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

[135] A deputation of the Hamburg Lodge initiated Frederick--afterwards
Frederick the Great of Prussia--into the order of Masons at Brunswick,
August 14, 1738 (_Frederick and his Times_, by Campbell, _History of
Frederick_, by Carlyle, Findel's _History of Masonry_). Other noblemen
followed his example, and their zeal for the order gave a new date to
the history of Masonry in Germany. When Frederick ascended the throne,
in 1740, the Craft was honored, and it flourished in his kingdom. As to
the interest of Frederick in the order in his later years, the facts
are not clear, but that he remained its friend seems certain (Mackey,
_Encyclopedia_). However, the Craft underwent many vicissitudes in
Germany, a detailed account of which Findel recites (_History of
Masonry_). Few realize through what frightful persecutions Masonry has
passed in many lands, owing in part to its secrecy, but in larger part
to its principle of civil and religious liberty. Whenever that story is
told, as it surely will be, men everywhere will pay homage to the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons as friends of mankind.
[136] This letter was the property of Horace W. Smith, Philadelphia.
John Moore was the father of William Moore, whose daughter became the
wife of Provost Smith, who was a Mason in 1775, and afterward Grand
Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, and whose son was Grand
Master of Masons in Pennsylvania in 1796 and 1797 (_History of
Freemasonry_, by Hughan and Stillson).
[137] _Ibid_, chapter on "Early American Masonic History."
[138] _Benjamin Franklin as a Free Mason_, by J.F. Sachse. Oddly
enough, there is no mention of Masonry by Franklin in his
_Autobiography_, or in any of his letters, with but two exceptions, so
far as known; which is the more remarkable when we look at his Masonic
career in France during the later years of his life, where he was
actively and intimately associated with the order, even advancing to
the higher degrees. Never for a day did he abate by one jot his
interest in the order, or his love for it.
[139] This injunction was made doubly strong in the edition of the
_Book of Constitutions_, in 1738. For example: "no quarrels about
nations, families, religion or politics must by any means or under any
color or pretense whatever be brought within the door of the Lodge....
Masons being of all nations upon the square, level and plumb; and like
our predecessors in all ages, we are resolved against political
disputes," etc.
[140] Masons have sometimes been absurdly called "Protestant Jesuits,"
but the two orders are exactly opposite in spirit, principle, purpose,
and method. All that they have in common is that they are both _secret_
societies, which makes it plain that the opposition of the Latin church
to Masonry is not on the ground of its being a secret order, else why
sanction the Jesuits, to name no other? The difference has been stated
in this way: "Opposite poles these two societies are, for each
possesses precisely those qualities which the other lacks. The Jesuits
are strongly centralized, the Freemasons only confederated. Jesuits are
controlled by one man's will, Freemasons are under majority rule.
Jesuits bottom morality in expediency, Freemasons in regard for the
well-being of mankind. Jesuits recognize only one creed, Freemasons
hold in respect all honest convictions. Jesuits seek to break down