HEN,
in the course of events it becomes necessary for the members of a
Fraternity to reaffirm the principles upon which their Ancient and
Honourable Institution has been established, a decent respect for
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the cause
which impels them to affirm these principles and to protect and defend
the underlying basis for their Charter. ~ We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all human beings are created from an equality
of divine origin, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights of Freedom under the jurisdiction of Divine Law,
and that among these Rights are Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
~ these being: the Liberty of soul and conscience; the Equality of
divine origin; and the Fraternity of that true fellowship which characterises
humanity's eternal purpose, which is 'to love one another,' ~ and
that to secure these Rights of Freedom in the spiritual life of all
peoples and their quest in the pursuit of Wisdom and Truth, the Ancient
and Honourable Institution of Freemasonry has been established upon
Earth by the Most High to be a custodian of the Ancient Mysteries
within the bosom of Humanity, in order to secure and establish these
Mysteries within the program of human living, and to guide the members
of the Craft in their Lodges at Labour upon the Earth to assist in
and cooperate with the Plans of the Most High, and His Lodge ~ the
Grand Lodge on High ~ in Building and Raising the Temple of Humanity
to the Glory of the Great Architect of the Universe for the welfare
and betterment of all peoples; that through establishing the perpetuation
of these Mysteries, the divine rights and spiritual life of mankind
may be protected and preserved. ~ That to secure these Rights among
the peoples, Governments of Masonic Fraternities are instituted among
them, deriving their just powers from adhering to the Ancient Landmarks,
and the consent of the governed. ~ That whenever any form of Masonic
Government becomes obstructive or unfaithful to these objectives,
it is the Right of regularly constituted Master Masons to alter or
remove themselves from it, and to institute and constitute new Masonic
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organising
its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
and continue the ancient and honourable lineage for which its original
Dispensation from the Lodge on High empowered it thus to work. ~ Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that Masonic Governments long established should
not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, experience
has shown that some Brethren are more disposed to cling to old and
outworn traditions of form even when they no longer serve the original
spiritual purposes for which they were intended, and to suffer moral
cowardice and spiritual poverty, than to right themselves to the precepts
of their original Dispensation by abolishing or changing the forms
to which they are accustomed when they have become obstructive to
meeting the spiritual needs and demands of changing times. But when
a long train of abuses and expurgations, pursuing invariably the same
object, evinces a design to reduce them to comply with the preservation
of a distortion of the principal Dispensation, it is their right,
it is their duty, to constitute a new Masonic Government, and to provide
for new protections for the security and preservation thereof. ~ Such
has been the patient sufferance of many Masons, and such is now the
necessity which constrained them to establish a new System of Masonic
Government. ~ To the fulfillment of the principal purposes of the
Dispensation from on High, and granting recognition that international
world order is based upon establishing and preserving certain inalienable
rights to which all peoples are entitled, among them being the Right
to Education in all of its levels, the Honourable Institution of Grand
Lodge, Ancient Universal Mysteries protects and preserves the Rights
of its Member Lodges to be centers of higher learning in the spiritual
arts and sciences according to the principles, practices, and ritualistic
forms of the Temple Builders under The Great Architect of the Universe.
~ To affirm an unbroken lineage in the pursuit of these Rights, Masonry
must preserve the seven most important aphorisms which express the
work of a Lodge as being properly and duly Constituted from the Lodge
on High, and which are:- 1. Let that which is below be as that which
is above. 2. There is a pattern laid down in the Heavens to which
humanity must eventually conform. 3. Three M.M. rule a Lodge. 4. Five
M.M. give form to a Lodge. 5. Seven M.M. constitute a Lodge of Masons.
6. Seven Master Masons make it perfect. 7. Let us Enter into Light,
Pass from the unreal to the Real, and be Raised unto Life; ~ and that
in order to work true to the pattern of architecture expressed in
these seven aphorisms it is incumbent upon all regular Lodges to preserve
the Ancient Landmarks of the Order, the fourteen most important of
which are here set forth in their order of significance: 1. Belief
in God (by whatever Name), or Deity, as T.G.A.O.T.U. 2. Deity expresses
Itself in Its Universe as Strength, Wisdom, and Beauty. 3. Belief
in Immortality. 4. The Legend expressed through the Third Degree.
