is, the
divine Reason incarnated in Humanity, goes back, moreover, through Plato, to the conceptions of the ancient hierophants.
Under these conditions, the title of lodges of Saint John is suitable, better than any other, for workshops [Masonic quarries] where the
intelligences, after having been prepared to receive the light, are brought to assimilate it progressively, in order to be able to reflect it in their turn.
Equivocal canonizations.
It would be rash to assert that the two Saint Johns represent solely to initiatory symbolism. Perhaps they correspond to characters who really
existed. Other saints, on the other hand, only enjoy their heavenly privilege, just because they were, in times past, drawn from the pagan calendar. In
his Origin of All Cults, Dupuis is very explicit in this regard:
"The Greeks," he said, "honored Bacchus under the name of Dionysios or Denis; he was regarded as the chief and the first author of their
mysteries, as well as Eleutherios." This last name was also an epithet which they gave him, and which the Latins translated by Liber. Two main
festivals were celebrated in his honor: one in the spring and the other in the harvest season. The latter was a rustic festival, held in the countryside or
in the fields; as opposed to the Spring festivals, called city festivals or Urbana. A day was added in honor of Demetrius, king of Macedonia, who held
his court at Pella, near the Gulf of Thessaloniki. Bacchus was the eastern name of the same God. Bacchus' festivals were therefore to be announced in
the Pagan calendar by these words: Festum Dionysii, Eleutherii, Rustici. Our good friars made three saints of them: Saint Denis, Saint Eleutherios, and
Saint Rustic, their companions. They read on the previous day: Festival of Demetrius, of whom they made a martyr of Thessaloniki. It is added that it
was Maximilian who put him to death as a result of his despair over the death of Lyaeus, and Lyaeus is a name for Bacchus, as well as Demetrius. It
was placed the day before the feast of Saint Bacchus, of whom they also made a martyr of the East. Thus those who want to take the trouble to read
the Latin calendar or the brief which guided our priests in the commemoration of the saints and in the celebration of the feasts, will see there on
October 7: Festum sancti Demetrii; and on the 9th: Festum sanctorum Dionysii, Eleutherii and Rustici. Thus, Saints were made from several epithets,
or various denominations of the same God, Bacchus, Dionysios or Denis, Liber or Eleutherios. These epithets became as many companions."
"… Bacchus married the Zephyr or the gentle wind, under the name of the nymph Aurora. Well! two days before the feast of Denis or Bacchus,
it was celebrated that of Aurora Placida or Zephyr, under the name of Saint Aurora and Saint Placida"
Dupuis further shows how the greeting formula: Perpétua Félicitas [everlasting happiness], gave birth to Saint Perpetua and Saint Felicity. He
also quotes Saint Veronica, that comes from Veron Eicon or Iconica, the true face or the image of Christ. Saint Rogatian, Saint Donatian, St. Flora, St.
Lucia, Saint Bibiana. St. Apollonia, St. Ides, St. Margaret of Antioch, and St. Hippolytus are also pagan adaptations.
The Satires against the Church.
To what extent could the reminiscences of antiquity influence the state of mind of the builders of the Middle Ages? The question is difficult to
resolve; but it remains certain that they were animated by a singularly rebellious spirit.
First of all, from the religious point of view, they claimed to report directly only to the Pope, and from this leader, they displayed the most
flagrant disrespect towards the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Their daring has often been manifested in caricatures, which they were not afraid to carve in
the very stone of cathedrals.
A monk and a nun, represented in an attitude of the last impropriety, thus decorate the church of St. Sebaldus in Nuremberg, and this salacious
