Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS 3 S 3 Special Grand Lodge 38 4 Supreme Grand Chapter 3 S 4 Mark Benevolent Fund 384 Provincial Grand Lodac of Kent 3 S 3 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 3 S . J Anniversary Festival of the Deigrave Lodge ,
No . 740 386 Annual picnic of the Newstead Lodge , No . 47 , Nottingham 3 S 6 Animal Summer Outing of the Lodge of Affability , No . 317 , Manchester 387 Picnic of the De Grey and tfipon Lodge , No . nfii . Manchester 3 S 7
South Africa 387 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Cumberland and Westmorland 3 S 7 CORRESPONDENCEThe Mark and the Arch 388 "The Same Usages and Customs "Vale " Uniformity " 3 88 The Five Shillings Charge 3 S 9
CORRESPONDENCE ( Continued)—A Cry from the Ranks 389 The '* ' William Morgan " Affair 389 Reviews 380 Notes and Queries 3 S 9 Sesijui . Centennial Anniversary of the Relief Lodge , No . 42 , Bury . ' . 390
REPORTS UF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 391 Instruction 392 Royal Arch 393 Mark Masonry 393 Aticiriit and Accepted Rite 393 Knights Templar 393
Red Cross of Constantine 393 Royal Ark Mariners 393 Jamaica 393 Australia 394 The Theatres 394 Obituary 394 Masonic and General Tidings 395 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 396
Ar00101
THE great success of the recent * ' Grand Assembly of Freemasons at York suggests many reflections , and evokes many recollections for the thoughtful Masonic student . Freemasonry has not always been so honoured in Yorkshire as we see it to-day ; its prestige has not always stood so high , nor its popularity so wide-spread . Indeed , these very concomitants of its
present progress may well inspire sage and thoughtful reservations as to hasty admissions or indiscriminate affiliations to our great Order . Whatever may have been the earlier history of York Masonry , and however locally high it seems to have stood at one time in the opinions and support of local magnates , it is an undoubted fact that , for some reason or other , a little over the
middle of the last century or thereabouts , brethren in York , dissatisfied with the rule of the Grand body at York , which the learning of DRAKE had enlightened , and the support of Yorkshire brethren had upheld , sought actually for a warrant from the Grand Lodge of the South , the outcome of the Revival of 1717 . The York Grand Lodge itself faded away , collapsed
before its more flourishing southern rival , and gradually wentout from inanition without formal dissolution or legal winding-up . Since the beginning of this century , at any rate , the history of Freemasonry in York has been bound up with the fortunes of the Grand Lodge of England . Time was , as we before remarked , when Freemasonry hardly stood so high in
Masonic zeal and public opinion in Yorkshire as it does now . But of late a great change has happily come " o ' er the spirit of the dream . " West Yorkshire Masonry devoted itself to charitable efforts , and those of our now very elderly brethren who remember the beginning of an energetic movement in 1 S 59 and i 860 will call to
mind how some worthy Masons and loyal brethren then essayed to make Masonic charity a reality and a verity . Some of us who still survive may recall J SYMoNsand Bro . HOPWOOD ' S visit to Sheffield , when 100 guineas was voted to the Boys' School , and Bros . CREWE and PATTEN ' S visit to Doncasterwhen , after a slight opposition , another 100 guineas were voted to
the Girls' School by the Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire . Those votes were practically the commencement of that wonderful Provincial movement which culminated the other day in a Provincial return to the Boys' School of £ 15 , 000 . Bro . HENRY SMITH , Prov . Grand Secretary for Yorkshire , one of the few survivors , with Bro . HILL of that
active little band , will recall the earlier struggles of the Charity Committee , and how much it was indebted to the ready patronage and approval of Lords MEXBOROUGH and RIPON , Bros . DE FEARNLY and BENTLEY SHAW , and the untiring zeal of Bro . R . R . NELSON , and many other " good men and true . " Of later years Bro . Sir H . EDWARDS and Bro . T . W . TEW
have equally encouraged the zeal of the West Yorkshire brethren . In North and East Yorkshire an aesthetic and literary and intellectual movement has been latterly set up in York , under the patronage of Lord ZETLAND , which has sought to illustrate the history of Freemasonry in
historic " Eboracum ; " has given new ideas to , and inspired higher ambition in many good Masons , a movement to which we wish all success , and which has given us the names of WHYTEHEAD , POULETT , LUKIS , TODD , CUMUERLAND , and several others , as paving the way for further researches and future successes , May all of good go with them .
