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Article RANDOM NOTES ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Random Notes On Freemasonry.
Of course you are well aware that it still exists in Scotland , where operative lodges are found side by side with speculative . Masonry abroad has changed its character very considerably , and there is now , I suspect , but little trace of its descent from the Architects of
the middle ages . Gilbert Scott , I believe , talks of the " fables" of the Freemasons , but other worthy successors of the Gothic Architects admit the pretensions of the Freemasons to be the originators of Gothic architecture .
Freemasonry to day is in fact little more than a skeleton , —a relic of a bygone age , — with secrets valuable to the brethren only , but ivith something about it which must recommend itself to the searcher after truth and the lover of his
kind . Probably many of you , who are accustomed to look upon the Grand Lodge of England as at once the supreme head and pattern of masonry , will be surprised to hear that it stands per se in the
recognition of what is and what is not pure and ancient masonry , for it recognizes the Royal Arch as part of its system , and the completion of the third degree , and refuses to acknowledge the Mark degree ; whilst the Grand Lodge oi Scotland
accepts the Mark and rejects the Arch ; and the Grand Lodge of Ireland acknowledges both . Then again the Grand Lodge of England , in its corporate capacity , does not recognize the higher degrees , though many of its most distinguished
members belong to them , notably the Prince of Wales , Knig ht of the Masonic Ord : r of Charles XIII . of Sweden , 17 ° , and Lord Carnarvon , 33 ° ,
whilst almost every other Grand Lodge in the world admits them . The most widely spread and generally adopted system is the Ancient and Accepted Rite of 33 degrees , ( some of which are of undoubted
antiquity ) , which has a Supreme Council in almost every country in the world . Time will not admit of my enlarging on this Rite . Suffice it to say that , in a Christian country it seems to me difficult to eliminate the Christian character from
Masonry , and the object of the higher degrees , as I dare say many of you know , is to maintain the Christian characteristics , aud to admit Masons of high social character and standing to the privileges of its necessarily more exclusive degrees . For my cvn part , I have always felt that there was
not enough in the Craft to interest the masonic student , and there is no doubt that many estimable masons , after passing the chair , have lapsed as it were , or lost their interest in the Royal Art , simply because they thought there was nothing
more to learn . To such I would say , " Go ou ; you have only ascended three steps of the Masonic ladder , there are thirty-three to climb . " You are doubtless well aware that in the Articles of Union between the two Grand Lodges in
1813 , it was expressly added to the declaration that pure and ancient Masonry consisted of three degrees and no more"But this article is not intended to prevent any Lodge or Chapter from holding a meeting in any
of the Orders of Chivalry , according to the constitutions of the said orders ; " which proviso was nothing more nor less than a recognition of the higher degrees , and no doubt was admitted because the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Sussex
ivereboth _ Grand Masters of the Templars as well as of the Craft . Freemasonry is , as it is received , to some a religion , to others a system of morality only . I have known Jews who thought they did their
duty by their God and their creed ii they attended their lodge , no synagogue being near . Masonry , as Geometry , is an exact science . As a religion , it bears the impress of a higher wisdom than is contained in the study of mathematics
and astronomy . In fact masonry stands next to revealed religion in the opinion of many people ; unfortunately , however , it has been made the instrument , in the hands of evil and designing men , for much wrong-doing—instance the Carbonari ,
Illuminati , Cagliostro , the Communists . The Chevalier Ramsay is said to have invented certain of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite , as secret associations the real object of whose members was the restoration of the Stuarts .
The Royal Order of Scotland , from which some think the Rose Croix , 18 th degree , is derived , was presided over by Charles Stuart , the young Pretender , who gave a charter to a Chapter at Arras ( which charter is still in existence ) as Hereditary Grand Master of the order .
Cagliostro was made a Freemason in London , and it is said that he and the Illuminati were instrumental iu bringing about the great revolution of France . Alexandre Dumas has written a very
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Random Notes On Freemasonry.