theme is repeated, among others, in a gargoyle in the Cluny museum, in Paris.
In the upper gallery of Strasbourg Cathedral, a procession of animals is led by a bear carrying the cross. A wolf holding a lighted candle
precedes a pig and a ram laden with relics; all these quadrupeds march piously, while a donkey figures at the altar is saying mass.
Clad in priestly ornaments, a fox preaches in Brandenburg in front of a flock of geese.
Examples of this nature abound. There are quite subversive trials, in the sense that, among the damned are often found crowned or mitred
figures. The pope himself, wearing the tiara and flanked by cardinals, has been delivered to the eternal flames over the portal of the Bern cathedral.
These clues suggest that the initiation secretly conferred on the members of the confraternities of Saint John did not relate only to the material
processes of the art of building.
Certain ironic sculptures may have been inspired by the rivalries which, at all ages, have arisen between monastic orders and secular clergy; but
others clearly reflect the intimate thought of an artist who was singularly emancipated for the time.
Alchemy
If we ask ourselves from what source could have been drawn, in the Middle Ages, a strange mystical inspiration, or even secretly hostile to the
Church, we are led to remember the prestige which Hermetic Philosophy then enjoyed. Under the pretext of seeking the Stone of the Sages, the adepts,
that is, the free thinkers, were in fact dedicated to studying the secrets of nature. They indiscriminately explored the works of all the philosophers,
whether Greek, Arab or Hebrew. This eclecticism was to lead to doctrines so un-Catholic, in the ordinary sense of the word, that it would have been
imprudent to expose them in any other way than under the veil of allegories and symbols. The transmutation of lead into gold thus became the subject
of very scholarly dissertations, in which religious metaphysics had much more place than metallurgy or chemistry. The Great Work aimed to achieve
the happiness of mankind, thanks to a progressive reform of manners and beliefs. A careful reading of the alchemical treatises, after the Renaissance,
does not leave any doubt in this regard, because the style of the disciples of Hermes became less enigmatic, when the danger of freely explaining
themselves diminished for them.
The ancient sacred architecture was then essentially symbolic. From the overall plan of a building, to the smallest detail ornaments, everything
had to be ordered according to certain mystical numbers and according to the rules of a special geometry, known only to initiates.
The geometric figures gave rise, in fact, to interpretations, on which a secret doctrine was based, claiming to provide the key to all the mysteries.
Thus, the builders of cathedrals proved, by their works, that they were instructed in these philosophical traditions, of which the alchemists were
simultaneously holders.
It would not be possible to determine to what extent the ones had taken their initiatory knowledge from the others. Still, it has always been said
that Hermeticism often inspired stonemasons in the choice of their ornamental motifs. The Alchemists, on the other hand, were not unaware of the
meaning that the Masons attached to their tools.
Nothing is more significant, in this regard, than an engraving of the treatise entitled: Azoth, or the means of making the hidden gold of the
Philosophers, by Brother Basile Valentin. 8) It is seen in it a figure with two heads, holding in the right hand a compass and in the left a square. It is the
alchemical androgyne, uniting the male creative energy with the female receptivity, associating, in other words, Sulfur with Mercury, or the
enterprising ardor of column J with the weighted Stability of column B. He is standing on the dragon, symbolizing the quaternary of the elements,
over which the initiate must triumph during his trials.

