Rosicrucian and Masonic 1

Rosicrucian and Masonic 1

Rosicrucian and Masonic

 

Origins

 

by Manly P. Hall

 

From Lectures on Ancient Philosophy— An Introduction to

the Study and Application of Rational Procedure:

The Hall Publishing Company, Los Angeles, First Edition 1929, pp 397-417

 

 

 

FREEMASONRY is a fraternity within a fraternity—an outer organization concealing an inner

 

brotherhood of the elect. Before it is possible to intelligently discuss the origin of the Craft, it is

necessary, therefore, to establish the existence of these two separate yet interdependent orders, the

one visible and the other invisible. The visible society is a splendid camaraderie of "free and

accepted" men enjoined to devote themselves to ethical, educational, fraternal, patriotic, and

humanitarian concerns. The invisible society is a secret and most august fraternity whose members

are dedicated to the service of a mysterious arcanum arcanomm.Those Brethren who have essayed

to write the history of their Craft have not included in their disquisitions the story of that truly secret

inner society which is to the body Freemasonic what the heart is to the body human.In each

generation only a few are accepted into the inner sanctuary of the Work, but these are veritable

Princes of the Truth and their sainted names shall be remembered in future ages together with the

seers and prophets of the elder world. Though the great initiate-philosophers of Freemasonry can be

counted upon one's fingers, yet their power is not to be measured by the achievements of

ordinary men. They are dwellers upon the Threshold of the Innermost, Masters of that secret

doctrine which forms the invisible foundation of every great theological and rational institution.

 

The outer history of the Masonic order is one of noble endeavor, altruism, and splendid enterprise;

the inner history, one of silent conquest, persecution, and heroic martyrdom. The body of Masonry

 

rose from the guilds of workmen who wandered the face of medieval Europe, but the spirit of

Masonry walked with God before the universe was spread out or the scroll of the heavens

unrolled. The enthusiasm of the young Mason is the effervescence of a pardonable pride. Let him

extol the merits of his Craft, reciting its steady growth, its fraternal spirit, and its worthy

undertakings. Let him boast of splendid buildings and an ever-increasing sphere of influence. These

are the tangible evidence of power and should rightly set a-flutter the heart of the

Apprentice who does not fiiUy comprehend as yet that great strength which abides in silence or that

unutterable dignity to be sensed only by those who. have been "raised" into the contemplation of the

Inner Mystery, [p 398]

 

An obstacle well-nigh insurmountable is to convince the Mason himself that the secrets of his Craft

are worthy of his profound consideration. As St. Paul, so we are told, kicked against the "pricks" of

conversion, so the rank and file of present-day Masons strenuously oppose any effort put forth to

interpret Masonic symbols in the light of philosophy. They are seemingly obsessed by the fear that

from their ritualism may be extracted a meaning more profound than is actually contained therein.

For years it has been a mooted question whether Freemasonry is actually a religious organization.

"Masonry," writes Pike, however, in the Legendafor the Nineteenth Degree, "has and always had

a religious creed. It teaches what it deems to be the truth in respect to the nature and attributes of

God." The more studiously-minded Mason regards the Craft as an aggregation of thinkers

concerned with the deeper mysteries of life. The all-too-prominent younger members of the

Fraternity, however, if not openly skeptical, are at least indifferent to these weightier issues. The

champions of philosophic Masonry, alas, are a weak, small voice which grows weaker and smaller

as time goes by. In fact, there are actual blocs among the Brethren who would divorce Masonry

from both philosophy and religion at any and all cost. If, however, we search the writings of

eminent Masons ,we find a unanimity of viewpoint: namely, that Masonry is a religious and

philosophic body. Every effort initiated to elevate Masonic thought to its true position has thus

invariably emphasized the metaphysical and ethical aspects of the Craft.

