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Article THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE. ← Page 6 of 9 →
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The Ancient And Accepted Rite.
those principles far and wide . We never thought great numbers merely a desirable object , but have always endeavoured to enlist amongst us the true and the trustworthy alone ; and be assured of this , should pressure come upon Ereemasonry from Avithout ; should Craft Masonry be attacked ; those that will be found first to ward off the attackwill be the members of the Hih Degrees ; and the banner
, g of Ereemasonry—the imperishable standard of the Order- —will be successfully upheld ancl maintained by the Christian Masons of England . The time is past AA * hen educated Masons , such as I am now addressing , are to be cheated by the bugbear of a word . UnknoAving people haye talked of " fche universality of Ereemasonry , " admitting all persons within the palewhatever their origin or belief .
, This is an entire misconception of the terms used ; but those AA'I IO have used them are not consistent , for they do not pretend that "the stupid Atheist" is admissible to the Order , which he must be on such an interpretation . The Avord " universal , " as properly applied , points to the Order being , like Christianity , spread over the universe , so that where there is the light of claythere is also the liht of
, g Masonry ; but as the universality of Christianity does not mean , that all persons are Christians , so , on the other hand , the universality of Masonry does not mean , that all persons are admissible to Ereemasonry , whatever their creed or belief . The term " universal , " in its secondary sense , may no doubt be made to apply to persons ; but however applied , as is pointedly said in one of the leading articles
of the last number of the Quarterl y Magazine , Ereemasonry admits none into ifcs body but those , who declare " the Decalogue as part of their belief , and the foundation of their morality . " And it is truly added , that " neither the Grand Lodge nor the Grand Chapter knoAV any universality beyond that . " It is of the last importance that fallacious ideas on such a subject should not gain currency , and one of the enduring advantages of these splendid meetings of the High
Grades Union consists in their being a protest , patent to all—that however contrary opinions may exist amongst the shallow and superficial—they are opposed , " manibus pedibusqiie" by the learned and intelligent Brethren of Ancient Eree ancl Accepted Masonry . After alluding to other matters of interest to the Order , he concluded by thanking the Brethren for the uniform kindness exhibited towards him , and particularly cautioned the Brethren never to recommend
for advancement to the Higher Degrees of the Order any one , whose antecedents in Craft or Symbolic Masonry were not Avell known , and whose social position was not such as to warrant the belief that he would reflect credit on the Order . [ This address of the 111 . Brother was listened to Avith liveliest satisfaction throughout . ] The Sov . Grand Insps . Gen . HEKEX EMLY ancl Col . GEOKGE VERS'OH' also addressed the assemblysayingthat so far as it was
, , necessary to express their Masonic views at the present time , they were so much in accordance with those expressed by their 111 . Brother , who had preceded them , that it Avas unnecessary to add anything to what had been said ; tbey thanked the Brethren for the honour of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Ancient And Accepted Rite.
those principles far and wide . We never thought great numbers merely a desirable object , but have always endeavoured to enlist amongst us the true and the trustworthy alone ; and be assured of this , should pressure come upon Ereemasonry from Avithout ; should Craft Masonry be attacked ; those that will be found first to ward off the attackwill be the members of the Hih Degrees ; and the banner
, g of Ereemasonry—the imperishable standard of the Order- —will be successfully upheld ancl maintained by the Christian Masons of England . The time is past AA * hen educated Masons , such as I am now addressing , are to be cheated by the bugbear of a word . UnknoAving people haye talked of " fche universality of Ereemasonry , " admitting all persons within the palewhatever their origin or belief .
, This is an entire misconception of the terms used ; but those AA'I IO have used them are not consistent , for they do not pretend that "the stupid Atheist" is admissible to the Order , which he must be on such an interpretation . The Avord " universal , " as properly applied , points to the Order being , like Christianity , spread over the universe , so that where there is the light of claythere is also the liht of
, g Masonry ; but as the universality of Christianity does not mean , that all persons are Christians , so , on the other hand , the universality of Masonry does not mean , that all persons are admissible to Ereemasonry , whatever their creed or belief . The term " universal , " in its secondary sense , may no doubt be made to apply to persons ; but however applied , as is pointedly said in one of the leading articles
of the last number of the Quarterl y Magazine , Ereemasonry admits none into ifcs body but those , who declare " the Decalogue as part of their belief , and the foundation of their morality . " And it is truly added , that " neither the Grand Lodge nor the Grand Chapter knoAV any universality beyond that . " It is of the last importance that fallacious ideas on such a subject should not gain currency , and one of the enduring advantages of these splendid meetings of the High
Grades Union consists in their being a protest , patent to all—that however contrary opinions may exist amongst the shallow and superficial—they are opposed , " manibus pedibusqiie" by the learned and intelligent Brethren of Ancient Eree ancl Accepted Masonry . After alluding to other matters of interest to the Order , he concluded by thanking the Brethren for the uniform kindness exhibited towards him , and particularly cautioned the Brethren never to recommend
for advancement to the Higher Degrees of the Order any one , whose antecedents in Craft or Symbolic Masonry were not Avell known , and whose social position was not such as to warrant the belief that he would reflect credit on the Order . [ This address of the 111 . Brother was listened to Avith liveliest satisfaction throughout . ] The Sov . Grand Insps . Gen . HEKEX EMLY ancl Col . GEOKGE VERS'OH' also addressed the assemblysayingthat so far as it was
, , necessary to express their Masonic views at the present time , they were so much in accordance with those expressed by their 111 . Brother , who had preceded them , that it Avas unnecessary to add anything to what had been said ; tbey thanked the Brethren for the honour of