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  • The Freemason's Chronicle
  • Sept. 22, 1894
  • Page 12
  • IN THE SECRETARY'S PLACE.
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The Freemason's Chronicle, Sept. 22, 1894: Page 12

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    Article "A SPRIG OF ACACIA." Page 1 of 1
    Article IN THE SECRETARY'S PLACE. Page 1 of 1
    Article IN THE SECRETARY'S PLACE. Page 1 of 1
    Article SECRET SOCIETIES AND SECRET TRIBUNALS. Page 1 of 1
Page 12

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

"A Sprig Of Acacia."

" A SPRIG OF ACACIA . "

ON the 3 rd inst ., in the presen . e of a numerous concourse of Brethren , and business and other friends and acquaintances , the remains of Bro . W . S .

Vines , of the Lathom Hotel , Houghton Street , Liverpool , were interred at the Anfield Cemetery . The cortege

was one of considerable length , nearly twenty carriages following the hearse . The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths , and was preceded to the grave by over 150 Brethren who had been associated with the

deceased . The burial service was most impressively read by Bro . the Eev . W . Passfield of All Souls' Church . From the Pembroke Lodge , No . 1299 , of which the deceased was a P . M . and the Treasurer up to the time of his death , there were present the Master and several

members , while from Lodge 220 , of which deceased was also a P . M ., the Worshipful Master , and several others attended . o o 0 THE remains of the late Bro . S . Norton , referred to in the " Bristol Mercury" as one of the old landmarks of

Weston-super-Mare , were interred there on the 10 th inst . The regard in which deceased had been held was abundantly manifested by the numerous attendance at the funeral obsequies , including as it did representatives

from the whole of the public bodies of the town . The Freemasons—deceased was one of the oldest subscribing members of St . Kew Lodge—numbered thirty , each member carrying a spray of acacia ; the Oddfellows , of

which he was an old hon . member , were next represented , as were also the Town Commissioners , the Gas Company , of which deceased had been Vice-Chairman , and various

other deputations from kindred societies , and also a large number of fellow-tradesmen . The service at the Cemetery Chapel and also at the grave was taken by the Bector ( Eev . Preb . Salmon ) in the presence of a very large congregation of those who wished to testify by

their presence a measure of respect to one who had endeared himself to all . There were a large number of floral wreaths and the general closing of business establishments during the hour of interment was ample evidence of the respect and esteem which the deceased enjoyed in his lifetime .

In The Secretary's Place.

IN THE SECRETARY'S PLACE .

IT is by no moans a sinecure or chapel of ease . If the membership of the body be large the work of the Secretary is correspondingly great . The Brethren do not always take this fact into proper consideration , and fondly imagine that the office of Secretary is largely honorary and his duties comprised in the receiving of dues and reading minutes . On the contrary , his duties are onerous in the extreme . As is the case in all cities

where the roll of minutes is large , his work extends from week to week with unerring regularity . The members think that because he is paid a small salary he should shoulder all the blame for any little irregularity which may occur , and while he may not receive public censure , still he may receive the same in silent thought . We overheard a resolution of thanks offered and passed in praise of

a Secretary ' s work . Few , if any , of these tokens of approbation are tendered , and yet there is no official in the Lodge mote richly deserving of the same . His work is for the years to come , and when he is dust may be read , pondered over , and criticised . The Master or Wardens may be excellent Officers , but their mistakes or blunders do not go down in black and white . Those of the

Secretary do ; at least his work in after years stands as open for inspection as upon the night when the action transpired . He is the mouthpiece of the Lodge . Through pen and voice he speaks the spirit of the body of which he is the tongue . His duties are multifarious . If the members have to be notified of some special event he must carefully attend to same , and if one be overlooked ,

then he is subject to as much censure as though all had suffered . His minutes must be free from blunders—for his is no pleasant position to stand in while some sagacious old Past Master calls attention to some lack of parliamentary form or omission of accuracy in the wording of a resolution . In nearly all the Masonic bodies the labours of the Brother Secretary are not confined to tho

short space of . time in which the Lodge is in session . If there be a talkative , contentions element in the Lodge , resolutions and amendments follow each other in rapid succession . The writer held the place for three years , and knows whereof he speaks when he says the work of the Secretary in all its minutia and detail is really the work of an expert bookkeeper , and , as a general thing ,

but poorly appreciated . It was only the other evening that in a large Masonic body in Detroit , the Secretary was " called down , " by the finance committee in its report because he had accommodated the Brethren by waiting for the fee which should accompany the applications in several instances . The Brother Secretary said but little , but from the expression on his face evidently did a heap of thinking , and the next application coming to him without the

In The Secretary's Place.

collateral accompanient of tho " long green " will be silent until the lucre speaks . So , Brethren , where you have a good Secretary , appreciate his work and hug not the delusion that his place is one that any Brother could as ably fill . Such is far from being the case , and even the mere routine of his work demands from him as much attention , earnestness and care as the most important . — Exchange .

Secret Societies And Secret Tribunals.

SECRET SOCIETIES AND SECRET TRIBUNALS .

THOUGH many Societies claim to be of earlier origin , the Order of Knights Templar is the first one of which the date of foundation is known . They were not , it is true , strictly speaking , a Secret Society ; but they are as fully entitled to that term as the Freemasons , the Rosicrucians , the llluminati , or any other . They had mysterious rites of initiation , badges and Lodges ; they were

in fact , the real source from which Freemasonry sprang . Contemporary with the Templars was the famous Syrian sect of the Assassins . Their name describes them . The band was founded by Hassan-ibn-Sabbah , the ' Old Man of the Mountain , ' and consisted of himself and his dupes . They were a mere band of fanatical murderers , without political or religious excuse .

The Assassins are said to have numbered forty thousand men , and European Princes leagued with them . After the death of Hassan , internal dissension arose , and finally they were exterminated by the Mongols in 1256 . In pleasant contrast to the grim realism and fierce barbarity of the middle ages are the Troubadours and Minnesingers , most

graceful and poetic of conspirators . That they were heretics and plotters , is true ; but they wore heretics only to the fierce rancour of the Inquisition ; and they plotted only against the gloomy tryranny of feudal France , wandering over Europe , preaching the canons of the Joyous Science , the religion and cult of Love , as mysteriously sweet as their own ' Romaunt of the Rose . ' They were in some measure a secret society , for they had grips and

passwords , and they held ' courts of love' ostensibly for the settlement of affairs of gallantry . But harmless though they were , the restless suspicion of Rome was upon them ; they had sung songs derisive of the Pope , above all in the ' langue d ' oc , ' 'the language of heretics ; ' they were in league with the Albigenses . They perished with their unhappy allies beneath the iron heel of the father of Simon de Montfort .

The Holy Inquisition was established in 1208 by Pope Innocent III . in Languedoc , for the suppression of the Albigenses and Troubadours , as above stated . From its establishment in Spain five-and-twenty years later , it rapidly spread all over the Continent . It gave the death-blow to the Knights Templar ; in 1481 it drove tho Jews out of Spain . .

An attempt was made to re-establish the Inquisition in 1814 , and many persons were imprisoned ; but the time for even the mummery of persecution was past . The people broke out into revolt , burnt the prisons , and drove away the familiars . In 1820 the Holy Inquisition was blotted out . . . . After the Company of Troubadours , the most attractive secret society is

certainly that of the Rosicrucians , or the Society of the Rosy Cross . It was theirs to invest the debased art of alchemy with a fantastic charm , none the less graceful because it was unreal . They were very closely connected with the Troubadours , holding the ' Romaunt of the Rose' as the epic of their order . Their professed aim was the restoration of the ' sciences' —that is , alchemy and astrology

—to their true spheres . Their tenets and ceremonies were of the most graceful and poetical description , very different from the stern Vehmic code and the crude mummery of other secret societies . Their beliefs were worthy of their general character . . The sect spread into Scotland and Sweden and throughout all Europe . It gradually became merged in the Craft of Freemasons .

