Rev Wayne
Simplicity + Sincerity = Serenity
I would simply post a reminder here that when we speak of Freemasonry, we do not speak of the many quasi-Masonic and pseudo-Masonic bodies that have proliferated in semi-imitation of the fraternal order of Freemasons, only those which would be recognized and accepted by the United Grand Lodge of England, the "Mother lodge" of Freemasonry, and considered by them to be "regular" or legally constituted lodges.
Having said that, I would also address the above remark by pointing out the wide variety of theories that people have expressed about the Freemasons. Much of that speculation is due to a failure to differentiate between the modern speculative Masons and the old Operative Masons. What we speak of here when we speak of origins in Christianity, is the speculative fraternity, which had its official founding at the uniting of lodges in England to form the UGLE, and has a traceable history prior to that, of only 2 to 3 centuries at best.
I tend to think that the operatives, who were responsible for cathedral-building all over Europe, were Christians who began to pull away from the Catholic Church through a set of varied circumstances. One of these circumstances was, their involvement in presenting the popular morality plays. All the trade guilds were involved in these dramas. Masons would have been a natural fit, as the general lot of the populace were illiterate, and Masons were obviously among the more educated, considering the requirements of their trade. At some point, the Catholic Church began to have misgivings about the morality plays, and soon forbade their priests from participating in them. (The priests, also of an educated bearing, were a logical fit as actors also.)
When they adopted this stance, it would naturally catch their attention that MAsons were involved in the plays. That in itself would have been enough to create a rift, but the seeds of reformation were also beginning to sprout during the same time frame. Masons were more inclined to move away from the control and domination of the Roman Church, which would widen the rift. When persecutions began during the Inquisition, Masons were among the persecuted, simply because the church reasoned that their secrecy simply "had" to mean they were up to no good. In actuality, the secrecy verly likely had its roots in the reformation also, and it would be a natural thing for those who chose to be freethinkers to hide the fact from a church that would persecute you for it.
Someone on the forum recently was scoffing at the idea that Masons were persecuted during the Inquisition, and even tried to suggest that Masons were controlling the Jesuits--a ludicrous proposition, as that would mean Masons were persecuting Masons and demanding that they reveal Masonic secrets.
There have been many Masonic historians who have held to some extreme ideas about Masonic origins, pointing to ancient Egypt, some pointing to the Essenes of Jesus' time, others taking it all the way back to Moses, or to Noah, or even Adam. Albert Mackey was one of these for quite some time, but in his later years he began to see that there simply was no trail that took the speculative craft back to such ancient roots. When he came to this realization, he made a public retraction of such theories, which he published in his Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.
I found this comment from Mackey, which comes from his history, and is quite a frank acknowledgment for him, considering what he says:
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You are a great and almighty GOD Lord. Thank you Lord that you are King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
