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Liber XXV · Secret Societies

Liber XXV · Secret Societies · Chapter II: Freemasonry

Anderson's Constitutions (1723): The Charges of Freemasonry

Anderson's Constitutions of the Free-Masons (1723) explained: James Anderson, the legendary history from Adam, the six Charges and the Regulations.

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The Constitutions of the Free-Masons, compiled by the Scottish Presbyterian minister James Anderson and published in London in 1723, was the first official book of the Premier Grand Lodge of London. It set out a legendary history of masonry reaching back to Adam, six "Charges" defining the duties of a Freemason, and the General Regulations governing lodges. Its first Charge, which obliged Masons only to "that religion in which all men agree", made Freemasonry a meeting place for men of different confessions and remains the most debated sentence in Masonic history.

James Anderson and the Commission of 1721§

James Anderson (c. 1679–1739) was born in Aberdeen, where his father was a member of the local masons' lodge, and studied at Marischal College. He moved to London and became minister of a Presbyterian congregation in Swallow Street, Westminster. He was a learned writer with interests in history and genealogy, and later produced a large genealogical work on the royal house.

In 1721, under its first noble Grand Master, John, Duke of Montagu, the Premier Grand Lodge of London judged the old manuscript Constitutions of the craft to be faulty and ordered Anderson to digest them in a new and better form. A committee of brethren examined his draft, and after some amendments the Grand Lodge approved it. The book was printed in 1723 for the booksellers John Senex and John Hooke, dated in Masonic style "in the Year of Masonry 5723", and dedicated to Montagu in a preface signed by John Theophilus Desaguliers, the former Grand Master and Newtonian lecturer.

The frontispiece§

The book opened with an engraving by John Pine showing two Grand Masters, Montagu and his successor the Duke of Wharton, in a classical arcade, one handing the other the roll of the Constitutions and a pair of compasses, with Desaguliers and other officers in attendance. It presented the Grand Lodge as an orderly, aristocratic and learned institution in the Augustan style.

The Legendary History: From Adam to Augustan London§

The first part of the book is a "History" of masonry, adapted from the medieval Old Charges but much expanded. Anderson declared that Adam must have had the liberal sciences, and geometry above all, written on his heart by his Creator, and traced the art through Noah and his sons, the builders of Babel, the Egyptians, and above all the building of Solomon's Temple, where King Solomon, Hiram King of Tyre and the master craftsman Hiram Abiff led the work. From there the narrative passes to Greece, Euclid and Pythagoras, to the Roman architect Vitruvius and the Emperor Augustus, and then to Britain, where Saxon and English kings are presented as patrons of masons.

The history culminates in praise of the classical style of Inigo Jones and the architecture of Augustan London. It is not history in the modern sense. It belongs to a long tradition in which crafts and corporations gave themselves ancient and sacred origins, and it reflects the eighteenth-century taste for Vitruvian architecture and ancient wisdom. Historians value it chiefly as evidence for how the new Grand Lodge wished to see itself.

The Six Charges of a Free-Mason§

The heart of the book is "The Charges of a Free-Mason", extracted, Anderson said, from ancient records of lodges overseas and in Britain. There are six:

  • I. Concerning God and Religion: a Mason must obey the moral law and, rightly understanding the art, "will never be a stupid Atheist, nor an irreligious Libertine".
  • II. Of the Civil Magistrate Supreme and Subordinate: a Mason is a peaceable subject who never takes part in plots against the state; a brother who rebels is not to be countenanced, but he is not expelled from the lodge for that alone.
  • III. Of Lodges: members must be good and true men, freeborn and of mature age; bondmen, women and men of immoral or scandalous life are excluded.
  • IV. Of Masters, Wardens, Fellows and Apprentices: preferment is based on merit, not seniority.
  • V. Of the Management of the Craft in Working: rules for honest labour, drawn from the operative tradition.
  • VI. Of Behaviour: conduct in the lodge, after it closes, among strangers and at home, including a ban on quarrels about religion, nations or politics within the lodge.

