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Article THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY REVIEW. ← Page 4 of 10 →
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The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
WE little expected , when the foregoing remarks were in type , that another and still more startling surprise was in store for us . We humbly believed that the days for enforcing " a vigour beyond the law , " had expired with 1840 ; and that those who had inconsiderately opened the Masonic
annals of 1841 , by complaining of us in prospective , would scarcely provoke complaint against themselves by further vehemence and precipitancy . But , alas ! for poor human nature , now , as heretofore , the law makers—the law expounders—the law extollers—are the earliest and the most
reckless among the law breakers . In the regulations for the government of the Grand Lodge , number 8 , page 26 , it is declared that" No motion for a new law or regulation , or for the alteration or repeal of an old one , shall be made , until it shall have been proposed in , or communicated to the general
committee , which meets on the Wednesday preceding each quarterly communication , nor until it shall have been handed up in writing to the Grand Master . After having been perused and found by him not to contain any thing contrary to the ancient landmarks of the Order , the motion may be
publicly proposed . If seconded , the question shall be put thereon , for the opinion of the Grand Lodge . If approved and confirmed , at the next ensuing meeting of the Grand Lodge , it becomes a law of the society . " This principle of confirmation , which includes the power
of rejection or non-confirmation , has hitherto been abided by in every act of the Grand Lodge , founded upon a substantive resolution . Yet , without waiting for any subsequent consideration of the subject , whilst the ink is scarcely dry with which the pro tempore minutes were made , and
long before the excitement of unreason could be allayed by reflection , the Grand Secretary has issued the following extraordinary missive : —
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
WE little expected , when the foregoing remarks were in type , that another and still more startling surprise was in store for us . We humbly believed that the days for enforcing " a vigour beyond the law , " had expired with 1840 ; and that those who had inconsiderately opened the Masonic
annals of 1841 , by complaining of us in prospective , would scarcely provoke complaint against themselves by further vehemence and precipitancy . But , alas ! for poor human nature , now , as heretofore , the law makers—the law expounders—the law extollers—are the earliest and the most
reckless among the law breakers . In the regulations for the government of the Grand Lodge , number 8 , page 26 , it is declared that" No motion for a new law or regulation , or for the alteration or repeal of an old one , shall be made , until it shall have been proposed in , or communicated to the general
committee , which meets on the Wednesday preceding each quarterly communication , nor until it shall have been handed up in writing to the Grand Master . After having been perused and found by him not to contain any thing contrary to the ancient landmarks of the Order , the motion may be
publicly proposed . If seconded , the question shall be put thereon , for the opinion of the Grand Lodge . If approved and confirmed , at the next ensuing meeting of the Grand Lodge , it becomes a law of the society . " This principle of confirmation , which includes the power
of rejection or non-confirmation , has hitherto been abided by in every act of the Grand Lodge , founded upon a substantive resolution . Yet , without waiting for any subsequent consideration of the subject , whilst the ink is scarcely dry with which the pro tempore minutes were made , and
long before the excitement of unreason could be allayed by reflection , the Grand Secretary has issued the following extraordinary missive : —