Rosemere Lodge
History of
Rosemere Lodge
WHENCE COME WE ?
Part Three
| Part Two |
By Wor. Bro. Rudoph (Rudy) Kremser
By 1621 The London Mason's Company was using the words "Making OF Masons. This phrase was made in connection with men who had already reached the highest ranks of operative masonry. This indicates that within the company there existed a more exclusive body which one could join by paying a required fee. By 1631 it was "making Masons", or accepting men who had no connection with the building trade. This at first called "The Acceptation" was by 1682 called "The Lodge" and had absolutely no. Function within the building trade.Elsewhere too we register the adoption of none-operatives, who to a great extend were members of the nobility and upper classes. On June 8, 1600, John Boswell, Laird of Auchinleck attended the "Lodge" at Edinburgh. In 1634 the same lodge admitted Lord Alexander of Menstrie, Viscount Canada, and two other members of the gentry as F.C. (The E.A. grade was dropped for these adoptive members). In 1646 the diaries of Elias Ashmore recorded how he was made a Mason in Warrington. Other names can be cited, in both England and Scotland. The age of the renaissance was in bloom and thinking men looked for a circle "to meet for that compound of refreshment, smoking and conversation in circumstances of ease, undisturbed by the society of women" (Knoop-Jones, Genesis of Freemasonry, p.l41). The exchange of thought, the search for light and the enactment of the new birth philosophies needed a private ground to germinate. We know that the craft lodges were in eclipse and must have appeared as the perfect vehicle to the non-operatives. Here was a system in place, completely structured, rigidly controlled and complete with modes of recognition that kept undesired elements away. The stage was now set.
In due course, Warrington in 1646, Chester in 1673, Dublin in 1688, Chichester in 1695 and at several locations in London and Yorkshire between 1693 and 1717. The non-operatives outweighed the operatives in numbers. Against this back ground the first Grand Lodge came into being (June 24, 1717).
We have now traced the main developments in Freemasonry from its origin until the formation of the first grand lodge. Speculative Masonry was established. The actual term "speculative Mason" is first found in 1757. The word "speculative" probably means "contemplative, reflective, thoughtful".
Freemasons are thoughtful masons rather than operative ones. They contemplate
the W.T. rather than employing them. They apply these tools to themselves
rather than to the rude mass, thus, they refer to their craft as a "system
of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols".
Source; A.S. Frere, B.E. Jones, D.Knoop, A. Mellor.
Beyond The Pillard, A.G. Mackey
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