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Article MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. ← Page 2 of 3 Article MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Page 2 of 3 →
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Masonic Notes And Queries.
of even the third degree . " Now the opinion of the brother who writes this is worthy of the highest consideration , yet I cannot exactly admit what he says , for Eule xih . of " General Regulations" proceeds -. — "Apprentices must be admitted If asters and Pell ow Craft only here , * unless by a dispensation . " This I
have considered refers to the degrees of Master and FelloAV Craft ; and it appears to me there is a very careful and studied reticence as to this matter throughout the whole work , the above quotation being almost an accident . However , as by Eule iii . we perceive that lodges then had " by-laws , " aud " all their
transactions that are proper to be written , " perhaps something might be got from them if any of that age in or about London are still . extant . As to the proceedings of the lodge , we are told they " will be best understood by attending it . " Altogether I think that our three degrees had , in 1723 , been already invented and
worked ; only the policy pursued by Desaguliers , Anderson , and Co ., caused them to throw an air of mystery and concealment over the whole'matter , the better to serve their purpose , their published " Constitutions , " which now to read appear a curious sort of hotch-potchserving partly to wrap up and contain
, their newly-manufactured three degrees , or , as they call it , that " Centre of Union" which has been and may yet be " the means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance" —alias our Speculative Freemasonry . —W P . BUCHAN .
CONSTANTINIAN ORDER ( p . 189 ) . The remark of " Ehodocanakis" that " a bastard " could not " be a Freemason" is simply a mistake . — ~ W . P . BUCHAN . GUILD OE MASONS AT EAVERSHAII ABBEY ( p . 185 ) . The remarks of " George Bedo" and "A . H . " are
both useful and interesting ; the thing is to follow up all these statements to a truthful and legitimate conclusion , putting fact and fact together , so as to get a a satisfactory whole . — "W . P . B .
THE lEGEND OP THE CRAET ( p . 186 ) . To say that " the legend of the ( operative ) Craft necessarily forms part of the history of our Freemasonry" is equivalent to saying that our Freemasonry ( which is not two centuries old ) requires its Koran ' as its Book of Mormon . —OBSERVER .
WITHOUT AND WITHIN ( p . 185 ) . Masonry suffers leys by the scurrilousness of those without than by the ill-judged want of honesty of those Avithin . —OBSERVER . WOODEN CHURCHES IN THE TWE 1 ETH CENTURY
- ( p . 187 ) . Forluna fanet fortibus—so says the old saying ; and at all events I seem to have been so fortunate as to checkmate "A Masonic Student" again ; for while he cannot find any wooden churches in the llth century that were anywhere begun and constructed , I gave him an example even in the 14 th ; aud as to the llth ,
Masonic Notes And Queries.
here is a quotation I have : — " King Canute ' s charter to Glastonbury Abbey in 1032 is dated from the wooden cliureli there , yet Glastonbury was one of the most Avealthy abbeys , even at that time . The walls were covered inside with plates of gold and silver , and outside with leadbut the material of construction
, was wood . I beg to be excused from going into this more deeply at present , on account of my business engagements . HISTOET or EEEEHASONRT . flow comes it that a good history of our Order
cannot be got up in London , the seat , seemingly , of its origin ? Perhaps the " Metropolitan Brother" of p ., 186 , will kindly supply this defect?—PICTUS . POST-CONQUEST BUIIDINGS ( p . 187 ) . " A Masonic Student" says " Post-Conquest buildings were all of stone . " I cannot admit that . —W . P . B .
THE JEWS ( pp . 141 and 1 S 7 ) . I beg to thank Bro . Charles Purton Cooper for his remarks at p . 167 . It was what I had hoped had been done , and I am all the more glad , therefore , that it has been done . —PICTUS . THE ORDER OE THE TEMPLE .
Among other reforms which I should like to see carried ont under the new regime , which we trust is about to be inaugurated , is the abolition of a practice which , if permitted to continue , may seriously affect the well-being of the Order . I allude to the custom so very prevalentespecially in large towns , of a
, Knight being a subscribing member of several encampments at one and the same time . This should not , by any means , be permitted , as we must acknowledge the practice to be contrary to common sense , and iu direct violation of all precedent , both ancient
and modern . The Cosmopolitan Order of the Temple represents an army—the army of Christ . In this sense the various Langues may be looked upon as Brigades or Divisious , and each subordinate encampment as a Company of a Begiment , which last will find its anti-type in the Provincial Grand Conclave . Nowmay I ask any of my readers what would be the
, result in the British , or any other , army were an officer to be placed in command of two or three companies at the same time ? I fear there would he weeping and wailing at the Horse Guards , and a total destruction of all discipline throughout the entire service . And yetwhen we look at the records of the Order of
, the Temple in the present day , we can find some , aye , many cases equally ridiculous as my supposition . I myself knew one brother Knight who was actually E . C . of two encampments at the same time , and a subscribing member of a third . This would not be
permitted in any priory working under the jurisdiction of the Chapter General of Scotland , which has ahvays preserved , in as much as possible , the ancient usages and customs of the Order . The same law is now in force in America , both as regards the Temple and the Craft , as our brethren across the Atlantic think , very justly , that no one can do his duty to two lodges or encampments at once . "We are told by the hig hest possible authority , " No man can serve two masters , - " and any Knight or Brother who Avishes
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Notes And Queries.
