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Article OUR AMERICAN BRETHREN IN ENGLAND. Page 1 of 1 Article OUR AMERICAN BRETHREN IN ENGLAND. Page 1 of 1 Article THE PROGRESS OF MARK MASONRY. Page 1 of 2 →
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Our American Brethren In England.
OUR AMERICAN BRETHREN IN ENGLAND .
" TTAIL , Columbia ! " Most truly we English Free-TI masons will re-echo from the bottom of our hearts , and especially as we welcome , fraternally and warmly , our worthy brethren from America . We note with deep approbation the thoroughly English
and friendly expressions of our good old Bro . Brackstone Baker , and we admire the eloquent and pertinent words of Bro . Consul General Waller . All such meetings seem to us redolent of the best feelings and truest principles of
Freemasonry , and are replete with interest to ourselves , and not without teaching to the world at large . They speak full-voiced , and they witness in potent manner to the large-heartedness , universality , and sympathetic union of our
great Masonic Fraternity . For Freemasonry , let us never forget , binds the far and the near , the two hemispheres in adamantine links of fraternal goodwill and affection . It annihilates the differences of climes and customs , races and
religions , assauges the controversies of the present , and condones the struggles of the past . Before the softening influences and under the benign regis of Freemasonry , the great contrasted classes and the most severed nations are
brought together in enduring harmony and goodwill ; and , without telling the oft-told tale , we can gratefully remember how the healing message and kindly witness of
Freemasonry have soothed the horrors of external and intestine war , and proffered as with a ray of light from Heaven itself the composing qualities of mercy , humanity , aud brotherly love .
American Freemasons always seem to have a special claim on , and lasting interest for us , in mother country . They are of us , and have sprang from us , lineally and Masonically ; bone of our bone , and kith of our kith .
And as good old Baillie Nicol Jarvie once declared that " blood is thicker than water , " so , whatever abiding 1
concern we may experience or avow for Freemasonry in the different and distant portion of its ubiquitous existence , north , south , east and west , we do feel , as we must feel , an intense , a vivid , and a deeply engrossing
sympathy , respect and affection for the American Craft . There are many reasons why just now American Freemasons should find from us all in England a hearty , a well
deserved , and brotherly reception . They represent to us in themselves one of the most striking manifestations of Masonic life , energy , and union that the world has ever witnessed .
That great army of American Freemasons seems to portray with telling fidelity the graces , the charms , the power , the principles of Freemasonry proper . In America Freemasons bave passed through trials and an ordeal of
which we know nothing , happily , in England . They have outlived the virulence of a lying persecution , and have laughed down the attacks of unbridled fanaticism . They have become great from small beginningsand have seen
, their Lodges multiply , and their Grand Lodges extend , in 8 tnct conformity to Masonic principles , by a close adherence to Masonic landmarks , and a uniform and
enective assertion of all those leading and living moralities which are the only true tests of the reality , of the mission , al * a ™ & en ( ^ ° f Freemasonry . Ihe brethren whom we greet from America are all , as we We U know , true Masons and good fellows , and many of us
Our American Brethren In England.
can rejoice to think that we ourselves can count numberless warm friends and cheery brethren amid the stately cities and even the countless villages of America .
So our aspirations to-day are sincerely and fraternally for the onward , peaceful , and happy progress of the great American Masonic family , and for these good brethren and friends of ours now with us , may they find a hearty welcome
and genuine sympathy from English hearts and hosts , and may they return home to their great country with renewed goodwill and affection for this old land , and with an increased belief in the warmth , tenacity , reality , and earnestness of English Freemasons and English Freemasonry .
The Progress Of Mark Masonry.
THE PROGRESS OF MARK MASONRY .
