The Masonic Rituals

61 It has to be recognised that Freemasons and non-Masons alike experience some difficulty in giving an accurate interpretation of current Masonic ritual in the almost total absence of substantial evidence of the reasoning lying behind its development and elaboration in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This will become only too apparent when the Royal Arch Ritual is discussed later in this Report. Conscious of their obligation not to publicise the secrets and proceedings of Freemasonry, neither the Lodge of Promulgation (authorised by the premier Grand Lodge in 1809 to examine the differences between its own rituals and those of the Antients Grand Lodge) nor the Lodge of Reconciliation (authorised after the Union to complete the reconciliation of the two systems and bring about a standard form of ritual) committed their deliberations to paper.

62 ‘As the revisions of the Lodge of Reconciliation were not officially written down and not allowed to be published the new system was passed on by demonstration and word of mouth’ (The Craft, p67). It needs little imagination to envisage the differences and divergences of intention, and obfuscation of interpretation this could lead to! Grand Lodge took so strongly the view that no attempt should be made to commit to print the rituals it approved in 1816 and 1827 that it was not until the 1870s that printed books of rituals began to become generally accepted. As has been noted earlier (para. 46) it was not until 1969 that the Emulation Lodge of Improvement (which since 1823 has been concerned, first by lectures and later by demonstration, to ensure the practice of an approved Ritual form without permitting alteration) first published its own Emulation Ritual (Emulation Ritual 1985, pp.l3-16).

63 When, therefore, Emulation Lodge itself comments ‘it may well be thought that our ritual proceedings should, periodically, be brought up to date’ (ibid., p.13), one has to ask not only In what respects and for what reason?, but also What was the interpretation placed on the old rituals by the original United Grand Lodge which originally prompted them to give their approval? These are questions which it is difficult to answer since it is not certain precisely what was approved — or why!

64 The rituals themselves are allegorical dramas based on the partly factual, partly fictional history of King Solomon’s temple; the work of Hiram Abiff ‘its chief architect’ and the Master Mason in command of the construction of the temple; the story of his murder; and, in the Holy Royal Arch ritual, the discovery in the foundations of his ruined temple of the ‘omnific word’ — the lost name of God. Each ceremony lasts about an hour and is delivered from memory — no mean feat!

65 The intended teaching of the ceremonies is briefly:

(a) Admission as an Entered Apprentice: man’s natural equality and dependence on others; his civil and moral duties

(b) Passing to the degree of Fellow Craft: the study of Nature and Science; the rewards of labour

(d) Admission as a Companion in the Royal Arch: awareness of man’s relationship to God

(e) Installation as Master of a Lodge: duty to administer and teach.

66 The origins of the rituals cannot be dealt with quite so briefly, not least because of the problems referred to in paras. 61, 62 and 63. However we have some insight from the ‘Explanation of the First Degree Tracing Board’ given in Emulation Ritual:

The usage and customs among Freemasons have ever borne a near affinity to those of the Ancient Egyptians. Their philosophers, unwilling to expose their mysteries to vulgar eyes, couched systems of learning and polity under signs and hieroglyphical figures, which were communicated to their chief priests or Magi alone, who were bound by solemn oath to conceal them. The system of Pythagoras was founded on a similar principle, as well as many others of more recent date.

This is interesting as a gloss on the answer given by a candidate for Passing to the question ‘What is Freemasonry?’: ‘A peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols’ (Emulation Ritual, pp. 107-8). Its emphasis comes as some surprise to those more familiar with the view that, originally, Masonic ritual in England had specifically Christian overtones.

67 The re-enactment of ancient ceremonies is, of course, not unique to Freemasonry. Bardic Circles are regularly involved in doing this. Nor is Masonic ritual unique in being syncretistic — a word perhaps more generally feared by Masons and non-Masons alike than clearly understood. But the questions most often asked about them are, Do these rituals add up to a form of worship? If so, what is the nature of the God to whom it is directed? Is Freemasonry in fact and effect a religion?

