176 FROM THE ART OF BUILDING TO THE ART OF THINKING
brothers and kin; render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and ren-
der unto God that which is God's." It was also noted that the broth-
ers should celebrate once a year the memory of Saint John, the patron
of their society, and that this order was governed by a single, univer-
sal leader while the various magisteres that it was composed of were
governed by several grand masters, according to the position and needs
of the country.
In 1563, the grand lodge of Strasbourg convoked an important
assembly in Basel. This congress endorsed the statutes that had been
revised by a commission appointed by the grand lodge of Strasbourg.
These statutes, dated Saint Michael, 1563, were printed that same
year.^12
The last large masonic assembly, also convoked by the Grand
Lodge of Strasbourg, appears to have been held in Strasbourg in 1564.
Its purpose was to definitively iron out all points of contention between
the different lodges. The decision was made there that future difficulties
would be subjected directly to the grand lodge for final jusgement with
no recourse to appeal.^13
The Statutes of the Stonecutters
The ancient statutes of the Brotherhood of Stonecutters (Steinmetzen
Bruderschaft) dating from 1459 were not, apparently, the first; there is
a good possibility that yet older ones exist. As we have seen, they were
revised several times and endorsed by the emperors. Those published in
1563 were the final ones.
The rules began thus:^14 "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost, and the glorious Mother Mary, and also the Four
Crowned Martyrs, their blessed servants remembered eternally." Findel
writes that before 1440, the members of the original Strasbourg labor-
ers society bore the name of the brothers of Saint John. He adds that
Saint John the Precursor, along with the Four Crowned Martyrs, had
always been the special patron saint and protector of the association.
Overall, the statutes of the German stonecutters provide a gripping
description of Freemasonry's essential characteristics: