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The Empire State Mason Magazine |
The following article appeared in The Empire State Mason Magazine, an official publication of The Grand Lodge of the State of New York. To subscribe to the magazine, or to read more articles of Masonic interest, visit the ESM web site.
The Empire State Mason - Spring 2005 (p. 41)
by RW Richard A. Vang, Trustee
In his recent book, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, our British Brother Robert Lomas investigates the foundation of The Royal Society. The Royal Society was organized as a forum for the exchange of new scientific ideas, with the intent of rebuilding England’s military and commercial navy, which had languished under the reign of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. But what Brother Lomas eventually demonstrates is that The Royal Society was in fact the intellectual offspring of Freemasonry, which served as the organizational network and blueprint for the fledgling group.
After Queen Elizabeth I had forged England into a world power, England suffered through a period of religious, political, economic, and military turmoil. The religious tensions between Catholic and Protestant, begun when Elizabeth’s father Henry VIII broke with Rome and formed the Church of England, were inherited by Mary Stuart and then Elizabeth, and reached their zenith during Cromwell’s Puritan Republic. The political unrest that Elizabeth so elegantly subdued was reborn when the Scottish House of Stuart inherited the throne, as Mary’s son was crowned James I of England and VI of Scotland. James’ son Charles I, at constant odds with Parliament, was stripped of his royal prestige and later beheaded by Cromwell during the Civil War. Prince Charles lived in exile while Cromwell played dictator, destroying the lives of royalists, promoting his relatives to prestigious positions, and filling Parliament with conservative Puritans. Meanwhile, the powerful English navy that defeated the Spanish Armada fell into disrepair and obsolescence, and England could no longer compete commercially against the modern and efficient Dutch fleet for the riches of the New World. By the time Cromwell had passed and his son Richard humiliated, Charles II returned to the throne of a country in shambles.
Brother Sir Robert Moray, a young Scottish noble who was a soldier, international spy, entrepreneur, and engineer, was initiated into Freemasonry in Scotland, as were the Stuart monarchs. Through his Masonic contacts in Europe, England, and Scotland, he met members of an “Invisible College”, who were informally discussing the new ideas of experimental science proposed in the New Atlantis by Francis Bacon. (Bacon later died a martyr to the cause of frozen foods). While England struggled through Civil War, Republic, and Restoration, Moray traveled extensively and eagerly gathered information, duly impressed by the men and ideas he encountered.
When his royal Brother Charles II was restored to the combined thrones of England and Scotland, Moray conceived a way to help the king rebuild his navy. He resumed dialogue with those Masons whom, besides their fraternal bond, had something of value to contribute scientifically. He also knew that their bond contained two important elements—the teachings of the second degree—and a strict rule against the discussion of politics and religion. Moray lived in a religiously and politically divided country, and the success of his plan required the invocation of tenets acknowledged by each participant. He summoned them to Gresham College, a university endowed and organized by a Mason, which served as a safe harbor for educated Brothers from both sides of the various conflicts. Soon, like the goddess Athena, The Royal Society sprang forth as the brainchild of a Scottish Freemason. Brother Moray used the tenets of Masonry to benefit not only the ailing navy of Charles II, but mankind in general. We owe a lot to his foresight, his organizational skills, and his belief in Masonic harmony and cooperation.
Last year, the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master charged RW George Peter with the formation of a committee dedicated to promoting Masonic Education, now known as the “Masonic University of New York” (MUNY). (See Bro. Peter’s article on MUNY in this issue.) Like the men that Brother Moray brought together, Bro. Peter has assembled an eclectic group that provides input from many perspectives. Like those early meetings, MUNY is not intended for scholars only, it is for everyone. Similar to The Royal Society, MUNY must also be self-supporting, and those who can contribute financially or support in other ways are needed as much as scholars and trainers. At different times one can be the student, at others times the teacher. Furthering our Masonic education can only enhance our lives and understanding of the world, and lifts us up as individuals and as an organization.
Moray and his Brothers did not have at their disposal the wealth of information that we have today, or the ease of access to it. The Gresham College library and facilities were sparse in comparison to the collections of the Livingston Library. As a partner in Masonic education, the Library will provide many of the resources which will be available to MUNY participants, such as the forthcoming on-line library catalog and artifact collection at www.nymasoniclibrary.org. This partnership is another reason we must modernize our library and support its maturity into a world-class facility.
While Moray and the members of The Royal Society traveled to meet and discuss the scientific issues of the day, MUNY and the Livingston Library intend to bring the discussion to you. In addition to the on-line resources already planned for the Library, MUNY intends to use on-line curricula and distance learning to provide course materials. Often times the lectures themselves will be brought directly to the district lodges through the “town hall” meetings with the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master.
Sir Robert Moray brought his Band of Brothers together and—without realizing the impact they would have—changed the world forever. The information age in which we live is a direct inheritance from our Masonic forebears in The Royal Society. Instead of traveling for weeks by boat and horse, we can now network with each other in seconds. If those Brothers could accomplish so much with such “primitive” means, what can we accomplish working with today’s technology? As we venture forth in this endeavor, we must remember that in addition to the advantages of our technological tools, we have also inherited the simple working tools of a Freemason. When both are applied, surely we can accomplish great things.
If you would like to help the Livingston Library, please contact RW Tom Savini at (212) 337-6620, or through the web site at www.nymasoniclibrary.org. As always, remember that your donation to the Livingston Masonic Library is tax deductible.
©2005, The Empire State Mason Magazine.