5. The Three Degrees of the Blue Lodge. 6. All the various Modes of
Recognition. 7. The Three G . . . L . . . s. 8. The fact that all
men are of an equality of divine origin. 9. Seven Masons constitute
a Lodge of Masons. 10. The carefully preserved Secrets of Masonry.
11. The requirement that each Lodge should have a Tyler and be "close
Tyled." 12. Government of the Masonic Fraternity by a Venerable
Grand Master, and a Lodge by a Venerable Master. 13. The necessity
for Masons to work in group formation in Lodges. 14. That none of
these Landmarks can ever be changed, which is to state that Masons
should not, nor can they, alter the principles of initiation; ~ and
that all the foregoing sets forth the purposes, the pattern, the plan,
the procedures, and the principles to which the practicing Lodges
should conform in order to express and establish, seek conformity
with and obedience to, four dominating influences, the effects of
which are expressed as Four Divine Laws, and which may be considered
as the four sides of the Temple of the Lord, and thus the Temple of
Humanity, and for which a new Dispensation to the Craft is issued
forth. These four Laws are expressed in, but not limited to, the wording
of the following ideas: 1. The Law of Love. 2. The Law of Rhythm.
3. The Law of Recognition. 4. The Law of the Builders.
LET the word go from this day forth,
to all Masons throughout the four corners of the globe, that we seek
no enmity with, nor do we seek to subvert nor supplant any regular
and duly constituted Grand Lodge or Supreme Council, but that we seek
only fraternal cooperation with all duly qualified Brethren and recognised
Masonic Orders in the cause of the great Work.
WE, therefore, being Master Masons in
Grand Lodge assembled, appealing to the Most High as the Supreme Judge
of the world for the rectitude of our intentions and actions, do,
in the Name and by the Authority of our Grand Officers, Charter Members,
and Representatives, and under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge,
Ancient Universal Mysteries, Grand Orient of S , formally publish
and declare, establish and promulgate the following Declarations,
Definitions, Laws, By-Laws, Rules, Regulations and Edicts, which collectively
and in accordance with ancient Masonic usage shall be known and referred
to as The Constitutions.
Given under Our hand and Seal this 26th day of October, 1992. E.V.,
in Grand Lodge assembled.
HEN,
in the course of events it becomes necessary for the members of a
Fraternity to reaffirm the principles upon which their Ancient and
Honourable Institution has been established, a decent respect for
the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the cause
which impels them to affirm these principles and to protect and defend
the underlying basis for their Charter. ~ We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all human beings are created from an equality
of divine origin, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights of Freedom under the jurisdiction of Divine Law,
and that among these Rights are Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
~ these being: the Liberty of soul and conscience; the Equality of
divine origin; and the Fraternity of that true fellowship which characterises
humanity's eternal purpose, which is 'to love one another,' ~ and
that to secure these Rights of Freedom in the spiritual life of all
peoples and their quest in the pursuit of Wisdom and Truth, the Ancient
and Honourable Institution of Freemasonry has been established upon
Earth by the Most High to be a custodian of the Ancient Mysteries
within the bosom of Humanity, in order to secure and establish these
Mysteries within the program of human living, and to guide the members
of the Craft in their Lodges at Labour upon the Earth to assist in
and cooperate with the Plans of the Most High, and His Lodge ~ the
Grand Lodge on High ~ in Building and Raising the Temple of Humanity
to the Glory of the Great Architect of the Universe for the welfare
and betterment of all peoples; that through establishing the perpetuation
of these Mysteries, the divine rights and spiritual life of mankind
may be protected and preserved. ~ That to secure these Rights among
the peoples, Governments of Masonic Fraternities are instituted among
them, deriving their just powers from adhering to the Ancient Landmarks,
and the consent of the governed. ~ That whenever any form of Masonic
Government becomes obstructive or unfaithful to these objectives,
it is the Right of regularly constituted Master Masons to alter or
