The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1907-06-07
GROWS WITH TIME.
Soma Interesting Data About the
Oder Of Masonry,
is Has Expanded Until Il Is Now
Found in Every Civilized Country
OF the World.

Found in Every Civilized Country
OF the World.
Some few weeks ago there was 8
great gathering Of masons in Allan.
TIA to lay the corner stone Of a grand
temple in that city. The Atlanta
journal says this great gathering OF
Masons directs special attention tc
the oldest and most noble fraternaI
organizations the world, which now
numbers it's membership by the mil.
lion in all the civilized countries OF
the world. The journal goes on tc
say:
Secret societies, having the faith.
erhood Of God and the brotherhood
of man as their basic principles,
have arisen from time to time, have
lived theirlif and followed one ano-
Their into the shadows Of the past.
The oldest of those that still survive
are but as creatures Of yesterday
compared with the brotherhood OF
Free and Accepted Masons. 1t is a
guild which can afford to look down
with lndulgent patronage on all the
other guilds and crafts, however an
cient may be their charters.
The origin Of Masonry is lost in
the remotest period of the past. Ira
dition has ascribed it to the building
of Solomon's temple, and it is alleg-
ed to have had a leading part in
the construction of the pyramids.
That there is than a mere ba-
sis of truth for the former claim is
practically undenied, though it is
not denied that the order has been
materially modified since that era of
remote antiquity.
AS soon as mankind evolved from
his nomadic habits of life and began
to erect fixed bodies. the mason. as
an artisan, began to come into re
quest. He was necessarily a man of
skill and combined something of the
architect with his craftsmanship.
AS the Christian civilization spread
over the earth, particularly in Eu-
rope and in England, magnificent
cathedrals arose as the expression
of the pious devotion Of the people.
An adequate idea of their size and
magnificence may be easily gathered
from such of them as still remain,
and one may readily understand that
in the building of them men Of the
highest skill were required.
Some Of the oriental forms and
ceremonies which had been their
birth in the days of Solomon, un-
d~oubtedly came down through the
ages, but it was at the period when
artisans of every craft were organic
ing their respective guilds that &C.
tive masonry acquired it's regular or
g%anization in something like the form
in which we find it today.
But there were necessary condi-
tons which differentiated the masons
from all other crafts. The weavers,
the diapers, the goldsmiths could
each attach themselves to a given To-
cality like London. They had their
guildhalls where they met and inter.
mingled and it was an easy matter
for them to know and remember
each other.
Not SO with the masons From the
very nature of their service they were
called upon to travel from one city
to another, to build a cathedral al
York or an abbey at Kilwinning,
Signs and pass words were devised
that the liveried members of the
craft might make themselves known
to one another and claim hospitality
from their fellow-craftsmen as they
travelled.
1t was perhaps from this circum.
stance that the arcana of Masonry
was first devised. These were per.
fected and elaborated by Elias Ash
mole and his literary associates in the
early part of the seventeenth cen
tury, and from that time may be da.
ted the masonry of today.
Charles II and WilliamIII were ma.
sons, and the visible connection with
operative masonry was kept UP by
the selection Of Sir CHRISTOPHER
Wren, architect Of st. Paul's cath
edral as grand master.
While it is not necessary to go in
detail, it may be said incidentally
that the lodges Of Scotland trace
their origin to foreign masons who
came to North Britain in 1850 to
build KilWinning Abbey, while the
English lodges go still further back
and assign their origin to the assem-
blage of masons held by st. Alban
York in 926. Such differences as cx-
listed were arranged in 1913, and the
fraternity has since been managed by
the United Grand Lodge Of Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons of Eng
land.
A century before that time, how
ever, when the cathedral of st.
Paul's was finished, the way was
opened for others than operative ma
sons and builders to become mem
bers of the organization, and that
practice has grown and expanded
until the present day, when it is in a
benevolent band of brothers, with
out regard to craftsmanship, who
meet upon the level and part upon
the square,
1t has not escaped the fate of 9th
er noble institutions. Superstition
and ignorance have attributed to it
designs and purposes for which there
was no foundations. 1t has been ac-
cuscd of entertaining sinister pro-
jects against religion and govern
mcnt, and has been assailed with
fiery zeal in many countries and at
various periods of history. The oath
of secrecy stirred the suspicion and
resentment of the uninitiated and
factionalism has wagcd fierce war
around it. But as it has lived through
SO many ages, unimpaired. SO it will
no doubt continue to exist, to para
phrase Macaulay, until some tray
cllcr from New Zealand shall take
mis- stand upon a broken arch Of Lon