It appears that Freemasonry has been portrayed very strangely since 1723—a hotchpotch of disconnected legends and a general lack of cohesion, with the reason given that the truly enigmatic secrets had been lost. The actual reason for the vagueness of otherwise intellectual men was not so much that everything had gone missing after the 1688 Revolution. It was more a question of their obstinacy in not acknowledging the facts of the matter. Information was there to find if Anderson and his allies had cared to look, but the political situation was such that they preferred not to do so.
This attitude arose after 1715, when James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of the exiled King James II (VII) made a bid to regain the crowns of his ancestral heritage. Soon after the coronation of George I, James Francis was proclaimed as the rightful King James VIII of Scots by Stuart adherents in Aberdeen, Brechin, Dundee, Montrose, Perth, St Andrews and Edinburgh. He then sailed to Scotland from Dunkirk, and in September that year his standard was raised at Braemar. His supporters seized Inverness and Perth from the Hanoverian guard, but they failed to take Edinburgh and Stirling castles, and their advance was halted at Sherriffmuir. South of the Border their penetration was feeble, and within a few weeks the 1715 Rising was terminated by a surrender at Preston, Lancashire, on 14 November. Soon afterwards, the deflated James Francis returned to France.
Despite its initial enthusiasm, the 1715 rebellion was one of the worst campaigns ever organized. But it was not destined to be the last Stuart attempt at restoration, and the people of Britain began to question their personal loyalties and sympathies: Were they Stuart or Hanover supporters?
In Latin, the name James is rendered as Jacobus—and from the time of the Stuart exile, their supporters had become known as Jacobites. Pre-1688 Freemasonry in Scotland and England had ostensibly been a Jacobite institution. But the post-1717 English variety of Anderson and his friends was essentially Hanoverian—a newly devised pseudo-masonry with no real provenance of its own. Whatever information might have been available from previous sources, it would have been unacceptable to the hard-line Hanoverians because it was of Scottish origin. Consequently, much of the new-style English Freemasonry has since bewildered masons and non-masons alike because its weak, often incomprehensible, tradition leaves so much to be desired. Only the introduction of charitable objectives and precepts of moral idealism appear to give it any meaningful substance, but we should not judge too hastily in this regard since there is a good deal more to uncover. Meanwhile, back in 1738, since Christopher Wren was a deceased mason of the old school it was convenient to blame him for spoiling everything!
Heresy
So, what was Christopher Wren’s ‘old school’ of masonry? The picture comes together easily by looking at those few men of his acquaintance whom we have met already: King Charles II, Sir Robert Moray and Elias Ashmole—Freemasons all, but what was their communal meeting ground? It was the Royal Society at Gresham College in London. The Royal Society was, and is, a scientific academy for the purpose of studying natural philosophies. Freemasonry had the very same objectives and, even today, the ritual makes it clear that members are encouraged to ‘devote time to the study of such liberal arts and sciences as may be within the compass of your attainments’.
Although Freemasonry is a secretive society, this does not mean that the secrets held amount to anything that would benefit any outsider to discover. All lodge ceremonies and rituals are scripted and rigorously repetitive. Nearly everything in those rituals is publicly available. The secrets are nothing more than the signs, tokens and passwords of recognition by way of which one mason knows the degree status of another. These words and definitions are left as blanks in the published rituals—and that is the full extent of it.
The Liberal Arts (see page 23) are not taught as subjects within the lodge environment, they are only alluded to. Neither are the sciences (as cited in the lodge dialogue), nor any natural philosophies taught or discussed. There are allegorical, illustrated lectures which point members towards an awareness of spiritual and philosophical enlightenment, but there is no practical instruction given. The lectures are delivered by way of rote, not by way of any qualified professional experience, and the lectures for each grade are not based on any ongoing research. They are fixed, rigid and the same, word-for-word, time after time. Thus, what it all amounts to these days is a ‘role play’, a costumed re-enactment of operating procedures that were followed in lodges at a time when new material was introduced and debated at each meeting. Freemasonry today exists as a framework for something that used to be a cumulative and progressive work experience. But the only ‘work’ necessary for lodge performance these days is that of learning scripted text off by heart.
Outside the formal lodge environment, in what are styled the ‘private assemblies’ (such as around the dinner table, or ‘festive board’ as it is called), it is stated in lodge instruction that a member may ‘offer opinions on such subjects as are regularly introduced in our lectures’. The claim is that this ‘privilege’ enables one to ‘strive through researching the more hidden paths of nature and science’. But in my own experience of some 20 years of lodge attendance, I never heard anyone discussing nature or science. Moreover, if one were to make a headline discovery that rocked the world of science and changed the course of history, it would not make one iota of difference to the lodge workings. The basic precepts in such matters have been fixed (albeit loosely) since the revisions of United Grand Lodge were introduced in 1816. The most up-to-date scientific statement in modern Craft ritual is that the Earth revolves, on its own axis, around the Sun, which is at the centre!
Although such a statement (which the 2nd-degree candidate is obliged to announce to the lodge as the required answer to an explicit question) is wholly naive by today’s standards, it does pose an interesting scenario. It is the Copernican heliocentric principle as put forward by Galileo in 1632, and for which he was summoned before the Inquisition and imprisoned for 10 years until he died. In this respect, if we think in terms of the same question and answer in 1641, when Sir Robert Moray was installed, it would have held tremendous significance. To gain Fellow Craft masonic status on those terms meant that one was risking life and limb by admitting to such an heretical concept! This also demonstrates that progression through the degrees would have been impossible unless one was a scientific heretic. That is why Freemasonry was secretive and relied on brotherly support and loyalty. Outside the lodge confines one would know to discuss such punishable matters only with those who knew the signs and passwords of the fraternity. In short, Freemasonry true and proper, in its original uncorrupted form, was about liberal arts, science and natural philosophy.
The Invisible College
Science in the 1600s was concerned, in the main, with natural philosophy. Chemistry fell within the scope of this, but was a lowly art since chemists worked as assistants to the more experienced alchemists, who were practitioners of the senior profession, although detested by the Church. Scotland had a strong tradition in hermetic alchemy, and its research was subsidized from the royal purse as far back as the days of King James IV (1488-1513). Since masonic lodges were concerned with scientific experimentation, alchemy had a powerful and permanent influence on lodge operations.4 One of the foremost collectors of alchemical manuscripts was Lord Balcarres, whose daughter was married to Sir Robert Moray. In turn, Moray was the patron of England’s most notable 17th-century alchemist, Eirenaeus Philalethes, the revered mentor of Robert Boyle and others of the masonic Royal Society.
Although the Renaissance had brought a great flourish to academic and creative interests, throwing off the superstitious shackles of the Church in favour of reviving classical philosophy and literature, in this respect Britain fell into a repressed doldrums during the Cromwellian era. Following Cromwell’s military overthrow and the 1649 execution of King Charles I, this hitherto rural politician became so powerful that in 1653 he chose to rule by martial force alone. He dissolved Parliament and appointed himself Lord Protector, with greater dictatorial powers than any king had ever known. He then sought to demolish the activities of the Anglican Church. At his order, the Book of Common Prayer was forbidden, as were the celebrations of Christmas and Easter. His dictatorship was more severe than any previous regime, and his puritanical