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  • April 6, 1867
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  • ADDRESS TO THE OFFICERS AND BRETHREN OF THE LODGE OF ANTIQUITY, MONTREAL.
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Address To The Officers And Brethren Of The Lodge Of Antiquity, Montreal.

ADDRESS TO THE OFFICERS AND BRETHREN OF THE LODGE OF ANTIQUITY , MONTREAL .

LONDON , SATURDAY , APRIL 6 , 1867 .

By Bro . J . 0 . FBANCK , W . M . of the lodge , P . D . G . M ., ' P . G . Z . of the Grand Chapter of Canada , § -c . { Continued from page 247 . ) The election of Grand Master is not in consequence of any laAV or regulation of Grand . Lodge

the office is indebted for its existence to a landmark , nay , if Grand Lodges AA'ere abolished , a Grand Master would on that account still be indispensable . Indeed , although in a period of very recent date a Grand Lodge Avas unknoAvn , there

never Avas a time Avhen the Craft did not have a Grand Master . Hence he had certain inherent rights , Avhich are his AA ithout any action , or even opposed to the action of Grand Lodge , one of which is the fifth landmark , the prerogative of the

Grand Master to preside over every assembly of the Craft wheresoever and AA'hensoever held . Not so with the Deputy Grand Master : this was an office established as late as A . D . 1721 , with the sole object of relieving the Grand Master from the

inconvenience of attending * to the details of business . The Deputy has no inherent right all his privileges are in the case of death or absence of the Grand Master from the province ¦ and those

specially conferred on him by the Constitution . The rights and privileges of Deputy Grand Master have been a vexed question at various meetings of the Grand Lodge of Canada and , finally , the many privileges granted him under the old

Constitution were abandoned , excepting only the privilege of presiding in any lodge he may visit , but it adds no other authority or power while so presiding . The probable reason that this one privilege Avas granted may be attributed to the

first general regulation of the 39 general regulations adopted in 1721 , which says : " That the Grand Master , or his Deputy , has authority and right , not only to be present in any true lodge , but also to preside wherever he is : " but since the

Constitution grants no authority to the' Deputy to examine books , try complaints , or otherwise interfere with the body , one would surmise that the intention was he should preside in the place of the Grand Master when by him so required ,

then indeed assuming the powers of the Grand Master himself . But not denying him the privilege to preside under any circumstances ;

should he assume the chair when entering ? I think he should ; that the Master may at once understand his OAVU subordinate position for that meeting , and not be forced to lo ' . ver his dignity by being at any moment , at the pleasure of the

Deputy , called upon to abandon the work entered upon , or be ejected from the chair ; a still stronger case , when the Deputy on entering specially declares that he did not come in his official

capacity , nor did he desire to take any part in the evenings' proceedings for reasons then named ; and the latter is really the case which came before me . In such case no unbiassed person but would admit the higher the officer the more is he bound

by his Avord . It may be asked , but supposing something illegal suddenly transpires . I reply , his assuming the chair cannot afford a remedy ; he has no higher powers in the chair than the Master , who can , as soon as he reassumes it , or

at the next meeting reverse the decisions of the Deputy . As to politeness , Ave should almost expect that a Grand Officer would apprise a subordinate lodge of an intended official visit , he certainly does not lower his dignity thereby . The

Queen herself notifies the Lords Avhen her Majesty intends to honour the House ; the Governor-General does likeAvise ; the army is notified of an intended revieAV by the General , and in almost every instance the humbler body is apprised

of the visit of the superior to insure such reception as may be a pride instead of humiliation to the inferior .

Thus it was certainly never intended a Deputy G . M . should interfere with the prerogative of the Master in the routine business of the loclge ; nay even Grand Masters , who have a perfect right so to do , in courtesy generally abstain from their

right . I will not refer to ancient cases ; it may be said that we live in more enlightened , even though in less polite times . Let me allude to a case of the present century ; nay , of the present year ; nay , even of the last month only .

On the 19 th of November last , the centenary meeting of the Lodge of St . Mark , - S . R ., was held in GlasgOAV , Scotland : the Grand Master Mason , as the Grand Master is there called , was present . Bro . Major Barber , the Master of the

loclge , addressing the Grand Master , said : " I have much p leasure in requesting you to take the niall , and the chair of St . Mark ' s Lodge . " The Grand Master , having taken the chair , said : " R . W . Sir and Brethren , you are all , no doubt ,

