The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

Chapter 7 - Rituals 589
workings is Odd-fellowship, the hidden name in the white stone, which
he knoweth best who most truly possesses it. 1535
Among all the non-Masonic orders reviewed in this dissertation, the
International Order of Odd Fellows has been found to show the most striking
resemblance to the Masonic institution. Among secret societies, the I.O.O.F. is
probably the most important one next to Freemasonry. "This was the start of
what is sometimes called 'poor man's Masonry' since the Odd Fellows have
neither the influence, wealth, numbers, or antiquity of the Masonic Lodges." 1536
Masonry and Odd Fellowship bear a certain spiritual affinity to each other, a fact
that has been observed by Masonic authorities and historians of the Odd Fellows
alike. This similarity becomes evident when we consider the attempts to attribute
to said organizations an ancient history and mythology by tracing both of them
back to sources like the mysteries of Egypt, or even further back in time, to Noah
or Paradise. Thus, we read in a critical statement appearing in an illustrated
history of Odd Fellowship, dated 1897:
The learned men of the Masonic Fraternity have, for many years,
written at great length upon the antiquities or early societies from which
that organization is claimed by some to have descended. During the
formative period of Odd Fellowship in America the "fathers" pursued a
like investigation, and some of them put forth as preposterous claims for
the Odd Fellows as ever adorned the pages of alleged histories of
Freemasonry. 1537
Since Freemasonry is the older institution (speculative Masonry dating back
to 1717), Odd Fellowship (instituted in 1812) must be the one that has
assimilated certain characteristics of the other. The similarity between
Freemasonry and Odd Fellowship becomes already clear when comparing the
symbols used in both orders, which are for a great part identical. Note also the
resemblance of the two self-definitions of the institutions: the famous Masonic
self-interpretation is to be "a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and
illustrated by symbols." Equally, the Odd Fellows say of themselves: "Our
1535 Quoted from Grosh's Manual in Revised Oddfellowship Illustrated, p. 96. Note the keywords,
which we have marked in bold print. These are the similarities that we will compare with
Freemasonry. The symbol of the "white stone" on which appears the famous hidden name was also
taken from Masonry.
1536 Quoted after Whalen by Schmidt, p. 35.
1537 Stillson, The History and Literature of Odd Fellowship, p. 38. For example, one of these
ridiculous said "origins" of Oddfellowship was the "Roman Camp Legend," according to which the
Order was first established by the Roman soldiers in camp during the reign of Nero, in the year 55.
They were called "Fellow-citizens," and Titus Cœsar is said to have given them the name of Odd
Fellows in the year 79 (cf. Stillson, p. 46). Even further back in time goes Wildey, the American
founder of the order himself, by seeing Adam as the founder of the order (cf. Revised
Oddfellowship Illustrated, p. 21-22).