8)   Published following the Twelve Keys of Philosophy dealing with true metallic medicine, Paris, Pierre Moet, 1610.
The Decline of Corporations
In becoming rich and powerful, the Church necessarily had to corrupt itself. There came a time when the high clergy, given over to all the
intrigues of politics, flaunted the most insolent luxury and no longer even bothered to hide the corruption of their morals.
The faithful were scandalized. Their old fervor gave way to doubt and many heresies could take root in people's minds. It was the dawn of the
intellectual awakening that was brewing.
The new state of mind had its repercussions on religious architecture. Donors became scarce. By dint of building churches, there were churches
everywhere, and the members of the of Saint John confraternities found less and less where to use their talents. They had specialized in excess in the
so-called "Gothic" style, now out of fashion. Then came Luther's schism, which, by unleashing frightful religious wars, ended up disorganizing the old
construction corporations.
They threatened to disappear, leaving of themselves only vague documentary traces, but affirming their past power through incomparable
monuments, which will always prevail in the admiration of posterity.

The Kabbalah
Not everything was to be lost. A transformation was taking place, provoking first of all an intellectual movement of the highest interest.
While the disputes of dogma divided the minds, elite intelligences wanted to impartially deepen religious questions. They were thus led to study
more specifically the religious metaphysics of the Jews. These claimed to be in possession of a secret doctrine dating back to Moses: in their eyes it
was the tradition par excellence, called Qabba-lah in Hebrew. They were, in fact, to a large extent, concepts derived from Alexandrian Gnoticism, and
thus borrowed from the heritage of the ancient initiation. Their characteristic was to bring out the fundamental concordance of religions. These
mystical reveries had the practical effect of suggesting the idea of a philosophy that would unite indiscriminately the faithful of all cults, without
forcing them to renounce their particular beliefs.
Eminent thinkers, in communion of will with one another, devoted all their brain energy to speculations of this kind, which resulted in a
particular tension in the mental atmosphere of the seventeenth century.
The Rosicrucians
The excess of evil calls for a remedy. The ravages of blind fanaticism were to lead to the dream of universal regeneration through love and
science. Around 1604, a secret association 9)wanted to remind Christianity of its mysteries and teach the world the laws of brotherhood.
The affiliates had chosen as their emblem a rose fixed on a cross and told each other the legend of a certain Christian Rosenkreuz, whose work
they claimed to continue. Much was said about them and, while losing themselves in the clouds of Hermeticism and Theosophy, they nevertheless
succeeded in exciting the imaginations and in sowing there the germs, whose hatching was not to be long in coming.

9)   The order of the Rose-Croix was never organized as a body. One was considered as belonging to it by the sole fact that one possessed certain knowledge. The Brethren
of the Rose-Croix did not meet to deliberate or work together. They contented themselves with maintaining epistolary correspondence and communicating the results of
their studies to each other.
Modern Freemasonry.
The conception of an ideal (Column J) remains sterile, as long as the practical means of realization are lacking (Column B). The generous
aspirations of the philosophers could only be implemented with the help of a positive organization. The spirit or the soul can do nothing if they do not
have a body as an instrument of execution.
Back at the time when, thanks to the Rosicrucians and other mystics, a spiritual entity hovered in a way in the air, eager to incarnate, a propitious
organism came to offer itself to it.
No longer having their raison d'être, the old Masonic confraternities were everywhere dissolved, except in Great Britain and Ireland, where a
spirit favorable to the survival of all ancient and respectable tradition has always reigned. By force of a habit impregnated in the customs, the
associations of free and accepted Masons therefore still subsisted in the 17th century in various centers of the three island kingdoms. It was then
common knowledge that the Freemasons recognized each other by certain signs, which they had sworn to keep secret. It was also known that, in all
circumstances of life, they were obliged to help each other. After its decline, from the point of view of the exercise of the art of building, the practice
of solidarity became, in fact, to be the essential object of these fraternities. The fashion then spread to be accepted as an honorary member, and the
Masonic Lodges were all the more welcoming to "gentlemen" who did not professionally handle the trowel, as the people of the trade became more
and more disinterested in an institution that did not respond to their practical needs. The accepted Masons thus gradually became as numerous as the
Free Masons, and, at the beginning of the 18th century, they were frankly in the majority.
It was at this point that a resolution of extreme importance was taken. This resulted in the renouncing of the material enterprises of the old
professional so-called operative Masonry, as opposed to the new purely philosophical so-called speculative Masonry.
Thus was born modern Freemasonry, which borrows from the builders of the Middle Ages a set of allegorical forms and ingenious symbols,
rules of good discipline, and traditions of fraternal solidarity, in order to apply everything to the teaching of a social architecture, striving to build
human well-being, working for the intellectual and moral improvement of individuals.
Elias Ashmole.
Modern Masonry responded to a need felt throughout Europe by the noblest minds. It spread so quickly that it looked like a miracle. Also, when
later one wanted to go back to its origin, one could not escape the idea that, like Minerva emerging fully armed from the brain of Jupiter, the Masonic
conception must have been matured by some brilliant thinker.
In order to discover the founder of such a wonderful institution, the English Masons of the 17th century were reviewed. It was thus learned that,
on October 16, 1646, a learned antiquarian, follower of Hermetism and secret knowledge then in vogue, was received a Mason in Warington, a small
town in the county of Lancaster. There was no need for more to raise Elias Ashmole — this is the name of that person — a hero of legend. He was
given all the credit for the reform accomplished. According to Bro. Ragon and other historians, it would be he, the Rose-Croix, who would have given
an initiatory character to the primitive worker rituals. 10) However, this is not true; the influence that this lover of occult sciences exerted on
Freemasonry is nil. Probably disappointed by the nature of the "mysteries" which were revealed to him during his initiation, he did not reappear in the
Lodge until 31 years later, on March 11, 1682, for the second and last time in his life, as evidenced by his diary, which he never stopped keeping with
scrupulous meticulousness.

