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Article RUSHING CANDIDATES. Page 1 of 1 Article RUSHING CANDIDATES. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Rushing Candidates.
RUSHING CANDIDATES .
OUE readers will ¦ be aware that this subject has recently received a considerable amount of attention in the Masonic press , and we think we are correct in saying that wherever it has been referred
to the opinion has been strongly against the pernicious system practised in some Scotch Lodges , where it is possible to receive the three degress in one night . We have expressed our personal views on the subject ,
have also quoted the opinions of our contemporaries , and have further ventured to entertain the hope that steps would be taken to put a stop to a practice wholly opposed to modern ideas of Freemasonry , and unfair
to those Grand Lodges which , while taking every precaution to properly instruct their own Initiates , are virtually compelled to recognise as Brethren the members of other bodies where the need for the same
caution and preliminary training is disregarded . Yery many of the heads of the Scottish Craft are as much opposed to this evil as anyone , and have not feared to endorse the condemnation of those who
point out the ill effects possible in connection with it ; so much so that it was almost reasonable to expect some action would be taken by the authorities to bring the practice in Scotch Lodges more in accord
with modern ideas of what is right in this diiection . This being so we are surprised to read that an emergency meeting of one of the Scotch Lodges was held as recently as last week , when a candidate was
Initiated , Passed and Eaised the same evening , the excuse given for this unseemly haste being that the candidate—a Captain—was about to proceed to sea . This apology for departing from the laws of the Order
is about on a par with that given by the French advocate , who claimed mercy for a client , convicted of the murder of his parents , because he was an orphan The fact of a captain being about to proceed to sea
hardly strikes us as a good reason for such emergency as should be proved to warrant so wide a divergence from Masonic procedure—as recognised in almost every part of the world—as was made on this occasion : and
has been so practised many times in the past ; but until the Scottish authorities take the matter in hand and pass a law prohibiting such proceedings we imagine they will not cease to be carried on .
In matters of this description it is very difficult to express one ' s feelings for fear the principals concerned may imagine they aie personally attacked , whereas it is the system that is at fault , not the individuals , who
at least have " custom" to refer to , and many precedents to quote in support of their action . We are all the more surprised that the whole subject has not received consideration at the hands of the Grand
Rushing Candidates.
Lodge of Scotland , because , as we have just said , so many of its leading members are as strongly opposed to it as any of those who freely express their views on the subject and seek to demonstrate the evils that
may possibly arise from its continuance . We can but hope the subject may ere long come forward for discussion .
Members of the Scottish Constitution would do well to remember that it is not themselves alone who are interested in this question . Other Jurisdictions , with practices and rules much more particular in
regard to their own Initiates , are really forced to accept members as Brother Masons , no matter how lax the system under which they are received , or how much their early education was neglected , and they
very naturally feel aggrieved when laxity of procedure in one country is quoted as an excuse for divergencies in their own , more especially when , as in the case
in this particular matter , the body complained of is really at variance with most of the other Masonic powers of the world . The English law on the subject is very plain , and provides for at least four weeks interval between degrees
( Eules 115 , 195 and 199 ) , except in the very special cases set out in Eule 115 , which gives to the Grand Master power to " confer on District Grand Masters , and on Masters of Lodges in the Colonies and foreign parts where there is no District Grand
Master , a power of dispensation , in cases of emergency , for a Brother to be advanced to a higher degree , at an interval of not less than one week instead of four weeks . " This concession , it will be
observed , is only allowable m the case of Districts or Colonies far removed from home , and even in their case a week's interval is compulsory between the Degrees ; while it is fair to believe that even
that concession is a rarity far greater than the practice in Scottish Lodges " at home , " of " rushing " the three degrees at the one meeting . It is also a
fact that not only is the law of English Fie . masonry most strict in this matter , but the practice is also ; it being most unusual to hear of an infraction of the time limit rule .
This is a question where Uniformity of working is most desirable , and we shall be pleased if some of the Grand Lodges of America—where questions
of this character are more often discussed and argued out than is the case here—will devote attention to it , and make some sort of representation to the authorities of Scotland . If that were done
we believe speedy action would result , the tendency across the border having long been in the direction of advancement and the elevation of the Craft under the rule of the Grand Lodgo of Scotland .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Rushing Candidates.
