Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Grand Lodge Of England Versus Grand Lodge Of All England.
GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND versus GRAND LODGE OF ALL ENGLAND.
BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . THE London Grand Lodge of 1717 styled itself " Grand Lodge of England , " and in the middle of the latter
half of the last century the York Grand Lodge called itself "Grand Lodge of all England . " Some years ago I asked a learned brother if ho could explain the difference between " of England" and " of all England ? " This
question he could not answer . I next asked him if he could give any reason as to why the unnecessary word " all" was added to the York Grand Lodge title ? After a short pause , he said : The Bishop of Canterbury is
called Archbishop of England , and the Bishop of York is called Archbishop of all England , hence , he inferred , that the York Grand Lodge derived its " all" from its Archbishop ' s title . As the answer was plausible I made no further inquiry .
Last week I came across a book , viz ., " Truth and Fiction of the Middle Ages , " by Sir Francis Pal grave , wherein I find that my learned friend was mistaken about the respective titles of the English Primates , that the
Archbishop of Canterbury was " of all England , " and the one of York was merely " of England . " Such being the case , the Southern Grand Lodge , having adopted the title of the northern Primate , the Northern Grand Lodge therefore appropriated the title of the southern Primate .
And now for something about the book and its contents . The author professes to have obtained his information from the writings of the Monk of Croyland ; the Monk , however , is a myth , and the narratives given are purely
imaginary . But , nevertheless , they are designed to exhibit a picture of the customs and ideas of Englishmen of tho middle ages . The book contains several chapters , respectively headed , The Rectory , The County Elections ,
Guildhall , Parliament , The Prior ' s Study ( viz ., Roger Bacon ) ; the last chapter is headed Knowledge . There is , of course , a basis of truth in the description of the customs of those days ; for instance , Roger Bacon and Marco Polo visit the Guildhall . Law breakers are there tried for their
sins . If one of these demands to be tried by a jury , the sheriff makes no secret that he can pack a jury that will surely find the prisoner guilty . One prisoner , however , claimed " the benefit of the clergy , " another pleaded that
by misrepresentation he was induced to leave a sanctuary , and so on . The origin and functions of guilds , and of the development of the City of London Government are hinted at more or less . The information above referred to about
the titles of the Primates is connected with a very curious story . How much truth there is in it I do not know ; but in olden times something of the kind may have occurred . I shall therefore describe , as briefly as I can , a scene alleged to have taken place in Parliament .
Now , in the first place , men were not then very ambitious to get into Parliament ; instead of bribing voters to elect them , as is the custom in our own generation , they would have bribed them to get rid of Parliament .
The King ' s Parliament meant money for the King , and people were always reluctant to part with their money . If the King could have grabbed the people ' s money without a Parliament he would have done so , but as be
could not do that very well , the Parliament took advantage of the King ' s necessities by demanding certain conditions before they parted with their money . The Parliament referred to was summoued by Edward I .
Before the Parliament was opened the courtiers were annoyed to learn that the members not only bickered about tho sum demanded , but also stipulated that the King
should confirm the Magna Charta . The time at last arrived for opening Parliament , the Chancellor was on the woolsack , but for some unknown cause the two Primates
were absent . The King was uneasy , the members wondered , and everybody was impatient , when suddenly news arrived which astonished all concerned . In order to explain the reason , I must state that there existed an old feud between tho Church rulers of York
and Canterbury . So much so , that King Edward deemed it necessary to give special order to the Chancellor to take all possible precaution to protect the Primate of York during his journey to Parliament , from the threatened violence of the Archbishop of Canterbury . The King ' s uneasiness , there-
Grand Lodge Of England Versus Grand Lodge Of All England.
fore , arose from a suspicion that something of the kind prevented the two Archbishops from being present in Parliament . Well , in the midst of the suspense above referred to , the King's Pursuivant rushed into the
Hall in great excitement , exclaiming : " The Archbishop of Canterbury has murdered the Archbishop of York . " The King thereupon flew into a passion , and threatened the Chancellor for neglecting his duty , and the Chancellor
dropped down from the woolsack on his knees , assuring His Majesty that it was not his fault . But just then , to tho surprise of all present , in walked the two Primates into the Hall , " both unhurt and unwounded , both round and sound , " but each looking fiercely at his adversary . In
short , there had been an actual fight between the parties , for u the Abbot's cope was all tattered and torn , and bis bleeding nose bore testimony to the prowess of the Prior , while the Prior ' s shaven crown equally displayed tho dexterity
with which the Abbot had wielded his weapon—the crozier , the dire cause of this most indecorous contest . " The origin of the trouble between the two Archbishoprics , Sir Francis dates back to the era of the Saxon
Bretwaldes . " The conflicting pretensions preferred by tho two Archbishops of the English Church ( says Sir Francis ) had been legally settled by the celebrated decision , from which Parliament never departed , that York should be
Primate of England , and Canterbury of all England . Canterbury always sat as the premier Peer of the realm . " To which Sir Francis adds : — "All Doctors of tho realm , excepting perhaps the learned professor who wrote the
treatise , ' De omnibus bus et quibus dam alns , ' might have been confounded by being called upon to explain in what manner a whole can be less or greater than itself , or how a Primate of England could find a spot from which the jurisdiction of him of all England was excluded . "
The " Monk of Croyland" evidently knew nothing about Masons and Masonry . We all know , and Scotch Biters are very positive , that 27 , 000 Masons followed the Crusaders to the Holy Land , but it seems that this Masonic fact the
Monk of Croyland did not find in the writings of either Roger Bacon or of Marco Polo , and it is evident that Sir Francis Palgrave himself never rode on the Masonic
goat . Indeed , I am very sure that he did not know of the existence of such a goat , for all he wrote about tho mysteries of Masons , either directly or indirectly , is comprised in the following extracts . He says : —
" Other means were practised for the purpose of keeping the secrets of the trade , and defending the monopoly . Oaths , awe-inspiring ceremonies , initiations , sometimes terrific , sometimes painful or ludicrous . Here a candidate
trembled beneath the arch of steel , the swords suspended over his head ; there , unless his agility preserved him , the incipient workman enjoyed the full application of the lash or the cart whip .