Of course you are well aware that it still exists in Scotland , where operative lodges are found side by side with speculative . Masonry abroad has changed its character very considerably , and there is now , I suspect , but little trace of its descent from the Architects of
the middle ages . Gilbert Scott , I believe , talks of the " fables" of the Freemasons , but other worthy successors of the Gothic Architects admit the pretensions of the Freemasons to be the originators of Gothic architecture .
Freemasonry to day is in fact little more than a skeleton , —a relic of a bygone age , — with secrets valuable to the brethren only , but ivith something about it which must recommend itself to the searcher after truth and the lover of his
kind . Probably many of you , who are accustomed to look upon the Grand Lodge of England as at once the supreme head and pattern of masonry , will be surprised to hear that it stands per se in the
recognition of what is and what is not pure and ancient masonry , for it recognizes the Royal Arch as part of its system , and the completion of the third degree , and refuses to acknowledge the Mark degree ; whilst the Grand Lodge oi Scotland
accepts the Mark and rejects the Arch ; and the Grand Lodge of Ireland acknowledges both . Then again the Grand Lodge of England , in its corporate capacity , does not recognize the higher degrees , though many of its most distinguished
members belong to them , notably the Prince of Wales , Knig ht of the Masonic Ord : r of Charles XIII . of Sweden , 17 ° , and Lord Carnarvon , 33 ° ,
whilst almost every other Grand Lodge in the world admits them . The most widely spread and generally adopted system is the Ancient and Accepted Rite of 33 degrees , ( some of which are of undoubted
antiquity ) , which has a Supreme Council in almost every country in the world . Time will not admit of my enlarging on this Rite . Suffice it to say that , in a Christian country it seems to me difficult to eliminate the Christian character from
Masonry , and the object of the higher degrees , as I dare say many of you know , is to maintain the Christian characteristics , aud to admit Masons of high social character and standing to the privileges of its necessarily more exclusive degrees . For my cvn part , I have always felt that there was
not enough in the Craft to interest the masonic student , and there is no doubt that many estimable masons , after passing the chair , have lapsed as it were , or lost their interest in the Royal Art , simply because they thought there was nothing
more to learn . To such I would say , " Go ou ; you have only ascended three steps of the Masonic ladder , there are thirty-three to climb . " You are doubtless well aware that in the Articles of Union between the two Grand Lodges in
1813 , it was expressly added to the declaration that pure and ancient Masonry consisted of three degrees and no more"But this article is not intended to prevent any Lodge or Chapter from holding a meeting in any
of the Orders of Chivalry , according to the constitutions of the said orders ; " which proviso was nothing more nor less than a recognition of the higher degrees , and no doubt was admitted because the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Sussex
ivereboth _ Grand Masters of the Templars as well as of the Craft . Freemasonry is , as it is received , to some a religion , to others a system of morality only . I have known Jews who thought they did their
duty by their God and their creed ii they attended their lodge , no synagogue being near . Masonry , as Geometry , is an exact science . As a religion , it bears the impress of a higher wisdom than is contained in the study of mathematics
and astronomy . In fact masonry stands next to revealed religion in the opinion of many people ; unfortunately , however , it has been made the instrument , in the hands of evil and designing men , for much wrong-doing—instance the Carbonari ,
Illuminati , Cagliostro , the Communists . The Chevalier Ramsay is said to have invented certain of the degrees of the Ancient and Accepted Rite , as secret associations the real object of whose members was the restoration of the Stuarts .
The Royal Order of Scotland , from which some think the Rose Croix , 18 th degree , is derived , was presided over by Charles Stuart , the young Pretender , who gave a charter to a Chapter at Arras ( which charter is still in existence ) as Hereditary Grand Master of the order .
Cagliostro was made a Freemason in London , and it is said that he and the Illuminati were instrumental iu bringing about the great revolution of France . Alexandre Dumas has written a very