* * * BY the courtesy of a kind correspondent we have had our attention directed to a curious law case , "COTTERS HOSPORD , " contained in the Limerick Reporter , & c ., of July 10 th . This is an action by the Rev . R . H . COTTER , a clergyman in Ireland , against the proprietors of the Limerick Chronicle
for a libel . Mr . COTTER has published some most severe and unjust attacks on the Irish Freemasons and Freemasonry generally , and termed it and them , as the judge pointed out in forcible terms , respectively " atheistic , heathenish , and dishonourable , " and " blasphemers , murderers , craven cowards , " 8 rc We think that when any person claiming to be " compos
Ar00102
mentis" uses such terms about the Irish Freemasons , or Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry , he is " put out of court at once , " alike by the evident incoherency of his expressions and the abject folly of his criticism . A body of men in Ireland which boasts of the Duke of ABERCORN as its head , and other noble and distinguished and learned and patriotic members of society and citizens of
the realm , is not thus to be treated , is not thus disrespectfully to be described . The learned Judge seems to have leant somewhat to the reverend plaintiff , as the aggressive reply of the Limerick Chronicle could not be substantiated . Despite this fact , however , the jury returned a verdict for one farthing damages , and would have found for the defendants , evidently
impressed by the utterly unjustifiable terms made use of by the reverend controversialist in respect of the Freemasons . We need hardly point out to our readers that the idea of our kind assailant is an entire delusion . No more loyal , religious , reverent body of men exists than the Masonic Body , especially when , as under our great Anglo Saxon family , we happily
retain as the leading principles of our world-wide Order , reverence for God , respect for lawful authority , syp . nathy for our brotherhood , and goodwill for mankind . The distinguished Judge who presided , ( we believe a Roman Catholic ) , in mentioning the Roman Catholic position quoad Freemasonry , curiously enough fell into a great historical error , and repeats a
distinct fallacy as regards the Roman authoritative condemnation of Freemasonry In the original Bull of 1738 nothing is said about the "Secret Society , " and it is not merely " qua "a Secret Society , as the learned Judge assumes , that Freemasonry is condemned by Rome . The first condemnation proceeded on the assumption that the Masonic lodges in which Roman Catholics and
Protestants met , thereby ignored the authority of the Roman Catholic Church , established a form of natural religion , and thus practically set on foot a form of heresy , contrary to the Christian teaching of the one True Church . That these meetings were held in secret was a secondary consideration . In this Bull all Freemasons were to be handed over to the Inquisition and put to
death , the houses in which they met were to be pulled down , and those who permitted them to assemble in their house were to be fined and imprisoned . Such is the Bull of CLEMENT , which has been revived by subsequent Pontiffs , and is undoubtedly still in force . Later Popes , especially Pius IX ., mixed up , as Cardinal CULLEN did in Ireland , the Fenians and the Freemasons , just
as Pius the VII . had done the Carbonari and Freemasons , and political secret societies . But the mere act of " secrecy , " despite the doctrine of the learned Judge , is not , and cannot be , the sole objection of tiie Church of Rome . The Jesuit Society is emphatically a secret society , inasmuch as the 4 th vow constitutes in the order a distinct secret association . In
the celebrated trial of BOYLE V . WISEMAN , the late Mr . Justice SHEE , then Sergt . SHEE , attempted to affix blame on Mr . BOYLE ( originally a Jesuit ) , becausehe had refused to take the 4 U 1 vow . But Mr . BOYLE proved that he had received a dispensation from Mr . LYTHGOE , then the Provincial in England , who had allowed his reasons to be valid for declining to take it . One of
his alleged reasons was , that then he ceased to be his own master , but formed part of a secret body , bound to go anywhere , and do anything at command of his superior . Lord Justice BARRY seemed to think that whereas the Roman Catholic Church condemned Freemasonry , so had Mr . COTTER as a Protestant equally the right to condemn it . Quite so . We are in a
free country , and every body has the right to his own opinion , can " enjoy thejixury of his own pine apple . " But truth itself is sometimes , paradox as it may seem , a libel , and because a person holds certain theories strongly , it is not a case of " sequitur" that he has an equal right to publish and . parade them .
