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Article POPERY OR MASONRY. ← Page 3 of 3 Article A MASONIC ALPHABET. Page 1 of 1 Article GLEANINGS. Page 1 of 1
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Popery Or Masonry.
case the right and the law must be the same ; to wit , the law of Masonic liberty—of election— -a law which presents itself as necessarily existing and paramount in every such case , and inseparable from it , in such an institution as Freemasonry .
The right of a Mason to continue his existing affiliation , or unite with a nearer Lodge , is so obvious that it need not have been mentioned here , if the same right in a Lodge of Masons to adhere to its own Grand Lodge had not been put in question , and an attempt actually made , backed up by one or more Grand Lodges , to coerce the " affiliation " of several Lodges—that is to force them to elect to leave their old Grand Lodge and accept allegiance in the new . When this project shall be accomplished , the Grand Lodges which support the innovation will have already committed themselves , at the exDense of unfraternal edicts
and wide-spread animosities , to the misohievous doctrine of forced affiliation all round , as well in respect to individual Masons as to Lodges of such—the two cases being in substance the same : for what is the difference to Freemasons between forcing twenty of them separately out of their own Lodges , and forcing twenty of them in a body out of their own Grand Lodge ? Hence the firebrand of forced affiliation must , doubtless , soon be added to the one now lighting the fires of discord and division .
The third proposition , that of so-called " perpetual jurisdiction , " although it will doubtless engender countless contentions between Lodges , will not so much violate the rights of Masons as either of the others , and may be easier disposed of , because easier understood . It is , nevertheless , subject to two grave objections . First , it will work injustice to many worthy persons who may petition for the degrees and be rejected , perhaps by the vote of a single
member , cast without any sufficient reason , as often happens . It is not enough when a man of fair character presents his petition to a Lodge which contains some worse men , and one or two members , out of forty or more , vote
against him that he be treated as rejected by the entire Lodge , and let go , to fare better perhaps at some future time if found worthy by the same or some other Lodge ?
That he should be required to disclose the fact of his rejection to any Lodge he may afterwards petition is a different matter ; for that enables such Lodge to inquire into his character .
Too much importance is allowed to the mere fact of rejection . If any one who has been a Mason thirty years will count up all the cases of rejection which he has known he must not be greatly surprised to find that more good
men have been rejected than bad ones , or that more bad ones have been admitted than rejected . And this is natural enough , for most men , in the absence of any special cause of mistrust , are reluctant in using a black ball against
anybody . Secondly , the entire pretence of derpetual jurisdiction is manifestly absurd ; and this alone ought to be cause enough for any Mason to reject it at once , even if he disregards its injustice . It is much more absurd than that
other detestable claim of popery , that if a child has been baptised by a priest even by surreptitious procurement , as in the case of the Jewish child ( Mortara ' s ) the hierarchy have a divine right to seize it afterwards , even
by kidnapping , and keep it secreted from its parents for ever , by virtue of " perpetual jurisdiction . " This Masonic claim is more absurd in this , that the popish
hierarchy had in the first place done something towards accepting the child ; but in this case the only thing done by the Lodge was to refuse to have anything to do with the petitioner .
When all three of the propositions herein mentioned shall have been placed among the phylacteries of Masonic law , who can deny that Masonic Popery has come to stay ? Voice ofMasonrij .
THE IULLOT . —Secret it must be and indcdendent . It is a duty from the exercise of which no brother should be exempt , and every brother should bear in mind that while no one can question his motives , or even know how he may have voted , yet that he is responsible to his own conscience , to his Masonic obligations , and to his
Creator . If he be a true Mason he will allow no unworthy or un-Masonic motive to actuate him . No mere personal prejudice or bias , no spirit of revenge , or retaliation for the acts of others will influence him to vote unfavourably upon the application of a good , true , and
worthy man , either for the degrees or for advancement . And still , at the same time it is his bounden duty to reject any and all whom he knows to be unworthy , no matter what the views of others may be . —Masonic Tidings .
A Masonic Alphabet.
A MASONIC ALPHABET .
XI . —KINDNESS .
When Forest and Plain , Need tho nourishing rain ; When the Rivers have ceased to ran , When the soils are all dried , And the herbage had died , 'Neath the rays of the fiery sun .
When the cattle and sheep , In their agony creep , To the place where the water has been , Comes the life-giving rain , And rejoicing , again Fills the objects and lives of the scene .
And often in life Distress may be rife ; Till the heart grows both harsh and severe , May decline to disolose Its trials and woes , Yet long for some brotherly oheer .
Oh ! then let the showers Of the kindliest powers Fall soothing and sweet o ' er its pain ; Its pulses will thrive , Its hopes will revive And strengthen'd 'twill rally again .