An article giving an account of the principal secret societies would be incomplete without some mention of the llluminati , a sect which attracted a great deal of attention , and to which , as to the Nihilists of to-day , a very exaggerated influence and power was attributed . It was founded by a student , Adam Weishaupt , in 1776 , and had political and educational aims . Space does not

permit us to give tho long list of degrees and classes into which the llluminati were divided . There were three main stages—Nursery , Masonry , and Mysteries , which were again divided and subdivided . The dawn of the last decade of the nineteenth century sees the extinction of the last remnants of any true secret

society ; they have become obsolete , unnecessary , ineffective . As for any modern so-called ' secret society , ' it is a curiosity ; its place is in the museum , together with the rust-eaten thumbscrews and tarnished symbols . They are as harmless and as useless as these . — " Chamber ' s Journal . "

THE Association for the Promotion of Home and Foreign Travel is making special efforts to open up Ireland to the Tourist , and is certainly deserving of encouragement in that laudable direction , as it may safely be said the more intimate association of Englishmen with the Sister Isle would lead to many advantages on both sides . The Association urges that next year there will be no great centre

of attraction on the Continent , such as the present Antwerp Exhibition , and therefore proposes to use every endeavour to induce a large proportion of tho crowds that this year have visited Antwerp , to spend their next holidays in Ireland . It has already inaugurated series of Lantern Lectures , dealing with some of the more

beautiful parts of Ireland , and hopes by this means to bring Ireland—too long neglected by the tourist and holiday-makerinto line with the better known pleasure resorts of Europe . Further particulars may be hael at the office of the Association—41 Gracechurch Street , E . C .

“The Freemason's Chronicle: 1894-09-22, Page 12” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 12 Aug. 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fcn/issues/fcn_22091894/page/12/.
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Title Category Page
THE SCOTTISH ADMISSION QUESTION. Article 1
OUTSIDE BENEVOLENCE. Article 2
INDIAN CHARITY. Article 2
MASONIC HOME FOR CONSUMPTIVES. Article 2
WEST LANCASHIRE. Article 3
RED APRON LODGES. Article 4
BOARD OF BENEVOLENCE. Article 4
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 5
ENERGY AND ITS RESULTS. Article 5
Untitled Ad 5
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 6
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Ad 7
Untitled Article 7
REPORTS OF MEETINGS. Article 7
METROPOLITAN. Article 10
ROYAL ARCH. Article 11
Untitled Article 11
"A SPRIG OF ACACIA." Article 12
IN THE SECRETARY'S PLACE. Article 12
SECRET SOCIETIES AND SECRET TRIBUNALS. Article 12
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

"A Sprig Of Acacia."

" A SPRIG OF ACACIA . "

ON the 3 rd inst ., in the presen . e of a numerous concourse of Brethren , and business and other friends and acquaintances , the remains of Bro . W . S .

Vines , of the Lathom Hotel , Houghton Street , Liverpool , were interred at the Anfield Cemetery . The cortege

was one of considerable length , nearly twenty carriages following the hearse . The coffin was covered with beautiful wreaths , and was preceded to the grave by over 150 Brethren who had been associated with the

deceased . The burial service was most impressively read by Bro . the Eev . W . Passfield of All Souls' Church . From the Pembroke Lodge , No . 1299 , of which the deceased was a P . M . and the Treasurer up to the time of his death , there were present the Master and several

members , while from Lodge 220 , of which deceased was also a P . M ., the Worshipful Master , and several others attended . o o 0 THE remains of the late Bro . S . Norton , referred to in the " Bristol Mercury" as one of the old landmarks of

