Articles of Union

During the summer I had the good fortune to stumble upon and read "Freemasonry in London from 1785" by Bro. Roy Wells. The book made a reality of the division between the Antients and Moderns Grand Lodges by guiding the reader through the history of Domatic Lodge No. 177 (by-laws at Google Books), which was chartered by the Antients. The phrase "domatic mason" means an operative stone mason or builder, which contrasts with "geomatic masons" who we term today as speculative or accepted masons. The lodge name reflected its original constituency of operative masons. The book is fairly brief and well worth a read to the student of English Masonic history.

As I have more time, I intend to read in more detail about this era, as the "Moderns" and "Antients" labels are used for political ends by both conservative and radical freemasons to argue that one or the other is more authentic. All that aside, imagine my surprise and excitement when Pietre-Stones published the "Articles of Union" which formed the United Grand Lodge of England from the Antients and Moderns. Take a few minutes and read this for youself, I imagine you will find it very interesting. Pay attention to the elements related to obligations and modes of working...

(By the way, if you are having trouble finding AQC texts, use this search.)