The minutes from Aitchison's Haven -
which could be the oldest recorded
stonemason lodge in the world.
Posted on 04/20/2006 3:58:25 AM PDT by Pharmboy
The minutes from Aitchison's Haven -
which could be the oldest recorded
stonemason lodge in the world.
DAN BROWN'S next book The Solomon Key is said to speculate on the role and influence of Freemasonry. In much the same way that The Da Vinci Code has its climax in Rosslyn Chapel, it may well be that the best-selling author's latest work will also find its roots in Scotland.
For if Brown's new novel is looking at alleged Masonic conspiracy in the US, then there is a strong and vocal body of Masonic historians who believe that the whole of American Freemasonry is essentially Scottish.
Robert Cooper, from the The Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Robert Cooper, museum and library curator of the Grand Lodge in Edinburgh, is convinced that there is a strong connection between the two countries.
"There is no doubt that there was some influence on America by the Scottish Freemasons," says Cooper. "The connection between it and the building of America might be nearer the truth than you think."
Any study of Freemasonry needs first to look at where it all began. Although the first organised meeting took place in England in 1717, many Scottish Masons maintain that it actually began here even earlier.
Cooper believes he holds the oldest lodge records in the world and that these prove Scotland was the birthplace of Masonry. The minutes from Aitchison's Haven – a small harbour in East Lothian – date from 9 January 1599. This was a stonemason's lodge, as all lodges would have been then. Lists of rituals from another stonemason lodge written 100 years later demonstrate that although slightly different, they were essentially the same as today's rites.
At some point non-stonemasons were attracted to what went on in lodges. They wanted to know what secrets these mostly illiterate and uneducated men discussed behind closed doors. Over time non-stonemasons were instructed into the lodge, becoming known as Freemasons.
According to Cooper the first English lodge effectively stole the ideas and rituals from Scottish stonemasons and that Freemasonry as we know it today is based on early Scottish stonemason traditions.
"There is a lot of evidence to support that," says Cooper. "The early rituals even use Scottish words. The chap who wrote the [England Grand Lodge] rules was from Aberdeen and his father had been a grand master there."
If this is true then it is easy to see where an argument might be made that all Freemasonry is inherently Scottish. But as Cooper explains the influence of Scottish Freemasonry in building the American dream is even stronger.
"We do know that the first Freemason in the North American continent was a Scot, John Skene, who travelled to America in around 1680. We also know that the second Freemason was a stonemason from a lodge in Melrose. So right from an early age Scots Freemasonry and stonemasonry was in America."
Masonic lodges soon began to crop up across America with Scottish lodges particularly prominent on the East Coast. In Virginia, George Washington was initiated into the Fredericksburg lodge in 1752.
The oldest was the Lodge of St Andrew in Boston. Paul Revere, who in 1775 made his famous midnight ride from Boston to Lexington to warn that the British had begun their invasion, was a member there.
This Boston lodge was based in the Green Dragon Tavern – remembered by some as the "headquarters" of the American Revolution. On the day of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, Revere and another Masonic brother, Joseph Warren - one of Washington's generals - met in the Green Tavern with other Masons. The meeting was quickly adjourned as so few members were present. Cryptically the minutes for the meeting read:
"Consignees of tea took up the Brethren's time."
Subsequently Warren was listed among the most-wanted by the English attorney general. Warren was sought in connection with the "treason" perpetuated by the tea party revolutionaries who opposed a new government tax scheme that included the blocking of non-British ships to port.
Cooper with the minutes of
the Lodge of Journeymen
Masons No8 - showing scored off
names indicating
a move to America.
Throughout the period of the American War of Independence it was usual for Scottish lodges to be hotbeds of revolution whilst, understandably, English lodges tended to be loyalist. Cooper is sympathetic to the idea that not only were the Scottish lodges instrumental in many of the acts of revolution, but their ideal and beliefs may have been integral in shaping the future of America.