68 In the evidence submitted to the Working Group by the Grand Lodge, it is explicitly stated that ‘there is no worship involved in

Masonic rituals’. The Working Group find this impossible to accept in the light of the evidence of Emulation Ritual:

(a) In the Opening of the First Degree the assistance of the G A O T U is explicitly invoked:

let us invoke the assistance of the Great Architect of the Universe in all our undertakings... Brethren, in the name of the Great Architect of the Universe I declare the Lodge duly open...

(b) There is a prayer (headed as such) in the Emulation Ritual for the First Degree:

Vouchsafe Thine aid, Almighty Father and Supreme Governor of the Universe, to our present convention, and grant that this Candidate for Freemasonry may so dedicate and devote his life to Thy service as to become a true and faithful brother among us. Endue him with a competency of Thy divine wisdom, that, assisted by the secrets of our Masonic art, he may the better be enabled to unfold the beauties of true godliness, to the honour and glory of Thy Holy Name.

(c) In the Second Degree, there are references to ‘the help of God’ and ‘the blessing of Heaven’; there is an actual Prayer:

We supplicate the continuance of Thine aid, O merciful Lord, on behalf of ourselves and him who kneels before Thee. May the work begun in Thy Name be continued to Thy Glory and evermore established in us by obedience to Thy precepts.

(d) In the Third Degree, the help of God and the blessing of Heaven are invoked and again prayers are addressed to:

Almighty and Eternal God, Architect and Ruler of the Universe, at Whose creative fiat all things first were made.

69 What is specially noticeable, and for some who submitted evidence specially objectionable, about some of the phrases and prayers incorporated into the rituals, is the incorporation of familiar Christian prayers and phrases denuded of their normal Christian reference. For example, in the ritual of the Third Degree, the Worshipful Master implores ‘Almighty and Eternal God, Architect and Ruler of the Universe.., to pour down on this convocation assembled in Thy Holy Name the continual dew of Thy blessing’. The Opening Ceremony of the Aldersgate Ritual for the Royal Arch actually commences with a prayer even more familiar: ‘Omnipotent God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love Thee and worthily magnify Thy Holy Name’. But then the words "through Christ our Lord… are omitted. The same ceremony is closed with the words ‘Glory be to God on High — On earth, peace — Goodwill towards men’ with no reference to the Gospel from which the words are derived. Christian opponents of Freemasonry frequently assert that this conscious and deliberate exclusion of a reference to Jesus Christ in the rituals is at the heart of their claim that Freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity.

70 Freemasons firmly reject the suggestion that not merely the absence, but the deletion, of the name of Christ from their rituals constitutes a denial of him. ‘As Freemasonry is not a religion or a substitute for it, there is no reason why the name of Christ should be mentioned in its rituals’ (evidence from the United Grand Lodge). It could just as reasonably be argued that, this being the case, it is unwise, to say the least, to pluck phrases and prayers from undeniable and recognisable Christian liturgies. The identification of the one with the other is too natural, and too misleading in the light of Freemasonry’s claim that its rituals ‘do not amount to the practice of religion’.

71 Of course there is nothing unusual in attaching different meanings to the same word, but on any definition "worship" is clearly taken to mean homage or honour paid to God. There is something very confusing, and indeed confused, about the insistence that Masonic ritual does not contain any element of worship: ‘prayers in Masonic context are not acts of worship but the simple asking for a blessing at the beginning of work and returning thanks at its successful conclusion.’ But prayers in Freemasonry are integral to the Rituals; is this therefore not rather a Humpty-Dumpty use of language? In ordinary usage, can such prayer be distinguished from worship?

72 Even if, for the sake of argument, such a distinction were possible, there are many who would press the point that prayers from which all reference to Christ have been deliberately excised are an offence to the Christian belief that none come to God save through Jesus Christ our Lord; and for some it would appear to be a denial of the divinity of Christ.