IT needs only a glance at the results of the Annual Festival of the Benevolent Fund ofthe Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons , held last week , at the Holborn Restaurant ( and duly reported in the columns of the FREE
MASON ' S CHRONICLE ) , to exemplify the manner in whicb the Mark Degree has increased in numbers and influence during recent years . The splendid gathering , which was attended by so many Festival Stewards from all parts of the
country , and graced as it was by the presence of such a galaxy of ladies , far surpassed anything of its kind we have been accustomed to witness , even in the metropolis of Masonry —if indeed such an expression is admissible . But , apart
from the grandeur of the scene which was presented at the Festival , we have the solid satisfaction underlying the whole that the Mark Degree has of late made rapid strides , comparably almost with the advance of Craft Masonry .
Bro . Earl Amherst , whose popularity as the Provincial Grand Master of the Craft in Kent has become so proverbial , and whose position as a Past Grand Mark Master ig by no means less a subject of congratulation amongst the
members of that Degree , presided , supported on the one hand by the Deputy Grand Master the Marqnis of Hertford , and on the other by Bro . A . F . Godson , M . P ., Grand
Mark Master of Worcestershire . Arrayed on all sides were those whoso purple collars and decorations denoted the " suit and service " they had rendered to the Degree , and
the spectacle in the Venetian Saloon of the Holborn Restaurant on Wednesday evening last week was one not soon to be forgotten . There was something very appropriate—and more so as it was a satisfactory coincidence—iu the remark of Bro . Godson , when he pointed
out that when Earl Amherst , " in times gone by , " presided at a Festival of the Boys' School , the total amount of subscriptions was larger than ever had been known before , and that on this occasion , when he had
so kindly consented to preside over the Festival of tho Mark Benevolent Fund , the same story had to be repeated . The noble Earl , accepting the genial compliments that were paid to him upon his promotion from the House of
Commons to a " more quiet and peaceful throne " in the Lords , referred to the time when Mark Masonry was " trying to make its way , " and he remarked , with a flush of pardonable triumph , that , although his collar was old ,
he was " not ashamed of it now . " Why , indeed , should he be ? Since the time to which our worthy brother referred , the Mark Degree has made such advances as were never contemplated by its earliest adherents . From very small beginnings it has sprung to its present state of prosperity ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Our American Brethren In England.
OUR AMERICAN BRETHREN IN ENGLAND .
" TTAIL , Columbia ! " Most truly we English Free-TI masons will re-echo from the bottom of our hearts , and especially as we welcome , fraternally and warmly , our worthy brethren from America . We note with deep approbation the thoroughly English
and friendly expressions of our good old Bro . Brackstone Baker , and we admire the eloquent and pertinent words of Bro . Consul General Waller . All such meetings seem to us redolent of the best feelings and truest principles of
Freemasonry , and are replete with interest to ourselves , and not without teaching to the world at large . They speak full-voiced , and they witness in potent manner to the large-heartedness , universality , and sympathetic union of our
great Masonic Fraternity . For Freemasonry , let us never forget , binds the far and the near , the two hemispheres in adamantine links of fraternal goodwill and affection . It annihilates the differences of climes and customs , races and
religions , assauges the controversies of the present , and condones the struggles of the past . Before the softening influences and under the benign regis of Freemasonry , the great contrasted classes and the most severed nations are
brought together in enduring harmony and goodwill ; and , without telling the oft-told tale , we can gratefully remember how the healing message and kindly witness of
Freemasonry have soothed the horrors of external and intestine war , and proffered as with a ray of light from Heaven itself the composing qualities of mercy , humanity , aud brotherly love .
American Freemasons always seem to have a special claim on , and lasting interest for us , in mother country . They are of us , and have sprang from us , lineally and Masonically ; bone of our bone , and kith of our kith .
And as good old Baillie Nicol Jarvie once declared that " blood is thicker than water , " so , whatever abiding 1
concern we may experience or avow for Freemasonry in the different and distant portion of its ubiquitous existence , north , south , east and west , we do feel , as we must feel , an intense , a vivid , and a deeply engrossing
sympathy , respect and affection for the American Craft . There are many reasons why just now American Freemasons should find from us all in England a hearty , a well
deserved , and brotherly reception . They represent to us in themselves one of the most striking manifestations of Masonic life , energy , and union that the world has ever witnessed .