 

But a superficial perusal of available documents will demonstrate that the modem Masonic order is

not united respecting the true purpose for its own existence. Nor will this factor of doubt be

dispelled until the origin of the Craft is established beyond all quibbling. The elements of Masonic

history are strangely elusive; there are gaps which apparently cannot be bridged. "Who the early

Freemasons really were," states Gould in A Concise History of Freemasonry, "and whence they

came, may afford a tempting theme for inquiry to the speculative antiquary. But it is enveloped in

 

 

 

obscurity, and lies far outside the domain of authentic history." Between modem Freemasonry

 

with its vast body of ancient symbolism and those original Mysteries which first employed these

symbols there is a dark interval of centuries. To the conservative Masonic historian, the deductions

of such writers as Higgins, Churchward, Vail, and Waite— though ingenious and fascinating-actually

prove nothing. That Masonry is a body of ancient lore is self-evident, but the tangible "link"

necessary to convince the recalcitrant Brethren that their order is the direct successor of the pagan

Mysteries has unfortunately not been adduced to date. Of such problems as these is composed the

"angel" with which the Masonic Jacob must wrestle throughout the night, [pp 398-399]

 

It is possible to trace Masonry back a few centuries with comparative ease, but then the thread

suddenly vanishes from sight in a maze of secret societies and political enterprises. Dimly

silhouetted in the mists that becloud these tangled issues are such figures as Cagliostro, Comte de

St. -Germain, and St. Martin, but even the connection between these individuals and the Craft has

never been clearly defined. The writings of early Masonic history is involved in such obvious

hazard as to provoke the widespread conclusion that further search is futile. The average Masonic

student is content, therefore, to trace his Craft back to the workmen's guilds who chipped and

chiselled the cathedrals and public buildings of medieval Europe. While such men as Albert Pike

have realized this attitude to be ridiculous, it is one thing to declare it insufficient and quite another

to prove the fallacy to an adamantine mind. So much has been lot and forgotten, so much ruled in

and out by those unfitted for such legislative revision that the modern rituals do not in every case

represent the original rites of the Craft. In his Symbolism, Pike (who spent a lifetime in the quest for

Masonic secrets) declares that few of the original meanings of the symbols are known to the modem

order, nearly all the so-called interpretations now given being superficial. Pike confessed that the

original meanings of the very symbols he himself was attempting to interpret were irretrievably-

lost; that even such familiar emblems as the apron and the pillars were locked mysteries, whose

"keys" had been thrown away by the uninformed. "The initiated," also writes John Fellows, "as well

as those without the pale of the order, are equally ignorant of their derivation and import. (See The

Mysteries of Freemasonry.)

 

Preston, Gould, Mackey, Oliver, and Pike—in fact, nearly every great historian of Freemasonry-

have all admitted the possibility of the modem society being connected, indirectly at least, with the

 

ancient Mysteries, and their descriptions of the modern society are prefaced by excerpts from

ancient writings descriptive of primitive ceremonials. These eminent Masonic scholars have all

recognized in the legend of Hiram Abiff an adaptation of the Osiris myth; nor do they deny that the

major part of the symbolism of the craft is derived from the pagan institutions of antiquity when the

gods were venerated in secret places with strange figures and appropriate rituals. Though cognizant

of the exalted origin of their order, these historians -either through fear or uncertainty-have failed,

however, to drive home the one point necessary to estabhsh the true purpose of Freemasonry: They

did not realize that the Mysteries whose rituals Freemasonry perpetuates were the custodians of a

secret philosophy of life of such transcendent nature that it can only be entrusted to an individual

tested and proved beyond all peradventure of human frailty. The secret schools of Greece and

Egypt were neither fraternal nor poUtical fundamentally, nor were their ideals similar to those of the

modern Craft. They were essentially philosophic and religious institutions, and all admitted into

them were consecrated to the service of the sovereign good. Modern Freemasons, however, regard

their Craft primarily as neither philosophic nor religious, but rather as ethical.