"Some people say that one of the major impulses for democracy almost certainly comes from Freemasonry. At that time [during the War of Independence] the systems of government in the UK consisted of elementary democracy, dominated by the monarchy. There were no entirely democratic countries in the world. So the argument goes that America looked at Scottish Freemasonry, which was very democratic. That's why people claim the USA is a Masonic country."
Not only that, but seven Masons are known to have been present at the drawing up of the Declaration of Independence. Even more excitingly Scottish stonemasons are said to have been integral in constructingly the most iconic building in the whole of America.
Once the Americans had won the war, they decided to build a new capital city. Cooper takes up the story of how Scots became involved:
"They were told that the best stonemasons were in Scotland, so they wrote to the Lodge of Journeymen Masons No8 in about 1707 asking the members of this stonemason lodge whether they wanted to emigrate to the US and help build Washington."
Although the present White House has
been substantially remodelled, it is
said that the original was built by
Scottish Masons.
Picture: Teddy Yoshida
The minutes of this Edinburgh lodge, which is still in existence, show the names scored out indicating a move to America. Once there the stonemasons built a presidential home for Washington himself.
During the American-British conflict of 1812-1814, Royal forces reached Washington and set fire to the new city, but this magnificently built stone building survived intact. All that was destroyed was the roof - although the walls were damaged by soot and smoke. The story goes that to remedy this the building was whitewashed.
So, yes, one could argue that not only did Scottish Freemasons influence the thinking behind the America dream and help win the War of Independence, they built the White House too. How long before the change from the Stars and Stripes to the Saltire in recognition?
The Washington Family Coat of Arms
The RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list.
Freepmail me to get ON or OFF this list.
Bump for later
Ping for our English friend...
The purpose of a mason is to build things; particularly things that last. This is why Freemasonry, which began with stone masons, initially attracted people who were involved in design and construction (carpenters, masons, surveyors, architects, engineers, etc). The movement eventually expanded upon its builder roots into a group of community leaders interested in "building society or civilization". This is why in many places the organization was a "who's who" of community leaders (business and political).
Freemasons are lucifer worshipers and not Christians, they are part of the Catholic Church and their traditions, as all traditions do, have led them to heresies contrary to the Word of God.
Let God be true and every man a liar, that...
Ah, Rosslyn!
My 5th ggrandfather, born in Scotland, was President of our 1st Continental Congress, and among other things, was a Freemason :) Insteresting artcile, thanks!
From what I've read of the founding fathers, early American Freemasonry was not anti-Christian, unlike the European version. I don't know if that has changed in recent history.
It does seem like all versions Freemasonry has always been partially cultish. Some of the ceremonies derive partially from Egyptian and Sumerian mythology, the Greek Mystery fates, gnosticism, a claim on the Templars, and numerology. Many of their 'facts' seem to be made up to fit their overall story, similar to Dan Brown's work in general. All in all, Freemasonry looks like something put together by a bunch of 16th and 17th century quacks.
It's a pretty good argument.
Let God be true and every man a liar, that...
That's news to me (and to the Pope, apparently):
DECLARATION ON MASONIC ASSOCIATIONS NOTE: The following is the most recent decree from the Vatican on the subject of Freemasonry and is thus is the most current statement of the Church's law on this topic…
Issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on November 26, 1983.
It has been asked whether there has been any change in the Church's decision in regard to Masonic associations since the new Code of Canon Law does not mention them expressly, unlike the previous Code.
This Sacred Congregation is in a position to reply that this circumstance is due to an editorial criterion which was followed also in the case of other associations likewise unmentioned inasmuch as they are contained in wider categories.
Therefore the Church's negative judgment in regard to Masonic associations remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and therefore membership in them remains forbidden. The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive Holy Communion.
It is not within the competence of local ecclesiastical authorities to give a judgment on the nature of Masonic associations which would imply a derogation from what has been decided above, and this in line with the Declaration of this Sacred Congregation issued on 17 February 1981 (cf. AAS 73 [1981] pp. 240-241).
