Freemasonry has its lodges in every city in the United States, and in almost every town and village. It has them on the desert, through the mountains, in the wilderness, and among what Isaiah described as "the isles of the sea." It has them in Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Africa, the Near East, India, Burma, Indo-China, Malaya, the Philippines, East Indies, New Zealand, and Australia; it had them in many other countries of the Old World until certain religious and political ideologies forbade their existence.
Not one of them was ever organized as the result of any Masonic missionary enterprise, because Freemasonry has no such enterprise; or for the purpose of making money, or as the result of a bargain with the political and ecclesiastical ruling powers. each lodge came into existence of itself, and because a few Masons desired to have it so.
Freemasonry has spread over the earth as gradually, as silently, and as naturally as the light of dawn. So also has it moved down the long roads of time. There were lodges a thousand years ago. Long before that date, and as far back as the Ancient World, there had been other organizations, called gilds and collegia, so similar to Masonic lodges that historians are unable to tell where one left off and other began. Few things still existing in the world are as old as freemasonry.
During the long period from the time of Charlemagne (about 800) until the Reformation any man engaged in the building crafts was called a mason, and of these were many kinds including quarrymen, dike builders, wallers, paviors, tilers, and all who could build cottages or barns. Among them all there was a special class of builders who could both design and construct monumental and public buildings such as cathedrals, chapels, churches, mansions, borough halls, etc. These latter were called Freemasons. The name had much the same meaning then that architect has now.
When one of the great public buildings was undertaken, Freemasons were called in from all parts of the kingdom, and often from foreign countries. As soon as a sufficient number had signed the rolls, their first step was to erect a building of their own, called the lodge; their next step was to construct cottages for themselves and their families. each day, all the workmen received instructions in their lodge room.
Because these Freemasons came from so many different places, and even from other countries, they could not have permanent local organization of their own, as other craftsmen did; instead, they had what we should now call a society, or a fraternity. There was no single ruler of it; it had no one capital; the members were held together by their general observance of a few rules, regulations, and customs. Modern Freemasons, such as is practiced in lodges across America, is the direct descendant of that early fraternity.
In those days almost every man admitted to a lodge was a craftsman who made Freemasonry his means of livelihood; such men nowadays are called Operative Masons. As time passed, however, lodges here and there began to admit into membership a few men who did not follow Freemasonry as a means of livelihood, but were attracted to it for other reasons, and largely because of its antiquity and its fellowship; such were called Accepted Masons; and also were called Speculative Masons, a name which always had meant an understanding of the ideas and principles of Freemasonry. It is for such historical reasons that members of the Fraternity today are called Free & Accepted Masons.
By 1700 the number of Speculative (or Accepted) members had become so preponderant in most of the lodges in Britain that when the first Grand Lodge of the world was set up in London, England, in 1717, the whole Fraternity ceased to draw any distinction between Operatives and Speculatives; any man, otherwise qualified, and regardless of his means of livelihood, could become a Mason. That has been true ever since.
The history of Freemasonry therefore falls into three periods. In the first period all Freemasons, with very few exceptions, were Operatives, by which is meant that they made architecture their means of livelihood. In the second period the membership of the lodges was a mixture of Operatives and Speculatives. In the third period, beginning in 1717, it has been wholly Speculative. The one principle which unites the three periods is the fact that throughout its history Freemasonry has always been a fraternity- a fraternity, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing other.
The form of Freemasonry which thus descended directly from the Operative lodges of thousand or so years ago is known as Ancient Craft Freemasonry; it is organized in Grand Lodges and local lodges. During the last quarter of the eighteenth century a number of branches grew out of that parent trunk, and in the course of time each one developed an independent form of organization of its own. Each of these appendant bodies is called a Rite.
In the United States there are four such appendant Rites in addition to Ancient Craft Freemasonry. The Cryptic Rite is organized in the form of a General Grand Council, a Grand Council for each of the larger number of states, and local councils. The Capitular Rite, which is better known as the Royal Arch, is organized in the form of a General Grand Chapter, a Grand Chapter for each of the larger number of states, and local chapters. Knight Templarism is organized in the form of a Grand Encampment for the nation, a Grand Commandery for each of the larger number of states, and local commanderies. The Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite has a system of four local bodies which are under the general government of two Supreme Councils. One of theses, called the Southern Jurisdiction, has in it the states west of the Mississippi River and south of Ohio River. The other, called the Northern Jurisdiction, has in it the states east of the Mississippi River and north of Ohio.
Thus, that which is sometimes called the American system of Freemasonry consists of five Rites, each of which is separately organized, enacts its own laws, has its own officers, and its own treasuries. A man join one of these other four Rites, or all of them together, but to do so he must be, and continue to be, a member in good standing of an Ancient Craft lodge, and in each instance must pay the fees and dues of another Rite after he has been elected to its membership, in addition to his lodge dues.
