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You never know what you may find in a Lodge locker, and
but for the decision to amalgamate two Lodges, a unique
find may have gone undiscovered for many years to come.
It was back in November 2002 that Lodge of
Affability No. 317 was to amalgamate with Villiers Lodge
No. 6684 (a Grand Daughter Lodge) in the Province of
East Lancashire.
A decision was taken to check the contents of the Lodge
of Affability, with a view to discarding duplicate Masonic
material and to update its inventory. Among the items
stored were no less than four Bibles.
The most interesting of them was the oldest – a Geneva
Bible dated 1607. Printed on the cover of the bound book
was the following inscription:
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The Lodge of Affability reference in the Geneva Bible Cum Prievegio
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The gift of
Brother John Moreton
to the
Lodge of Affability
January 18th A L 5802
This presentation was made three years after Lodge of
Affability had been consecrated in 1799. The “Breeches
Bible”, as it is commonly known, is a book collector’s term
for the Geneva Bible, first printed in 1560. The term derives
from the reference in Genesis III, Verse 7, which states:-
Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that
they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together, and made
themselves breeches.
This final word, “breeches”, being substituted for “aprons”.
The Geneva Bible owes its origin to a group of scholars
who fled from England to Geneva in Switzerland to escape
persecution from Queen Mary, known as the Bloody
Queen of England 1553 – 1558. Upon her accession
to the throne she banned the printing of English scriptures.
Being abroad, they translated an English version from
Latin, using Greek and Hebrew text. The translators
included such Protestant scholars of the day as John Calvin,
Myles Coverdale. John Foxe and several other reformers
including Theodore Beza.
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Copyright 2002-2007
MQ Magazine
Web site created by Mark Griffin
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