Sunday, July 19, 2009

The History Of Freemasonry - Freemason History

By Simon Gray

Many groups and organizations exist in all parts of the world. Some are contained within their specific countries while others hold worldwide memberships. The society of the Freemasons comes within this category. They are based on individual groups all with the same cause. There membership is grouped according to Lodges. In some parts of the world, Freemasons are considered a form of cult and are banned in regards to forming a group.

There has been interest in learning about the roots of the Freemasons in respect to just how far back they go. It is believed they were formed in the 1700?s but was their some form of existence even before this?

The Freemasons have chosen two patron saints as part of them symbolism. Being St.John the Evangelist and St.John the Baptist. This was done in 1598. From here speculation was formed that there was Lodge called the Lodge of the Holy Saints John at Jerusalem. The Freemasons refute this while the anti freemasons promote this as being factual. Why should it matter? Perhaps because the Freemasons do not want to present the picture that they are a religious society which could portray them as being a cult. So why choose Saints from the Bible if they are not a religious organization? Again it comes down to the Freemasons seem to base everything around symbolism. The Freemasons answer to this question is they have chosen to symbolize what these two saints stand for which is their virtues, ideas and teachings.

Remaining in the biblical days there have been inferences made that Freemasonry became into being when Noah survived the flood. It would seem that most of the Freemasons of today will trace their ancestry back to the 1700?s of which they will speak rather openly about, beyond that time period there is much less talk and reference made. Yet both for and against the Masons will admit there s some documentation go back far beyond the 1700?s. The oldest known uncontested document is the Regius Poem, which dates back to the 13th century. It is admitted by most that some of the teachings from that document came into inception of the formal formation of the Freemasons in the 1700?s.

The first formal organizing of this now known Society took place in1717 with the formation of the first Grand Lodge of England. It is said that at that time it was merely a group meeting that would hold annual feasts or sometimes quarterly.

From this point in time, the Freemasons as we understand it today started here. They have grown by instituting the teachings from the better religions and philosophies. They teach their lessons through the symbolism of the operative masons. This means that these mason actions are the teaching aid for the modern day Masons.

Although this tells as to what morals the Society relies on it does not tell us what the Freemasons class as the ?better religions? or what philosophy are their corner stones.

Masonry as a trades craft has technically been around since man started to build with stone. Therefore, if you look at it in this way one could speculate that Freemasonry goes back. The question is though did they form an organized group?

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