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Article COMISPOTOEICE. ← Page 2 of 5 →
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Comispotoeice.
vincial Mason to have attained rank in his Provindal Grand Lodge , as for aLondon Brothertohavereceived Me purple in the Grand Lodge ; and ! do hope , for the future , that we shaU see all Provincial Grand Officers proud of the honour of wearing the distinctive clothing of their own Grand Lodges
instead of assuming that of the Grand Lodge . , . ... . Many of these Brethren have rendered good service to the Craft in their provinces , and had they been resident in London , would , in many instances , have received office in the Grand Lodge . Their , services have , however , been recognized in they provinces ' . "
We have here , clearly enunciated , the monstrous assumption , as it appears to me , that all offices in the United Grand Lodge of England belong ,. of right , to London Masons , and to them only ! During a long and active connection with the Order , I have not so learned Masonry , it may possibly arise from my provincial ignorance of the system , but I have always understood that , theoretically at least , all Masons are equal ; that all preferment among them is grounded on real worth and personal merit
only ; and that the Grand Lodge is , as it were , the parliament or great council of the Order , composed of representatives of every regularly constituted Lodge holding under it , and in which assembly all meet upon equal and common ground ; whilst every worthy and eminent Mason , whether metropolitan or provincial , has an equal title to receive from the sovereign of the Order , as the reward of his services , those honours wdiich it is the high prerogative of the M . W . the Grand Master to confer .
But such , it seems , is not the belief at head quarters , and supposing * that " A London P . M . " would not make so cool an assertion without some foundation on which to rest it , I have carefully examined the Book of Con - stitutions , but cannot discover any law which excludes provincial Masons from the honours of Grand Lodge , and restricts them to the London Brethren . On the contrary , the laws of Masonry appear to be framed in a truly catholic spirit , recognizing the equal rights of all its sons .
The only argument which I can discover in favour of "A London P . M ' s . " assertions , is that of modem practice , and in this respect I must candidly admit that he and his confreres have received ample excuse for such assumption . How many of the appointments in Grand Lodge are annually distributed among the provincial Brethren ? I trow few indeed !
Within the memory of man , not a single member of the Order in this province ( not the least efficient in the kingdom in its working ) has ever , as such , received any office in Grand Lodge . Two titled Brethren ( both excellent men and Masons ) have certainly had high honours conferred upon them , but it was only as members of aristocratic Lodges in London , not as Blanhhire Masons ; and I doubt not several other provinces are in precisely the same position . Now this is certainly not as it should 'be , and
whilst I cannot identify myself with all the views of the Earl of Carnarvon's party , this fact compels me to go with him in asserting that it is full time the country Lodges bestirred themselves , if they do not mean all the power and honours of the Order to be monopolized by metropolitan Brethrenthese being no better Masons , nor rendering more eminent services to the Craft , than country Brethren— -but who , by the mere accident of residing in town or
its immediate vicinity , have the important advantage of attending all the quarterly communications of Grand Lodge , at very slight cost to themselves , of either time or money ; and , by pushing themselves into notice , obtaining those honours which , perhaps , might in many cases be conferred upon Brethren rendering infinitely greater real services to Masonry , but who , owing to the fact of their residing at a distance of one or two hundred miles from London , are necessarily almost , or entirely unknown to the ruling powers ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Comispotoeice.
vincial Mason to have attained rank in his Provindal Grand Lodge , as for aLondon Brothertohavereceived Me purple in the Grand Lodge ; and ! do hope , for the future , that we shaU see all Provincial Grand Officers proud of the honour of wearing the distinctive clothing of their own Grand Lodges
instead of assuming that of the Grand Lodge . , . ... . Many of these Brethren have rendered good service to the Craft in their provinces , and had they been resident in London , would , in many instances , have received office in the Grand Lodge . Their , services have , however , been recognized in they provinces ' . "
We have here , clearly enunciated , the monstrous assumption , as it appears to me , that all offices in the United Grand Lodge of England belong ,. of right , to London Masons , and to them only ! During a long and active connection with the Order , I have not so learned Masonry , it may possibly arise from my provincial ignorance of the system , but I have always understood that , theoretically at least , all Masons are equal ; that all preferment among them is grounded on real worth and personal merit
only ; and that the Grand Lodge is , as it were , the parliament or great council of the Order , composed of representatives of every regularly constituted Lodge holding under it , and in which assembly all meet upon equal and common ground ; whilst every worthy and eminent Mason , whether metropolitan or provincial , has an equal title to receive from the sovereign of the Order , as the reward of his services , those honours wdiich it is the high prerogative of the M . W . the Grand Master to confer .
But such , it seems , is not the belief at head quarters , and supposing * that " A London P . M . " would not make so cool an assertion without some foundation on which to rest it , I have carefully examined the Book of Con - stitutions , but cannot discover any law which excludes provincial Masons from the honours of Grand Lodge , and restricts them to the London Brethren . On the contrary , the laws of Masonry appear to be framed in a truly catholic spirit , recognizing the equal rights of all its sons .
The only argument which I can discover in favour of "A London P . M ' s . " assertions , is that of modem practice , and in this respect I must candidly admit that he and his confreres have received ample excuse for such assumption . How many of the appointments in Grand Lodge are annually distributed among the provincial Brethren ? I trow few indeed !
Within the memory of man , not a single member of the Order in this province ( not the least efficient in the kingdom in its working ) has ever , as such , received any office in Grand Lodge . Two titled Brethren ( both excellent men and Masons ) have certainly had high honours conferred upon them , but it was only as members of aristocratic Lodges in London , not as Blanhhire Masons ; and I doubt not several other provinces are in precisely the same position . Now this is certainly not as it should 'be , and
whilst I cannot identify myself with all the views of the Earl of Carnarvon's party , this fact compels me to go with him in asserting that it is full time the country Lodges bestirred themselves , if they do not mean all the power and honours of the Order to be monopolized by metropolitan Brethrenthese being no better Masons , nor rendering more eminent services to the Craft , than country Brethren— -but who , by the mere accident of residing in town or
its immediate vicinity , have the important advantage of attending all the quarterly communications of Grand Lodge , at very slight cost to themselves , of either time or money ; and , by pushing themselves into notice , obtaining those honours which , perhaps , might in many cases be conferred upon Brethren rendering infinitely greater real services to Masonry , but who , owing to the fact of their residing at a distance of one or two hundred miles from London , are necessarily almost , or entirely unknown to the ruling powers ,