XII . —LOYALTY .
Historic pages richly teem , With deeds of Knight and Squire ; Who held ' mid angry weapon ' s gleam Their Loyalty entire .
Gold could not bny their noble lore—Nor break their plighted word : Despair and danger failed to move Their fealty to their Lord .
. Through good and ill his cause was theirs , With him their lives were cast ; Through battles fierce or peaceful cares Were loyal to the last .
The sterling Mason , too , must show His Loyalty sincere , By fostering its Sacred glow , And keeping actions clear .
Be loyal to an impulse good , And shun the voice of ill , — Be loyal to the gen'rons mood And all its terms fulfil .
Be loyal to the laws which guide , On Home or Foreign sod ; Be Loyal to his Order wide , His Sovereign and his God . WM . H . ORE , W . M . 10 , Grand Bard .
Gleanings.
GLEANINGS .
Masonry is in the heart rather than in ceremony and ritual . There are twelve thousand Royal Arch Masons in Illinois . Last year the eight Grand Lodges in Germany spent 59 , 000 marks in charity .
The candidate for Freemasonry must oome of his own free will and lecord . It is very wrong to persuade or induce any one to come md yet we fear it is done every day . Masoory only wants volunteers n the strictest sense of the word .
It is a great mistake , a most reprehensible error among M-isons in using and passing their Masouic word on business transactions . It should never be done . Dr . Mackey defines Masonry to be a science engaged in the search after Divine Truth , and which employs symbolism as its method of instruction .
As Masons we seek not that which is new or sensational ; we seek to know the truth and follow after it . The requisites for membership in the Masonic Veterans' Association , of Pennsylvania , are : ( 1 ) Twenty-one years' service as a Masfer ilason : ( 2 ) A petition , recommended by one Veteran brother , setting
f orth the Masonic history of the applicant , with a fee of Biz dollars , covering expense of medal worn by each Veteran . The Supreme Council ( Scottish Rite ) for the Northern Masonio luriediction of tho United States has a permanent fund of more than
50 , 000 dollars . The Grand Lodge of Maryland will celebrate its centennial in May next . Among the other ceremonies there will be a procession of the Craft .
CHRISTMAS DINNER . —Girard Mark Lodge , No . 214 , of Philadelphia , it its last stated meeting , donated fifty dollars to provide a Chridtmas dinner for the aged brethren , inmates of the Masonic Home , Broad Street , Philadelphia . This is the second donation made for this laudable purpose by Girard Mark Lodge ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Popery Or Masonry.
case the right and the law must be the same ; to wit , the law of Masonic liberty—of election— -a law which presents itself as necessarily existing and paramount in every such case , and inseparable from it , in such an institution as Freemasonry .
The right of a Mason to continue his existing affiliation , or unite with a nearer Lodge , is so obvious that it need not have been mentioned here , if the same right in a Lodge of Masons to adhere to its own Grand Lodge had not been put in question , and an attempt actually made , backed up by one or more Grand Lodges , to coerce the " affiliation " of several Lodges—that is to force them to elect to leave their old Grand Lodge and accept allegiance in the new . When this project shall be accomplished , the Grand Lodges which support the innovation will have already committed themselves , at the exDense of unfraternal edicts
and wide-spread animosities , to the misohievous doctrine of forced affiliation all round , as well in respect to individual Masons as to Lodges of such—the two cases being in substance the same : for what is the difference to Freemasons between forcing twenty of them separately out of their own Lodges , and forcing twenty of them in a body out of their own Grand Lodge ? Hence the firebrand of forced affiliation must , doubtless , soon be added to the one now lighting the fires of discord and division .
The third proposition , that of so-called " perpetual jurisdiction , " although it will doubtless engender countless contentions between Lodges , will not so much violate the rights of Masons as either of the others , and may be easier disposed of , because easier understood . It is , nevertheless , subject to two grave objections . First , it will work injustice to many worthy persons who may petition for the degrees and be rejected , perhaps by the vote of a single
member , cast without any sufficient reason , as often happens . It is not enough when a man of fair character presents his petition to a Lodge which contains some worse men , and one or two members , out of forty or more , vote
against him that he be treated as rejected by the entire Lodge , and let go , to fare better perhaps at some future time if found worthy by the same or some other Lodge ?
That he should be required to disclose the fact of his rejection to any Lodge he may afterwards petition is a different matter ; for that enables such Lodge to inquire into his character .
