202 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
202 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
SHORT TALK BULLETIN - Vol.IX November, 1931 No.11
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FREE AND ACCEPTED
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by: Unknown
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The origin of these terms, descriptive of Speculative Freemasons,
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goes back into the very beginnings of the history of the Order;
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indeed, behind the history of the building Craft in Europe.
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But it is only in keeping with the antiquity of the teachings of
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Freemasonry. Many of our symbols and their meanings go back to the
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very childhood of the race. Through these a direct relationship may
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be traced in mind, heart and ideal; if not in written document, to
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such diverse ages and places as China four thousand years ago, the
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priesthood of ancient Egypt and the Jews of the Captivity. For
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purposes of understanding the genesis of the word “Free” as coupled
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with Mason, it will suffice to begin with the Roman “Collegia”,
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orders or associations of men engaged in similar pursuits. Doubtless
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their formation was caused partly by the universal desire for
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fellowship and association, particularly strong in Rome, in which the
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individual was so largely submerged for the good of the Empire, and
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partly by economic necessity, just as labor unions are formed today.
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These “Collegia” speedily became so prominent and powerful that Roman
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Emperors attempted to abolish the right of free association. In
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spite of edicts and persecutions, however, the “Collegia” continued
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to exist.
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The Colleges of Architects, however, for a time were sanctioned even
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after others were forbidden. They were too valuable to the State to
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be abolished, or made to work and meet in secret. They were not at
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this time “called” Freemasons, but they were “free” - and it is the
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fact and not the name which is here important. Without architects
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and builders, Rome could not expand, so the colleges of Architects
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were permitted to regulate their own affairs and work under their own
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constitutions, free of restrictions which attempted to destroy the
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“collegia.”
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Then, as now, “three” were necessary to form a College (no Masonic
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lodge can meet with less than three); the College had a “Magister” or
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Master, and two Wardens. There were three orders or degrees in the
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College which to a large extent used emblems which are a part of
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Freemasonry. Roman sarcophagi show carvings of square, compasses,
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plumb. level and sometimes columns.
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Of the ceremonies of the “Collegia” we know little or nothing. Of
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their work we know much, and of their history enough to trace their
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decline and fall. The Emperor Diocletian attempted to destroy the
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new religion, Christianity, which threatened so much which seemed to
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the Romans to make Rome, Rome. Many members of the Colleges of
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Architects were Christians - a very natural result, since these
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associations had taught and believed in brotherhood because of a
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common Father, the members of the College or Architects took for
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their own his doctrine, so strangely familiar.
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Persecution, vengeance, cruelty followed; this is not the place to go
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deeply into the story of the four Masons and the Apprentice who were
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tortured to death, only to become the Four Crowned Martyrs and Patron
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Saints of later builders and the Masons of the Middle Ages. Suffice
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it that the College of Architects were broken up and fled from Rome.
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Comes a gap which is not yet bridged. Between the downfall of Rome
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and the rise of Gothic architecture in Europe we know little of what
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happened to the builders’ “Collegia.” It is here that we come to the
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fascinating theory of the Comancines - that some of the expelled
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builders found refuge on the Island of Comacina in Lake Como, and,
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through generation after generation, kept alive the traditions and
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secrets of the art until such time as the world was again ready for
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the Master Builders. All this is fascinatingly set forth in several
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books, best known of which is Leader Scott’s “Cathedral Builders, the
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Story of a Great Masonic Guild.” The author says that the Comancine
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Masters “were the link between the classic “Collegia” and all other
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art and trade guilds of the middle ages. They were Freemasons
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because they were builders of a privileged class, absolved from taxes
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and servitude, and free to travel about in times of feudal bondage.
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During the Middle Ages and the rise of Gothic Architecture, we find
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two distinct classes of Masons; the Guild Masons who, like the Guild
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Carpenters, Weavers or Merchants were local in character and strictly
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regulated by law, and the Freemasons, who traveled about from city to
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city as their services were needed to design and erect those
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marvelous churches and cathedrals which stand today inimitable in
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beauty.
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It may not be affirmed as a proved fact that the Freemasons of the
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Middle Ages were the direct descendants through the Comacine Masters
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of the Colleges of Architects of Rome, but there is too much evidence
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of a similar structure, ideal and purpose and too many similarities
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of symbol, tool and custom to dismiss the idea merely because we
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have no written record covering the period between the expulsion from
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Rome and the beginning of the Cathedral building age.
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However this may be, the operative builders and designers of the
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Cathedrals of Europe were an older order than the Guild Masons; it is
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from these Freemasons - free of the Guild and free of the local laws
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- that the Masonry of today has come. Incidentally, it may be noted
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that the historian Findel finds the name Freemason as early as 1212
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and the name occurs in 1375 in the history of the Company of Masons
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of the City of London.
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The history of the Freemasons through the Cathedral Building Ages up
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to the Reformation and the gradual decline of the building arts,
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needs volumes where here are but pages. But it must be emphasized
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that the Freemasons were far more than architects and builders; they
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were the artists, the leaders, the teachers, the mathematicians and
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the poets of their time.
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In their lodges Speculative Masonry grew side by side with their
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operative art. They were jealous of their Order and strict in their
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acceptance of Apprentices; strict too, in admitting Apprenticed to be
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Fellows of the Craft, requiring seven years of labor before an
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Apprentice might make his Mater’s Piece” to submit to the Master and
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Wardens of his lodge, when happily, he might become a Fellow and
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receive “the Mason Word.”
