Order Of The Temple.

The Most Eminent and Supreme Grand Alaster replied , expressing his pleasure in being present to consecrate this new Preceptory , in which he would always take a « reat interest . He urged the paramount importance of exercisin " the utmost care in the selection of those whom in the future

they might admit to membership , pointing out that a single unsuitable member might introduce a discordant element which would render harmonious work an impossibility . He expressed his pleasure that their choice of their first Preceptor had fallen on a Knight whose devotion to and

enthusiasm for the Order were so well known as was the case with E . Knight Palmer-Thomas , and concluded by wishing every success to the Sancta Maria Preceptory , coupling with the toast the name of the Eminent Preceptor . E . Knight Palmer-Thomas responded , thanking the Grand

Alaster on behalf of the Sancta Alaria Preceptory for his kind expressions and good wishes , and also for his advice , which would be carefully borne in mind and acted on . They were delighted to welcome the Great Officers , among whom were some particularly well known to them . He especially desired

to express his obligations to the Great Vice-Chancellor , the V . E . Knight C . F . Alatier , for the kind assistance he had so willingly rendered towards the establishment of the Preceptory , and he was also glad to have this opportunity of thanking the V . E . Knight for help readily and courteously

given to him personally on many occasions in the past . The E . Preceptor concluded by assuring the Grand Master that no effort would be wanting on the part of himself , his officers , or the Knights under his command to make the Sancta Maria Preceptory a success and a credit to the Order .

The Problem Of The Degrees.

The Problem of the Degrees .

BY ROIIERT FREKE GOULD , P . G . D ,

THERE are tw * o dates , which if carefully borne in mind , will materially assist in solving what is often described as the problem of the degrees . The first is 1723 and the second is 1738 , and the space they comprise in the History of our Society , has been termed the period of transition . At the earlier date two , and at the later date three

degrees ( or Steps in Masonry ) were worked with the sanction of the premier Grand Lodge . Masters ( or Fellow Crafts ) and Apprentices are mentioned in the Constitutions of 1723 ; and Alaster Alasons , Fellow Crafts , and Apprentices in the Constitution of 173 8 .

The first " Book of Constitutions " ( 1723 ) appeared six years after the formation of the " Mother of Grand Lodges " in 1717 . It may be safely regarded , therefore , as pointing not only to the number of degrees authorised by the Grand Lodge in 1723 , but as plainly indicating that the same

number and no less were also worked in the twilight of Speculative Masonry which immediately preceded the erection of a governing body of Symbolic Freemasonry in 1717 . In other words , it shows us that a system of two degrees had existed before the era of Grand Lodges , and continued to exist in 1723 .

This point , however , though now well settled , was a long debatable one , owing to a misreading of the evidence , as the terms " Alaster and Fellow Craft" which occur in the Constitutions of 1723 ( " Old Regulation XIII . " ) were extensively believed , on the publication of that book , to import the existence of / -co degrees superior to that of Apprentice . The

delusion spread and gradually worked out its own fulfilment , of which there is distinct proof in the Minutes of a Musical Society at London in 1725 , the famous speech of the Junior Grand Warden of York ( Francis Drake ) in 1726 ; the curious pamphlet of Samuel Pritchard in 1730 and the Irish

Consti-, tutions of John Pennell which were printed during the same year . Down to 1730 , however , the system of two degrees approved and recognised by the Grand Lodge in 1723 held its ground in the Lodges . But after that date there is evidence to show that the ambiguous language of Dr .

Anderson in the Constitutions of 1723 ( O . R . XIII . ) had been interpreted in a wrong sense , and the delusion rapidly attained such currency , that it was adopted and recognised by the Grand Lodge as being the true reading of the ancient text , in the Constitutions of 1738 .

About the middle of the iSth century there was a great schism , and the multiplication of spurious Rituals was the results . The ritual-mongers , indeed , knew little or nothing of the genuine secrects of the Craft , but they passed on to later generations the spurious tradition of three degrees ( and not I ' IVO only ) having been known and recognised by the

Grand Lodge of England in 1723 . Laurence Dermott and William Preston fully credited this " Spurious Tradition " and both the Aliiman Rezon of the one , and the " Illustrations " of the other are tinctured by this strangely-conceived superstition .

Even the critical Dr . Kloss was unable to detect the real meaning of " Old Regulation " XIII . ( 1723 ) , and so were Findel and Alackey , the last named of whom I mention with great respect , as there is probably no Alasonic writer of the century that has just passed away , who would , had his life

been prolonged , have used to greater advantage the important discoveries that have been made since his decease . The real number of degrees worked by the English Lodges in 1723 was lirst made known in the second volume of my original History of Freemasonry , published in 1885 , and

after running the gauntlet of much fraternal criticism , the interpretation which I ventured to pronounce upon the wording of " Old Regulation " XIII . ( 1723 ) , in that year , has been approved and adopted by all scholars of the Craft both in the Old World and the New .

It has taken indeed about twenty years to achieve this result , hence I cannot expect that a further inference which I drew ( in 1903 ) from the same premises ( to wit , the mistaken conclusions of the early commentators with respect to the Andersonian enigma of 1723 ) , will be accepted by any

considerable number of the literati ( leaving out of sight the illilerati ) of Freemasonry , until long after I have passed away to my rest . But in a parting word to the curious reader who maybe interested in the rise and progress of the so-called " Alasonic degrees " extraneous to those of the Ancient

Craft I recommend a glance at my Concise History of Freemasonry ( published by the Macoy Co ., of X ew York ) , and at the XVIth volume of the Transactions of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge—where my fuller views on the general subject of the " Scots " Degrees ( supplementary to those expressed in the Concise History ) are contained . Masonic Tidings , WISCONSIN , U . S . A .

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At New York , recently , Thomas Aletelski was sentenced to imprisonment for forty months for burglary at Brooklyn . Interest in the case was caused by the introduction of Alasonic sentiment into the defence , and Aletelski became known as the Masonic burglar . The evidence shewed that when the proprietor of the house in Brooklyn woke up he found Metelski examining a Masonic emblem , and he explained

that he had come to rob the house , but could not do so now that he had found the owner to be a brother Mason . The burglar then let himself out of the house , but the owner gave a description to the police which led to the arrest of Metelski . Aletelski said he had trusted to the good faith of his intended victim as a Mason to refraim from further action .