The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-03-27
TIE MYSTERIOUS MASONS.
An Extraordinary Chapter from the History
of Masonry.


In the year 1000 the whole Of Chris
tendon was possessed with the idea that
the end of the world and the day Of
Judgment was at hand and when the
dreadful year had passed and the panic
had subsidized, great impulse to the
building of churches arose throughout
central and western Europe The build
ings which were the result of this i'm
pulse gave employment to q large num-
Der of arti6cers for period of many
years. Working at first under the direc-
ton of the bishops and abbots, they ere
long acquired considerable independence.
The clay brethren" az they had previ-
ously been styled, separating themselves
from their clerical superiors as well as
from the common laborers, assembled in
6au-huetten or wooden buildings near the
site of the churches, where they i'm
proved themselves in their art, blending
mathematical and artistic studies with q
mystic philosophy of sacred symbolism
and Biblical illusions. They were diyi-
ded into three classes, viz: apprentices,
young men deemed worthy of admission
into the fraternity, fellow craftsmen, who
had so far advanced as to be able to work
alone on the details Of the art and were
bound to impart tc the apprentices their
knowledge, and masters, comparatively
few in number, who were competent to
undertake the design or direction of en-
tire works, in the capacity of architects,
SURVEYORS or master builders. The en-
tered apprentices were entrusted with a
secret sign and password, and bound on
oath to divulge to none but the initiated
either the knowledge he should acquire
or the rite and practices of his lodge.
This method of mutual recognition was
necessity when indentures and diplo-
mas were unknown, but taken in conjunc-
ton with the mystic philosophy inculca-
ted, and the secret ritual practice within
the lodges, it acquired in time solemnity
and sacredness which could attach to no
certificate Of membership or of prof.
cheney. Further credentials were pro-
vided in set of questions and answers,
forming sort of catechism, orally COM
municated and guarded by the same
sanction by which the "brethren," as
they now call one another, could give
proof of their identity wherever they
might travel in search of employment,
and which are in essential points pre-
served in the "lectures" of the three
degrees of modern Free Masonry. Bau-
huettcn were permanently established in
most of the chief cities of the empire,
and the reputation, which their masters
acquired for genius and skill led to the
engagement of German architects in
other countries wherever cathedrals or
churches were being erected on the scale
of more than ordinary grandeur. at
first the several lodges worked indepen-
IDENTIFY of one another; but in the fif-
teenth century the necessity of further
union began 10 be felt, and on April 25,
1859, q gathering of the Master Masons
of central and southern Germany was
held at Ratisbon, when the regulations
of the different lodges were revised and
consolidated. In 1892 second and more
general assembly was held, at which the
whole of the Masons of Germany were
represented and united into single
brotherhood, of which the chief of the
lodge of Strausburg, which had long
been recognized as court Of appeal even
by the lodges of Austria and Switzerland,
was declared perpetual Grand Master.
The statutes then drawn up received in
149S the Confirmation Of the Emperor
Maximilian 1, whose example was fol-
lowed by several of his successors. AT
ter the reformation, period of transition
began the building of churches declined,
and in the following century the German
princes naturally looked with suspicion
on vast and we'll organized association
of men bound together by the closest
ties and owing allegiance to an authority
by which Alsace had passed under
French dominion. In 1907 all commu-
nication with the mother lodge OF Stras-
burg was prohibited, and attempts were
made to establish grand lodge on German
soil; but these failing through the mu-
tual jealousies of petty states Of the en-
pire, the most persistent efforts were
made for the entire suppression of the
order. But, although prescribed. it
could not be e1terminated; the lodges
met in secret, admitted new members
and maintained the existence and con-
tinuity until the new Free Masonry,
which had meanwhile arisen in England
on the ruins of the old, held to its Ger
man brethren the right hand of fellow
ship, and in once more raising them to
liberty and honor did but repay the debt
which our country owes to its continen-
tai sister.-McNillan's Magazine.