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No fools built the great Cathedrals of Europe.
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Mathematics. architecture, strength of materials, the principle of
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the arch, proportion, unity, beauty - all had to practiced by experts
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to produce these tremendous structures, on which the most modern
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science and art cannot improve.
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It was only natural then, that the Masters desired a high quality of
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Craftsmanship. Only Apprentices of character and willingness to
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learn were accepted. Only those who could make a perfect Master’s
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Piece were accepted as Fellows. Doubtless only the most expert and
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learned of the Fellows could ever hope to be Masters.
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Then, as now, to secure fine workmen they began early and trained
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them long. As a workman who was immoral, a drunkard, a gambler, a
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loose liver could not hope to learn to do good work, or to be trusted
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with the operative secrets; it was essential that moral precepts and
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philosophical lessons be incorporated into operative lodge life.
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Unquestionably the building crafts from the earliest ages - ate, even
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back of the Roman Collegia - incorporated speculative teachings with
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operative instructions given to Apprentices. This practice grew and
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expanded during what may be termed the formative period of the
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Fraternity. The Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages must have been
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a little world unto themselves in the towns in which they worked.
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They would employ the local Guild Masons for the rough work, but
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strictly excluded them from their lodge when meetings were held.
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Doubtless these meetings were frequent, perhaps nightly, to discuss
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the great work being done.
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Young Apprentices, like young men the world over, would skylark and
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want to have a good time. Their elders would reprove and read them a
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lesson in a simple parable of the building art. The square, the
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compasses, the trowel, the chisel, the mallet, the gavel and the
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setting maul would all be brought into such lessons.
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And so, through year after year and age after age, the teachings of
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Speculative Masonry grew. And as is invariably the case the thing
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which was used as an example to teach, gradually came to symbolize
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the lesson taught. To be “square” was at first but an essential of a
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tool and an ashlar. Universally now, a “square man” is an honest
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one. Trowel and gavel took upon themselves significancies far beyond
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their operative use. Master after Master would add from his store of
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learning; lesson after lesson would be incorporated with an operative
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practice, until the Speculative Art and the Operative Craft were,
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apparently, dependent upon each other.
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It is world history that knowledge cannot be kept from those who seek
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it. By hook or crook, in one way or another, the student will find
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that which he seeks.
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In an age when learning was difficult to get, and association with
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the educated was hardly to be had outside the church, it was but
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natural that thoughtful and scholarly men should desire membership
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among Freemasons.
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Other men, thoughtful but not scholarly, would see in the Speculative
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teachings of the Masons that road to knowledge which was otherwise
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hard to find. Neither, however, would want to practice operative
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Masonry, serve seven years apprenticeship or make a Master’s Piece.
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Just how such men accomplished their desire and became “accepted”
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members of the Order we do not know. Doubtless they had something to
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bring to, as well as something to get from their operative brethren.
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But we do know the fact; a place was made for such seekers after the
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light. Distinguished by the title “accepted” that they might not be
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confused with “free” Masons, these non-building members encouraged
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and expanded the speculative side of Masonry.
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It is not possible to say when this practice began.
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The Regius Poem, the oldest document of Freemasonry (1390) speaks of
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Prince Edward (twentieth century) as:
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“Of Speculatyfe he was a Master.”
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Ecclesiasts, desiring to become architects and builders, joined the
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Order. Lovers of liberty were naturally attracted to a fellowship in
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which members enjoyed unusual freedom among their fellows.
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Gradually the “accepted” or Speculative Freemasons equaled, then
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outnumbered the operative craftsmen and slowly but surely the Craft
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came to be what it is today, and has been for more than two
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centuries, wholly Speculative in character.
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Through the years, particularly those which saw the decline of great
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building and coming of the Reformation, more and more became the
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Accepted Masons and less and less the operative building Freemasons.
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Of forty-nine names on the roll of the Lodge of Aberdeen in the year
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1670, thirty-nine were those of Accepted Masons.
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Hence our title - Free and Accepted Masons - abbreviated F & A.M.
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United States Grand Lodges style themselves under several different
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abbreviations: F.& A.M., F. and A.; A.F. & A.M.; and other variations
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using the Ampersand (&) in place of the word “and.” The District of
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Columbia still uses F.A.A.M., meaning Free and Accepted Masons, in
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spite of the possible confusion as to whether the first “A” stands
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for “and” or “ancient.” The variations are accounted for both by
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difference on origins, some Grand Lodges coming into being with
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lodges held under the “Ancie-nts” and some from the “Moderns” and by
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variations due to the errors which are seemingly ineradicable in
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“mouth to ear” instruction.
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But of all of us, regardless of what order we choose for “Ancient,”
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“Accepted,” “Free” and “Masons,” all are “Free and Accepted.”
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It is one of the glories of the Craft that her historians can trace
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such derivations into such a long gone past. That Mason is dead of
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soul, indeed, who cannot thrill to the thought that as a Free and
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accepted Mason he is kin not only to those ancient brethren of Old
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England who first began the practice of “accepting” good men because
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they “were” good men, not because they were builders, but also to the
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builders of ancient Rome and all the generations which sprang from
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them, who were “Free” of the bonds which bound less skillful and
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esteemed workmen.
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