10)   This reckless assertion, recognized since inaccurate, was reproduced on page 25 of the first edition (1894) of the Book of the Apprentice.
The first Grand Lodge.
Contrary to what, in good logic, it is allowed to imagine, the positive documents show us the organization of modern Masonry arising
unconsciously. The greatest things can, indeed, be called into existence by individuals who have no suspicion of the scope of their actions.

This was the case with the London Masons who, on June 24, 1717, gathered to celebrate the traditional feast of Saint John the Baptist. They
were members of four so unprosperous lodges that, in order not to fall apart entirely, they decided to remain united under the authority of special
officers. However, As each of the lodges was presided by a Master, 11) the title of Grand Master was given to the president of the new grouping,
which was called Grand Lodge. It is still doubtful that these titles were adopted as early as 1717, the main concern having very well been, that year, to
meet again in sufficient number at the next summer solstice.
The first Grandmaster was Antony Sayer, an obscure man of very modest condition. He was chosen for want of a better one, so they hastened, in
1718, to give him as successor George Payne, a wealthy bourgeois, who had not attended the previous meeting. The next elected was John Theophilus
Desaguliers, 12) doctor of philosophy and law, member of the Royal Society of Sciences in London. After serving one year as Grand Master, this
distinguished physicist returned the gavel to Bro. Payne, for want of a more illustrious personage.
To establish the prestige of the Grand Lodge, it was important to put a quality man at its head. So the Masons of London fulfilled their wishes,
when in 1721, His Grace, the Duke of Montagu, deigned to accept the dignity of Grand Master. This choice had the best effect on the secular world. It
now became fashionable to belong to the Society of Freemasons, universally regarded as a distinguished company.

11)   To distinguish him from the other Masters, he was given the epithet of "Venerable" (Worshipful Master), or was referred to as Master in the Chair or Chair Master,
from which came the expression of Master in Chair (Meister vom Stuhl or Stuhlmeister in German).
12)   Born in La Rochelle, March 12, 1683, son of a Calvinist pastor who had to take refuge in England following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685).
*
The Book of Constitutions.
The changes made to the regime of the fraternities of builders led to the promulgation of a new code of Masonic law. The drafting was entrusted
to Bro. James Anderson, whose work is entitled: The Book of Constitutions of the Freemasons, containing the history, charges and regulations of that
most ancient and right worshipful fraternity.
It is said there, "as regards God and religion":
"A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, 13) to obey the moral law; and, if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid atheist, nor an
irreligious libertine."

"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 it is now
considered more expedient only to obliged them to that in which all men agree leaving their particular Opinions to themselves; that is, to be good men
and true, or Men of honor and honesty, by whatever confessions or persuasions hey may be distinguished."

"Whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons who, outside of it, must have
remained at a perpetual Distance."
Regarding the civil authority, supreme or subordinate, we read:
"A Mason is a peaceful subject to the civil powers, wherever he resides or works; he must never be involved in plots or conspiracies against the
peace and welfare of the Nation, nor to behave himself undutiful towards subordinate magistrates, for as Masonry hath been always injured by war,
bloodshed, and confusion …"

If any Brother were to rise up against the State, we should be careful not to encourage his rebellion, while taking pity on him as an unhappy man.
If, moreover, it is not convinced of any other crime, the loyal confraternity — although bound to disavow the rebellion, so as not to offend the
established government, nor to provide it with a reason for political mistrust — cannot expel him from the Lodge, his relationship with it remaining
indissoluble. "
Article VI, which deals with "conduct in the Lodge" finally recommends:
"May your disputes or your complaints never cross the threshold of the Lodge, avoid, above all, controversies over religions, nationalities or
politics, bearing in mind that as Masons, we only profess the universal religion already mentioned. We are, of course, of all nations, of all languages,
of all races, and if we exclude all politics, it is because in the past it has never contributed to the prosperity of lodges, and will not contribute much in
the future."