# * # WE have been requested to explain , once for all , that the charge of 5 s . was made to all except the Grand Officers of the year , and was not limited to Past Grand Officers . This mistake has probably arisen from two slips being issued . We think now this discussion had better cease , as the subject has been thoroughly ventilated .
¦ # * # WE publish the notice for a Special Grand Lodge on August 8 th , to finish the consideration of the Revised Book of Constitutions . We hope the authorities will consider the advisability of making a "day" of it , and that some " good Samaritans" will see to it , that there may be some " refreshment" after " labour , "
* WE regret to have to call attention to a direct act of Masonic illegality in the distinguished province of Suffolk . Lord WAVENEY , the esteemed Prov . Grand Master , has thought well to confer the Past Rank of Prov . Senior Grand
Warden on a worthy brother of that Province . It is quite clear that he has no legal right to grant such . It can only be done by the Fiat of the Grand Master , under the Book of Constitutions , or by direct vote of Grand Lodge , We call the attention of our authorities to the subject .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS 3 S 3 Special Grand Lodge 38 4 Supreme Grand Chapter 3 S 4 Mark Benevolent Fund 384 Provincial Grand Lodac of Kent 3 S 3 Royal Masonic Institution for Girls 3 S . J Anniversary Festival of the Deigrave Lodge ,
No . 740 386 Annual picnic of the Newstead Lodge , No . 47 , Nottingham 3 S 6 Animal Summer Outing of the Lodge of Affability , No . 317 , Manchester 387 Picnic of the De Grey and tfipon Lodge , No . nfii . Manchester 3 S 7
South Africa 387 Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of Cumberland and Westmorland 3 S 7 CORRESPONDENCEThe Mark and the Arch 388 "The Same Usages and Customs "Vale " Uniformity " 3 88 The Five Shillings Charge 3 S 9
CORRESPONDENCE ( Continued)—A Cry from the Ranks 389 The '* ' William Morgan " Affair 389 Reviews 380 Notes and Queries 3 S 9 Sesijui . Centennial Anniversary of the Relief Lodge , No . 42 , Bury . ' . 390
REPORTS UF MASONIC MEETINGSCraft Masonry 391 Instruction 392 Royal Arch 393 Mark Masonry 393 Aticiriit and Accepted Rite 393 Knights Templar 393
Red Cross of Constantine 393 Royal Ark Mariners 393 Jamaica 393 Australia 394 The Theatres 394 Obituary 394 Masonic and General Tidings 395 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 396
Ar00101
THE great success of the recent * ' Grand Assembly of Freemasons at York suggests many reflections , and evokes many recollections for the thoughtful Masonic student . Freemasonry has not always been so honoured in Yorkshire as we see it to-day ; its prestige has not always stood so high , nor its popularity so wide-spread . Indeed , these very concomitants of its
present progress may well inspire sage and thoughtful reservations as to hasty admissions or indiscriminate affiliations to our great Order . Whatever may have been the earlier history of York Masonry , and however locally high it seems to have stood at one time in the opinions and support of local magnates , it is an undoubted fact that , for some reason or other , a little over the
middle of the last century or thereabouts , brethren in York , dissatisfied with the rule of the Grand body at York , which the learning of DRAKE had enlightened , and the support of Yorkshire brethren had upheld , sought actually for a warrant from the Grand Lodge of the South , the outcome of the Revival of 1717 . The York Grand Lodge itself faded away , collapsed
before its more flourishing southern rival , and gradually wentout from inanition without formal dissolution or legal winding-up . Since the beginning of this century , at any rate , the history of Freemasonry in York has been bound up with the fortunes of the Grand Lodge of England . Time was , as we before remarked , when Freemasonry hardly stood so high in
