Masonic Lodge

by George A Mather, Larry A. Nichols and Dr. Alan W Gomes, Series Editors

• ISBN13: 9780310704218
• ISBN10: 0310704219
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-04-01
• Publisher: Zondervan

Summary

This volume of the Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements discusses the mystery of the Masonic Lodge in a discerning, detailed way.

Table of Contents

How to Use This Book	p. 6
Introduction	p. 7
Theology	p. 29
Witnessing Tips	p. 55
Selected Bibliography	p. 61
Parallel Comparison Chart	p. 71
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Dedicated to the loving memory of Harold T. Dodge,
who was a past Massachusetts District Deputy Grand Master
and a 32nd Degree Consistory Order of the Eastern Star.
More important, he was a loving father and faithful
husband who now rests in Christ.
Masonic Lodge
Copyright 1995 by George A. Mather and Larry A. Nichols
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mather, George A.
Masonic lodge / George A. Mather and Larry A. Nichols, authors
p. cm. — (Zondervan guide to cults and religious movements)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-310-70421-9 (pbk.)
1. Freemasonry — Controversial literature. I. Nichols, Larry A. II. Series:
Zondervan guide to cults & religious movements.
HS475.M38 1995
366'.1 — dc20 94-29238
CIP
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible: New
International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
Edited by Patti Picardi
Interior design by Art Jacobs
Printed in the United States of America
95 96 97 98 99 00 /?DP/ 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Part I:
Introduction
I. Historical Background
A. The Problem of Determining the Origin of Freemasonry
1. The history of the Masonic Lodge (also known as Freemasonry) is not
easy to recount.
According to Dr. Alvin Schmidt, one of the world’s leading scholars on
fraternal organizations, Freemasonry officially began in London,
England in 1717 at the Goose and Gridiron Tavern. This conclusion
is supported by the consensus of scholars and historians.
2. Despite this scholarly consensus, the origin has been disputed by
members of the craft itself, who claim various origins dating back to
the creation of humankind.
B. Spurious Masonic Accounts of Their History
1. The Masons claim ancient roots as a way of lending credibility and
stature to their organization.
a. Some well-known accounts
(1) Freemasonry dates back to the time of Adam and Eve, and the
fig leaves (Gen. 3:7) were actually the first Masonic “aprons”
(aprons are used in initiatory ceremonies in Freemasonry).
(2) Freemasonry dates back to the time of Solomon who employed
stone masons to construct the temple in Jerusalem.
b. Other unsubstantiated claims
(1) Freemasonry is tied to the builders of the Tower of Babel, or the
story of Noah, or the account of the life of the biblical Seth.
(2) Masons are the descendants of the Knights Templar.
(3) The Masonic edition of the Bible claims yet another link to antiquity
when it states: “It is admitted that Freemasonry is descendent
from the ancient mysteries. These were first
arranged when the constellation Leo was at the Summer Solstice.
Thus the antiquity of Freemasonry was written in the
starry heavens.”
2. It is not surprising that Freemasonry incorporates its own story into
various stories from the ancient sourcebook of Jews and Christians,
namely the Bible. Historically, Freemasonry was born and bred upon
the Christian soil of Western Europe after Christianity had been entrenched
there for nearly eighteen centuries.
C. True Origins of Freemasonry
1. Historians trace the beginnings of the Lodge6 back to London,
England in the year 1717; the earliest recorded minutes of a meeting
date back to 1723.
2. Freemasonry encountered much opposition from the Roman
Catholic Church due to its secretive nature, religious character, and
rites. (Freemasonry was never recognized as a Christian institution
even though it enjoins such common Christian elements as morality,
citizenship, and good ethical conduct.)
3. It was during this early period that James Anderson wrote his
Constitutions, which revised a fourteenth-century stonemason’s
Christian guidebook entitled Gothic Constitutions.
a. Anderson’s work introduced elements of deism (see also Part II,
section III.C.3–4).
b. It also opened up the possibility for the formation of new Lodges
as offshoots of the British system.
4. In 1717, James Anderson, George Payne, and Theopholis Desaguliers
united their efforts to form the Grand Lodge; Lodges later sprang up
in England and, on the continent, in Holland, Germany, France, and
other European countries.
5. Attempts had been made to bring all the Lodges under one Supreme
Lodge.
a. This never took place.
b. Each Lodge is governed by its own constitution and laws.
6. There are many instances where Grand Lodges have united to work
together.
Masonic Lodge • PART I: INTRODUCTION
a. For example, in 1912, the individual Lodges in Alexandria, Virginia
united to form the George Washington Masonic National Memorial.
b. Out of this effort, a conference sprang up which called together all
the masters of the Grand Lodges throughout North America.
D. The Lodge in North America
1. The United States
a. Freemasonry experienced its greatest success in the United States.
Indeed, few religions and social institutions of the world have
overlooked America.
b. The London Lodge chartered the first official Lodge in America: St.
John’s in Boston on July 30, 1733.
c. The first indigenous Lodge was founded in Savannah, Georgia, in
1734.
d. A Jew named Moses Michael Hays introduced the first Scottish
Rite Freemasonry into the United States in the 1760s.
e. During the 1800s, several thousand Lodges were erected throughout
the United States, making it a significant and powerful institution
in America.
(1) The Lodge has played a key role in American religious, political,
and social life since then.
(2) Men from all walks of life have been Lodge members. Among
the prominent Masons in American culture are astronauts
Edwin Aldrin, Virgil Grisson, and Leroy Cooper; actors John
Wayne and Clark Gable; comedian Red Skelton; Henry Ford;
John Philip Sousa; and General Douglas MacArthur. Fourteen
United States presidents, including the nation’s first, George
Washington, eighteen vice presidents, and five chief justices of
the Supreme Court were all Masons.
f. Also during the 1800s, the Lodge underwent intense persecution.
Mr. William Morgan appeared to be responsible for igniting the
flames by passing out anti-masonic tracts and literature which exposed
the Lodge’s secrets and rituals.
g. Morgan disappeared in 1826 and was never heard from again. His
apparent death (many believed the Masons were responsible) only
exacerbated the mounting anti-Lodge sentiment.
h. Historian Sydney Ahlstrom observed that the Masons in America
came largely from those European immigrants who were only
nominally religious, unaffiliated, or anticlerical.

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