Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Connexion Between Speculative And Operative Masonry.
losophy ; "' and he lived at Cures , a Sabine city , contented with his private fortunes , and unambitious of higher honours ; hut at a conjuncture when the Government was composed of various petty States , lately subdued , and but ill united among each other , the Romans wanted a Master , who could , by his example , induce them to a love of religion and every milder virtue ; ancl , with these peculiar endowments , no man coulcl be more eminentlqualified than Numa wasfor introducing and
y , encouraging those sciences which afterwards made the Roman empire the greatest and the proudest in the world . His masonic attainments had taught him to regard with contempt the weak idolatry of those who bowed before the workmanship of their own hands . He soon pierced the thin veil of Polytheism , ancl acknowledged one God sole and omnipotent ; and , although his wisdom taught him to be satisfied with generally introducing order and decency among the ceremonies which
he was not permitted to abolish , ancl with checking the growth of those errors he was not capable of eradicating , still those principles of divine worship which adorned the mind of Numa himself , also distinguished and attorned his priests , and those who were devoted to religious
worship . Numa ' s first care was to regulate the Calendar , and abolish distinctions between his subjects , and to divide them into societies , & c . ; and as the Collegia were established in those early times , when States were formed after the model of a family , they had besides their character of a society of artificers , that of a civil and religious institution ; and these characters were retained by the Collegia , particularly the Collegium of Architects , to the end of the Roman empire , and transplanted into
the Corporation of Architects of the Middle Ages ; and out of these institutions arose the custom of declaring certain of the Romans " free according to the custom and usage of the Roman citizens , " who were , thereupon , entitled " Freedmen" ( liberti liberlini ) , and who , thereupon , owed each other reciprocal aid and support . Thus we also find , in the first introduction of Freemasonry into the Roman empire , under the provincial or assumed title of the Collegia—the two sciences , the
speculative ancl operative united , —and the attention of the first Grand Master there , particularly directed to the propagation and encouragement of the former , before he could venture to bring into use the aid of the latter .
By the introduction of Masonry into the Roman empire , and the advantageous instruction in the operative and influential moral precepts , which the speculative tended to inculcate , the Romans soon became pre-eminently an architectural race , ancl the Corporations of artificers , whose occupations were connected with architecture , were called upon , by imperial orders , to come from all parts of the empire to assist in the building of large cities , palaces , churches , & c . ; and these were preferred ,
and deemed the most worthy and efficient for such purposes , not only on account of their superior skill , but also from the " dependence which coulcl be placed in them , " by reason of the unanimity which existed amongst them as a body , connected by the same ties , and governed by the same laws and obligations . These corporations also existed in Britain at the period of the Roman conquests , but- they very nearly vanished , when the Picts , Scots , and
Saxons devastated the country ; but in France , Spain , Italy , ancl in the Greek Empire , where they had also been established , they continued to flourish , and from these countries our Grand Masters Alfred and Athelstane induced a number of them to come to this country , in order to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Connexion Between Speculative And Operative Masonry.
losophy ; "' and he lived at Cures , a Sabine city , contented with his private fortunes , and unambitious of higher honours ; hut at a conjuncture when the Government was composed of various petty States , lately subdued , and but ill united among each other , the Romans wanted a Master , who could , by his example , induce them to a love of religion and every milder virtue ; ancl , with these peculiar endowments , no man coulcl be more eminentlqualified than Numa wasfor introducing and
y , encouraging those sciences which afterwards made the Roman empire the greatest and the proudest in the world . His masonic attainments had taught him to regard with contempt the weak idolatry of those who bowed before the workmanship of their own hands . He soon pierced the thin veil of Polytheism , ancl acknowledged one God sole and omnipotent ; and , although his wisdom taught him to be satisfied with generally introducing order and decency among the ceremonies which
he was not permitted to abolish , ancl with checking the growth of those errors he was not capable of eradicating , still those principles of divine worship which adorned the mind of Numa himself , also distinguished and attorned his priests , and those who were devoted to religious
worship . Numa ' s first care was to regulate the Calendar , and abolish distinctions between his subjects , and to divide them into societies , & c . ; and as the Collegia were established in those early times , when States were formed after the model of a family , they had besides their character of a society of artificers , that of a civil and religious institution ; and these characters were retained by the Collegia , particularly the Collegium of Architects , to the end of the Roman empire , and transplanted into
the Corporation of Architects of the Middle Ages ; and out of these institutions arose the custom of declaring certain of the Romans " free according to the custom and usage of the Roman citizens , " who were , thereupon , entitled " Freedmen" ( liberti liberlini ) , and who , thereupon , owed each other reciprocal aid and support . Thus we also find , in the first introduction of Freemasonry into the Roman empire , under the provincial or assumed title of the Collegia—the two sciences , the
speculative ancl operative united , —and the attention of the first Grand Master there , particularly directed to the propagation and encouragement of the former , before he could venture to bring into use the aid of the latter .
By the introduction of Masonry into the Roman empire , and the advantageous instruction in the operative and influential moral precepts , which the speculative tended to inculcate , the Romans soon became pre-eminently an architectural race , ancl the Corporations of artificers , whose occupations were connected with architecture , were called upon , by imperial orders , to come from all parts of the empire to assist in the building of large cities , palaces , churches , & c . ; and these were preferred ,
and deemed the most worthy and efficient for such purposes , not only on account of their superior skill , but also from the " dependence which coulcl be placed in them , " by reason of the unanimity which existed amongst them as a body , connected by the same ties , and governed by the same laws and obligations . These corporations also existed in Britain at the period of the Roman conquests , but- they very nearly vanished , when the Picts , Scots , and
Saxons devastated the country ; but in France , Spain , Italy , ancl in the Greek Empire , where they had also been established , they continued to flourish , and from these countries our Grand Masters Alfred and Athelstane induced a number of them to come to this country , in order to