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Masonic Landmarks
Masonic landmarks are a set of principles that many Freemasons claim to be ancient and unchangeable precepts of Masonry. Issues of the "regularity" of a Freemasonic Lodge, Grand Lodge or Grand Orient are judged in the context of the landmarks. Because each Grand Lodge is self-governing, with no single body exercising authority over the whole of Freemasonry, the interpretations of these principles can and do vary, leading to controversies of recognition. Different Masonic jurisdictions have different landmarks. Origins According to Percy Jantz, the Masonic term ''landmark'' has biblical origins. He cites the Book of Proverbs 22:28: "Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set", referring to stone pillars set to mark boundaries of land. He further quotes a Jewish law: "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbors' landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance" to emphasize how these Landmarks designate inheritance. Albert Mackey Expands on the above histor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freemasonry
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizations in history. Modern Freemasonry broadly consists of three main traditions: *Anglo-American Freemasonry, Anglo-American style Freemasonry, which insists that a "volume of sacred law", such as the Bible, Quran, or other religious text be open in a working Masonic lodge, lodge, that every member professes belief in a God, supreme being, that only men be admitted, and discussion of religion or politics does not take place within the lodge. *Continental Freemasonry or Liberal Freemasonry which has continued to evolve beyond these restrictions, particularly regarding religious belief and political discussion. *Co-Freemasonry, Women Freemasonry or Co-Freemasonry, which includes organizations that either admit women exclusively (such as the Ord ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masonic Ritual And Symbolism
Masonic ritual is the scripted words and actions that are spoken or performed during the degree work in a Masonic lodge. Masonic symbolism is that which is used to illustrate the principles which Freemasonry espouses. Masonic ritual has appeared in a number of contexts within literature (for example: " The Man Who Would Be King", by Rudyard Kipling, and '' War and Peace'', by Leo Tolstoy). Purpose Freemasonry is described in its own ritual as a "Beautiful and profound system of morality, veiled in allegories and illustrated by symbols". The symbolism of Freemasonry is found throughout the Masonic lodge, and contains many of the working tools of a medieval or renaissance stonemason. The whole system is transmitted to initiates through the medium of Masonic ritual, which consists of lectures and allegorical plays. Common to all of Freemasonry is the three grade system of ''Craft'' or '' Blue Lodge'' freemasonry, whose allegory is centred on the building of the Temple of Solomon, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roscoe Pound
Nathan Roscoe Pound (October 27, 1870 – June 28, 1964) was an American legal scholar and educator. He served as dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law from 1903 to 1911 and was dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936. He was a member of Northwestern University, the University of Chicago Law School and the faculty at UCLA School of Law in the school's early years, from 1949 to 1952. '' The Journal of Legal Studies'' has identified Pound as one of the most cited legal scholars of the 20th century. Early life and education Pound was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Stephen Bosworth Pound and Laura Pound. His sister was the noted linguist and folklorist, Louise Pound. Pound studied botany at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where he became a member of the Acacia fraternity. He received his bachelor's degree in 1888 and his master's degree in 1889. In 1889 he began the study of law; he spent one year at Harvard but never received a law degree. Following his ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tyler (Masonic)
Tyler (also spelled Tiler) is the name of the office of ''outer guard'' of a Masonic Lodge. Masonic lodges may meet in rooms in taverns and other public meeting places, and all Lodges appoint a Tyler to guard the door from the outside against ineligible masons or malicious or curious people, to check the eligibility of latecomers, and to ensure that candidates for ceremonies in the Lodge are properly prepared. Although a junior Officer of the Lodge and often a highly experienced Past Master, he may often be considered akin to a sergeant: in some cases the Tyler may not be an unpaid member of the lodge, but a mason from another lodge employed for the purpose. Other duties often involve preparing the room for meetings, supplying regalia and equipment, serving as bar steward or acting as permanent, and sometimes resident, caretaker of the furniture and premises. Duties of the post In some Jurisdictions the Tyler is appointed by the Worshipful Master, while in others he is elected ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Worshipful Master
In Craft Freemasonry, sometimes known as Blue Lodge Freemasonry, every Masonic lodge elects or appoints Masonic lodge officers to execute the necessary functions of the lodge's life and work. The precise list of such offices may vary between the jurisdictions of different Grand Lodges, although certain factors are common to all, and others are usual in most. All of the lodges in a given nation, state, or region are united under the authority of a Grand Lodge sovereign to its own jurisdiction. Most of the lodge offices listed below have equivalent offices in the Grand Lodge, but with the addition of the word "Grand" somewhere in the title. For example, every lodge has an officer called the "Junior Warden", whilst the Grand Lodge has a "Grand Junior Warden" (sometimes "Junior Grand Warden"). A very small number of offices may exist only at the Grand Lodge level – such offices are included at the end of this article. There are few universal rules common to all Grand Lodge jurisdict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Master (Masonic)