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1867-04-06, Page 1” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 29 March 2023, www.masonicperiodicals.org/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_06041867/page/1/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
ADDRESS TO THE OFFICERS AND BRETHREN OF THE LODGE OF ANTIQUITY, MONTREAL. Article 1
LODGES OF INSTRUCTION. Article 4
THE NEMESIS: A TALE OF THE DAYS OF TRAJAN. Article 5
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 10
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 11
THE BOYS' SCHOOL.—MIDDLE-CLASS EDUCATION. Article 11
BYE LAWS. BYE-LAWS. BY-LAWS. Article 12
THE OCEAN YACHT RACE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. Article 12
MASONIC MEMS. Article 13
METROPOLITAN. Article 13
PROVINCIAL. Article 13
SCOTLAND. Article 14
CANADA. Article 14
INDIA. Article 15
ROYAL ARCH. Article 15
MARK MASONRY. Article 16
RED CROSS KNIGHTS. Article 17
MASONIC FESTIVITIES. Article 18
MEETINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND LEARNED SOCIETIES FOR THE WEEK ENDING APRIL. Article 18
THE WEEK. Article 18
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Address To The Officers And Brethren Of The Lodge Of Antiquity, Montreal.

ADDRESS TO THE OFFICERS AND BRETHREN OF THE LODGE OF ANTIQUITY , MONTREAL .

LONDON , SATURDAY , APRIL 6 , 1867 .

By Bro . J . 0 . FBANCK , W . M . of the lodge , P . D . G . M ., ' P . G . Z . of the Grand Chapter of Canada , § -c . { Continued from page 247 . ) The election of Grand Master is not in consequence of any laAV or regulation of Grand . Lodge

the office is indebted for its existence to a landmark , nay , if Grand Lodges AA'ere abolished , a Grand Master would on that account still be indispensable . Indeed , although in a period of very recent date a Grand Lodge Avas unknoAvn , there

never Avas a time Avhen the Craft did not have a Grand Master . Hence he had certain inherent rights , Avhich are his AA ithout any action , or even opposed to the action of Grand Lodge , one of which is the fifth landmark , the prerogative of the

Grand Master to preside over every assembly of the Craft wheresoever and AA'hensoever held . Not so with the Deputy Grand Master : this was an office established as late as A . D . 1721 , with the sole object of relieving the Grand Master from the

inconvenience of attending * to the details of business . The Deputy has no inherent right all his privileges are in the case of death or absence of the Grand Master from the province ¦ and those

specially conferred on him by the Constitution . The rights and privileges of Deputy Grand Master have been a vexed question at various meetings of the Grand Lodge of Canada and , finally , the many privileges granted him under the old

Constitution were abandoned , excepting only the privilege of presiding in any lodge he may visit , but it adds no other authority or power while so presiding . The probable reason that this one privilege Avas granted may be attributed to the

first general regulation of the 39 general regulations adopted in 1721 , which says : " That the Grand Master , or his Deputy , has authority and right , not only to be present in any true lodge , but also to preside wherever he is : " but since the

Constitution grants no authority to the' Deputy to examine books , try complaints , or otherwise interfere with the body , one would surmise that the intention was he should preside in the place of the Grand Master when by him so required ,

then indeed assuming the powers of the Grand Master himself . But not denying him the privilege to preside under any circumstances ;

should he assume the chair when entering ? I think he should ; that the Master may at once understand his OAVU subordinate position for that meeting , and not be forced to lo ' . ver his dignity by being at any moment , at the pleasure of the

Deputy , called upon to abandon the work entered upon , or be ejected from the chair ; a still stronger case , when the Deputy on entering specially declares that he did not come in his official

capacity , nor did he desire to take any part in the evenings' proceedings for reasons then named ; and the latter is really the case which came before me . In such case no unbiassed person but would admit the higher the officer the more is he bound

by his Avord . It may be asked , but supposing something illegal suddenly transpires . I reply , his assuming the chair cannot afford a remedy ; he has no higher powers in the chair than the Master , who can , as soon as he reassumes it , or

at the next meeting reverse the decisions of the Deputy . As to politeness , Ave should almost expect that a Grand Officer would apprise a subordinate lodge of an intended official visit , he certainly does not lower his dignity thereby . The

Queen herself notifies the Lords Avhen her Majesty intends to honour the House ; the Governor-General does likeAvise ; the army is notified of an intended revieAV by the General , and in almost every instance the humbler body is apprised

of the visit of the superior to insure such reception as may be a pride instead of humiliation to the inferior .

Thus it was certainly never intended a Deputy G . M . should interfere with the prerogative of the Master in the routine business of the loclge ; nay even Grand Masters , who have a perfect right so to do , in courtesy generally abstain from their

right . I will not refer to ancient cases ; it may be said that we live in more enlightened , even though in less polite times . Let me allude to a case of the present century ; nay , of the present year ; nay , even of the last month only .

On the 19 th of November last , the centenary meeting of the Lodge of St . Mark , - S . R ., was held in GlasgOAV , Scotland : the Grand Master Mason , as the Grand Master is there called , was present . Bro . Major Barber , the Master of the

loclge , addressing the Grand Master , said : " I have much p leasure in requesting you to take the niall , and the chair of St . Mark ' s Lodge . " The Grand Master , having taken the chair , said : " R . W . Sir and Brethren , you are all , no doubt ,

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