The “Free” In Freemasonry

Masonic Aprons

WHY IS IT THAT OUR Fraternity bears the name “Freemasonry” instead of “Masonry”? Why the “free” in it? Far back in the Middle Ages a freemason was the name of a builder who could design buildings as well as construct them. He was what we should now call an architect.

Atheism and Freemasonry by Bro. Joshua L. Rubin

Atheism and Freemasonry by Bro. Joshua L. Rubin

There is a universal Masonic requirement of belief in Deity, which is followed by all regular Grand Lodges of the world. As Entered Apprentices, receiving Light for the first time, Masons are cautioned that no Atheist may be made a Mason

FREEMASONRY IN THE EARLY 1600 AND 1700

Bro. W.J. Hughan

There is such an abundance of evidence in proof of the continuity of Freemasonry during the period selected, that it is only necessary to study the special records of the old Lodges, happily still preserved, the Rolls of the “Old Charges”, and especially the extant minutes of the Masons’ Company of London, to be assured that the Freemasons of the present day are the lineal descendants of the operative builders, who in the 17th century, and earlier, admitted speculative or non-professional members.

FREEMASONRY AND THE COMACINE MASTERS

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by Bro. H.L. HAYWOOD, Editor THE BUILDER The Builder Magazine, June 1924 – Volume X – Number 6 FREEMASONRY AND THE COMACINE MASTERS   In a chapter on…

FREEMASONRY AND THE CATHEDRAL BUILDERS

Lincoln Cathederal

There has been a great deal of difference of opinion among the historians of architecture as to where and when Gothic began. English writers, who have a very natural desire to claim for their own land the glory of the discovery of the art, date it at 1100 A.D. or earlier, and find its first manifestations at Durham; whereas French writers almost unanimously hold that Gothic began first of all in the region round about Paris, in what was once called the Ile de France, and say that the Abbey Church of St. Denis, begun in 1140, is to be regarded as the first known Gothic monument. It appears that a majority of the more modern writers incline to agree with the French theory. Porter dates the new style as beginning in Paris about 1163, and says that it reached its culmination in the year 1220, with the nave of Amiens.

THE INITIATIC SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY

Kheops Pyramid

Freemasonry continues an initiatic tradition whose beginnings are lost in antiquity. This statement cannot be proven historically.Yet the more you study Masonic rites and its symbols, the more you become convinced that you are dealing with something ancient, maybe even primordial. It becomes clear that this tradition is much older than Masonrys institutional beginnings in 1717, older than the cathedral builders and medieval guilds, older even than King Solomons Temple or the Egyptian Pyramids.

FREEMASONRY AND THE ROMAN COLLEGIA

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by Bro. H.L. HAYWOOD, Editor THE BUILDER The Builder Magazine, June 1924 – Volume X – Number 6 FREEMASONRY AND THE ROMAN COLLEGIA   THE ORIGIN OF…