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Article THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY REVIEW. ← Page 5 of 8 →
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The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
received the highest Masonic honours , they are excused from the performance of the highest Masonic duty , —that of charity . They are of the privileged Order of Masons , and need no longer contribute to the fund of benevolence ! But not even here do these anomalous distinctions end .
They are carried into every portion of the system , wherever the opportunity occurs for their existence . Provincial Grand Masters take their places in the Grand Lodge—and the highest places too—in virtue of their office ; but Deputy Provincial Grand Masters , Provincial Grand Wardens , and
the subordinate Provincial Grand Officers , as respects the Grand Lodge , are comprised with the restricted classes , — " they are not , by such appointments , Members of the United Grand Lodge . " The mantle of privilege , in this case , falls short of those who frequently perform the entire
pYOvincial duties , and covers only the favoured form of their provincial chief . He , entering the Grand Lodge as a Provincial Grand Master , may sit there as the
representative of the Pro-Grand , or Deputy Grand Master ; or even preside over the Grand Lodge itself , in the absence of a superior officer ; although he may have long since abandoned his Masonic duties in the province or district which gave him his rank ; aye , even if there were no longer a single
Lodge in that district contributing to the funds of Grand Lodge , or if he had never , himself , on any one occasion , directly performed the duties of a Provincial Grand Master ! The privileges conferred upon the Grand Master by the Book of Constitutions—and the accumulative power arising from continuous re-election—with the exercise of other occasional powers—place him virtually beyond all
restriction : With these facts before us , are we not warranted in declaring that Freemasons are divided into two classes , —the privileged and the restricted ?
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
received the highest Masonic honours , they are excused from the performance of the highest Masonic duty , —that of charity . They are of the privileged Order of Masons , and need no longer contribute to the fund of benevolence ! But not even here do these anomalous distinctions end .
They are carried into every portion of the system , wherever the opportunity occurs for their existence . Provincial Grand Masters take their places in the Grand Lodge—and the highest places too—in virtue of their office ; but Deputy Provincial Grand Masters , Provincial Grand Wardens , and
the subordinate Provincial Grand Officers , as respects the Grand Lodge , are comprised with the restricted classes , — " they are not , by such appointments , Members of the United Grand Lodge . " The mantle of privilege , in this case , falls short of those who frequently perform the entire
pYOvincial duties , and covers only the favoured form of their provincial chief . He , entering the Grand Lodge as a Provincial Grand Master , may sit there as the
representative of the Pro-Grand , or Deputy Grand Master ; or even preside over the Grand Lodge itself , in the absence of a superior officer ; although he may have long since abandoned his Masonic duties in the province or district which gave him his rank ; aye , even if there were no longer a single
Lodge in that district contributing to the funds of Grand Lodge , or if he had never , himself , on any one occasion , directly performed the duties of a Provincial Grand Master ! The privileges conferred upon the Grand Master by the Book of Constitutions—and the accumulative power arising from continuous re-election—with the exercise of other occasional powers—place him virtually beyond all
restriction : With these facts before us , are we not warranted in declaring that Freemasons are divided into two classes , —the privileged and the restricted ?