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Freemasonry Site Map other sites Masons & Freemasonry Michigan Masons Mason, Masonry and Freemasonry Steps to Joining Free Information |
The history of Freemasonry therefore falls into three periods. In the first period all Freemasons,
with very few exceptions, were Operatives, by which is meant that they made architecture their means o
f livelihood. In the second period the membership of the lodges was a mixture of Operatives and
Speculatives. In the third period, beginning in 1717, it has been wholly Speculative. The one
principle which unites the three periods is the fact that through out its history Freemasonry
has always been a fraternity - a fraternity, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing other.
The form of Freemasonry which thus descended directly from the Operative lodges of a thousand or so years ago is known as Ancient Craft Freemasonry; it is organized in Grand Lodges and local lodges. During the last quarter of the eighteenth century a number of branches grew out of that parent trunk, and in the course of time each one developed an independent form of organization of its own. Each of these appendant bodies is called a Rite.
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