Weston-super-Mare , were interred there on the 10 th inst . The regard in which deceased had been held was abundantly manifested by the numerous attendance at the funeral obsequies , including as it did representatives

from the whole of the public bodies of the town . The Freemasons—deceased was one of the oldest subscribing members of St . Kew Lodge—numbered thirty , each member carrying a spray of acacia ; the Oddfellows , of

which he was an old hon . member , were next represented , as were also the Town Commissioners , the Gas Company , of which deceased had been Vice-Chairman , and various

other deputations from kindred societies , and also a large number of fellow-tradesmen . The service at the Cemetery Chapel and also at the grave was taken by the Bector ( Eev . Preb . Salmon ) in the presence of a very large congregation of those who wished to testify by

their presence a measure of respect to one who had endeared himself to all . There were a large number of floral wreaths and the general closing of business establishments during the hour of interment was ample evidence of the respect and esteem which the deceased enjoyed in his lifetime .

In The Secretary's Place.

IN THE SECRETARY'S PLACE .

IT is by no moans a sinecure or chapel of ease . If the membership of the body be large the work of the Secretary is correspondingly great . The Brethren do not always take this fact into proper consideration , and fondly imagine that the office of Secretary is largely honorary and his duties comprised in the receiving of dues and reading minutes . On the contrary , his duties are onerous in the extreme . As is the case in all cities

where the roll of minutes is large , his work extends from week to week with unerring regularity . The members think that because he is paid a small salary he should shoulder all the blame for any little irregularity which may occur , and while he may not receive public censure , still he may receive the same in silent thought . We overheard a resolution of thanks offered and passed in praise of

a Secretary ' s work . Few , if any , of these tokens of approbation are tendered , and yet there is no official in the Lodge mote richly deserving of the same . His work is for the years to come , and when he is dust may be read , pondered over , and criticised . The Master or Wardens may be excellent Officers , but their mistakes or blunders do not go down in black and white . Those of the

Secretary do ; at least his work in after years stands as open for inspection as upon the night when the action transpired . He is the mouthpiece of the Lodge . Through pen and voice he speaks the spirit of the body of which he is the tongue . His duties are multifarious . If the members have to be notified of some special event he must carefully attend to same , and if one be overlooked ,

then he is subject to as much censure as though all had suffered . His minutes must be free from blunders—for his is no pleasant position to stand in while some sagacious old Past Master calls attention to some lack of parliamentary form or omission of accuracy in the wording of a resolution . In nearly all the Masonic bodies the labours of the Brother Secretary are not confined to tho

short space of . time in which the Lodge is in session . If there be a talkative , contentions element in the Lodge , resolutions and amendments follow each other in rapid succession . The writer held the place for three years , and knows whereof he speaks when he says the work of the Secretary in all its minutia and detail is really the work of an expert bookkeeper , and , as a general thing ,

but poorly appreciated . It was only the other evening that in a large Masonic body in Detroit , the Secretary was " called down , " by the finance committee in its report because he had accommodated the Brethren by waiting for the fee which should accompany the applications in several instances . The Brother Secretary said but little , but from the expression on his face evidently did a heap of thinking , and the next application coming to him without the

In The Secretary's Place.

collateral accompanient of tho " long green " will be silent until the lucre speaks . So , Brethren , where you have a good Secretary , appreciate his work and hug not the delusion that his place is one that any Brother could as ably fill . Such is far from being the case , and even the mere routine of his work demands from him as much attention , earnestness and care as the most important . — Exchange .

Secret Societies And Secret Tribunals.

SECRET SOCIETIES AND SECRET TRIBUNALS .

THOUGH many Societies claim to be of earlier origin , the Order of Knights Templar is the first one of which the date of foundation is known . They were not , it is true , strictly speaking , a Secret Society ; but they are as fully entitled to that term as the Freemasons , the Rosicrucians , the llluminati , or any other . They had mysterious rites of initiation , badges and Lodges ; they were

in fact , the real source from which Freemasonry sprang . Contemporary with the Templars was the famous Syrian sect of the Assassins . Their name describes them . The band was founded by Hassan-ibn-Sabbah , the ' Old Man of the Mountain , ' and consisted of himself and his dupes . They were a mere band of fanatical murderers , without political or religious excuse .