" Even in this our age of triumphant publicity , some curious vestiges of this ancient stem may be traced . ' The gentleman who reports for our paper , ' at whose presence every other door stands open , has never been able to obtain
the slightest insight into the proceedings of the Lodge Cosmopolite Freedom , meeting at the Yorkshire Stingo , Gray ' s Inn Lane * * * , as my intended quarto will show , of the Masons' Company in London . "
I must here only add , that as far as I can judge , all the authors of books about the Guilds in the middle ages seem to know next to nothing about the existence of Masonic
Lodges in olden time . And I was particularly surprised that in Toulmin Smith ' s book on the Guilds , except in the Introduction , by Brentano , neither reference to Mason nor Freemason could I find in the said work . BOSTON . U . S ., 30 th May 1889 .
Moral Uses Of Freemasonry.
MORAL USES OF FREEMASONRY .
SEVERAL illustrations of the power and usefulness of the Masonic organisation are given in a little work , entitled " The Genius of Freemasonry , " published at Providence , R . I ., in the year 1828 . One incident therein narrated , greatly impressed our thought . It was told as
an actual occurrence which took place in a Southern Lodge , presided over by a Brother of distinction , whose honoured name is still familiar as a household word throughout our whole country . We give the account substantially as it appears in the book named .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Grand Lodge Of England Versus Grand Lodge Of All England.
GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND versus GRAND LODGE OF ALL ENGLAND.
BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . THE London Grand Lodge of 1717 styled itself " Grand Lodge of England , " and in the middle of the latter
half of the last century the York Grand Lodge called itself "Grand Lodge of all England . " Some years ago I asked a learned brother if ho could explain the difference between " of England" and " of all England ? " This
question he could not answer . I next asked him if he could give any reason as to why the unnecessary word " all" was added to the York Grand Lodge title ? After a short pause , he said : The Bishop of Canterbury is
called Archbishop of England , and the Bishop of York is called Archbishop of all England , hence , he inferred , that the York Grand Lodge derived its " all" from its Archbishop ' s title . As the answer was plausible I made no further inquiry .
Last week I came across a book , viz ., " Truth and Fiction of the Middle Ages , " by Sir Francis Pal grave , wherein I find that my learned friend was mistaken about the respective titles of the English Primates , that the
Archbishop of Canterbury was " of all England , " and the one of York was merely " of England . " Such being the case , the Southern Grand Lodge , having adopted the title of the northern Primate , the Northern Grand Lodge therefore appropriated the title of the southern Primate .
And now for something about the book and its contents . The author professes to have obtained his information from the writings of the Monk of Croyland ; the Monk , however , is a myth , and the narratives given are purely
imaginary . But , nevertheless , they are designed to exhibit a picture of the customs and ideas of Englishmen of tho middle ages . The book contains several chapters , respectively headed , The Rectory , The County Elections ,
Guildhall , Parliament , The Prior ' s Study ( viz ., Roger Bacon ) ; the last chapter is headed Knowledge . There is , of course , a basis of truth in the description of the customs of those days ; for instance , Roger Bacon and Marco Polo visit the Guildhall . Law breakers are there tried for their
sins . If one of these demands to be tried by a jury , the sheriff makes no secret that he can pack a jury that will surely find the prisoner guilty . One prisoner , however , claimed " the benefit of the clergy , " another pleaded that
by misrepresentation he was induced to leave a sanctuary , and so on . The origin and functions of guilds , and of the development of the City of London Government are hinted at more or less . The information above referred to about
the titles of the Primates is connected with a very curious story . How much truth there is in it I do not know ; but in olden times something of the kind may have occurred . I shall therefore describe , as briefly as I can , a scene alleged to have taken place in Parliament .