In an audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II approved and ordered the publication of this Declaration which had been decided in an ordinary meeting of this Sacred Congregation.
Rome, from the Office of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 26 November 1983.
JOSEPH Card. RATZINGER Prefect
+ Fr. JEROME HAMER, O.P. Titular Archbishop of Lorium Secretary
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ohhhh...noooooo. You could not be more wrong if you set out to be. If anything, the Masons were at ODDS with the Catholic Church. Do some reading. And, FWIW, I am not a Mason.
Uh, that's news to me... considering I know a few Protestants that are Masons...Though they do not talk about thier society, they do say it isn't anything Catholic....There are Catholics that have joined, as well as Unitarians and those of other faiths...
BS
bttt
There are many symbols in the gound works and roads
There is a Pentagram that has the White house at the main point, The District is made in a perfect square pointing north, the Elipse is center of the square. and so on...Look at a map of DC.
Very impressive ancestor! And through you, I thank him for his Patriotism, Courage and Honour.
I not a Mason but I am part Scottish. I think that it would be pretty neat if the Scots influenced the building of the America Republic.
Bump for later.
I thought they were the Stonecutter's Guild.
So Dan Brown continues to rip off Baigent and Leigh, notwithstanding recent faulty rulings in British courts. Does Brown have a single original thought in his head? Apparently not.
I thought at first that was a joke--amazing.
But Rednecks have their foundation in Scotland, not Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, or Texas...
"Judge not, lest ye be judged!"
Not even close. As a 30+ year Mason and a life-long Christian, you are not even close, but if your delusions provide you with some comfort and self-justification, so be it...just please don't operate power equipment while your brain is thus engaged.
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. My father was a Freemason and a faithful Christian. You shouldn't be bearing false witness against others.
Other than there is good money to be made in trashing honorable organizations and Christianity, probably not.
Instead of getting emotional and declaring people delusional, you could start by posting facts of why I am incorrect. My heavy machinery and I will wait with baited breath.
You may be unfamiliar with the historical antagonism between the Church and Masonry, especially in Europe and Latin America.
The Catholic Church has perverted the Mexicans for 400 years. Calles's merit is to have delivered them from ignorance and superstition. That is why he can count on our understanding and on North America's support.This quote appeared in the Masonic periodical, "The New Age," at the height of Catholic persecution in Mexico in the 1920s.The New Age of December 1926 (The New Age is a Masonic periodical)
...there were federal officers who “fell in their troops to the cry of ‘Long live Satan!’ ” or that with these troops: “No prisoners were taken; civilians taken as hostages were murdered. Torture was systematic, and was used not only to obtain information but also to prolong suffering, and to oblige Catholics to renounce their faith, since death was not sufficient to persuade them to do this. To be forced to walk on the flayed soles of the feet, to be flayed, burned, have their bones broken, to be quartered alive, hung up by their thumbs, garrotted, electrocuted, scorched by blowlamps, racked, subjected to the torture of the boot and the water-torture, stretched out, dragged behind a horse — such was the fate of those who fell into the hands of the Federals.”This is the history of the Cristeros movement in Mexico, where Catholics were ruthlessly persecuted by the Mexican Masonic government, with the support of various American presidents and politicians, and even Protestant congregations and ministers.
“Freemasonry, so actively promoted in Mexico by the first minister from the United States, Joel R. Poinsset, began gradually to lessen the loyalty both the rulers and the governed had manifested towards the Church. Little by little laws were enacted against the Church, curtailing her rights, as, for example, in 1833, the exclusion of the clergy from the public schools, notwithstanding the fact that at the time the president, D. Valentin Gomez Farias, claimed for the Republican Government all the privileges of the royal patronage, with the power of filling vacant sees and other ecclesiastical benefices.”Though it risks too much space being given to this outline of the historical background of La Cristiada , the encyclopedia’s reference to Freemasonry suggests the necessity of some comment on the role in Mexico of this particular force of organized naturalism, especially since the reference makes it clear that role has been central.
