Three Centuries of the Craft

Vocabulary · 8

1717: Premier Grand Lodge

Four London lodges meet at the Goose and Gridiron alehouse and form what becomes the Grand Lodge of England. The published date that opens the era of organized speculative Masonry; the Anniversary of Freemasonry is reckoned from it.

1723: Anderson's Constitutions

The published first edition of The Constitutions of the Free-Masons. Rev. James Anderson, on commission of the Grand Lodge, codifies the Old Charges and the Charges of a Free-Mason. The book becomes the legal foundation of every regular Grand Lodge after it.

1751: Antients

A second London Grand Lodge is formed by Masons (largely Irish) who hold that the Moderns have departed from the old ways. The Antients call themselves Antient because they keep what they regard as the original usages. Sixty-two years of rivalry follow.

1813: Union

The Antients and Moderns merge as the United Grand Lodge of England. The reconciled ritual that emerges from the Lodge of Reconciliation becomes the source from which most American workings descend. The published date is foundational for almost every Grand Lodge in the English-speaking world.

1843: Baltimore Convention

American Grand Lodges meet in Baltimore to harmonize the lectures, signs, and modes of working. The Convention does not impose uniformity, but it standardizes much, and it is the published forerunner of MSANA and of the present pattern of inter-jurisdictional cooperation.

1877: Grand Lodge of New Mexico

The Grand Lodge of New Mexico is constituted at Santa Fe by published authority from three constituent Lodges: Montezuma No. 1 (Santa Fe), Chapman No. 2 (Las Vegas), and Aztec No. 3 (Las Cruces). The state of New Mexico's Masonic life dates from this constitution.

1918: MSANA

The Masonic Service Association of North America is founded as a published service body of the American Grand Lodges, in response to the First World War. Since 1952 it has run the Hospital Visitation Program in VA hospitals.

2017: Tercentenary

The three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Grand Lodge of England, observed in published proceedings, scholarly publications, and ceremonies across the regular Masonic world.

Sequences · 1

Practice questions · 6

1. In what year was the Premier Grand Lodge (of England) formed?

   • a. 1717 ✓
   • b. 1723
   • c. 1751
   • d. 1813

2. What did Anderson publish in 1723?

   • a. The Old Charges
   • b. The Constitutions of the Free-Masons ✓
   • c. The Book of the Lodge
   • d. The Master's Hand-book

3. What event of 1813 is foundational for almost every English-speaking Grand Lodge?

   • a. The publication of Anderson's third edition
   • b. The Union of the Antients and Moderns into the United Grand Lodge of England ✓
   • c. The first American Grand Lodge
   • d. The Baltimore Convention

4. What did the 1843 Baltimore Convention do?

   • a. Founded the Grand Lodge of New Mexico
   • b. Imposed a single ritual on all American Grand Lodges
   • c. Met to harmonize the lectures and modes of working among American Grand Lodges ✓
   • d. Created MSANA

5. In what year was the Grand Lodge of New Mexico constituted?

   • a. 1851
   • b. 1877 ✓
   • c. 1898
   • d. 1912

6. What anniversary was observed in 2017 across the regular Masonic world?

   • a. The bicentennial of Anderson's Constitutions
   • b. The tercentenary of the founding of the Grand Lodge of England ✓
   • c. The centennial of MSANA
   • d. The bicentennial of the Union