Masonic zeal and public opinion in Yorkshire as it does now . But of late a great change has happily come " o ' er the spirit of the dream . " West Yorkshire Masonry devoted itself to charitable efforts , and those of our now very elderly brethren who remember the beginning of an energetic movement in 1 S 59 and i 860 will call to
mind how some worthy Masons and loyal brethren then essayed to make Masonic charity a reality and a verity . Some of us who still survive may recall J SYMoNsand Bro . HOPWOOD ' S visit to Sheffield , when 100 guineas was voted to the Boys' School , and Bros . CREWE and PATTEN ' S visit to Doncasterwhen , after a slight opposition , another 100 guineas were voted to
the Girls' School by the Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire . Those votes were practically the commencement of that wonderful Provincial movement which culminated the other day in a Provincial return to the Boys' School of £ 15 , 000 . Bro . HENRY SMITH , Prov . Grand Secretary for Yorkshire , one of the few survivors , with Bro . HILL of that
active little band , will recall the earlier struggles of the Charity Committee , and how much it was indebted to the ready patronage and approval of Lords MEXBOROUGH and RIPON , Bros . DE FEARNLY and BENTLEY SHAW , and the untiring zeal of Bro . R . R . NELSON , and many other " good men and true . " Of later years Bro . Sir H . EDWARDS and Bro . T . W . TEW
have equally encouraged the zeal of the West Yorkshire brethren . In North and East Yorkshire an aesthetic and literary and intellectual movement has been latterly set up in York , under the patronage of Lord ZETLAND , which has sought to illustrate the history of Freemasonry in
historic " Eboracum ; " has given new ideas to , and inspired higher ambition in many good Masons , a movement to which we wish all success , and which has given us the names of WHYTEHEAD , POULETT , LUKIS , TODD , CUMUERLAND , and several others , as paving the way for further researches and future successes , May all of good go with them .
* * * BY the courtesy of a kind correspondent we have had our attention directed to a curious law case , "COTTERS HOSPORD , " contained in the Limerick Reporter , & c ., of July 10 th . This is an action by the Rev . R . H . COTTER , a clergyman in Ireland , against the proprietors of the Limerick Chronicle
for a libel . Mr . COTTER has published some most severe and unjust attacks on the Irish Freemasons and Freemasonry generally , and termed it and them , as the judge pointed out in forcible terms , respectively " atheistic , heathenish , and dishonourable , " and " blasphemers , murderers , craven cowards , " 8 rc We think that when any person claiming to be " compos
Ar00102
mentis" uses such terms about the Irish Freemasons , or Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry , he is " put out of court at once , " alike by the evident incoherency of his expressions and the abject folly of his criticism . A body of men in Ireland which boasts of the Duke of ABERCORN as its head , and other noble and distinguished and learned and patriotic members of society and citizens of
the realm , is not thus to be treated , is not thus disrespectfully to be described . The learned Judge seems to have leant somewhat to the reverend plaintiff , as the aggressive reply of the Limerick Chronicle could not be substantiated . Despite this fact , however , the jury returned a verdict for one farthing damages , and would have found for the defendants , evidently
impressed by the utterly unjustifiable terms made use of by the reverend controversialist in respect of the Freemasons . We need hardly point out to our readers that the idea of our kind assailant is an entire delusion . No more loyal , religious , reverent body of men exists than the Masonic Body , especially when , as under our great Anglo Saxon family , we happily
