The English Emulation Working

Relatively unknown to continental European Freemasons, the Emulation Working is one of the current working styles used by the United Grand Lodge of England. The Emulation Working is also used by numerous Masonic bodies around the world, especially in the former colonies of the British Empire (Australia, New Zealand, etc.), as well as by regular non-English-speaking bodies such as the National French Grand Lodge and the Swiss Grand Lodge ‘Alpina’ and by bodies such as the Traditional Grand Lodge ‘Opera’ and the National French Lodge. What is the origin of the Emulation Working? Where does that strange name ‘Emulation’ come from? And what are the specific features of the Emulation Working?

Divisions of English Freemasonry in the eighteenth century 

We generally date the emergence of modern Freemasonry from the foundation of the Grand Lodge of London in 1717 (or more probably 1721). We often imagine that the Premier Grand Lodge united all the English Lodges with broad unanimity. However, this was not the case. Many Lodges contested this new organisation, which they claimed had altered the ancestral rituals by omitting the invocations, suppressing the office of the Deacons and inverting the B and J Pillars and the words of Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft from the 1730s onwards.

Its first organised opposition arose in the north of England. In 1725, the Lodge of York, claiming its seniority, declared itself Grand Lodge of All England. It went into dormancy during the 1730s, only to revive in 1761 as the Grand Lodge of All England South of the River Trent and finally cease all activity in 1789.

But the main opposition came in London from the movement that defined itself as "Antient" (with ‘t’ for reasons of archaism) and described the Grand Lodge of London as ‘Modern’, rather disdainfully. Relations between the Grand Lodges of Ireland (1725) and Scotland (1736) and the Grand Lodge of London had deteriorated during the 1730s and 1740s. Irish and Scottish Masons living in London were reluctant to join English Lodges. The tension was exacerbated by the flood of Irish refugees who arrived in London following the famous famine of 1740-41, among whom were many Freemasons, who founded their own Lodges.

In 1751, six Lodges of the ‘Antient’ tradition formed the ‘Grand Lodge of the Most Antient and Honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons according to the Ancient Constitutions’. The guiding spirit of the new Grand Lodge was undoubtedly Laurence Dermott (1720-1791), an Irish merchant, Grand Secretary of the Obedience and author of the Constitutions (known as ‘Ahiman Rezon’). The Lodges of this Grand Lodge used ancient rituals influenced by Irish customs, an example of which is given in the 1760 disclosure ‘The Three Distinct Knocks’.

The two rival Grand Lodges developed successfully in England and abroad. While in Europe the ‘Modern’ Freemasonry predominated, in America the ‘Ancient’ tradition prevailed, due notably to the large number of Irish and Scottish regiments in the British army.

Union of the two English Grand Lodges 

The two English Grand Lodges remained in fierce conflict for around fifty years, but at the turn of the nineteenth century, the tensions began to ease. In 1809, the ‘Moderns’ set up a ‘Lodge of Promulgation’ to restore rituals to the old customs, with the aim of establishing normal relations with the Irish and Scottish Freemasons, as well as with the ‘Antient’ Freemasons in England. And both English Grand Lodges appointed Commissioners to prepare an Act of Union.

In 1813, two new Grand Masters were appointed. Both were sons of King George III : Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, for the ‘Moderns"’, and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, for the ‘Antients’. The conditions for a union were then in place. And on 27 December 1813, the United Grand Lodge of England was constituted, with the Duke of Sussex as Grand Master. A ‘Lodge of Reconciliation’ was created to reconcile the rituals of the two former Grand Lodges and establish a new ritual.

The ritual developed by the Lodge of Reconciliation was clearly in the ‘Antient’ tradition and the ‘Modern’ ritual practices disappeared from England, only to survive in several continental Masonic Rites (the Blue Lodges of the French Rite and the Rectified Scottish Rite, the Schrœder Rite, etc.). To spread the new practices, several Lodges of Instruction were formed, so that the Officers of the Lodges could come and exercise there. The oldest was the Stability Lodge, but the most important and prestigious was the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, which gave its name to the Emulation Working.

This is where it becomes a little difficult to understand for non-British Freemasons, who are used to the notion of well-defined Rites. The United Grand Lodge of England did not create a new Rite, but merely defined a Craft Lodge practice ‘according to the English Constitutions’. From there, each Lodge of Instruction practised these customs in its own way, with only minor differences. There are therefore several Workings for practicing according to the English Constitutions : Emulation Working is the most widespread because of the prominence of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement, but there are other ones, such as the Stability Working (from the same-named Lodge of Instruction), the Oxford Working, the Taylor Working, the Standard Working, the South London Working, the West End Working, etc.

The Masonic regalia used in the different Workings are the same, because there is only one English Craft masonry, which can be performed in different Ways. The United Grand Lodge of England never decreed that the Emulation Working or any other Working was its reference ritual : the different Workings are merely manifestations of a single way of working ‘according to the English Constitutions’. The Masonic regalia are therefore those of the United Grand Lodge of England, and not those of any particular Working.

Specific features of the Emulation Style

For European Freemasons, the specificity of the Emulation Working is above all that it should be practised entirely by memory. But this is not unique to Emulation : the other Anglo-Saxon, Scottish, Irish and American Rites follow the same procedure.

The main specificity of the Emulation Working is its very complex gestural movements, which are to be practised meticulously. The practice of the ritual is a goal in its own right ; it is the Masonic labour of the Emulation Working, whereas in the continental Masonic Rites, the ritual surrounds a particular work, most often the reading of a presentation given by a member of the Lodge and commented on by the others. Nothing like this in Emulation : the Lodge opens the work in the first, second and third degrees, then closes it in the third, second and first degrees. Unless there's a reception in one of the degrees, nothing else. And if a lecture is planned, it will take place during the Banquet that follows the ritual.

It is through the repeated practice of symbolic gestures that the Emulation Working aims to help Freemasons integrate the spiritual values of Freemasonry, much more than through a mental, intellectual and rationalist approach. It offers those who practise it a path to fulfilment that involves above all the body and bodily sensations. This path could be compared to the different 'forms' used in Asian martial arts (Taolu in China, Kata in Japan, Poomsae in Korea, etc.): a form is a routine of stylised combat gestures, practised without any opponent, in order to learn the gestures, internalise them, calm the mind and refine the perception of the energies mobilised for combat.

Very concrete and corporal in its practice, the Emulation Working is undoubtedly a faithful reflection of the practices of the ancient operative Masons, who needed above all to perfect their gestures and not to make grand theoretical speeches. Freemasons of other Rites could profitably be inspired by this style to give back to the ritual all its potential for personal transformation and to stop relegating it to the role of a mere preliminary to the Works.