To concede its centrality would appear to contradict the thought expressed at our beginning: that the success of the Revolution is owed more to our own fallen nature than to the doings of this or that group or organization. However, we allowed that the forces of organized naturalism, including Freemasonry, have had an important part to play in advancing the “progress” of the Revolution. That has been nowhere more conspicuously the case than in Mexico. Usually, Freemasonry can be glimpsed behind the scene: in France in 1789, at the foundation of our own liberal republic, in Russia in 1917. In Mexico it has been front and center.
To give one example: As recently as 1979, when Pope John Paul II visited Mexico on his first foreign trip anywhere as supreme pontiff, various lodges around the country took out full-page ads in Mexico City newspapers, all in their own name, protesting the visit and forecasting dire consequences.
Whatever the extent of their power and influence in the U.S., the Masons in this country have never been that open in displaying either themselves or what they are about.
(From the Masonic point of view, developments since the Pope’s first visit to Mexico have been dire. Not merely is it now legal for priests to wear the collar in public, they have been given the right to vote. Still worse, the nation now has a practicing Catholic, Vicente Fox, for President. Moreover, he has said on the record that in his youth he was inspired by stories of Cristero valor.)
If Freemasonry began to be a force in the political life of Mexico as soon as the first U.S. envoy arrived in the country, by the 1920s it was much more. This was acknowledged by Emilio Portes Gil, handpicked by Calles, when he became President in 1929 and declared: “In Mexico the State and Freemasonry have become one and the same in recent years.”
If that was the case with the Mexican state, it was inevitably much the same with the Mexican army. Typical of its officers was Gen. Joaquin Amaro, Minister of War at the time of La Cristiada . There was an infamous occasion during his years as minister when fellow officers and Masons gave him a party in the Church of San Joaquin in Mexico City on the feast day of that saint. The party included the performance of a sacrilegious parody of Holy Mass, complete with champagne drunk from chalices.
ping.
Indeed or at least as far as one can depend on the info out there.
My father was a Mason and while I always considered him a very Christian man I often worried about the stories about Hiram Abiff, which, if true, would seem to be very contrary to Christianity.
But then I don't believe everything I see on the Internet which has been my only source so if FReepers with more direct knowledge can confirm or deny I'd appreciate any observations/comments.
These folks would be condemning Jesus Christ for His association with prostitutes, tax collectors and gentiles.
That is the most taken out of context verse of scripture everyone uses to basically say "Leave me alone"...
Matthew 7:1 "Judge not lest ye be judged by the same measure"... Meaning, don't tell someone to stop doing something if you are doing the same thing...
We are so blessed to have you in our unworthy presence.
You forgot to bow...
mark
" Some of the ceremonies derive partially from Egyptian and Sumerian mythology, the Greek Mystery fates, gnosticism, a claim on the Templars, and numerology." Again, you are using symbols to imply this. The various alegorical symbols of Freemasonry are just that, alegorical, not religious.
" Many of their 'facts' seem to be made up to fit their overall story, similar to Dan Brown's work in general. All in all, Freemasonry looks like something put together by a bunch of 16th and 17th century quacks."
I strongly suggest you read the book, "Born in Blood" by J. J. Robinson, who as a non-Mason, did significant research into the history of Freemasonry. Once you read and digest it, come back and revisit your statements.
Don't know if you've seen this ping.
I know I shouldn't let it bother me. I guess I just feel more protective of my father since he has passed away, but my daddy never let such ignorant talk bother him while he was alive, so I should follow his lead.
And you have no idea what you're talking about.
Another Mason basher. FR is full of them.
I'll look into that book if I see it, thank you.
Since the time frame of the building of King Solomon's Temple seems to predate the life of Jesus Christ, there may be a connection. Many of the stories from the Old Testament seem to be somewhat to very contrary to Christianity.
No, I didn't forget...I just didn't.
I understand. The INTERNET gives all manner of personalities a forum. Insults are like baggage. They are only a burden if you accept them.
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