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Article MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. ← Page 7 of 27 →
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Masonic Intelligence.
affords neither ground nor excuse for withdrawing from Masonic allegiance or violating Masonic discipline . Yet we grieve to find that certain Brethren being opposed to the amendments , disturbed with most unseemly violence the G . L . of June 1849 , and have proceeded to the forms of electing a G . M . ancl other G . Officers , and constituting a G . L . of their ownwhichamong other actshas
, , , assumed to accredit a representative to the G . L . of England . It is too manifest for argument that such proceedings are directly at variance with universal Masonic law ; that these Brethren had no power to create a G . L . ; that all the acts of their pseudo G . L . are , for every Masonic purpose , null and void ; and that , as it has no Masonic existence , it can have no Masonic representative .
The G . L . which for so many years has subsisted in the State of New York , still continues its functions , still possesses of right an unimpaired jurisdiction , and still is , within the local limits of that jurisdiction , the only G . L . which can be Masonically recognised . These conclusions , following , as we think , directly and inevitably from the application of undoubted principles of Masonic rule and law to the undisputed facts of the casehave already been adopted
, by twenty-two of the other G . L . of North America . In the reports and other printed transactions of several of these distinguished bodies the present subject is investigated with impartiality , ability , learning , and zeal .
The M . W . Brother who presided over the annual meetings in 1848 and 1849 of the G . L . of New York , and the other Brethren who promoted the amendments and have maintained the authority of their G . L . appear to us to have acted in strict conformity with their rights and duties , and , by their truly Masonic conduct under circumstances of no common difficulty , have approved themselves worthy of the respect of the Fraternity .
Their erring Brethren , will , we trust , re-consider the subject of the subsisting differences with the attention due to its importance as affecting their own characters and the public weal of the Order . Whether they do or do not retain the opinion that the amendments , which have become law , ought not to have been adopted , we cannot believe them blind or indifferent to the considerations that in a free institutionsuch as oursthe will of the majorityconstitutionally
, , , exercised , must prevail ; that the laws of the Order cannot bend to individuals ; that the sacrifice of personal feelings and opinions , when the good of the Craft calls for it , is a just tribute to the principles of our institution , —a tribute the more graceful and honorable the greater the sacrifice ; and that to remain in the anomalous and false position into which they have been led would be to continue or
become disturbers of the peace , and , so far as in them lies , injurious to the best interests of the Brotherhood , violators of the timehonored rules and usages of our Order , and outlaws to Freemasonry . Wc anticipate that the calm exercise of their judgment will lead
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Intelligence.
affords neither ground nor excuse for withdrawing from Masonic allegiance or violating Masonic discipline . Yet we grieve to find that certain Brethren being opposed to the amendments , disturbed with most unseemly violence the G . L . of June 1849 , and have proceeded to the forms of electing a G . M . ancl other G . Officers , and constituting a G . L . of their ownwhichamong other actshas
, , , assumed to accredit a representative to the G . L . of England . It is too manifest for argument that such proceedings are directly at variance with universal Masonic law ; that these Brethren had no power to create a G . L . ; that all the acts of their pseudo G . L . are , for every Masonic purpose , null and void ; and that , as it has no Masonic existence , it can have no Masonic representative .
The G . L . which for so many years has subsisted in the State of New York , still continues its functions , still possesses of right an unimpaired jurisdiction , and still is , within the local limits of that jurisdiction , the only G . L . which can be Masonically recognised . These conclusions , following , as we think , directly and inevitably from the application of undoubted principles of Masonic rule and law to the undisputed facts of the casehave already been adopted
, by twenty-two of the other G . L . of North America . In the reports and other printed transactions of several of these distinguished bodies the present subject is investigated with impartiality , ability , learning , and zeal .
The M . W . Brother who presided over the annual meetings in 1848 and 1849 of the G . L . of New York , and the other Brethren who promoted the amendments and have maintained the authority of their G . L . appear to us to have acted in strict conformity with their rights and duties , and , by their truly Masonic conduct under circumstances of no common difficulty , have approved themselves worthy of the respect of the Fraternity .
Their erring Brethren , will , we trust , re-consider the subject of the subsisting differences with the attention due to its importance as affecting their own characters and the public weal of the Order . Whether they do or do not retain the opinion that the amendments , which have become law , ought not to have been adopted , we cannot believe them blind or indifferent to the considerations that in a free institutionsuch as oursthe will of the majorityconstitutionally
, , , exercised , must prevail ; that the laws of the Order cannot bend to individuals ; that the sacrifice of personal feelings and opinions , when the good of the Craft calls for it , is a just tribute to the principles of our institution , —a tribute the more graceful and honorable the greater the sacrifice ; and that to remain in the anomalous and false position into which they have been led would be to continue or
become disturbers of the peace , and , so far as in them lies , injurious to the best interests of the Brotherhood , violators of the timehonored rules and usages of our Order , and outlaws to Freemasonry . Wc anticipate that the calm exercise of their judgment will lead