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Article ON THE PRESENT STATE OF ROYAL ARCH MASONRY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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On The Present State Of Royal Arch Masonry.
which a committee of nine Grand Officers was first appointed early in 1834 , subsequently increased to twenty-seven , including nine Principals of certain Subordinate Chapters , who , under the warrant of His Royal Highness , the M . E . Z ., proceeded as thereby directed " to give notice to the several Chapters of the times and places of meeting , in order that the Principals , and Past-Principals thereof , may attend for the purpose of receiving instruction ; and their attendance is
accordingly enjoined , that uniformity of practice may prevail throughout the several Chapters of the Order . This warrant dated 4 th February , 1835 , is declared to continue in force for six calendar months , and has consequently long since expired ; and as I apprehend the attendance of Principals from the remoter parts of the kingdom was very limited , the uniformity of practice , thereby proposed , has not as yet been very extensively inculcated . Indeed it scarcel
was y reasonable to expect , that sufficient number of Principals from remote provinces as ivould be necessary for the diffusion of a uniform system throughout the kingdom could attend . And whoever is acquainted ivith different Chapters in the provinces , must be aware that many of them have derived little or no advantage from the mode of promulgation which has heen tried—and that having acted under the laws of 1823 , they are not at this moment in a situation to adopt the Revised Ceremonies and Regulations of 1835 . If any further promulgation should be thought advisable , I ivould submit with all due deference and profound respect to the Supreme Grand Chapter , that
instead of requiring the attendance of the Principal of subordinate Chapters , the Grand Superintendant of every province should be required to send up three or more Principals ofthe chair of Z ., to receive the necessary instructions , and to disseminate them in their provinces , by the establishment of Provincial Grand Chapters , which every Superintendant should form , upon the model of the Supreme Grand Chapter , and be required to hold at least one Grand Provincial Chapter , or more if
necessary , in every year . Had such Provincial Grand Chapters existed in 1835 , the system , as revised by the Supreme Grand Chapter , would have been simultaneously promulgated , and a uniformity of practice been established ere this throughout the Subordinate Chapters of each province in the kingdom , as far as is practicable under their existing circumstances . Whether the establishing of such Provincial Grand Chapters be
advisable I ivill not pretend to determine ; but merely for the purposes of promulgation , a sufficient number of Principals may be found in every province to form a provincial committee for that purpose . But to proceed to my second proposition , about the practicability of ivhich it ivould be a contempt of the Supreme Grand Chapter to doubtit is that they should proceed without delay to another revision of the Laws and Regulationsnow become expedient from the recent revision of
, the Ceremonies . At present our Laws and Regulations are to he found in the publication of 1823 , since ivhich the restriction as to the qualification of officers was resolved on , by the Supreme Grand Chapter in 1826 , as before alluded to . * Others are also understood to have received the same high sanction upon the promulgation of 1835 , but these have not
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Present State Of Royal Arch Masonry.
which a committee of nine Grand Officers was first appointed early in 1834 , subsequently increased to twenty-seven , including nine Principals of certain Subordinate Chapters , who , under the warrant of His Royal Highness , the M . E . Z ., proceeded as thereby directed " to give notice to the several Chapters of the times and places of meeting , in order that the Principals , and Past-Principals thereof , may attend for the purpose of receiving instruction ; and their attendance is
accordingly enjoined , that uniformity of practice may prevail throughout the several Chapters of the Order . This warrant dated 4 th February , 1835 , is declared to continue in force for six calendar months , and has consequently long since expired ; and as I apprehend the attendance of Principals from the remoter parts of the kingdom was very limited , the uniformity of practice , thereby proposed , has not as yet been very extensively inculcated . Indeed it scarcel
was y reasonable to expect , that sufficient number of Principals from remote provinces as ivould be necessary for the diffusion of a uniform system throughout the kingdom could attend . And whoever is acquainted ivith different Chapters in the provinces , must be aware that many of them have derived little or no advantage from the mode of promulgation which has heen tried—and that having acted under the laws of 1823 , they are not at this moment in a situation to adopt the Revised Ceremonies and Regulations of 1835 . If any further promulgation should be thought advisable , I ivould submit with all due deference and profound respect to the Supreme Grand Chapter , that
instead of requiring the attendance of the Principal of subordinate Chapters , the Grand Superintendant of every province should be required to send up three or more Principals ofthe chair of Z ., to receive the necessary instructions , and to disseminate them in their provinces , by the establishment of Provincial Grand Chapters , which every Superintendant should form , upon the model of the Supreme Grand Chapter , and be required to hold at least one Grand Provincial Chapter , or more if
necessary , in every year . Had such Provincial Grand Chapters existed in 1835 , the system , as revised by the Supreme Grand Chapter , would have been simultaneously promulgated , and a uniformity of practice been established ere this throughout the Subordinate Chapters of each province in the kingdom , as far as is practicable under their existing circumstances . Whether the establishing of such Provincial Grand Chapters be
advisable I ivill not pretend to determine ; but merely for the purposes of promulgation , a sufficient number of Principals may be found in every province to form a provincial committee for that purpose . But to proceed to my second proposition , about the practicability of ivhich it ivould be a contempt of the Supreme Grand Chapter to doubtit is that they should proceed without delay to another revision of the Laws and Regulationsnow become expedient from the recent revision of
, the Ceremonies . At present our Laws and Regulations are to he found in the publication of 1823 , since ivhich the restriction as to the qualification of officers was resolved on , by the Supreme Grand Chapter in 1826 , as before alluded to . * Others are also understood to have received the same high sanction upon the promulgation of 1835 , but these have not