Now , in the first place , men were not then very ambitious to get into Parliament ; instead of bribing voters to elect them , as is the custom in our own generation , they would have bribed them to get rid of Parliament .
The King ' s Parliament meant money for the King , and people were always reluctant to part with their money . If the King could have grabbed the people ' s money without a Parliament he would have done so , but as be
could not do that very well , the Parliament took advantage of the King ' s necessities by demanding certain conditions before they parted with their money . The Parliament referred to was summoued by Edward I .
Before the Parliament was opened the courtiers were annoyed to learn that the members not only bickered about tho sum demanded , but also stipulated that the King
should confirm the Magna Charta . The time at last arrived for opening Parliament , the Chancellor was on the woolsack , but for some unknown cause the two Primates
were absent . The King was uneasy , the members wondered , and everybody was impatient , when suddenly news arrived which astonished all concerned . In order to explain the reason , I must state that there existed an old feud between tho Church rulers of York
and Canterbury . So much so , that King Edward deemed it necessary to give special order to the Chancellor to take all possible precaution to protect the Primate of York during his journey to Parliament , from the threatened violence of the Archbishop of Canterbury . The King ' s uneasiness , there-
Grand Lodge Of England Versus Grand Lodge Of All England.
fore , arose from a suspicion that something of the kind prevented the two Archbishops from being present in Parliament . Well , in the midst of the suspense above referred to , the King's Pursuivant rushed into the
Hall in great excitement , exclaiming : " The Archbishop of Canterbury has murdered the Archbishop of York . " The King thereupon flew into a passion , and threatened the Chancellor for neglecting his duty , and the Chancellor
dropped down from the woolsack on his knees , assuring His Majesty that it was not his fault . But just then , to tho surprise of all present , in walked the two Primates into the Hall , " both unhurt and unwounded , both round and sound , " but each looking fiercely at his adversary . In
short , there had been an actual fight between the parties , for u the Abbot's cope was all tattered and torn , and bis bleeding nose bore testimony to the prowess of the Prior , while the Prior ' s shaven crown equally displayed tho dexterity
with which the Abbot had wielded his weapon—the crozier , the dire cause of this most indecorous contest . " The origin of the trouble between the two Archbishoprics , Sir Francis dates back to the era of the Saxon
Bretwaldes . " The conflicting pretensions preferred by tho two Archbishops of the English Church ( says Sir Francis ) had been legally settled by the celebrated decision , from which Parliament never departed , that York should be
Primate of England , and Canterbury of all England . Canterbury always sat as the premier Peer of the realm . " To which Sir Francis adds : — "All Doctors of tho realm , excepting perhaps the learned professor who wrote the
treatise , ' De omnibus bus et quibus dam alns , ' might have been confounded by being called upon to explain in what manner a whole can be less or greater than itself , or how a Primate of England could find a spot from which the jurisdiction of him of all England was excluded . "
The " Monk of Croyland" evidently knew nothing about Masons and Masonry . We all know , and Scotch Biters are very positive , that 27 , 000 Masons followed the Crusaders to the Holy Land , but it seems that this Masonic fact the
Monk of Croyland did not find in the writings of either Roger Bacon or of Marco Polo , and it is evident that Sir Francis Palgrave himself never rode on the Masonic
goat . Indeed , I am very sure that he did not know of the existence of such a goat , for all he wrote about tho mysteries of Masons , either directly or indirectly , is comprised in the following extracts . He says : —
" Other means were practised for the purpose of keeping the secrets of the trade , and defending the monopoly . Oaths , awe-inspiring ceremonies , initiations , sometimes terrific , sometimes painful or ludicrous . Here a candidate
trembled beneath the arch of steel , the swords suspended over his head ; there , unless his agility preserved him , the incipient workman enjoyed the full application of the lash or the cart whip .
" Even in this our age of triumphant publicity , some curious vestiges of this ancient stem may be traced . ' The gentleman who reports for our paper , ' at whose presence every other door stands open , has never been able to obtain
the slightest insight into the proceedings of the Lodge Cosmopolite Freedom , meeting at the Yorkshire Stingo , Gray ' s Inn Lane * * * , as my intended quarto will show , of the Masons' Company in London . "
I must here only add , that as far as I can judge , all the authors of books about the Guilds in the middle ages seem to know next to nothing about the existence of Masonic
Lodges in olden time . And I was particularly surprised that in Toulmin Smith ' s book on the Guilds , except in the Introduction , by Brentano , neither reference to Mason nor Freemason could I find in the said work . BOSTON . U . S ., 30 th May 1889 .
Moral Uses Of Freemasonry.
MORAL USES OF FREEMASONRY .
SEVERAL illustrations of the power and usefulness of the Masonic organisation are given in a little work , entitled " The Genius of Freemasonry , " published at Providence , R . I ., in the year 1828 . One incident therein narrated , greatly impressed our thought . It was told as
an actual occurrence which took place in a Southern Lodge , presided over by a Brother of distinction , whose honoured name is still familiar as a household word throughout our whole country . We give the account substantially as it appears in the book named .