MASONS AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT
Freemasonry was a primary instrument not just in the growth of scientific knowledge but also in morality and the opening the public mind to the enlightened view of man and nature. See Table 1 above and the figure below.
Freemasonry’s presence in the Enlightenment appears not only in its large contribution to the establishment of the Royal Society (9 of 22 of its most prominent contributors, including the King of the U.K. and Christopher Wren and Sir Robert Moray, the founder and a president of the Royal Society, respectively), but in its influence on the Enlightenment’s moral values.
Learned members of the 18th century’s thinking class applied Masonic principles when they led the movement away from revelation and faith into natural religion and when they established “utility” as the foundation for right behavior. Individuals in the underclasses practiced them while preparing themselves to be productive members of England’s new commercial society. Civic minded members of the privileged classes drew on them while organizing benevolent associations and pressing for social reform. v
In England the Masonic influence on the Enlightenment led to the awakening of the working class to their mistreatment and to resulting violence, in America to the encouragement of patriotism and independence; e.g. The Declaration of…, and in France to its bloody revolution based on liberte’, egalite’ and fraternite.’ In essence, aristocratic societies were changed into political societies. It also marked a dynamic new period of growth of Freemasonry. v
During the 18th century, English society began to level and democratize. The process was carried forward in associations like the Royal Society of London, the Select Society of Edinburgh, Scotland and in Masonic lodges everywhere in between. Freemasons did more than witness the change. They encouraged it by regularly affirming their commitment to public and private virtue, brotherhood, benevolence, tolerance, public learning, and respect for the law. Lodge members were taught to transcend politics and religion and aspire instead to create a prosperous homogenous community. Neither the Church of England nor the Roman Church had comparable doctrines. v
Regarding the “clubs”, their diverse tavern society intellectuals, were conversationalists who held every possible view in respect to God, Nature and Human Society. They were Gnostics, Agnostics, Deists, Pantheists, Unitarians and Atheists. They were aristocrats, plutocrats, monocrats, democrats, republicans and anarchists. Their ability to join together to debate their heterodox views reflected the socializing influence of Freemasonry, in which individuals of all backgrounds were welcome. v
The Enlightenment in France was also closely associated with Freemasonry. The Craft appears to have arrived there several decades after its appearance in England and Scotland. But by the middle of the 18th century, Freemasonry in France was a home for widening circles of progressives and radicals. v
Of interest is the Lodge of Nine Sisters in Paris, whose brothers were mostly prominent philosophes of France, and whose Master at one time was Benjamin Franklin. It is said that through France’s network of Masonic lodges, Ben Franklin significantly influenced French opinion in favor of supporting the American Revolution, to which France’s financial and military support was critical.
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