RUSHING CANDIDATES .
OUE readers will ¦ be aware that this subject has recently received a considerable amount of attention in the Masonic press , and we think we are correct in saying that wherever it has been referred
to the opinion has been strongly against the pernicious system practised in some Scotch Lodges , where it is possible to receive the three degress in one night . We have expressed our personal views on the subject ,
have also quoted the opinions of our contemporaries , and have further ventured to entertain the hope that steps would be taken to put a stop to a practice wholly opposed to modern ideas of Freemasonry , and unfair
to those Grand Lodges which , while taking every precaution to properly instruct their own Initiates , are virtually compelled to recognise as Brethren the members of other bodies where the need for the same
caution and preliminary training is disregarded . Yery many of the heads of the Scottish Craft are as much opposed to this evil as anyone , and have not feared to endorse the condemnation of those who
point out the ill effects possible in connection with it ; so much so that it was almost reasonable to expect some action would be taken by the authorities to bring the practice in Scotch Lodges more in accord
with modern ideas of what is right in this diiection . This being so we are surprised to read that an emergency meeting of one of the Scotch Lodges was held as recently as last week , when a candidate was
Initiated , Passed and Eaised the same evening , the excuse given for this unseemly haste being that the candidate—a Captain—was about to proceed to sea . This apology for departing from the laws of the Order
is about on a par with that given by the French advocate , who claimed mercy for a client , convicted of the murder of his parents , because he was an orphan The fact of a captain being about to proceed to sea
hardly strikes us as a good reason for such emergency as should be proved to warrant so wide a divergence from Masonic procedure—as recognised in almost every part of the world—as was made on this occasion : and
has been so practised many times in the past ; but until the Scottish authorities take the matter in hand and pass a law prohibiting such proceedings we imagine they will not cease to be carried on .
In matters of this description it is very difficult to express one ' s feelings for fear the principals concerned may imagine they aie personally attacked , whereas it is the system that is at fault , not the individuals , who
at least have " custom" to refer to , and many precedents to quote in support of their action . We are all the more surprised that the whole subject has not received consideration at the hands of the Grand
Rushing Candidates.
Lodge of Scotland , because , as we have just said , so many of its leading members are as strongly opposed to it as any of those who freely express their views on the subject and seek to demonstrate the evils that
may possibly arise from its continuance . We can but hope the subject may ere long come forward for discussion .
Members of the Scottish Constitution would do well to remember that it is not themselves alone who are interested in this question . Other Jurisdictions , with practices and rules much more particular in
regard to their own Initiates , are really forced to accept members as Brother Masons , no matter how lax the system under which they are received , or how much their early education was neglected , and they
very naturally feel aggrieved when laxity of procedure in one country is quoted as an excuse for divergencies in their own , more especially when , as in the case
in this particular matter , the body complained of is really at variance with most of the other Masonic powers of the world . The English law on the subject is very plain , and provides for at least four weeks interval between degrees
( Eules 115 , 195 and 199 ) , except in the very special cases set out in Eule 115 , which gives to the Grand Master power to " confer on District Grand Masters , and on Masters of Lodges in the Colonies and foreign parts where there is no District Grand
Master , a power of dispensation , in cases of emergency , for a Brother to be advanced to a higher degree , at an interval of not less than one week instead of four weeks . " This concession , it will be
observed , is only allowable m the case of Districts or Colonies far removed from home , and even in their case a week's interval is compulsory between the Degrees ; while it is fair to believe that even
that concession is a rarity far greater than the practice in Scottish Lodges " at home , " of " rushing " the three degrees at the one meeting . It is also a
fact that not only is the law of English Fie . masonry most strict in this matter , but the practice is also ; it being most unusual to hear of an infraction of the time limit rule .
This is a question where Uniformity of working is most desirable , and we shall be pleased if some of the Grand Lodges of America—where questions
of this character are more often discussed and argued out than is the case here—will devote attention to it , and make some sort of representation to the authorities of Scotland . If that were done
we believe speedy action would result , the tendency across the border having long been in the direction of advancement and the elevation of the Craft under the rule of the Grand Lodgo of Scotland .