THE ARCANE SCHOOLS - Fort Myers Beach Masonic Lodge No. 362

forever memorable in the history of men! The man who wrote that
document, did we know his name, is entitled to be held till the end
of time in the grateful and venerative memory of his race. The temper
of the times was all for relentless partisanship, both in religion and
in politics. The alternative offered in religion was an ecclesiastical
tyranny, allowing a certain liberty of belief, or a doctrinal tyranny,
allowing a slight liberty of worship; a sad choice in truth. It is,
then, to the everlasting honor of the century, that, in the midst of
its clashing extremes, the Masons appeared with heads unbowed,
abjuring both tyrannies and championing both liberties.[115]
Ecclesiastically and doctrinally they stood in the open, while
Romanist and Protestant, Anglican and Puritan, Calvinist and Arminian
waged bitter war, filling the air with angry maledictions. These men
of latitude in a cramped age felt pent up alike by narrowness of
ritual and by narrowness of creed, and they cried out for room and
air, for liberty and charity!
Though differences of creed played no part in Masonry, nevertheless it
held religion in high esteem, and was then, as now, the steadfast
upholder of the only two articles of faith that never were invented by
man--the existence of God and the immortality of the soul!
Accordingly, every Lodge was opened and closed with prayer to the
"Almighty Architect of the universe;" and when a Lodge of mourning met
in memory of a brother fallen asleep, the formula was: "He has passed
over into the eternal East,"--to that region whence cometh light and
hope. Unsectarian in religion, the Masons were also non-partisan in
politics: one principle being common to them all--love of country,
respect for law and order, and the desire for human welfare.[116] Upon
that basis the first Grand Lodge was founded, and upon that basis
Masonry rests today--holding that a unity of spirit is better than a
uniformity of opinion, and that beyond the great and simple "religion
in which all men agree" no dogma is worth a breach of charity.
II
With honorable pride in this tradition of spiritual faith and
intellectual freedom, we are all the more eager to recite such facts
as are known about the organization of the first Grand Lodge. How many
Lodges of Masons existed in London at that time is a matter of
conjecture, but there must have been a number. What bond, if any,
united them, other than their esoteric secrets and customs, is equally
unknown. Nor is there any record to tell us whether all the Lodges in
and about London were invited to join in the movement. Unfortunately
the minutes of the Grand Lodge only commence on June 24, 1723, and our
only history of the events is that found in _The New Book of
Constitutions_, by Dr. James Anderson, in 1738. However, if not an
actor in the scene, he was in a position to know the facts from
eye-witnesses, and his book was approved by the Grand Lodge itself.
His account is so brief that it may be given as it stands:
/#[4,66]
King George I enter'd _London_ most magnificently on _20
Sept. 1714_. And after the Rebellion was over A.D. 1716, the
few _Lodges_ at _London_ finding themselves neglected by Sir
_Christopher Wren_, thought fit to cement under a _Grand
Master_ as the Centre of Union and Harmony, _viz._, the