retain as the leading principles of our world-wide Order , reverence for God , respect for lawful authority , syp . nathy for our brotherhood , and goodwill for mankind . The distinguished Judge who presided , ( we believe a Roman Catholic ) , in mentioning the Roman Catholic position quoad Freemasonry , curiously enough fell into a great historical error , and repeats a
distinct fallacy as regards the Roman authoritative condemnation of Freemasonry In the original Bull of 1738 nothing is said about the "Secret Society , " and it is not merely " qua "a Secret Society , as the learned Judge assumes , that Freemasonry is condemned by Rome . The first condemnation proceeded on the assumption that the Masonic lodges in which Roman Catholics and
Protestants met , thereby ignored the authority of the Roman Catholic Church , established a form of natural religion , and thus practically set on foot a form of heresy , contrary to the Christian teaching of the one True Church . That these meetings were held in secret was a secondary consideration . In this Bull all Freemasons were to be handed over to the Inquisition and put to
death , the houses in which they met were to be pulled down , and those who permitted them to assemble in their house were to be fined and imprisoned . Such is the Bull of CLEMENT , which has been revived by subsequent Pontiffs , and is undoubtedly still in force . Later Popes , especially Pius IX ., mixed up , as Cardinal CULLEN did in Ireland , the Fenians and the Freemasons , just
as Pius the VII . had done the Carbonari and Freemasons , and political secret societies . But the mere act of " secrecy , " despite the doctrine of the learned Judge , is not , and cannot be , the sole objection of tiie Church of Rome . The Jesuit Society is emphatically a secret society , inasmuch as the 4 th vow constitutes in the order a distinct secret association . In
the celebrated trial of BOYLE V . WISEMAN , the late Mr . Justice SHEE , then Sergt . SHEE , attempted to affix blame on Mr . BOYLE ( originally a Jesuit ) , becausehe had refused to take the 4 U 1 vow . But Mr . BOYLE proved that he had received a dispensation from Mr . LYTHGOE , then the Provincial in England , who had allowed his reasons to be valid for declining to take it . One of
his alleged reasons was , that then he ceased to be his own master , but formed part of a secret body , bound to go anywhere , and do anything at command of his superior . Lord Justice BARRY seemed to think that whereas the Roman Catholic Church condemned Freemasonry , so had Mr . COTTER as a Protestant equally the right to condemn it . Quite so . We are in a
free country , and every body has the right to his own opinion , can " enjoy thejixury of his own pine apple . " But truth itself is sometimes , paradox as it may seem , a libel , and because a person holds certain theories strongly , it is not a case of " sequitur" that he has an equal right to publish and . parade them .
# * # WE have been requested to explain , once for all , that the charge of 5 s . was made to all except the Grand Officers of the year , and was not limited to Past Grand Officers . This mistake has probably arisen from two slips being issued . We think now this discussion had better cease , as the subject has been thoroughly ventilated .
¦ # * # WE publish the notice for a Special Grand Lodge on August 8 th , to finish the consideration of the Revised Book of Constitutions . We hope the authorities will consider the advisability of making a "day" of it , and that some " good Samaritans" will see to it , that there may be some " refreshment" after " labour , "
* WE regret to have to call attention to a direct act of Masonic illegality in the distinguished province of Suffolk . Lord WAVENEY , the esteemed Prov . Grand Master , has thought well to confer the Past Rank of Prov . Senior Grand
Warden on a worthy brother of that Province . It is quite clear that he has no legal right to grant such . It can only be done by the Fiat of the Grand Master , under the Book of Constitutions , or by direct vote of Grand Lodge , We call the attention of our authorities to the subject .