That great army of American Freemasons seems to portray with telling fidelity the graces , the charms , the power , the principles of Freemasonry proper . In America Freemasons bave passed through trials and an ordeal of
which we know nothing , happily , in England . They have outlived the virulence of a lying persecution , and have laughed down the attacks of unbridled fanaticism . They have become great from small beginningsand have seen
, their Lodges multiply , and their Grand Lodges extend , in 8 tnct conformity to Masonic principles , by a close adherence to Masonic landmarks , and a uniform and
enective assertion of all those leading and living moralities which are the only true tests of the reality , of the mission , al * a ™ & en ( ^ ° f Freemasonry . Ihe brethren whom we greet from America are all , as we We U know , true Masons and good fellows , and many of us
Our American Brethren In England.
can rejoice to think that we ourselves can count numberless warm friends and cheery brethren amid the stately cities and even the countless villages of America .
So our aspirations to-day are sincerely and fraternally for the onward , peaceful , and happy progress of the great American Masonic family , and for these good brethren and friends of ours now with us , may they find a hearty welcome
and genuine sympathy from English hearts and hosts , and may they return home to their great country with renewed goodwill and affection for this old land , and with an increased belief in the warmth , tenacity , reality , and earnestness of English Freemasons and English Freemasonry .
The Progress Of Mark Masonry.
THE PROGRESS OF MARK MASONRY .
IT needs only a glance at the results of the Annual Festival of the Benevolent Fund ofthe Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons , held last week , at the Holborn Restaurant ( and duly reported in the columns of the FREE
MASON ' S CHRONICLE ) , to exemplify the manner in whicb the Mark Degree has increased in numbers and influence during recent years . The splendid gathering , which was attended by so many Festival Stewards from all parts of the
country , and graced as it was by the presence of such a galaxy of ladies , far surpassed anything of its kind we have been accustomed to witness , even in the metropolis of Masonry —if indeed such an expression is admissible . But , apart
from the grandeur of the scene which was presented at the Festival , we have the solid satisfaction underlying the whole that the Mark Degree has of late made rapid strides , comparably almost with the advance of Craft Masonry .
Bro . Earl Amherst , whose popularity as the Provincial Grand Master of the Craft in Kent has become so proverbial , and whose position as a Past Grand Mark Master ig by no means less a subject of congratulation amongst the
members of that Degree , presided , supported on the one hand by the Deputy Grand Master the Marqnis of Hertford , and on the other by Bro . A . F . Godson , M . P ., Grand
Mark Master of Worcestershire . Arrayed on all sides were those whoso purple collars and decorations denoted the " suit and service " they had rendered to the Degree , and
the spectacle in the Venetian Saloon of the Holborn Restaurant on Wednesday evening last week was one not soon to be forgotten . There was something very appropriate—and more so as it was a satisfactory coincidence—iu the remark of Bro . Godson , when he pointed
out that when Earl Amherst , " in times gone by , " presided at a Festival of the Boys' School , the total amount of subscriptions was larger than ever had been known before , and that on this occasion , when he had
so kindly consented to preside over the Festival of tho Mark Benevolent Fund , the same story had to be repeated . The noble Earl , accepting the genial compliments that were paid to him upon his promotion from the House of
Commons to a " more quiet and peaceful throne " in the Lords , referred to the time when Mark Masonry was " trying to make its way , " and he remarked , with a flush of pardonable triumph , that , although his collar was old ,
he was " not ashamed of it now . " Why , indeed , should he be ? Since the time to which our worthy brother referred , the Mark Degree has made such advances as were never contemplated by its earliest adherents . From very small beginnings it has sprung to its present state of prosperity ,