In 1723, the Presbyterian minister James Anderson( 1679 – 1739) published a book of constitutions, a mythical history of freemasonry that included various“ Charges” detailing its rules and regulations. The Constitutions can be regarded as a construction of a mythical and heroic past, as a narrative that construes a consistent history back to the infancy of man, since it stresses that this knowledge was passed on through all traditions and times, codified within the symbolic language of freemasonry. One of the last paragraphs reads:
“ In short, it would require many large Volumes to contain the many splendid Instances of the mighty Influence of Masonry from the Creation, in every Age, and in every Nation, as could be collected from Historians and Travellers […]” 3
James Anderson
perpetual Distance”. 4
Perhaps even more prominent is the first paragraph in Anderson’ s Charges defining freemasonry“ as a Center of Union, and the Means of conciliating true Friendship among Persons that must else have remain’ d at a
“ The whole world is no other than a great republic” – Ramsay’ s 1736 / 37“ Oration”
If the early concepts of autonomous territorial states are based upon mutually exclusive qualities, the concept of freemasonry implies a mutual integration of mankind under a joint ideological roof. This cosmopolitan approach becomes perfectly clear in an oration allegedly delivered at a lodge meeting in Paris in 1736 by the Scottish nobleman André Michel de Ramsay( 1686 – 1743) 5. Like Anderson, in his Discours he dates the origin of freemasonry back to pre-historical and biblical times. However,
paradigm” of a pre- and post-1717- history of freemasonry has to be abandoned. Jan Snoek in“ Researching Freemasonry: Where are we?” in CRFF Working Paper Series No. 2, Sheffield 2008; www. freemasonry. dept. shef. ac. uk / workingpapers. htm( accessed 1 June 2008) elaborates further upon the different approaches of research into freemasonry and the devastating effects of the so-called“ authentic school” inspired by Gould.
3
Quotation from the 1734 Benjamin Franklin edition of the Constitutions of the Free- Masons,( accessed 22 May 2008), digitalcommons. unl. edu / libraryscience / 25 /, p. 41f.
4
Constitutions of the Free-Masons,( accessed 22 May 2008), digitalcommons. unl. edu / libraryscience / 25 /, p. 48.
5
C. N. Batham:” Chevalier Ramsay: A New Appreciation” in Ars Quatuor Coronatum, Vol. 81( 1968), pp. 280 – 315 was one of the first to re-establish a proper understanding of one of the most influential figures in early French / European freemasonry. For a recent and eminent discussion on Ramsay and the rise of chivalric degrees in freemasonry see Pierre Mollier, La Chevalerie Maçonnique, Paris 2005, pp. 89-105. Here it becomes evident that perhaps alongside his famous oration, Ramsay’ s hitherto largely unknown Le Voyages de Cyrus( Paris 1727) plays a crucial roll for the imagination of chivalric motifs within freemasonry. Gould treats Ramsay’ s“ unlucky
speech” in Gould’ s History of Freemasonry, Pools 3rd Edition, London 1951, pp. 171-189. This edition is far easier to use than the original because of its splendid index.
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