of even the third degree . " Now the opinion of the brother who writes this is worthy of the highest consideration , yet I cannot exactly admit what he says , for Eule xih . of " General Regulations" proceeds -. — "Apprentices must be admitted If asters and Pell ow Craft only here , * unless by a dispensation . " This I
have considered refers to the degrees of Master and FelloAV Craft ; and it appears to me there is a very careful and studied reticence as to this matter throughout the whole work , the above quotation being almost an accident . However , as by Eule iii . we perceive that lodges then had " by-laws , " aud " all their
transactions that are proper to be written , " perhaps something might be got from them if any of that age in or about London are still . extant . As to the proceedings of the lodge , we are told they " will be best understood by attending it . " Altogether I think that our three degrees had , in 1723 , been already invented and
worked ; only the policy pursued by Desaguliers , Anderson , and Co ., caused them to throw an air of mystery and concealment over the whole'matter , the better to serve their purpose , their published " Constitutions , " which now to read appear a curious sort of hotch-potchserving partly to wrap up and contain
, their newly-manufactured three degrees , or , as they call it , that " Centre of Union" which has been and may yet be " the means of conciliating true friendship among persons that must have remained at a perpetual distance" —alias our Speculative Freemasonry . —W P . BUCHAN .
CONSTANTINIAN ORDER ( p . 189 ) . The remark of " Ehodocanakis" that " a bastard " could not " be a Freemason" is simply a mistake . — ~ W . P . BUCHAN . GUILD OE MASONS AT EAVERSHAII ABBEY ( p . 185 ) . The remarks of " George Bedo" and "A . H . " are
both useful and interesting ; the thing is to follow up all these statements to a truthful and legitimate conclusion , putting fact and fact together , so as to get a a satisfactory whole . — "W . P . B .
THE lEGEND OP THE CRAET ( p . 186 ) . To say that " the legend of the ( operative ) Craft necessarily forms part of the history of our Freemasonry" is equivalent to saying that our Freemasonry ( which is not two centuries old ) requires its Koran ' as its Book of Mormon . —OBSERVER .
WITHOUT AND WITHIN ( p . 185 ) . Masonry suffers leys by the scurrilousness of those without than by the ill-judged want of honesty of those Avithin . —OBSERVER . WOODEN CHURCHES IN THE TWE 1 ETH CENTURY
- ( p . 187 ) . Forluna fanet fortibus—so says the old saying ; and at all events I seem to have been so fortunate as to checkmate "A Masonic Student" again ; for while he cannot find any wooden churches in the llth century that were anywhere begun and constructed , I gave him an example even in the 14 th ; aud as to the llth ,
Masonic Notes And Queries.
here is a quotation I have : — " King Canute ' s charter to Glastonbury Abbey in 1032 is dated from the wooden cliureli there , yet Glastonbury was one of the most Avealthy abbeys , even at that time . The walls were covered inside with plates of gold and silver , and outside with leadbut the material of construction
, was wood . I beg to be excused from going into this more deeply at present , on account of my business engagements . HISTOET or EEEEHASONRT . flow comes it that a good history of our Order
cannot be got up in London , the seat , seemingly , of its origin ? Perhaps the " Metropolitan Brother" of p ., 186 , will kindly supply this defect?—PICTUS . POST-CONQUEST BUIIDINGS ( p . 187 ) . " A Masonic Student" says " Post-Conquest buildings were all of stone . " I cannot admit that . —W . P . B .
THE JEWS ( pp . 141 and 1 S 7 ) . I beg to thank Bro . Charles Purton Cooper for his remarks at p . 167 . It was what I had hoped had been done , and I am all the more glad , therefore , that it has been done . —PICTUS . THE ORDER OE THE TEMPLE .
Among other reforms which I should like to see carried ont under the new regime , which we trust is about to be inaugurated , is the abolition of a practice which , if permitted to continue , may seriously affect the well-being of the Order . I allude to the custom so very prevalentespecially in large towns , of a
, Knight being a subscribing member of several encampments at one and the same time . This should not , by any means , be permitted , as we must acknowledge the practice to be contrary to common sense , and iu direct violation of all precedent , both ancient
and modern . The Cosmopolitan Order of the Temple represents an army—the army of Christ . In this sense the various Langues may be looked upon as Brigades or Divisious , and each subordinate encampment as a Company of a Begiment , which last will find its anti-type in the Provincial Grand Conclave . Nowmay I ask any of my readers what would be the
, result in the British , or any other , army were an officer to be placed in command of two or three companies at the same time ? I fear there would he weeping and wailing at the Horse Guards , and a total destruction of all discipline throughout the entire service . And yetwhen we look at the records of the Order of
, the Temple in the present day , we can find some , aye , many cases equally ridiculous as my supposition . I myself knew one brother Knight who was actually E . C . of two encampments at the same time , and a subscribing member of a third . This would not be
permitted in any priory working under the jurisdiction of the Chapter General of Scotland , which has ahvays preserved , in as much as possible , the ancient usages and customs of the Order . The same law is now in force in America , both as regards the Temple and the Craft , as our brethren across the Atlantic think , very justly , that no one can do his duty to two lodges or encampments at once . "We are told by the hig hest possible authority , " No man can serve two masters , - " and any Knight or Brother who Avishes