SOME RITUAL ORIGINS
Bro. Wallace McLeod is a member and Past Master of Mizpah Lodge #572,
Toronto, Canada, and of Quatuor Coronati Lodge #2076, London, England; he is the
Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario.
The ritual is, as has often been observed, fundamental to Freemasonry, and it
gives form to our proceedings. We like to think of it as one of the landmarks,
but it does change, though only slowly. Let me remind you of how far back in
Masonry we can trace certain words and episodes.
We begin with the familiar phrase So mote it be, which sometimes baffles new
Masons. That is because it is extremely old, and includes an obsolete form of
the verb. Actually these very words are found in the earliest extant copy of the
Old Charges of the operative masons, the Regius Poem, which was written in
England about the year 1390. Almost as old, it turns out, is Masonic emphasis on
the seven liberal sciences, and on the building of King Solomon's Temple; both
are essential parts of the Cooke Manuscript, which goes back to about 1410.
Indeed they continued to be a regular part of the standard versions of the Old
Charges that served to govern the Craft for the next three hundred years.
There is a marvellous collection of early ritual documents covering the years
1696-1730, called The Early Masonic Catechisms. In this work we find that the
phrases "hele and conceal" and "Five points of fellowship" both occur in the
Edinburgh Register House Manuscript of 1696. "The square, the compass, and the
Bible" are mentioned together in the Dumfries Manuscript No. 4, of about 1710. A
London newspaper of 1723 published what purported to be an exposure of the
Masonic ceremonies, and there we find the five orders of architecture duly
listed. The well-known trio "Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth," comes from
another exposure, a pamphlet printed in London in 1724.
Anderson's Book of Constitutions of 1723 mentions the toast to "The King and
the Craft." It also refers to God as the Great Architect of the Universe (a
phrase first used by John Calvin), and alludes in passing to Hiram Abif (a name
which comes from 2 Chronicles 4:16, in Coverdale's Bible of 1535).
The most popular of the early exposures was Samuel Prichard's Masonry
Dissected, first published in 1730. And there we find such familiar phrases as
"Neither naked nor cloathed, bare-foot nor shod," "Wisdom, Strength, and
Beauty," "Square, Level, and Plumb-Rule," and "a Sprig of Cassia at the Head of
his Grave."
The earliest version of the Charge to the Newly Initiated Candidate, the one
with the words "Antient, as having subsisted from Times immemorial," that
outlines our duty "to God, our Neighbours, and Ourselves," appears in William
Smith's Pocket Companion (Dublin, 1735).
The story of Ephraimites at the passage of the River Jordan turns up in a
French exposure of 1747. Whether it had been borrowed from English sources is
not clear; at any rate, it soon appears in printed English rituals.
The next great landmark in the evolution of our ceremonies is the advent of
the three great expounders of the ritual, who were the first ones to provide
more substantial lectures. Wellins Calcott lived from 1726 until after 1779; in
his book A Candid Disquisition ( 1769), he speaks of Pythagoras and the Egyptian
philosophers, who concealed their principles under the cover of hieroglyphics.
He also offers some familiar words of advice:
"Right Worshipful Sir, BY the unanimous voice of the members of this lodge,
you are elected to the mastership thereof for the ensuing half-year...You have
been of too long standing, and are too good a member of our community, to
require now any information in the duty of your office. What you have seen
praiseworthy in others, we doubt not you will imitate; and what you have seen
defective, you will in yourself amend...For a pattern of imitation, consider the
great luminary of nature, which, rising in the east, regularly diffuses light
and lustre to all within its circle. In like manner it is your province, with
due decorum, to spread and communicate light and instruction to the brethren in
the lodge."
To be sure, the sentiments expressed here have now been assigned to two
different charges. But their original source is unmistakable.
William Hutchinson (1732-1814), in his Spirit of Masonry (1775), offers a
series of Moral Observations on the Instruments of Masonry. They interpret the
significance of the working tools.
"The Level should advise us that...we are all descended from the same common
stock, partake of the like nature, have. ..the same hope. ..; and though
distinctions necessarily make a subordination among mankind, yet eminence of
station should not make us forget that we are men, nor cause us to treat our
brethren, because placed on the lowest spoke of the wheel of fortune, with
contempt; because a time will come, and the wisest of men know not how soon,
when all distinctions, except in goodness, will cease, and when death--that
grand leveller of all human greatness--will bring us to a level at the last."
Once again, beyond any question our present wording is derived from this
text.
And the great William Preston (1742-1818), in his Illustrations of Masonry
(2nd edition, 1775), offers a familiar prayer:
"Vouchsafe thine aid, Almighty Father and supreme Governor of the world, to
this our present convention; and grant that this candidate for Masonry may
dedicate and devote his life to thy service, and become a true and faithful
brother among us. Endue him with a competence of thy divine wisdom, that, by the
secrets of this Art, he may be better enabled to unfold the mysteries of
godliness, to the honour of thy holy name. Amen."
Virtually all of our present wording, we now see, is derived from Britain.
But, as we have noted on previous occasions, there is one major piece of ritual
that was "made in Canada"--the General Charge at the Ceremony of Installation.
The late M.W. Bro. William Kirk Bailey (1904-1992) succeeded in tracing the
various sources from which Otto Klotz was able to put it together in 1876. One
part, for example, comes from the Grand Master's address delivered by M.W. Bro.
William Mercer Wilson at the Annual Communication in Ottawa in 1860:
"It comforts the mourner; it speaks peace and consolation to the troubled
spirit; it carries relief and gladness to the habitations of want and
destitution; it dries the tears of the widow and orphan; it opens the source of
knowledge; it widens the sphere of human happiness; it even seeks to light up
the darkness and gloom of the grave, by pointing to the hopes and promises of a
better life to come. All this Masonry has done and is still doing. Such is
Masonry and such its mission; and we should never forget, while enjoying its
benefits and appreciating its value, the duties we owe to the Order; for there
is no right without a parallel duty, no liberty without the supremacy of the
law, no high destiny without earnest perseverance, and no real greatness without
self denial."
The General Charge is the latest major addition to our work. Since that date
various smaller adjustments have been made under due authority. Let us just look
at one. Up until 1964, the traditional wording for the penalties of the
obligations in much of the English-speaking world had been, "Under no less a
penalty. . ." But in 1964, the United Grand Lodge of England gave its lodges the
option of either retaining the traditional wording, or else saying, "Ever
bearing in mind the traditional penalty..." Three years later, in 1967, our
Grand Lodge prescribed that this newer wording was to be used by all lodges.
Wisely, it permitted no deviation, and by this means it avoided certain problems
that subsequently developed in England.
Even on the basis of the evidence presented here, we can see that the Masonic
ritual is part of our precious heritage from the past. It has stood the test of
time, no doubt because it expresses eternal verities. It is still meaningful to
the brethren of today!
back to top |
