-
Articles/Ads
Article GERMAN FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
German Freemasonry.
GERMAN FREEMASONRY .
rTIHE following short , but able paper , is taken from the Report of ¦ * - the Grand Lodge of Nebraska for 1882 , and gives a " coup d'oeil" of German Freemasony , which we think is correct as far as
it goes , and may interest many of our readers . With respect to the archaeological theories we say nothing , but rather refer our readers to Bro . Gould ' s " magnum opus . "
IN regard to the antiquity of our Order , no one disputes that Speculative Masonry was given its first historical organization in 1717 , but many of our able thinkers claim to have found , in traditions and in
histories of other ancient rites , sufficient evidence to convince them that it had an existence centuries before the date mentioned . With this view , however , our German brethren refuse to agree , claiming that no trustworthy evidence has been found going to show that it existed earlier than the year 1717 ; this is the reason that our Order is
never termed " ancient" by the Masons of Germany . Their view in regard to its origin is succinctly stated by Bro . Findel , of Leipzig , in his " Spirit and Form of Freemasonry . " He says : " Historical research has discovered that the Masonic fraternity has come forth from the building societies of the Middle Ages ; and that the forms of
Masonry are founded upon the judicial usages of the Germanic tribes . The three classes , Apprentice , Craftsman and Master , were not known to those societies as three degrees . With them the brotherhood consisted only of Fellows , that is , of all such as were admitted into the-Gilds . "
According to our German brethren , therefore , Masonry is definable as a comparatively modern speculative society , based upon the usages of ancient operative ones . They also hold that when the Order was instituted , in 1717 , it had only one degree , the other two being added some three years afterward ; and , also , that not only were the lectures
and illustrations prepared years after the Order was first established ,, but that the allusions to the temple and temple-builders , together with the chapter degrees , were added to the ivork after the year 1732 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
German Freemasonry.
GERMAN FREEMASONRY .
rTIHE following short , but able paper , is taken from the Report of ¦ * - the Grand Lodge of Nebraska for 1882 , and gives a " coup d'oeil" of German Freemasony , which we think is correct as far as
it goes , and may interest many of our readers . With respect to the archaeological theories we say nothing , but rather refer our readers to Bro . Gould ' s " magnum opus . "
IN regard to the antiquity of our Order , no one disputes that Speculative Masonry was given its first historical organization in 1717 , but many of our able thinkers claim to have found , in traditions and in
histories of other ancient rites , sufficient evidence to convince them that it had an existence centuries before the date mentioned . With this view , however , our German brethren refuse to agree , claiming that no trustworthy evidence has been found going to show that it existed earlier than the year 1717 ; this is the reason that our Order is
never termed " ancient" by the Masons of Germany . Their view in regard to its origin is succinctly stated by Bro . Findel , of Leipzig , in his " Spirit and Form of Freemasonry . " He says : " Historical research has discovered that the Masonic fraternity has come forth from the building societies of the Middle Ages ; and that the forms of
Masonry are founded upon the judicial usages of the Germanic tribes . The three classes , Apprentice , Craftsman and Master , were not known to those societies as three degrees . With them the brotherhood consisted only of Fellows , that is , of all such as were admitted into the-Gilds . "
According to our German brethren , therefore , Masonry is definable as a comparatively modern speculative society , based upon the usages of ancient operative ones . They also hold that when the Order was instituted , in 1717 , it had only one degree , the other two being added some three years afterward ; and , also , that not only were the lectures
and illustrations prepared years after the Order was first established ,, but that the allusions to the temple and temple-builders , together with the chapter degrees , were added to the ivork after the year 1732 .