Free And Accepted Masons.*

"Memorandum . —This day , May the 18 th , being Monday , 1691 , after Rogation Sunday , is a great convention at St . Paul ' s Church of the fraternity of the adopted Masons , where Sir Christopher Wren is to be adopted a brother , ancl Sir Henry Goodric of the Tower , ancl clivers others . " Having given a sufficient number of examples of the use of the term " Accepted " as a prefix to " Mason" we shall now consider its meaning . The

, majority of Masonic historians allege that it was originally used to distinguish Speculative from Operative Masons . This is the explanation given by Bros . Findel ( " History , " 113 ) and Mackenzie ( " Cyclopedia , " 15 ) . Bro . Woodford , on the other hand , says ( " Kenning ' s Cyclopedia , " 6 ) : " We may dismiss all legendary derivations of the word , and may understand it as a term belonging to the medioeval guilds . Persons were tben

' admitted , ' ' accepted , ' ' made free , ' ' entered ' of the guild . . . . The word is probably a relic of the old Operative Craft' Chapiters ' ancl Lodges . We do not agree with the view which makes it mark the difference between operative and speculative . " Our own 02 iiniou is , that " Ascepted " signifies simply " initiated . " Bro . Mackay also appears to be of this opinion ( see Mackey ' s " Encyclopedia "

, 10-11 ) . The " Charges " of 1722 speak of " laborers ancl unaccepted Masons , " as distinguished from , and inferior to , "Freemasons . " Whoever was admitted or adopted as a member of the mediceval builders' lodge , or guild , became thereby an " accepted " Mason . He was , in language that we can all understand , accepted as a member . It is a matter of speculation as to whether it ever had a merely restrictive meaning , applied to speculative Masons only ;

while it is a matter of fact that in every case in which we find it used it is equivalent to " initiated . " We have thus reasonabl y ascertained the meaning of the full phrase , "Free ancl Accepted Mason , " to be , " Brother and Initiated Mason . "

The Illumines And The French Revolution.

THE ILLUMINES AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION .

1 / FR . GERARD DE NERVAL , in his interesting book "Les Illumines , " LSJL published at Paris b y Victor Lecon , 10 , Rue du Bouloi , in 1852 , seems to attribute to the " Illumines " a good deal of influence in preparing for the French Revolution . Indeed , he says at page 516 that " most historians of our time have neglected exhaustively to realize their details , whether from ignorance or from want of introducing into the "haute politique " an element which they considered as less serious . But thenwhen Mrcle Nerval l iu Barruel ancl

, . ugs Robison as witnesses , we at once see on how very , little of a sound or satisfactory basis this " castle in the air" is built up . Ancl then Mr . cle Nerval makes a mistake which is fatal , in our humble opinion , to his own thesis . He mixes up Freemasonry with Uluminisin in a manner which is contrary with the facts of the case , ancl with a " gloss " which is entirely devoid of truth or reason . The Freemasons never had anything to do with the Illumines , nor is

Freemasonry in any sense identical with Illuminism . We cannot insist upon this fact ancl truth too much , since the opposite grave error is one into which our Ultramontane opponents habitually fall ; ancl it is one , moreover , to which more careful writers seem to like to give way to . Ancl nothing was ever more historically ancl incontestably untrue . The Illumines had , no doubt , an organization of their own ( which hacl been originally planned in some shape b y Cagliostro ) , and in Paris , Weishaupt hacl established a centre of