13)   Feudal term: obligation contracted by the holder of the fiefdom.
The Fundamental Principles of Freemasonry.
In the light of the preceding extracts, modern Freemasonry appears to us as an association of chosen men, whose morality has been so well
proved that, feeling completely secure from one another, they could practice a sincere and unreserved brotherhood among themselves.
These men, recognized as good, loyal, and honest, are obliged to avoid, with the greatest care, anything that might divide them. They are
especially forbidden to seek quarrels as to their intimate convictions, both religious and political. Their characteristic virtue having to be, in all things,
TOLERANCE.
However, to be tolerant, it is essential to acquire broad ideas and to rise above the narrowness of all prejudices. Freemasonry strives, therefore, to
emancipate minds; it is dedicated, in particular, to freeing them from the errors which maintain mistrust and hatred among men. These, in heir eyes,
should be valued only because of the effective value they derive from their intellectual and moral qualities, any other distinction of creed, race,
nationality, fortune, rank, or of social position, having to be erased within Masonic meetings.

Rapid expansion of Freemasonry.
The Masonic code, drawn up and printed by order of the Grand Lodge of England, received the solemn approval of the latter on January 17,
1723. It has always been considered, since, as the document which determines the characteristic norms of modern Freemasonry. Its importance is,
therefore, capital, since any organization which deviates from the principles by which it was inspired, would cease, by the very fact, to be Masonic.
Anderson's book made it possible, moreover, to make the new confraternity widely known, which responded to both the noblest and the most
generous aspirations. It did not take long to exert a real fascination on many elite minds. It was seen, particularly, an influx of thinkers who were then
enamored with the doctrine of Humanitarianism. Was it not a form, an organization, which offered itself spontaneously, to clothe with a tangible body
the conceptions, hitherto nebulous, of the philosophers? While sectarianism and intolerance had just set Europe on fire and blood, one should highly
appreciate, moreover, the breadth of views that the Freemasons displayed in matters of religion and dogmatism, no less than with regard to political
dissent. The purity of principles and the elevation of tendencies were finally associated with certain aspects of mystery and impenetrability, the
seduction of which was no less powerful.
Under these conditions, the lodges multiplied very rapidly, first in England, Scotland and Ireland, then on the continent, finally reaching the ends
of the civilized world.

In the beginning, it is true, the lodges were not always founded by virtue of formal powers emanating from the first Grand Lodge. Any Master
Mason, regularly initiated in England, believed he had the right to spread the Masonic light abroad. To this end, he surrounded himself, as much as
possible, with a few other Masons and proceeded with them to initiate others according to ritualistic forms. Strictly speaking, he initiated, with his
private authority, a layman whom he considered worthy of this favor; then, between the two of them, they proceeded to the initiation of a new
member, so as to constitute a Simple Lodge, destined to later become Just by the association of two new members, and finally Perfect when its number
reached or exceeded seven.
A lodge could also be held in any locale suitably closed and sheltered from any indiscretion. Certain figures drawn in chalk on the floor were
enough to transform any place into a sanctuary.
It is easy to conceive that Lodges so easily formed, could have disappeared with equal ease, without leaving documented traces of their activity.
Also, the history of the introduction of Freemasonry in different countries is very often shrouded in deep obscurity. It is often reduced to equivocal
narratives, the accuracy of which is impossible to verify.
Anglo-Saxon Masonry.
As soon as a great lord was at the head of the Grand Lodge of England, his prosperity was immediately assured. Twelve lodges only took part,
on June 24, 1721, in the election of the Duke of Montagu. Three months later, there were sixteen, then twenty at the end of the year; in 1725, forty-
nine lodges were represented at the Grand Lodge.
What especially made people seek Masonic initiation from now on, is that it conferred, in a way, a patent of respectability. The English public,
however, showed some distrust of a society so indifferent in matters of religion. In order to give confidence, the Freemasons were not slow to
demonstrate scrupulous Anglican orthodoxy in all things.

