Excerpt from History and by-Laws of Richmond Royal Arch Chapter: No. 3, A. F.& A. M., Richmond, Virginia, With a List of Officers and MembersFreemasonry has been very beautifully described. As being a peculiar system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols.Its sublime tenets, its moral principles are recorded in our text-books. The Craft, in the earlier period of its existence was simply known as Masons. The epithet, Free, was applied to the fraternity on ac count of their being exempted by several papal bulls or proclamations from burdens and exactions or taxes imposed upon laborers or workingmen in England and the Continent, and this favor or exemption was doubtless shown them because of their work upon churches and cathedrals. This was doubtless the operative period and probably before or possibly coeval with its union or organization into Speculative Masonry, something on the order of the labor unions of modern times.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.