remove themselves from it, and to institute and constitute new Masonic
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organising
its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
and continue the ancient and honourable lineage for which its original
Dispensation from the Lodge on High empowered it thus to work. ~ Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that Masonic Governments long established should
not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, experience
has shown that some Brethren are more disposed to cling to old and
outworn traditions of form even when they no longer serve the original
spiritual purposes for which they were intended, and to suffer moral
cowardice and spiritual poverty, than to right themselves to the precepts
of their original Dispensation by abolishing or changing the forms
to which they are accustomed when they have become obstructive to
meeting the spiritual needs and demands of changing times. But when
a long train of abuses and expurgations, pursuing invariably the same
object, evinces a design to reduce them to comply with the preservation
of a distortion of the principal Dispensation, it is their right,
it is their duty, to constitute a new Masonic Government, and to provide
for new protections for the security and preservation thereof. ~ Such
has been the patient sufferance of many Masons, and such is now the
necessity which constrained them to establish a new System of Masonic
Government. ~ To the fulfillment of the principal purposes of the
Dispensation from on High, and granting recognition that international
world order is based upon establishing and preserving certain inalienable
rights to which all peoples are entitled, among them being the Right
to Education in all of its levels, the Honourable Institution of Grand
Lodge, Ancient Universal Mysteries protects and preserves the Rights
of its Member Lodges to be centers of higher learning in the spiritual
arts and sciences according to the principles, practices, and ritualistic
forms of the Temple Builders under The Great Architect of the Universe.
~ To affirm an unbroken lineage in the pursuit of these Rights, Masonry
must preserve the seven most important aphorisms which express the
work of a Lodge as being properly and duly Constituted from the Lodge
on High, and which are:- 1. Let that which is below be as that which
is above. 2. There is a pattern laid down in the Heavens to which
humanity must eventually conform. 3. Three M.M. rule a Lodge. 4. Five
M.M. give form to a Lodge. 5. Seven M.M. constitute a Lodge of Masons.
6. Seven Master Masons make it perfect. 7. Let us Enter into Light,
Pass from the unreal to the Real, and be Raised unto Life; ~ and that
in order to work true to the pattern of architecture expressed in
these seven aphorisms it is incumbent upon all regular Lodges to preserve
the Ancient Landmarks of the Order, the fourteen most important of
which are here set forth in their order of significance: 1. Belief
in God (by whatever Name), or Deity, as T.G.A.O.T.U. 2. Deity expresses
Itself in Its Universe as Strength, Wisdom, and Beauty. 3. Belief
in Immortality. 4. The Legend expressed through the Third Degree.
5. The Three Degrees of the Blue Lodge. 6. All the various Modes of
Recognition. 7. The Three G . . . L . . . s. 8. The fact that all
men are of an equality of divine origin. 9. Seven Masons constitute
a Lodge of Masons. 10. The carefully preserved Secrets of Masonry.
11. The requirement that each Lodge should have a Tyler and be "close
Tyled." 12. Government of the Masonic Fraternity by a Venerable
Grand Master, and a Lodge by a Venerable Master. 13. The necessity
for Masons to work in group formation in Lodges. 14. That none of
these Landmarks can ever be changed, which is to state that Masons
should not, nor can they, alter the principles of initiation; ~ and
that all the foregoing sets forth the purposes, the pattern, the plan,
the procedures, and the principles to which the practicing Lodges
should conform in order to express and establish, seek conformity
with and obedience to, four dominating influences, the effects of
which are expressed as Four Divine Laws, and which may be considered
as the four sides of the Temple of the Lord, and thus the Temple of
Humanity, and for which a new Dispensation to the Craft is issued
forth. These four Laws are expressed in, but not limited to, the wording
of the following ideas: 1. The Law of Love. 2. The Law of Rhythm.
3. The Law of Recognition. 4. The Law of the Builders.