A whole movement took shape in this direction shortly after 1723, many timorous minds were scandalized by the innovations enshrined in the
Book of Constitutions. This one had, in their eyes, the grave error of not making any belief obligatory, whereas, traditionally, every Mason had the
imperative duty to be faithful to "God and to the Holy Church."
Jealous of their autonomy, many of the Lodges refused to grant the Grand Lodge of London an authority which they claimed was usurped.
For this reason and under other pretexts, a series of divisions took place within English Masonry that had as a consequence, as of 1751, two rival
Grand Lodges opposing each other openly.
The most recent of these Grand Lodges was practically constituted only in 1753. As its members prided themselves on remaining attached to
ancient customs and called themselves Ancient Masons, as opposed to the Modern Masons, whose Grand Lodge was, in fact the oldest, since it dates
back to 1717.
This was what historians have called the Great Schism. The constitution of the Ancients made the belief in God compulsory. Their ritual
abounded in prayers and multiple biblical quotations, as well as pious formulas. It also included an additional degree, that of Royal Arch.
Under these conditions, given the spirit that reigns among the Anglo-Saxons, competition from the Ancients was to prove disastrous for the
Moderns. In order not to discredit themselves entirely in their own country, they had to give in, gradually capitulating on most of the principles which,
at the beginning, had seduced the best thinkers in Europe.
From reaction to reaction, the Moderns finally came to be no different from the Ancients, except in ritualistic details. There was no longer any
serious obstacle to the merger of the two English Grand Lodges, which in 1813 united to form the United Grand Lodge of England.

The beginnings of Masonry in France.
English refugees may have engaged in Masonic work in France shortly after 1649, the date of the death sentence and execution of Charles I.
Among those of them who frequented the court of Saint-Germain, or among the officers of the Irish regiments in the service of the King of France,
there were very likely accepted Masons. Did they sometimes meet, in consecrated forms, to "hold a lodge" according to the custom of the time? This
is quite possible, but to this day we lack documented evidence. 14)
In any case, it was not about the foundation of permanent lodges, which only met periodically from the first quarter of the seventeenth century.
Still, nothing can be affirmed regarding the first lodges, which were regularly constituted on the Continent: L'Amitié et Fraternité, in the Orient of
Dunkerque (currently Lodge n° 313 of the Grand Lodge of France) and the Perfect Union, Orient of Mons, claim priority in this regard, both claiming
to be founded by virtue of constitutions issued by the Duke of Montagu in 1721.
Unfortunately, the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of England make no mention of any such creation.
For Paris, the first Masonic meetings can be traced back to 1725. A group of Englishmen, led by Carlos Raclyffe, who became Lord
Derwentwater after the beheading of his older brother, 15) the Chevalier Maclean (of whom the French made Maskelyne), and François Heguerty, a
cadet in the Dillon regiment, seems to have gotten into the habit, around this time, of meeting in the rue des Boucheries, at the place of an English
restaurateur named Hure, whose shop was called "Louis D'Argent." This lodge could not be constituted except by its own initiative [motu proprio],
that is, by virtue of the rights that its founders believed they had due to their initiation and did not perhaps pretend to give themselves a distinctive
title. It seems, however, that it was placed under the patronage of Saint Thomas of Canterbury.
Composed almost exclusively of Jacobin refugees it had no connection whatsoever with the Grand Lodge of London, whose central authority
tended to spread. Certain French Masons saw an inferiority there, so they founded on May 7, 1729, a new lodge, of which André-François Lebreton
became the first Master. This was the Saint-Thomas lodge at the Louis d'Argent which met in rue de la Boucherie, "In the City of Tonnerre," at
Debure's. On April 3, 1732, it was granted a regular charter under the n° 90, by the Viscount of Montagu, then Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
England. This lodge was visited in 1735 by Desaguiliers and the Duke of Richmond, who directed its work in the midst of a brilliant audience,
including Montesquieu and the Earl of Waldegrave, Ambassador of England.
From this lodge arose, on December 1, 1729, another lodge, which first took the name of its founder, the English lapidary Coastown, known as
Coustaud, to later be called Loge des Arts Sainte-Marguerite.
A fourth lodge was finally constituted in 1735, on the rue de Bussy, in the house of a restaurateur named Landelle. It became the Lodge of
Aumont, when the Duke of that name was initiated therein.

14)   A vehement opponent of Freemasonry, Mr. Gustave Bord, who has engaged in the most careful historical research claims to have the evidence, but has not published
it.

15)   James Radcliffe, executed in London, February 14, 1716.