booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

CHAPTER VI
THE GRAND LODGE ERA
whatever were the origins of the Order we now know as Freemasonry, it is clear that during the century
preceding its reorganization under Grand Lodge of London the secret system of binding men together for a
common purpose, based on Eastern esoteric doctrines, had been anticipated by the Rosicrucians. Was this
secret system employed, however, by any other body of men? It is certainly easy to imagine how in this momentous
seventeenth century, when men of all opinions were coalescing against opposing forces-Lutherans
combining against the Papacy, Catholics rallying their forces against invading Protestantism, Republicans
plotting in favour of Cromwell, Royalists in their turn plotting to restore the Stuarts, finally Royalists plotting
against each other on behalf of rival dynasties-an organization of this kind, enabling one to work
secretly for a cause and to set invisibly vast numbers of human beings in motion, might prove invaluable to
any party.
Thus, according to certain masonic writers on the Continent, the system used by the Rosicrucians in their
fight against " Popery " was also employed by the Jesuits for a directly opposite purpose. In the manuscripts
of the Prince of Hesse published by Lecouteulx de Canteleu it is declared that in 1714 the Jesuits used the
mysteries of the Rose-Croix. Mirabeau also relates that " the Jesuits profited by the internal troubles of the
reign of Charles I to possess themselves of the symbols, the allegories, and the carpets (tapis) of the Rose-
Croix masons, who were only the ancient order of the Templars secretly perpetuated. It may be seen by
means of what imperceptible innovations they succeeded in substituting their catechism to the instruction of
the Templars."(1)
Other Continental writers again assert that Cromwell, the arch-opponent of the Catholic Church, was " a
higher initiate of masonic mysteries," and used the system for his own elevation to power (2); further, that
he found himself outdistanced by the Levellers; that this sect, whose name certainly suggest masonic inspiration,
adopted for its symbols the square and compass,(3) and in its claim of real equality threatened the supremacy
of the usurper. Finally, Elias Ashmole, the Rosicrucian Royalist, is said to have turned the masonic
system against Cromwell, so that towards the end of the seventeenth century the Order rallied to the Stuart
cause.(4)
But all this is pure speculation resting on no basis of known facts. The accusation that the Jesuits used
the system of the Rose-Croix as a cover to political intrigues is referred to by the Rosicrucian Eliphas Lévi
as the outcome of ignorance which " refutes itself. " It is significant to notice that it emanates mainly from
Germany and from the Illuminati; the Prince of Hesse was a member of the Stricte Observance and Mirabeau
an Illuminatus at the time he wrote the passage quoted above. That in the seventeenth century certain
Jesuits played the part of political intriguers I suppose their warmest friends will hardly deny, but that they
employed any secret or masonic system seems to me perfectly incapable of proof. I shall return to this point
later, however, in connexion with the Illuminati.
As to Cromwell, the only circumstance that lends any colour to the possibility of his connexion with
Freemasonry is his known friendship for Manasseh ben Israel, the colleague of the Rabbi Templo who designed
the coat-of-arms later adopted by Grand Lodge. If, therefore, the Jews of Amsterdam were a source
of inspiration to the Freemasons of the seventeenth century, it is not impossible that Cromwell may have
been the channel through which this influence first penetrated.
In the matter of the Stuarts we are, however, on firm ground with regard to Freemasonry. That the
lodges at the end of the seventeenth century were Royalist is certain, and there seems good reason to believe
that, when the revolution of 1688 divided the Royalist cause, the Jacobites who fled to France with James II
took Freemasonry with them.(5) With the help of the French they established lodges in which, it is said, masonic
rites and symbols were used to promote the cause of the Stuarts. Thus the land of promise signified
Great Britain, Jerusalem stood for London, and the murder of Hiram represented the execution of Charles I.
(6)
Meanwhile Freemasonry in England did not continue to adhere to the Stuart cause as it had done under
the gis of Elias Ashmole, and by 1717 is said to have become Hanoverian.
From this important date the official history of the present system may be said to begin; hitherto
everything rests on stray documents, of which the authenticity is frequently doubtful, and which provide no
continuous history of the Order. In 1717 for the first time Freemasonry was established on a settled basis
and in the process underwent a fundamental change. So far it would seem to have retained an operative ele-
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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