Alongside the five Rites which comprise Freemasonry properly so called are a number of Side Orders, each of which also is independently organized. Among them are such as the order of the Eastern Star, the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, the Grotto, etc.
Upon the organization of the first Grand Lodge in London, 1717, Freemasonry, as already stated, became a fraternity wholly Speculative. In 1723 that Grand Lodge published a volume of laws, rules, and regulations called the Book of Constitutions which made it clear that a Mason must believe in God but that he was also free to belong to any religion or church of his choice consistent with such a belief. The paragraph in which that provision was made is probably the most influential and famous single piece of writing in the whole literature and history of the Fraternity:
A Mason is oblig'd, by his Tenure, 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 charg'd in every Country to be of the religion of that Country or Nation, whatever it was, yet 'tis now thought more expedient only to oblige them to that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular opinions to themselves; that is, to be good men and true, or Men of Honour and Honesty, by whatever Denominations or Persuasions they may be distinguish'd; whereby Masonry becomes the Center of Union, and the means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have remain'd at a perpetual Distance.
As a result of that which Masons know as "the principle of universality" ("a lodge is permitted to exist wherever it CAN") lodges are at work in remote countries. How can this be?
A Korean cannot converse with an Englishman, nor could a man of Burma understand the language of a man of Michigan. From one of these countries to another there also is an unlimited variety of costumes, customs, traditions, ways of thought, and ways of life. how can lodges which must remain alike take root in the midst of such unlike conditions? What is Freemasonry translatable?
There are two large answers. One is that it consists in essence of a number of fundamentals which all mankind need, know, and understand, such as brotherliness, charity, good will, fellowship, friendship, character, and the search for the Divine.
The other is that it uses rites, symbols, and emblems. A symbol says much without saying anything, and what it says may call for thought or for exposition but does not need to be translated. The level, the square and compasses, lights, the plumb, all such are immediately understood by any normal man anywhere. Gestures, symbols, postures, emblems, signs, it would be incorrect to describe such things as a language; if they were, they would constitute as nearly a universal language is capable of. (To this day, white men as well as Indians can make their way across this continent from one American Indian people to another by means of sign language.)
Some years ago, Douglas Malloch, a beloved Masonic poet, began one of his lyrics with two stanzas which ever since have thrilled the blood of Freemasons.
Fine men have walked this way before Whatever Lodge your Lodge may be, Whoever stands before the door, The sacred arch of Masonry, Stands where the wise, the great, the good In their own time and place have stood. You are not Brother just with these, Your friends and neighbors; you are kin With Masons down the centuries; This room that now you enter in Has felt the tread of many feet, For here all Masonry you meet.
For many generations Freemasonry has numbered among its members an accounted number of "the wise, the great, the good," and if the Fraternity has often celebrated the famous men who have been Masons it is not because it has ever been self-conceited.
Emperors, kings, presidents, and princes have been, in the quaint language of a very old writer, "of this sodality." Frederick the Great, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Napoleon, and a number of American Presidents have been Masons, and two of the latter have been Grand Masters. George Washington was Master of his lodge at Alexandria when he was inaugurated first President in 1789. Great composers have been active members, as represented by Purcell, Mozart, Samuel Wesley, Sibelius. Books have been written to list them. They have come from all possible walks of life, statesmen, scientists, theologians, scholars, authors, poets, actors, financiers, industrialists, artists, farmers, and men of the sea. Even Arctic and Antarctic explorers have been drawn to it, and there is nothing to wonder at the fact that a Masonic flag was dropped on each of the poles by the first men to fly across them in an airplane. Nor does any Mason find it a cause to wonder that Benjamin Franklin was both a Worshipful Master and a Grand Master and published the first Masonic book (1734) ever issued in America. Masons have long since ceased to feel amazed that such men should be of "their sodality"; there is no occasion to wonder because the greatest will find Freemasonry as great as will the humblest.
The word Freemasonry has entered our language as a common noun to denote private understanding, secrecy, mystery, as in the saying that "There is a freemasonry among railway workers." (There is such a thing.) But of all the mysteries connected with that name, and to Freemasons themselves, the greatest is Freemasonry itself. It began many centuries ago. It has ridden out the storms of revolutions and uncounted wars. It has planted itself in all parts of the world. What has enabled it to do so?
If the answer to that question should be that it has had a clearer understanding and a better practice of fraternalism than any other organization in the world, a reader must not be disappointed. Fraternalism itself is as everlasting as mankind. It ranks along with religion, government, science, business, the fine art. To discover the heights and depths of it, its length and its breadth, and the unsearchable riches in it, is sufficient justification for any man to work in it throughout his life.
To find out more information about Freemasonry or to find a friendly mason near you contact your local masonic lodge or Grand Lodge.