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Article THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY REVIEW. ← Page 2 of 8 →
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The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
with a more deadly foe—no less than a positive direction from the Masonic throne of England to surrender a law of the most stringent nature , whether it is looked on as a question of discipline and practice , or as a law that renders it necessary to give outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace . We call it in unqualified terms A SURRENDER OF ONE OF OUIl CIIIEPEST DEFENCES .
To term it merely a relaxation of the law in favour of the colonies , is to mark the colonial Masons with the stamp of degradation , if we preserve the law intact here at home;—but shall we preserve it here ? Time will show what must inevitably result if " this hill do pass . " We call on our readers to peruse most intently the extracts which we have prefixed to this article ; they are copied verbatim from the Book
of Constitutions ; then let them ponder over them for a few moments ere they venture to read the following statement and general remarks thereon . At the Grand Lodge held on the first instant , after his nomination had been carried nemine dissentiente , the Grand Master directed three letters to be read , in support of the necessity of relaxing the law that
limits the conferring a higher degree to an interval of one month , and that in future the Provincial Grand Masters on colonial and foreign stations should have power to grant a dispensation that superior degrees
may be conferred at intervals of one week ;—and what said the letters ; why simply this , that where there existed Lodges holding of the Scottish and Irish Grand Lodges , a week ' s time was thought sufficient by such Lodges , and that in consequence numerous wayfarers , particularly those who are engaged in the military , naval , and the commercial maritime services , have not time to wait three months for their full degrees ; and
that it follows that such parties prefer to join a Scottish or an Irish Lodge , to the evident prejudice of the prosperity of the English Craft . Ridiculous absurdity all this , and only equalled by its specious sophistry ! Did it ever occur to the Provincial Grand Masters for New Brunswick , and the Bahamas , and to the governor of the latter colony—for
these are the worthy Masons who assume to direct the attention of the Grand Master to the subject—that if a man is once initiated , and is compelled by his professional pursuits to leave a district , he can use his certificate as a passport elsewhere to ensure all Masonic privileges , even to the conferring of degrees , on being properly entitled ? Did it occur to these worthies respectfully to draw the attention of the Grand Master
to the-necessity of making this grievance known to the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland that those august bodies , may consider the grievance sustained by Freemasonry from so manifest a discrepancy in their own rituals , as contrasted with that of England ? No , they did no such thing : and we cannot help at this moment referring to the conduct of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Review.
with a more deadly foe—no less than a positive direction from the Masonic throne of England to surrender a law of the most stringent nature , whether it is looked on as a question of discipline and practice , or as a law that renders it necessary to give outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace . We call it in unqualified terms A SURRENDER OF ONE OF OUIl CIIIEPEST DEFENCES .
To term it merely a relaxation of the law in favour of the colonies , is to mark the colonial Masons with the stamp of degradation , if we preserve the law intact here at home;—but shall we preserve it here ? Time will show what must inevitably result if " this hill do pass . " We call on our readers to peruse most intently the extracts which we have prefixed to this article ; they are copied verbatim from the Book
of Constitutions ; then let them ponder over them for a few moments ere they venture to read the following statement and general remarks thereon . At the Grand Lodge held on the first instant , after his nomination had been carried nemine dissentiente , the Grand Master directed three letters to be read , in support of the necessity of relaxing the law that
limits the conferring a higher degree to an interval of one month , and that in future the Provincial Grand Masters on colonial and foreign stations should have power to grant a dispensation that superior degrees
may be conferred at intervals of one week ;—and what said the letters ; why simply this , that where there existed Lodges holding of the Scottish and Irish Grand Lodges , a week ' s time was thought sufficient by such Lodges , and that in consequence numerous wayfarers , particularly those who are engaged in the military , naval , and the commercial maritime services , have not time to wait three months for their full degrees ; and
that it follows that such parties prefer to join a Scottish or an Irish Lodge , to the evident prejudice of the prosperity of the English Craft . Ridiculous absurdity all this , and only equalled by its specious sophistry ! Did it ever occur to the Provincial Grand Masters for New Brunswick , and the Bahamas , and to the governor of the latter colony—for
these are the worthy Masons who assume to direct the attention of the Grand Master to the subject—that if a man is once initiated , and is compelled by his professional pursuits to leave a district , he can use his certificate as a passport elsewhere to ensure all Masonic privileges , even to the conferring of degrees , on being properly entitled ? Did it occur to these worthies respectfully to draw the attention of the Grand Master
to the-necessity of making this grievance known to the Grand Lodges of Scotland and Ireland that those august bodies , may consider the grievance sustained by Freemasonry from so manifest a discrepancy in their own rituals , as contrasted with that of England ? No , they did no such thing : and we cannot help at this moment referring to the conduct of