booknetsaWebster-secretSocietiesAndSubversiveMovements

ment, but in the transformation that now took place this was entirely eliminated, and the whole Order was
transformed into a middle- and upper-class speculative body. This coup d'état, already suggested in 1703,
took place early in 1717, when four London lodges of Freemasons met together at the Apple Tree Tavern in
Charles Street, Covent Garden, " and having put into the chair the oldest Master Mason (being the Master of
the lodge), they constituted themselves a Grand Lodge, pro tempore, in due form." On St. John the Baptist's
Day, June 24 of the same year, the annual assembly and banquet were held at the Goose and Gridiron in St.
Paul's Churchyard, when Mr. Antony Sayer was elected Grand Master and invested with all the badges of
office.(7)
It is evident from the above account that already in 1717 the speculative elements must have predominated
in the lodges, otherwise we might expect to find the operative masons taking some part in these proceedings
and expressing their opinion as to whether their association should pass under the control of men
entirely unconnected with the Craft. But no, the leaders of the new movement all appear to have belonged
to the middle class, nor from this moment do either masons or architects seem to have played any prominent
part in Freemasonry.
But the point that official history does not attempt to elucidate is the reason for this decision. Why
should Freemasons of London-whether they were at this date speculative or only a semi-speculative association-have
suddenly recognized the necessity of establishing a Grand Lodge and drawing up a ritual and "
Constitution "? It is evident, then, that some circumstances must have arisen which led them to take this important
step. I would suggest that the following may be the solution to the problem.
Freemasonry, as we have seen, was a system that could be employed in any cause and had now come to
be used by intriguers of every kind-and not only by intriguers, but by merely convivial bodies, " jolly Brotherhoods
of the Bottle " who modelled themselves on masonic associations.(8) But the honest citizens of
London who met and feasted at the Goose and Gridiron were clearly not intriguers, they were neither Royalist
nor Republican plotters, neither Catholic nor Luther fanatics, neither alchemists nor magicians, nor can it
be supposed that they were simply revellers. If they were political, they were certainly not supporters of the
Stuarts; on the contrary, they were generally reported to have been Hanoverian in their sympathies, indeed
Dr. Bussell goes so far as to say that Grand Lodge was instituted to support the Hanoverian dynasty.(9) It
would be perhaps nearer the truth to conclude that if they were Hanoverian it was because they were constitutional,
and the Hanoverian dynasty having now been established they wished to avoid further changes. In
a word, then, they were simply men of peace, anxious to put an end to dissensions, who, seeing that system
of Masonry utilized for the purpose of promoting discord, determined to wrest it from the hands of political
intriguers and restore it to its original character of brotherhood, though not of brotherhood between working
masons only, but between men drawn from all classes and professions. By founding a Grand Lodge in London
and drawing up a ritual and " Constitutions," they hoped to prevent the perversion of their signs and
symbols and to establish the Order on a settled basis.
According to Nicolai this pacific purpose had already animated English Freemasons under the Grand
Mastership of Sir Christopher Wren: " Its principal object from this period was to moderate the religious
hatreds so terrible in England during the reign of James II and to try and establish some kind of concord or
fraternity, by weakening as far as possible the antagonisms arising from the differences of religions, ranks,
and interests." An eighteenth-century manuscript of the Prince of Hesse quoted by Lacouteulx de Canteleu
expresses the view that in 1717 " the mysteries of Freemasonry were reformed and purified in England of all
political tendencies."
In the matter of religion, Craft Masonry adapted an equally non-sectarian attitude. The first " Constitutions
" of the Order, drawn up by Dr. Anderson in 1723, contain the following paragraph:
concerning god and religion A Mason is obliged, 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 charged 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
Centre of Union and the Means of Conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must have remained at a
perpetual Distance.
The phrase " that Religion in which all men agree " has been censured by Catholic writers as advocating
a universal religion in the place of Christianity. But this by no means follows. The idea is surely that Masons
should be men adhering to that law of right and wrong common to all religious faiths. Craft Masonry
Nesta H. Webster — Secret Societies and Subversive Movements — Part I
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