The Genesis of Freemasonry - Onondaga and Oswego Masonic ...

associated with the lodge, or possibly, in the case of the Lodge of Aberdeen, in a desire for such benefits as were provided by the
Mason Box, maintained in accordance with the fourth statute of that Lodge.(1)
LOCAL ORGANISATION OF ACCEPTED MASONRY
The account of accepted masonry given in Plot's Natural History of Staffordshire, 1686,(2) although written, so far as we are aware,
by a non mason, is the most circumstantial that we possess. According to Plot, the custom of admitting men into the "Society of Free
masons" was spread, more or less, over the nation, but more especially in Staffordshire; next, he referred to a large parchment
volume they had amongst them containing the history and rules of the craft of masonry which he very briefly summarized, this
summary of a version of the MS. Constitutions of Masonry being known to present day students as the Plot Abstract. He continued:
86. Into which Society when any are admitted, they call a meeting (or Lodge as they term it in some places) which must consist at
lest of 5 or 6 of the Ancients of the Order, whom the candidates present with gloves, and so likewise to their wives, and entertain
with a collation according to the Custom of the place: This ended, they proceed to the admission of them, which chiefly consists in
the communication of certain secret signes, whereby they are known to one another all over the Nation, by which means they
have maintenance whither ever they travel: for if any man appear though altogether unknown that can shew any of these signes
to a Fellow of the Society, whom they otherwise call an accepted mason, he is obliged presently to come to him, from what
company or place soever he be in, nay tho' from the top of a Steeple ... to know his pleasure, and assist him ...
1 Ibid., 59.
2 85 6, reprinted in E.M.P., 31 4 [145]
This passage is to some extent supplemented by a passage in John Aubrey's Natural History of Wiltshire,(1) which was completed
in 1686, though not published until 1847. He refers to the "Fraternity of adopted Masons" and adds:
... They are known to one another by certain Signs and Watch words: it continues to this day. They have several Lodges in
several Countries for their reception; and when any of them fall into decay, the brotherhood is to relieve him &c. The manner of
their Adoption is very formall, and with an Oath of Secrecy.
Aubrey's words are followed very closely by Dr. Richard Rawlinson in a memoir of Elias Ashmole contained in the introduction to
Ashmole's Antiquities of Berkshire published in 1719.(2) Thus it may be concluded from Plot, Aubrey and Rawlinson, that accepted
masons as well as operative masons, such as those of the Lodge of Aberdeen mentioned in the previous paragraph, provided
friendly benefits, the knowledge of which may have attracted certain persons to seek admission to the craft.
In most cases the records, if any; of these lodges of accepted masons have been lost. This was very possibly the case at Kendal,
where there is some reason for thinking that such a lodge existed as early as 1594, in connection with the Company of Wrights, to
which masons and members of other building crafts belonged.(3) From one source or another we are able to trace seven such
lodges.
(i) The earliest known lodge of accepted masons which has been definitely traced was the so called "Acception" connected with the
London Masons' Company,(4) to which members and non members of the Company were admitted.
1 E.M.P., 41 2.
2 Ibid.
3 Poole, A.Q.C., xxxvi, 20 2, 33.
4 By courtesy of the Court of Assistants, we have been permitted to examine the Company's records. These partly served as a
basis for our paper, "The London Masons' Company", Ec. Hist., February 1939, and are utilized for this paragraph. [146]
This implies that the ceremony of admission to the Acception was different from any ceremony of admission to the freedom of the
Company. The Acception can be traced in the earliest surviving Account Book of the Company, which opens with the financial year
1619 20. The items relating to it are all too few: two, in 1630 1 and 1646 7, relate quite briefly to expenses connected with the
Acception; three, in 1645 6, 1649 50 and 1663 4, relate equally briefly to sums spent upon the Acception Dinner; one, in 1676 7,
relates to a balance of some £6 received from the "last accepted Masons", presumably after meeting a dinner bill; one, in 1638 9,
and a group of entries in 1649-50, in addition to indicating expenses or receipts, give the names of those taken into the Acception.
Of the five admitted in 1638 9, Nicholas Stone and three others can be traced as old members of the Company; the same applies to
four out of six admitted in 1649 50. The other two cannot be traced in the Company's books, and the fact that they paid 40s., or
double the ordinary entrance fee, strengthens the probability that they were not members of the Company. The Acception was no
doubt identical with the lodge held at Masons' Hall, London, to which Elias Ashmole refers in his Diary on 10 and 11 March 1682,(1)
when he and some other non members of the Masons' Company were present, as well as the Master and several other prominent
members of the Company. This chance entry in Ashmole's Diary shows that the Acception had continued to meet as late as 1682,
although no reference to it can be traced in the books of the Company after 1677, when, in addition to the above mentioned entry in
the Account Book, there is a reference in the first Court Book of the Company to buying a new banner with the balance of 46 of the
Accepted Masons' money.
The history of the Acception subsequent to 1682 is unknown, and so is its history before the first casual reference in 1630 1. It is
quite possible, however, that an entry in the Account Book in 1620 1, "At the making masons", when seven men paid 26s. 8d. each,
refers to the
1 E.M.P., 40 1 [147]
Acception.(1) Items in inventories of 1665 and 1676 make it appear likely that the Company possessed at least one version of the
MS. Constitutions of Masonry, or Old Charges, and it is reasonable to conclude that this was used in connection with the ceremony
of admission to the Acception.
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