Conclusion
Here, at the end of this study, one conclusion stands out
regarding history. A lesson should also be drawn for contemporary
Freemasonry, which views itself as the heir to the masons of the past
and for all men striving to place human destiny within the sacred value
of its essence.
In fashioning here an objective study based strictly on facts, we may
understand that today's widespread opinions concerning the historical
and spiritual origins of Freemasonry are merely conjectural if not ten-
dentious. The facts, however, can speak clearly enough on their own to
require no interpretation at all. It is necessary, of course, to connect
them to the social structures of the past, but only the way we think has
the power to distort how we see them.
By its very nature and purpose, the an of masonry was never a
strictly operative or purely local phenomenon. The millennia-old con-
cept of craft that blossomed in the Christian world viewed it as insepa-
rable from the Divine creative work. The worker could stake no claim
to performing his job well without the help of the Lord, and thus, by
placing his activity on the path of perfection, he might raise himself to
the Kingdom of God. An individual's fine craftsmanship implied that he
was a good servant of the All Powerful Deity, who in return granted the
worker the grace of approaching him. This grace also required an