Innovations: What Are They?

INNOVATIONS : WHAT ARE THEY ?

THE Victorian Deputy Grand Master at the supper , table at a recent meeting in Brunswick gave his views of what innovations are . We never do take very seriously any supper or after supper speeches , but there is every reason to desire consistency even then , and we do not always get it . Bro .

Templeman laid down as his opinion—and he does this privately also * on opportune occasions—that in these days of Federal instincts and national desires , Victoria must continue exclusive with regard to Masonic knowledge and let no light in from any of the other States . Put plainly , he argued that

if for twenty or thirty years this territory had followed one groove in Masonic work in the education and instruction of its members , if anything else were introduced from another State , even if in itself it was not wrong , it would be an innovation in Victoria . Now this is really funny , and ,

perhaps , Bro . 1 empleman spoke m a humorous mood . He does not like so-called innovations , and would not permit them . An hour before he had installed a Worshipful Master , and in instructing him in a Board of Installed Masters which he termed " lawfully" constituted , he showed his Ss . quite

foreign to the twenty or thirty years custom in Victoria , and practised only by some Lodges which have of recent years received " light" from abroad . Why , then , should Brother Templeman have been so inconsistent in his after-supper remarks . The Brethren of Victoria are , indeed , unhappily

puzzled enough as to what is right and what is wrong , and here is the Grand Master ' s Deputy puzzling them still more . But the inconsistency of that evening in the practice of the work in the Board , and in the after-supper remarks , is mild compared to other remarks made by Bro . Templeman m

another Lodge in the same town in July 1900 . On that occasion he was making a presentation to the Editor of this paper , which he did in very kind and very graceful terms , but we find him saying there respecting the address on the reasons for preparation now used everywhere in Victoria : —

" They owed it to him ( the Editor ) that even that beautiful address they had that night given to the candidates , the Rs . for P ., which he thought . equally as important as the F . C , had been introduced into their Lodges , and was now given in nine-tenths of them . " Now , putting this side by side with

the remarks made at the supper table last week , there is an inexplicable inconsistency . These '" reasons " were introduced from a neighbouring State , where Masonic light and education are in a high state of advancement , and yet are palatable to the Deputy Grand Master , who disapproves of innovations .

The fact is , nothing in Freemasonry is an innovation which is in the direction of the spread of light and knowledge , and the reason for the great depression in Victorian Freemasonry in past years and the absence from our ceremonies of gentlemen of high intellectual culture may be put down directly to

the narrow-mindedness and the limited knowledge of many of those who have led the van in past years , and recent attempts to limit the spread of knowledge and the . instruction of those installed in the chair of King Solomon are in the same deplorable direction .

The Deputy Grand Master comes to his high Office in fewer years than most men come to the Warden ' s chairs in their Lodges , and his appointment in the first instance was on this account deemed by very many to be a most dangerous precedent , and when he talks about his globe-trotter ' s experiences

from other parts of the world as a ' guide to Victorian customs we get on the insecure edges of a volcano which threatens to do dire mischief in matters Masonic in Victoria . The Grand Master very wisely stayed an impending danger at the last quarterl y communication of Grand Lodge , and his wisdom

has already more than once expressed itself in a desire to build up the Masonic edifice in Victoria instead of pulling it down , and upon such as he , the eyes of many enlightened men are now turned for some pronouncement which shall help to lift Freemasonry in Victoria from deplorable

inefficiency in ritualistic knowledge as well as from an inertness in the more elevating intentions of our Order to a better condition than has yet been realised in that territory . Possibly the Deputy Grand Master may yet assist in the same direction ,

but thus far , at least , we fail to recognise any special inclination to do so . Freemasons in Victoria labour under the greatest possible disadvantages as regards proper ritual guidance . The " emulation " work so much talked about is itself full of error and innovation , and that has led to much

Innovations: What Are They?

of the present trouble and doubt in Victoria . Lewis' ritual of the degrees , the lectures on them and the installation ceremonies commonly used in English Lodges are all far before anything else in Victoria , and they show that the very practices that certain lights in Victoria are trying to

smother are practised by the very best English Lodges and are therefore recognised by the Grand Lodge of England as right and proper . Why , then , should Victorian Freemasons be "deprived of similar privileges . Innovations are nearly as difficult to define as are the ancient landmarks . In issuing

the new Constitutions the Grand Lodge admitted its inability to define the landmarks , and it will do better still if it avoids the quicksands surrounding the other subject . That which finds practice in many Grand Lodges which have the friendly

recognition of the Grand Lodge of England is not likely to be very hurtful to Victorian Freemasons , but lack of Masonic knowledge would be most deplorable ; indeed , it is that which has kept Freemasonry at so low an ebb for years past in the Victorian Territory .-

BRO . TEMPLEMAN takes strong exception to our comments upon his recent remarks at the installation ceremony at Brunswick , and in a lengthy and Fraternal conversation he has explained his views on the subject of innovations , which are such as every thinking reader of this paper will warmly

support . Our reporter left when the Lodge meeting was concluded , and our remarks were based upon a letter we . received commenting upon what was said , confirmed , as we thought , fully enough by the impressions of more than one Worshipful Master who was present . Bro . Templeman ,

however , dealing with our comments seriatim says : first , that he would not " exclude Masonic knowledge introduced from other territories , but on the other hand himself enlarged considerably on the usual ceremony in explanation of the work of installation , and thinks it is the duty of every teacher in the Craft so to instruct the candidate to whatever rank he

seeks admission that he may not find himself in ignorance of any essential requisite in that rank when the ceremony is over . " These are brave and jewelled words , when coming from one holding such a responsible position . Bro . Templeman says that with reference to his remarks about the practice

of the last twenty or thirty years , when he spoke of " things " he referred only to the use of other Ss . than those which are essential and not so called innovations in the verbiage or details of the ceremonies , for he thinks these are wisel y left to the wisdom and ability of those disseminating the

knowledge . As to the method of giving Ss ., which we said were quite foreign to Victorian custom , he says he was so instructed himself and so installed his successor , and that would , of course , be in one of those Lodges which as we said have received the light from abroad in recent years . This ,

uf course , shows the difficulty surrounding the matter of innovations . As will be seen by a note in last issue , page 90 , second column , when writing of these so-called innovations , as shown by Bro . Templeman , we said : " Some of them too are to be heartily commended . " So that whilst our criticisms

referred to Bro . Templeman ' s supposed remarks in contrast to his practice , we commended the practice itself . It is , of course , difficult to speak in social gatherings , as indeed it is to write in a newspaper—without the danger of being misunderstood—with reference to Masonic usages on subjects

which some members do not yet understand , and if in this way our criticisms are too personal we owe Bro . Templeman an apology , already heartily and promptly tendered , and inswered by his assurance that he took the wide view which we are now able to attribute to him . As we have often

pointed out , the " Reasons for Preparation '' are derived from the lectures on the Degree , and have been given in New South Wales in the form how explained here for many years past , and this is the line of argument we have used against those who long and loudly condemned—against the

strong convictions of others- —the propriety of the practice which now happily is general throughout the territory , and Bro . Templeman as happily contends that he does not deem this any innovation , nor should he do so with regard to any

other ritualistic work that did not introduce Ss . that were not essential or which trespassed upon other Degrees in Freemasonry . On this subject we have several times pointed out that the P . W . of an Installed Master as given in Lodges in Victoria is foreign to Craft Freemasonry . Bro . Templeman