"That religion in which all men agree"§

The first Charge explains that in ancient times Masons were required to follow the religion of their country, but that it is now thought more expedient to oblige them only to "that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves", that is, to be good and honest men, whatever their denomination. This formula has been read in several ways: as Protestant latitudinarianism, which sought peace between Anglicans and Dissenters; as a cautious form of deism or natural religion; or as a practical rule for keeping sectarian disputes out of a sociable club. Most historians see it as typical of the moderate Whig and Newtonian circles around the early Grand Lodge, rather than as a radical statement against Christianity.

The General Regulations§

The second major section contains thirty-nine General Regulations, which Anderson attributes to George Payne, Grand Master in 1720. They set out how the Grand Lodge was to be governed: the annual election of a Grand Master and Grand Wardens on St John's Day, the appointment of a Deputy Grand Master, quarterly communications of the masters and wardens of lodges, the requirement that new lodges be constituted with the Grand Master's authority, and limits on how many men a lodge could make at once. They also provided for a general charity fund for distressed brethren. These rules created the constitutional framework that still defines "regular" Grand Lodges. The book closed with a set of Masonic songs, including the "Enter'd Prentice's Song" by Matthew Birkhead.

The 1738 Edition and the Story of 1717§

In 1738 Anderson published The New Book of Constitutions, considerably expanded. Its history was longer and more fanciful, naming Sir Christopher Wren among the past Grand Masters, which has no contemporary support. Most importantly, it contained the first detailed narrative of the founding of the Grand Lodge in 1716–1717 by four London lodges, and lists of Grand Masters and officers since then. Because no minutes survive from before 1723, almost everything known about 1717 depends on this later and not always reliable account.

The 1738 edition also slightly reworded the first Charge, describing a Mason as a "true Noachida", a follower of the laws given to Noah, a phrase that suggested a universal religion common to all humanity.

Influence of Anderson's Constitutions§

The Constitutions became the model for Masonic rule books across the world. Benjamin Franklin reprinted the 1723 text in Philadelphia in 1734, making it the first Masonic book printed in America, and translations appeared in Dutch, French and German. The rival "Antients" Grand Lodge of 1751 produced its own book, Ahiman Rezon (1756), which criticised the "Moderns" and adopted a more explicitly Christian tone, but it still borrowed heavily from Anderson.

The religious clause continued to provoke debate. The Catholic Church condemned Freemasonry in 1738, partly because of its indifference to confessional differences. In 1877 the Grand Orient of France removed the obligation to believe in God, and the United Grand Lodge of England responded by withdrawing recognition, a division between "regular" and "liberal" Freemasonry that persists today. Opponents of Freemasonry, from the critics of the Bavarian Illuminati onward, have often cited the first Charge as evidence of a hidden anti-Christian agenda, a reading historians reject. For the wider history of the fraternity, see our guide to Freemasonry.

Frequently asked questions§

What are Anderson's Constitutions?§

They are The Constitutions of the Free-Masons, published in London in 1723 by the Premier Grand Lodge and compiled by James Anderson. The book contains a legendary history of masonry, six Charges defining a Freemason's duties, and the General Regulations of the Grand Lodge.

Who was James Anderson?§

James Anderson (c. 1679–1739) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister from Aberdeen who served a congregation in London. He compiled the 1723 Constitutions at the Grand Lodge's request and an expanded edition in 1738.

What does "the religion in which all men agree" mean?§

It is the phrase in the first Charge requiring Masons to be good and honest men while leaving their particular religious opinions to themselves. It allowed members of different churches to meet in lodges, and has been interpreted as anything from Protestant tolerance to natural religion or deism.

Why is the 1738 edition important?§

The 1738 New Book of Constitutions contains the only detailed account of the founding of the Grand Lodge in 1717. Because it was written two decades later and includes unreliable claims, historians use it with caution.

Sources and further reading§