The Assassins are said to have numbered forty thousand men , and European Princes leagued with them . After the death of Hassan , internal dissension arose , and finally they were exterminated by the Mongols in 1256 . In pleasant contrast to the grim realism and fierce barbarity of the middle ages are the Troubadours and Minnesingers , most

graceful and poetic of conspirators . That they were heretics and plotters , is true ; but they wore heretics only to the fierce rancour of the Inquisition ; and they plotted only against the gloomy tryranny of feudal France , wandering over Europe , preaching the canons of the Joyous Science , the religion and cult of Love , as mysteriously sweet as their own ' Romaunt of the Rose . ' They were in some measure a secret society , for they had grips and

passwords , and they held ' courts of love' ostensibly for the settlement of affairs of gallantry . But harmless though they were , the restless suspicion of Rome was upon them ; they had sung songs derisive of the Pope , above all in the ' langue d ' oc , ' 'the language of heretics ; ' they were in league with the Albigenses . They perished with their unhappy allies beneath the iron heel of the father of Simon de Montfort .

The Holy Inquisition was established in 1208 by Pope Innocent III . in Languedoc , for the suppression of the Albigenses and Troubadours , as above stated . From its establishment in Spain five-and-twenty years later , it rapidly spread all over the Continent . It gave the death-blow to the Knights Templar ; in 1481 it drove tho Jews out of Spain . .

An attempt was made to re-establish the Inquisition in 1814 , and many persons were imprisoned ; but the time for even the mummery of persecution was past . The people broke out into revolt , burnt the prisons , and drove away the familiars . In 1820 the Holy Inquisition was blotted out . . . . After the Company of Troubadours , the most attractive secret society is

certainly that of the Rosicrucians , or the Society of the Rosy Cross . It was theirs to invest the debased art of alchemy with a fantastic charm , none the less graceful because it was unreal . They were very closely connected with the Troubadours , holding the ' Romaunt of the Rose' as the epic of their order . Their professed aim was the restoration of the ' sciences' —that is , alchemy and astrology

—to their true spheres . Their tenets and ceremonies were of the most graceful and poetical description , very different from the stern Vehmic code and the crude mummery of other secret societies . Their beliefs were worthy of their general character . . The sect spread into Scotland and Sweden and throughout all Europe . It gradually became merged in the Craft of Freemasons .

An article giving an account of the principal secret societies would be incomplete without some mention of the llluminati , a sect which attracted a great deal of attention , and to which , as to the Nihilists of to-day , a very exaggerated influence and power was attributed . It was founded by a student , Adam Weishaupt , in 1776 , and had political and educational aims . Space does not

permit us to give tho long list of degrees and classes into which the llluminati were divided . There were three main stages—Nursery , Masonry , and Mysteries , which were again divided and subdivided . The dawn of the last decade of the nineteenth century sees the extinction of the last remnants of any true secret

society ; they have become obsolete , unnecessary , ineffective . As for any modern so-called ' secret society , ' it is a curiosity ; its place is in the museum , together with the rust-eaten thumbscrews and tarnished symbols . They are as harmless and as useless as these . — " Chamber ' s Journal . "

THE Association for the Promotion of Home and Foreign Travel is making special efforts to open up Ireland to the Tourist , and is certainly deserving of encouragement in that laudable direction , as it may safely be said the more intimate association of Englishmen with the Sister Isle would lead to many advantages on both sides . The Association urges that next year there will be no great centre

of attraction on the Continent , such as the present Antwerp Exhibition , and therefore proposes to use every endeavour to induce a large proportion of tho crowds that this year have visited Antwerp , to spend their next holidays in Ireland . It has already inaugurated series of Lantern Lectures , dealing with some of the more

beautiful parts of Ireland , and hopes by this means to bring Ireland—too long neglected by the tourist and holiday-makerinto line with the better known pleasure resorts of Europe . Further particulars may be hael at the office of the Association—41 Gracechurch Street , E . C .

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