Contents.

CONTENTS .

LEADERSOrigin of the "Ancient "Grand Lodge of England ... ... " * ... i ? 5 Grand Lodge of Tasmania ... ... •¦• — — ' 75 Lodge N 0 . 22 S ... ... ... ... - - > 7 <> Devon Masonic Educational Fund ' ... ... ... ¦•• ••• ' 7 ° The Recent Festival of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ... ... 177 Craft Masonry ... ... ... ... - — ' 77 The late Bro . Col . Le Gendte N . Starkie , Prov . G . M . Lancashire ( E . D . ) ... 17 8

MASONIC NOTESOuarterly General Court of the Girls'School ... ... ... 1 S 1 Committee Meeting of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution ... 181 Devon Masonic Educational Fund ... ... ... ••¦ 'Si Correspondence ... ... — — — Is-5 Reviews ... ... ••• — ••• , S 2

Craft Masonry ... ... — •¦¦ ¦•• lSz Instruction ... ... ... •¦• — ¦•• — lS 3 The Craft Abroad ... ... ... ... ... - 1 S 4 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls ( Quarterly Court ) ... ... ... 1 P 4 What is Christianity ? ... ... ... ... .. ... 1 S 6 Masonic and General Tidings ... ••• — — lSC

Origin Of The "Ancient" Grand Lodge Of England.

ORIGIN OF THE "ANCIENT" GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND .

We happened recently in one of our Australasian exchanges to meet with an article quoted from the Masonic Sun which entitles us to conclude that neither the Sun nor the Masonic journal which honoured the Sun ' s article

with a place in its columns , possesses any knowledge of the subject it has been writing about , or to which it has given all possible prominence . The article is headed " Grand Lodge of England—Story of its formation in 1717 and of the Schism of

1 739 . With that portion of it which is devoted to the formation of the 1717 Grand Lodge we need not concern ourselves . It contains nothing which has not been recorded times without

number in every Masonic History and reproduced in almost ever )' Masonic periodical that has ever been published . But this latest version of the origin of the '' Ancient " Grand Lodge of England is such a marvellous compound of absurdities that we

are unable to refrain from laying it briefl y before our readers . According to the writer of the article , "' the schism , " as he calls it , had its origin in the difficulties caused by certain regulations enacted by the IJIJ Grand Lodge in reference to

establishing new lodges and conferring Degrees . " It seems that , in or about 1 739 , " a few ambitious brethren , who were ineli gible in the Grand Lodge for the Second and Third Degrees ° f Masonry , prevailed upon some inconsiderate Master Masons

to open an illegal lodge , and pass and raise them to the Sublime egree . These irregularities having escaped immediate detec-10 " , the same brethren proceeded to initiate new members into lie Order , and attempted to invest them with Masonic

privic ges . ' But when the newly-initiated brethren applied 0 < -lie regular lodges for admission as visitors , "their pretensions were unmasked , and the authors of the •"¦ positio n were called upon to vindicate their conduct

before the Grand Lodge . " Accordingly , the matter was u ' y inquired into ancl the transgressors were pardoned on their "laertaking to make full submission and be of good behaviour

cnetuture , while stringent laws were enacted against those who Should take part in irregular makings . This , we are told , was ' 739 . but the delinquents , though pardoned , considered thems ' e ves aggrieved , and assuming the role of persecuted brethren

Origin Of The "Ancient" Grand Lodge Of England.

continued to meet in unauthorised places and to initiate , pass , and raise candidates , performing all the duties of a regularly warranted Iodge " under the plea of an 'inherent ri ght . "' Upon this the Grand Lodge introduced certain regulations which

rendered it impossible for the clandestine brethren tq gain admission into the regular lodges . . The clandestines , however , replied by denouncing these regula- ' tions as departures from the ancient landmarks of

Freemasonry and dubbed their opponents " Moderns " and themselves " Ancients , " and at once set about establishing a new Grand Lodge "under the title of 'Ancient York Masons' without the assent or least recognition of the

Grand Lodge at York , which had been revived and reorganised in 1725 . " It is added that LAWRENCE DERMOTT was firstly G . Secretary and subsequently Deputy Grand Master of tlie .

Jchismatic Grand Lodge , and that he published the "Ahiman Rezon , " or Book of Constitutions , for those who adopted the " Ancient" system of Masonry . ' ., •¦ ..

* We should not have been surprised had this been written during the rSth century , when there were but few w'ho . knew anything about the rival systems of English Masonry ,. but -that it should have been seriously written for one Masonic / paper and

quoted in the columns of another in this year of grace , 1 8 ^ 9 ] and in the face of what has been discovered by ;^ 5 c fc * -sBj e writers on MasonicIIistoryas Bros . R . P . GOULD , W . J ; ITU & HAN , the late Rev . A . F . A . WOODFORD , ME . VRV SADLFJ ^ and othereyis as deplorable as it is astounding . '" ' "'

Grand Lodge Of Tasmania

GRAND LODGE OF TASMANIA

We have every reason to be proud of the position achieved for itself b y thc Grand Lodge of Tasmania during the eight or nine years it has existed as a separate and independent body ,,, and possessing supreme authority over the lodges and brethren

in the colony . True , it is one of the smallest , if hot absolutely the smallest , of the Grand Lodges which have been established during the last two centuries in divers countries . Nevertheless ; as the reports of its proceedings at successive annual meetings

disclose , it discharges its important duties in a maimer whicii it is hardly possible to commend too hi ghly , while the members , one and all , appear to be actuated by a spirit of theniostLclevcrted loyalty to the principles of Freemasonry . The Jalest evidence

we have of the justice of these asseverations is to be found in the printed report of the Ei ghth Annual Communication lieUl ' m Launceston on the 27 th January last , when the reports presented by the Board of General Purposes and Benevolence and

the different executive officers of Grand Lodge clearly indicated that the proceedings of the year then closed had been in all respects most gratifying . This evidence must have been particularly welcome to the respected Grand . Master , -M . W .

Bro . thc Hon . C . E . DAVIES . M . L . C ., who had j spentV'th . greater part of the interval between the an 1 Vu ~ . 1 l gafhe ' rings ol last year and this in visiting England , where both in his official Masonic capacity , and as a private individual

he proved himself persona grata . Indeed , as between , our Tajimanian brethren and their Grand Master , the pleasure '' ' -of meeting once again in their Grand Lodge must have beeft

mutual . He must have been delighted to lind that during his absence the work of the Tasmanian Craft had prospered beyond all previous experience , while they must have been equally delighted to hear how kind and cordial had been the reception