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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia
EARS OF WHEAT FROM A CORNUCOPIA
By Bro . D . MI . ___ . A _ - LYON , AM ., Masonic University of Kentucky , U . S . ; Corresponding Member of the Union of German Freemasons , Leipsic ; one of the Grand Stewards hi the Grand Lodge of Scotland ; P . G . S- W . of Ayrshire ; avAlwr of the " History of Mother Kihvining , " fyc . ( Continued from page 142 . )
-E PISODES IN THE EARLY HISTORY OP THE " ROYAL ARCH" IN AYRSHIRE . The epoch at which the Royal Arch Degree found its way into , and the nature of the connection which it formed with Scottish lodges of Craft
Masonry , are points of interest to the Masonic student . Stirling is credited with possession of the oldest of the Scottish records of Royal Arch Masonry ; but instead of the mere assertion that there are preserved at the town in question certain
documentary proof of the Arch degree being in 1743 worked in connection with a Stirling Lodge of Freemasons , might it not be more satisfactory were the fact demonstrated by the production of ¦ authenticated excerpts from the records referred
to—a step which , so far as we are aware , has not yet been taken in support of the position assigned to the Stirling Ancient Lodge as the pioneer of Scotch Royal Arch and Masonic Templarism ; although the official revision iu 1861 of the
Introduction to the Laws of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland afforded an excellent opportunity forjso doing .
It is not till 1778 that we find any trace of the Royal Arch being worked in either of the ancient Masonic provinces of Cunninghame , Kyle , or Garrick . The degree was introduced into Ayrshire through the medium of the Hibernian element
which is believed to have permeated the lodge St . James , Newton-on-Ayr , shortly after its erection by the Grand Lodge of Scotland . Whether its operations at first embraced also the degrees of Masonic Templarism cannot now be ascertained ;
but its pretensions to the knowledge and practise of degrees other than those of Craft Masonry were supported by its assumption of the title of " Super-Excellent Royal Arch Lodge of Ayr , " —a designation under which it received partial
acknowledgment at the hand of some of the sister lodges in the district , but which it subsequently saw reason to abandon . With the resumption of its proper title , the Lodge St . James not only continued to work the Royal Arch degree but began to confer also that of Kni ght Templar , and was through its members the means of creating within its own
Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia
district a taste for those orders which in 1800 were denounced by the Grand Lodge of Scotland as having no connection whatever with St . John ' s Masonry . But it was not in Ayrshire alone that the influence of this lodge was felt in the spread of
these degrees : it imparted them to some of the originators of Ayr and Renfrew Militia St . Paul , to which lodge , as we showed in a recent paper , the Royal Arch of Stirling was in 1799 indebted for instruction iu those so-called higher degrees ,
of which—on the occasion of their repudiation by the Stirling Ancient Lodge—they were the alleged conservators . Thus in an indirect manner were Irish Masons the means of restoring to what is supposed to be the most ancient seat of the Royal
Arch in Scotland , a knowledge of the mysteries of that Order . ' . Among the Ayrshire Lodges which towards the end of last century became acquainted with the Arch and Templar degrees was Tarbolton St .
David—Burn ' s mother lodge—a fac-simile of whose diplomatic plate we have through the spirited co-operation of the Editor of the Magazine , been
privileged to pz-esent . [ See preceding page . } While the designs shownin our illustration embrace symbols that were seventy or eighty years ago identified with the degrees of Craft , Royal Arch , and Knight Templar , the phraseology of the
diploma is purely that of St . John's Masonry . But this is not singular ; for it was not till after the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland , and the Grand Conclave of Scotland , had by charter planted encampments in the west of Scotland that R . A .