A Grand Master is a title of honour as well as an office in Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ..., given to a freemason elected to oversee a Masonic jurisdiction, derived from the office of Grand Masters in chivalric orders. He presides over a Grand Lodge and has certain rights in the constituent Lodges that form his jurisdiction. In most cases, the Grand Master is styled "Most Worshipful Grand Master." One example of a differing title exists in the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, where the Grand Master is titled "Right Worshipful". Under the Grand Lodge of Scotland, the role is titled "Grand Master Mason". Deputies Just as the Worshipful Master of a Lodge annually appoints lodge officers to assist him, so the Grand Master of each Grand Lodge annua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiram Abiff
Hiram Abiff (also Hiram Abif or the Widow's son) is the central character of an allegory presented to all candidates during the third Masonic degrees, degree in Freemasonry. Hiram is presented as the chief architect of Solomon's Temple, King Solomon's Temple. He is murdered inside this Temple by three ruffians, after they failed to obtain from him the Master Masons' secrets. The themes of the allegory are the importance of fidelity, and the certainty of death. The Masonic legend of Hiram Abiff The legend of Hiram Abiff as related in Anglo-American Masonic jurisdictions underpins the Third Degree and first appeared in the early 1720s. It generally starts with his arrival in Jerusalem, and his appointment by Solomon as chief architect and master of works at the construction of his temple. As the temple is nearing completion, three fellowcraft masons from the workforce ambush him as he leaves the building, demanding the secrets of a master mason. Hiram is challenged by each in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Oliver (freemason)
George Oliver, D.D. (1782–1867) was an English cleric, schoolmaster, Topography, topographer, and writer on freemasonry. Life He was eldest son of Samuel Oliver, rector of Lambley, Nottinghamshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of George Whitehead, of Blyth Spital in the same county. He was born at Papplewick, Nottinghamshire, on 5 November 1782, and, after receiving a liberal education at Nottingham, he became in 1803 second master of Caistor grammar school. Six years afterwards he was appointed to the headmastership of Grimsby grammar school. Oliver was ordained deacon in 1813, and priest in 1814; and in July 1815 Bishop George Pretyman Tomline collated him to the living of Old Clee, Clee, when his name was placed on the boards of Trinity College, Cambridge, by Dr Bayley, subdean of Lincoln and examining chaplain to the bishop, as a ten-year man. In 1831 Bishop John Kaye (bishop), John Kaye gave him the rectory of Scopwick, Lincolnshire, which he held till his death. A Lambeth degr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Lodge
A Grand Lodge, also called Grand Orient, Obedience, or by another similar title, is a name for the overarching governing body of a fraternal or other similarly organized group in a given area, usually a city, state, or country. In Freemasonry A Grand Lodge, Grand Orient, or Obedience is the usual governing body of "Craft", "Blue Lodge", or "Symbolic" Freemasonry in a particular jurisdiction. The first Masonic Grand Lodge was established in England in 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster, soon to call itself the Grand Lodge of England. The head of a Grand Lodge is called the Grand Master, and the other officers of the Grand Lodge prefix "Grand" to the titles of Lodge officers. Many Grand Lodges have also established ''Provincial Grand Lodges'' as an organizational layer between themselves and member Lodges. In the United States, a Grand Lodge will often divide its area of control into "Districts" or "Regions." There is no central body to oversee all of the Grand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Premier Grand Lodge Of England
The organisation now known as the Premier Grand Lodge of England was founded on 24 June 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. Originally concerned with the practice of Freemasonry in London and Westminster, it soon became known as the Grand Lodge of England. Because it was the first Masonic Grand Lodge to be created, modern convention now calls it the Premier Grand Lodge of England in order to distinguish it from the ''Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted Masons according to the Old Constitutions'', usually referred to as the Ancient Grand Lodge of England, and the Grand Lodge of All England Meeting at York. It existed until 1813, when it united with the Ancient Grand Lodge of England to create the United Grand Lodge of England.Douglas Knoop, ''The Genesis of Freemasonry'', Manchester University Press, 1947 The basic principles of the Grand Lodge of England were inspired by the ideal of tolerance and universal understanding of the Enlightenm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitutions Of The Free-Masons
The history of Freemasonry encompasses the origins, evolution and defining events of the fraternal organisation known as Freemasonry. It covers three phases. Firstly, the emergence of organised lodges of Operative Freemasonry, operative masons during the Middle Ages, then the admission of lay members as "accepted" (a term reflecting the ceremonial "acception" process that made non-stone masons members of an operative lodge) or "speculative" masons, and finally the evolution of purely speculative lodges, and the emergence of Grand Lodges to govern them. The watershed in this process is generally taken to be the formation of the first Grand Lodge in London on the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian 24 June 1717. The two difficulties facing historians are the paucity of written material, even down to the 19th century, and the misinformation generated by masons and non-masons alike from the earliest years. Freemasonry's long history includes its early development from organised bodies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
