promoting a “Universal Reformation of Mankind,” gave rise to an enthusiasm called by its historian, Dame Frances Yates, the “Rosicrucian Enlightenment.” Rosicrucianism was associated with Protestantism (Lutheranism in particular), and the manifestos opposed Roman Catholicism. They traced their philosophy and science to the Moors, asserting that it had been kept secret for 120 years until the intellectual climate might receive it. You will remember that the Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 711 A.D. and called the territory Al-Andalus, an area which at its peak included what is today Gibraltar, most of Spain and Portugal, and parts of Southern France. We see that both the Kabbalists and the Moors had a strong presence in Spain. According to historian David Stevenson, Rosicrucianism was also influential to Freemasonry as it was emerging in Scotland. It is noteworthy that in some Masonic writings as early as the 18th century and even, I believe in the Regius Manuscript, reference is made to “Brethren of the Rosy Cross.”
• A Product of the “Enlightenment” The Enlightenment or Age of Reason was a cultural movement of intellectuals beginning in late 17th Century Western Europe emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It spread across Europe and to the United States, continuing to the end of the 18th Century. It was mainly sparked by philosophers such as Francis Bacon (15621626), René Descartes (1596-1650), Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), John Locke (1632–1704), Voltaire (1694–1778), and Isaac Newton (1643–1727). It was later very successful in the United States, where its influence was manifested in the works of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Margaret C. Jacob, in both her books, The Origins of Freemasonry: Fact and Fiction and The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons, and Republicans, suggests that Speculative Freemasonry came about when the original Operative Lodges began to lose their corner on the building labor market. She theorizes that when this happened, the membership in the guilds began to decline until it became untenable to maintain the finances of the institution. Rocky Mountain Mason
They then invited gentlemen from the nobility and from the merchant classes to join the Lodges in order to maintain financial viability. These new “speculative” members soon took over and turned the lodges into a forum to discuss the ideas of the Enlightenment, both scientific and philosophical. An amazing number of these famous men were active in both Freemasonry and the Enlightenment and many were also members of the Royal Society. These include Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Robert Moray (who was associated with Bacon and Descartes), and Elias Ashmole, who dabbled in alchemy with Sir Isaac Newton. Certainly these men were of sufficient intellect and possessed the knowledge necessary to compose the rituals of some of our ceremonies. They also had a great interest in esoteric studies. Newton wrote more pieces on esoteric subjects than scientific ones, although that fact is not widely known. These four theories; that Freemasonry was founded by King Solomon of Israel, that it Evolved from Operative Masonry, that it resulted from the Templars Resurrected, and that it is A Product of the “Enlightenment,” are by far the most popular among the brethren today.
• Summary There are other theories and convolutions of the ones I have already mentioned. Some believe that Freemasonry originated with Adam, himself. Others are quite sure that it originated with the Egyptians and make a pretty good case for Moses being an exiled Pharaoh mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts. It is said that Moses carried the hidden traditions of the Egyptian Priestly cast into the land of Canaan where it was transmitted through the Essenes to Jesus Christ himself and that remnants of these secrets were rediscovered under the temple mound at Jerusalem by the Templars and then transmitted to the Freemasons with the assistance of the Saracens. There are those who trace our origin to the Egyptian legend of Hermes and still others who insist that our philosophy as well as our practices originated in the mystery religions of ancient Rome. Some believe that the knowledge encrypted by our ritual was transmitted
throughout the Mediterranean geography by the sailing Phoenicians. It has been suggested that Freemasonry is really only a front for a group established to preserve the Holy bloodline of Jesus Christ referred to as the true Holy Grail. Others connect our origins to the Druids and the builders of ancient marvels such as those at Newgrange or Stonehenge. It would seem to some that all the famous men in ancient history were indeed Freemasons! Certainly, if you consider Freemasonry a system of philosophy, as I do, it seems the institution has benefitted from most of the great thinking men of history, both ancient and modern. We tend to think of those who came before us as less sophisticated, less educated, and less intelligent than modern man, but I would point out to you that in our environment today, we are so distracted with furious activity and information overload, that we seldom take the time just to stop and think. In this respect, those who have come before us had a distinct advantage. Whoever founded our institution had a brilliant idea that if a group of like-minded men of goodwill were to set about in an organized way to discover and act upon the immutable and fundamental laws which govern the interaction of humans living together in a society; the causes and effects of human behavior; that great things could be accomplished for mankind. I truly believe that the very existence of our nation is a direct or an indirect result of this experiment. As the world’s population continues to increase and we are forced to live closer and closer to each other, the natural tendency is for man to become less and less civil. Whoever they were, do you think our ancient founding Brethren realized this and anticipated the need for the solutions which our institution offers? This explanation seems more likely to me than that of some random evolution of a labor union or military order into an institution which has such a potential beneficial impact upon mankind at large. I believe the more interesting question is not so much where we come from, but where we are going, and the answer to that question, my Brethren, is in your hands alone.
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