The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-06-05
GROWS WITH time.
Some Interesting Data About the
Older of Masonry,
Is Has Expanded Until 1t 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.
ia to lay the corner stone of a granc
temple in that city. The Atlanta
Journal says this great gathering Of
Masons directs special attention tc
the oldest and most noble fraterna
organizationin the world. which nov
numbers it's membership by the mil
lion in all the civilized countries OF
the world. The Journal goes on &c
say: ro4l
Secret societies, having the tath,
erhood of God and the brotherhood
Of man as their basic principles,
have arisen from time to time, have
lived theirlife and followed one ano,
ther 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
guild which can afford to look down
with indulgent 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 more than mere ba'
sis of truth for the former claim is
practically undenied, though it is
not denied that the order has beer
materially modified since that era OF
remote antiquity.
AS soon as mankind evolved IRON
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 man Of
skill and combined something OF the
architect with his craftsmanship.
AS the Christian civilization spreac
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 anc
magnifcence may be easily gathered
from such of them as still remain
and one may readily understand thai
in the building of them men of the
highest skill were required.
Some of the oriental forms anc
ceremonies which had been theil
birth in the days of Solomon, un
doubtedly came down through the
ages, but it was at the period wher
artisans Of every craft were organic
| ing their respective guilds that &C
tive masonry acquired its regular or
ganization in something like the form
| in which we find it today.
But there were necessary condl
tions which differentiated the mason
from all other crafts. The weavers
the drapers, the goldslniths coule
each attach themselves to given 10
cality like London. They had thel1
guildhalls where they met and inter
mingled and it was an easy matte,
for them to know and remembe!
each other.
Not so with the masons. From the
very nature of their service they wer'
called upon to travel from one cit,
to another, to build a cathedral a
York or an abbey at Kilwinning
Signs and pass words were devised
| that the liveried members Of tn
craft might make themselves know
to one another and claim hospitalit,
from their fellow-craftsmen as the,
travelled.
It was perhaps from this clrcum
stance that the arcana Of Masonr.
was first devised. These were per
fected and elaborated by Elias Ash
mole and his literary associates IN tn
early part Of the seventeenth cen
tury, and from that time may be da
| ted the masonry Of today.
/ Charles II and William III were ma
sons, and the visible connection witt
operative masonry was kept up b.
the selection of Sir Christophe
Wren, architect of St. PauPs cath
edral as grand master.
While it not necessary to go il
detail. it may be said incidental!
that the lodges Of Scotland trace
their origin to foreign masons wht
came to North Britain in ll50 tx
build Kilwinning Abbey, while the
English lodges go still further bacl
and assign their. origin to the assem-
blage of masons held by St. Alba1
York in 926. Such differences as ex
listed were arranged in 1918, 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 6
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 II
designs and purposes for which there
was no foundations. 1t has been &C,
cused of entertaining sinister pro-
jects against religion and govern
ment, and has been assalled 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 waged fierce war
around it. But asit has lived through
so many ages, unimpaired. so it will
no doubt continue to exist, to para
IL.