and K . T . diplomas began to be issued . The elaborate design of the prefixed certificate was no doubt intended to convey the idea that "high degrees " were conferred in the Lodge St . David ,
and by this means to assert its superiority over its rival , St . James , Tarbolton . The very short connection which Burns had with his mother lodge accounts for his non-acquaintance with the Arch degree at the period of his visit to St . Abb ' s
Lodge , in encampment of which , in 1787 , he was " made a Royal Arch Mason . " In his last work on the f ' Royal Arch , " Dr . Oliver says that some uncertainty exists as to the nature of the constitution of those Scotch lodges
of the 18 th century which attached " Royal Arch " to their name . As the lodges commented upon by the author just quoted existed by charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland , their constitution could not in any way be different from that of other
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia
EARS OF WHEAT FROM A CORNUCOPIA
By Bro . D . MI . ___ . A _ - LYON , AM ., Masonic University of Kentucky , U . S . ; Corresponding Member of the Union of German Freemasons , Leipsic ; one of the Grand Stewards hi the Grand Lodge of Scotland ; P . G . S- W . of Ayrshire ; avAlwr of the " History of Mother Kihvining , " fyc . ( Continued from page 142 . )
-E PISODES IN THE EARLY HISTORY OP THE " ROYAL ARCH" IN AYRSHIRE . The epoch at which the Royal Arch Degree found its way into , and the nature of the connection which it formed with Scottish lodges of Craft
Masonry , are points of interest to the Masonic student . Stirling is credited with possession of the oldest of the Scottish records of Royal Arch Masonry ; but instead of the mere assertion that there are preserved at the town in question certain
documentary proof of the Arch degree being in 1743 worked in connection with a Stirling Lodge of Freemasons , might it not be more satisfactory were the fact demonstrated by the production of ¦ authenticated excerpts from the records referred
to—a step which , so far as we are aware , has not yet been taken in support of the position assigned to the Stirling Ancient Lodge as the pioneer of Scotch Royal Arch and Masonic Templarism ; although the official revision iu 1861 of the
Introduction to the Laws of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland afforded an excellent opportunity forjso doing .
It is not till 1778 that we find any trace of the Royal Arch being worked in either of the ancient Masonic provinces of Cunninghame , Kyle , or Garrick . The degree was introduced into Ayrshire through the medium of the Hibernian element
which is believed to have permeated the lodge St . James , Newton-on-Ayr , shortly after its erection by the Grand Lodge of Scotland . Whether its operations at first embraced also the degrees of Masonic Templarism cannot now be ascertained ;
but its pretensions to the knowledge and practise of degrees other than those of Craft Masonry were supported by its assumption of the title of " Super-Excellent Royal Arch Lodge of Ayr , " —a designation under which it received partial
acknowledgment at the hand of some of the sister lodges in the district , but which it subsequently saw reason to abandon . With the resumption of its proper title , the Lodge St . James not only continued to work the Royal Arch degree but began to confer also that of Kni ght Templar , and was through its members the means of creating within its own
Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia
district a taste for those orders which in 1800 were denounced by the Grand Lodge of Scotland as having no connection whatever with St . John ' s Masonry . But it was not in Ayrshire alone that the influence of this lodge was felt in the spread of
these degrees : it imparted them to some of the originators of Ayr and Renfrew Militia St . Paul , to which lodge , as we showed in a recent paper , the Royal Arch of Stirling was in 1799 indebted for instruction iu those so-called higher degrees ,
of which—on the occasion of their repudiation by the Stirling Ancient Lodge—they were the alleged conservators . Thus in an indirect manner were Irish Masons the means of restoring to what is supposed to be the most ancient seat of the Royal
Arch in Scotland , a knowledge of the mysteries of that Order . ' . Among the Ayrshire Lodges which towards the end of last century became acquainted with the Arch and Templar degrees was Tarbolton St .
David—Burn ' s mother lodge—a fac-simile of whose diplomatic plate we have through the spirited co-operation of the Editor of the Magazine , been
privileged to pz-esent . [ See preceding page . } While the designs shownin our illustration embrace symbols that were seventy or eighty years ago identified with the degrees of Craft , Royal Arch , and Knight Templar , the phraseology of the
diploma is purely that of St . John's Masonry . But this is not singular ; for it was not till after the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland , and the Grand Conclave of Scotland , had by charter planted encampments in the west of Scotland that R . A .
and K . T . diplomas began to be issued . The elaborate design of the prefixed certificate was no doubt intended to convey the idea that "high degrees " were conferred in the Lodge St . David ,
and by this means to assert its superiority over its rival , St . James , Tarbolton . The very short connection which Burns had with his mother lodge accounts for his non-acquaintance with the Arch degree at the period of his visit to St . Abb ' s
Lodge , in encampment of which , in 1787 , he was " made a Royal Arch Mason . " In his last work on the f ' Royal Arch , " Dr . Oliver says that some uncertainty exists as to the nature of the constitution of those Scotch lodges
of the 18 th century which attached " Royal Arch " to their name . As the lodges commented upon by the author just quoted existed by charter from the Grand Lodge of Scotland , their constitution could not in any way be different from that of other