Three Grades of Workmen

Most brethren are aware that the Craft developed into three degrees in the 1720s after being a 2 degree system since the 16th Century. A number of explanations have been given, but some interesting analogies have been made over the years. which many view as the first true Constitutions and Laws of the (Operative) Craft state in a slightly modernized form:

no master or fellow of craft be received nor admitted without the number of six masters and two EAs

Dr Anderson who developed the Constitutions of the Grand Lodge in London compared the degrees in the following way from ChroniclesII:  Bearers of burdens is the EA degree  Hewers in the mountains the FC  Overseers the MMs

His 1738 Constitutions developed this idea further and put the FC lodges in charge of jewels and tools. Various countries took this odea and developed their MM degree along the same lines, but with slight variations. For example, Dutch ritual had apprentices being paid at J pillar, FCs at the J pillar and MMs in the Middle Chamber.

Rituals then developed the idea of numbers in order to make lodges perfect. One such ritual states:  EA Lodge—7 (a MM and 6 EAs) to meet on the ground floor of the temple  FC Lodge—5 (two MMs and three FCs) to meet in the Middle Chamber  MM Lodge—3 (all MMs) to meet in the

Holy of Holies.

However, this number varied considerably from Constitution to Constitution. The Scottish Schaw Statutes of 1598 Masonic manuscripts that follow have various numbers and whether we have variations across countries today, I don’t know.

Often the early writers of rituals or constitutions were looked at with suspicion or worse, but in most cases they have probably tried to do the best to form a tradition from sources at their disposal. The internet wasn’t about, research was very difficult and often books could contain many errors. Without the ability to check primary resources, composers of ritual often did the best with the material they had which was often from a polychronicon which was a collection of various pieces of information most of which had not been verified.

Therefore we should not be too critical of the erly writers.