Too much importance is allowed to the mere fact of rejection . If any one who has been a Mason thirty years will count up all the cases of rejection which he has known he must not be greatly surprised to find that more good
men have been rejected than bad ones , or that more bad ones have been admitted than rejected . And this is natural enough , for most men , in the absence of any special cause of mistrust , are reluctant in using a black ball against
anybody . Secondly , the entire pretence of derpetual jurisdiction is manifestly absurd ; and this alone ought to be cause enough for any Mason to reject it at once , even if he disregards its injustice . It is much more absurd than that
other detestable claim of popery , that if a child has been baptised by a priest even by surreptitious procurement , as in the case of the Jewish child ( Mortara ' s ) the hierarchy have a divine right to seize it afterwards , even
by kidnapping , and keep it secreted from its parents for ever , by virtue of " perpetual jurisdiction . " This Masonic claim is more absurd in this , that the popish
hierarchy had in the first place done something towards accepting the child ; but in this case the only thing done by the Lodge was to refuse to have anything to do with the petitioner .
When all three of the propositions herein mentioned shall have been placed among the phylacteries of Masonic law , who can deny that Masonic Popery has come to stay ? Voice ofMasonrij .
THE IULLOT . —Secret it must be and indcdendent . It is a duty from the exercise of which no brother should be exempt , and every brother should bear in mind that while no one can question his motives , or even know how he may have voted , yet that he is responsible to his own conscience , to his Masonic obligations , and to his
Creator . If he be a true Mason he will allow no unworthy or un-Masonic motive to actuate him . No mere personal prejudice or bias , no spirit of revenge , or retaliation for the acts of others will influence him to vote unfavourably upon the application of a good , true , and
worthy man , either for the degrees or for advancement . And still , at the same time it is his bounden duty to reject any and all whom he knows to be unworthy , no matter what the views of others may be . —Masonic Tidings .
A Masonic Alphabet.
A MASONIC ALPHABET .
XI . —KINDNESS .
When Forest and Plain , Need tho nourishing rain ; When the Rivers have ceased to ran , When the soils are all dried , And the herbage had died , 'Neath the rays of the fiery sun .
When the cattle and sheep , In their agony creep , To the place where the water has been , Comes the life-giving rain , And rejoicing , again Fills the objects and lives of the scene .
And often in life Distress may be rife ; Till the heart grows both harsh and severe , May decline to disolose Its trials and woes , Yet long for some brotherly oheer .
Oh ! then let the showers Of the kindliest powers Fall soothing and sweet o ' er its pain ; Its pulses will thrive , Its hopes will revive And strengthen'd 'twill rally again .
XII . —LOYALTY .
Historic pages richly teem , With deeds of Knight and Squire ; Who held ' mid angry weapon ' s gleam Their Loyalty entire .
Gold could not bny their noble lore—Nor break their plighted word : Despair and danger failed to move Their fealty to their Lord .
. Through good and ill his cause was theirs , With him their lives were cast ; Through battles fierce or peaceful cares Were loyal to the last .
The sterling Mason , too , must show His Loyalty sincere , By fostering its Sacred glow , And keeping actions clear .
Be loyal to an impulse good , And shun the voice of ill , — Be loyal to the gen'rons mood And all its terms fulfil .
Be loyal to the laws which guide , On Home or Foreign sod ; Be Loyal to his Order wide , His Sovereign and his God . WM . H . ORE , W . M . 10 , Grand Bard .
Gleanings.
GLEANINGS .
Masonry is in the heart rather than in ceremony and ritual . There are twelve thousand Royal Arch Masons in Illinois . Last year the eight Grand Lodges in Germany spent 59 , 000 marks in charity .
The candidate for Freemasonry must oome of his own free will and lecord . It is very wrong to persuade or induce any one to come md yet we fear it is done every day . Masoory only wants volunteers n the strictest sense of the word .
It is a great mistake , a most reprehensible error among M-isons in using and passing their Masouic word on business transactions . It should never be done . Dr . Mackey defines Masonry to be a science engaged in the search after Divine Truth , and which employs symbolism as its method of instruction .
As Masons we seek not that which is new or sensational ; we seek to know the truth and follow after it . The requisites for membership in the Masonic Veterans' Association , of Pennsylvania , are : ( 1 ) Twenty-one years' service as a Masfer ilason : ( 2 ) A petition , recommended by one Veteran brother , setting
f orth the Masonic history of the applicant , with a fee of Biz dollars , covering expense of medal worn by each Veteran . The Supreme Council ( Scottish Rite ) for the Northern Masonio luriediction of tho United States has a permanent fund of more than
50 , 000 dollars . The Grand Lodge of Maryland will celebrate its centennial in May next . Among the other ceremonies there will be a procession of the Craft .
CHRISTMAS DINNER . —Girard Mark Lodge , No . 214 , of Philadelphia , it its last stated meeting , donated fifty dollars to provide a Chridtmas dinner for the aged brethren , inmates of the Masonic Home , Broad Street , Philadelphia . This is the second donation made for this laudable purpose by Girard Mark Lodge ,