Freemasonry 

A modern name of popular usage designating the principles of the Order of Freemasons. Formerly the word "Masonry" alone was employed, and is still used in the writings, history, and ritual of the craft. The term Freemasonry seems to have arisen from the fact that only free men were eligible to the Order, and that they were required to be elected with practical unanimity. The members then denoted themselves "Free and Accepted Masons" ; but the public curtailed this to Freemasons, and the order to Freemasonry. 

Freemasons

A secret fraternal organization of worldwide celebrity, and one credited by enthusiastic writers with great antiquity. The Order, however, is now conceded to have been instituted about the early part of the eighteenth century--the pretensions put forth to a date coeval with the building of the Temple at Jerusalem, with King Solomon as the first grand master, being considered by those who have thoroughly investigated the subject as not worthy of credit. The attempt also made to establish a connection between the fraternity and many of the secret cults and organizations, such as the Eleusinian mysteries, the Pythagoreans, the Rosicrucians and others, in the early stages of its existence, has also failed, the utmost accomplished in that direction being the detection of a certain similarity between the symbols and ceremonies of these older institutions and the system of ritual and rule observed by the Masonic order---circumambulation, the use of aprons, the forty-seventh problem of Euclid, etc.

Another consideration which tends to discredit any connection between these older associations and the Freemasons is the fact that the conception of Masonry implies a cosmopolitan brotherhood, which would have been impossible of realization in the earlier ages of the world's history. The more rational and the generally accepted theory regarding the origin of the society of Freemasons is, that it is the successor of the building associations of the Middle Ages of which the Steinmetzen or stonemasons of Germany were a representative. The term Freemason has also been a puzzle to philologists, some claiming that it is Norman French--Frere Macon (brother mason)----while others maintain the second part of the title to have been derived from the German word Metzen, having the same signification. These early building societies, the precursors of the Masons, are found to have been grouped in the eleventh and twelfth centuries for the most part around the Benedictine monasteries, the abbots being the architects who employed the masons on ecclesiastical buildings and repairs. 

The development of architectural taste and the acquisition of greater wealth by the Church led to the erection of buildings on a larger and more imposing scale, requiring the association of craftsmen in the various branches of construction for longer periods together. This led to the formation of societies known as the 'Bauhutten', so called from the wooden booths, where, during the continuance of the work on any particular building, the craftsmen kept their tools, took their meals, and held their meetings. By the latter part of the thirteenth century these societies had increased so in number that a general association of the 'Bauhutten' was formed in Germany, governed by one code of craft laws, acknowledging one set of secret signs and ceremonies, and working under one central authority, the 'Haupthutte' of Strassburg. 

That there is a certain connection admitted between this organization and the Masonic fraternity may be inferred from the fact that the trade customs and symbolic forms of the 'Bauhutten' have been described by Masonic writers in Europe and America. (See Fort, Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, Philadelphia, 1887). The requirement most rigidly enforced from the earliest period was secrecy, which was enjoined in the most solemn manner, both journeymen and apprentices being sworn, before initiation, on the Bible, Square and Compasses, to preserve inviolate the secrets of the brotherhood. Membership was at this early period confined strictly to the operative class, who were supposed to preserve the old secrets of Gothic Masonry, but later, in the seventeenth century, it no longer was deemed necessary to restrict membership to craftsmen alone, and, the bars being lowered, gentlemen became eligible. The 'Haupthutte' went out of existence in 1731.

From the Continent of Europe England derived much of her lodge organization. The earlier English associations of operative builders were first called Freemasons in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, because of the freedom granted them to carry on their occupation. From 1607 to 1618 Inigo Jones, under the patronage of Lord Pembroke, was actively engaged in Masonic work, but the civil wars and the agitation caused by the Reformation so materially broke up the Masonic connection that it was not until 1663 that definite steps were taken to put the fraternity on a permanent basis. A general assembly of Masons was held in London in that year, new rules were formulated and statutes enacted, and a formal resolution was passed that Masonic privileges should be no longer confined to the operative Masons. Professional and literary men, those learned in astrology, or alchemy, as well as theoretic geometricians and architects, now identified themselves with the fraternity. This class of membership at first was honorary, whence the term Free and "Accepted" Masons.

The historic period of Freemasonry begins with the formation of what is known as the premier Masonic Grand Lodge of the world in London, England, in 1717. This is generally styled the "revival' of Freemasonry. Prior to that time a Masonic lodge was composed of "any number of brethren assembled at any place for the performance of work, and, when so assembled, were authorized to receive into the Order brothers and fellows, and to practice the rites of Masonry. The Ancient Charges were the only standard for the regulation of their conduct. The master of the lodge was elected ' pro tempore', and his authority terminated with the dissolution of the meeting over which he had presided, unless the lodge was permanently established at any particular place." 

Such lodges are known in Masonic history as time immemorial lodges. On June 24, 1717, four of the old lodges then existing in London constituted themselves into a Grand Lodge, the first Masonic Grand Lodge ever organized, and elected Anthony Sayer their first Grand master. George Payne succeeded Sayer as grand master in 1718, and Dr. John Theophilus Desaguliers followed in 1719. In 1720' George Payne was again grand master, and in that year compiled for the first time a set of 'General Regulations,' which were subsequently revised by Dr. Desaguliers and Rev. James Anderson, a Scotch Presbyterian minister, and were first published in 1723, under the title of "The Charges of a Freemason, extracted from the ancient records of lodges beyond the sea and of those in England, Scotland and Ireland, for the use of lodges in London." 

After 1717 new lodges could be created only under a warrant from the Grand Lodge. In 1724 the Grand Lodge of England came into conflict with a time immemorial lodge at York, claiming to have originated at an assembly of Masons in 926. This led to the formation in 1725, by the old Lodge of York, of the "Grand Lodge of All England." The Grand Lodge of all England, however, appears to have maintained friendly relations with the London Grand Lodge. In 1751 nine lodges owing allegiance to the Grand Lodge of England seceded from that body on the ground that the Grand Lodge suffered subordinate lodges of its jurisdiction to depart from the ancient landmarks of Freemasonry, and organized a "Grand Lodge of England, according to old Institutions.' They styled themselves 'Ancients,' and called the members of the Grand Lodge of England 'Moderns.' 

In 1756 Laurence Dermott, the leader of the seceders, published the " Ahiman Rezon," or Book of Constitutions, which he copied from the constitutions of the original or 'Modern' Grand Lodge, and addressed it to "The Ancient York Masons in England." The Grand Lodge of All England, at York, died in 1792. There then existed in England but two Grand Lodges, the "Ancients" and the "Moderns." After negotiations extending over a number of years, finally, in 1813, through the efforts of the Duke of Sussex, grand master of the 'Moderns,' and his distinguished brother, the Duke of Kent, grand master of the 'Ancients,' a permanent union was established under the title of the ' United Grand Lodge of Ancient Freemasons of England,' by which the fraternity has since been known. 

Freemasonry has always been favorably considered in England. In 1799, when an act of Parliament was passed directed against seditious societies, an exception was made in favor of Masonic lodges, which were credited with meeting solely for benevolent purposes. Jews were admitted to membership on the same footing as other religious denominations. The growth and progress of the fraternity has been so marked, that there are now in the Grand Lodge of England more than 2000 lodges, a Grand Lodge, sixty provincial Grand Lodges, a Grand Lodge of Mark Masters, a Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, a Great Priory of Knights Templars, and a Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. A few years after the revival a Committee on Charity was formed and since then Masonic schools have been founded for boys and girls and institutions for the aged and infirm.