Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Conclave Of Knights Templar And The Royal Arch Degree.
circular , as stated by the Editor of the " Freemasons' Quarterly Reviesv , ' December , 1846 . p . 439 , is to enable the Grand Conclave of Knights Templar to ascertain that no one shall be admitted into the Order , or being a Knight Templar of foreign origin , received as a visitor in any Encampment in England , unless he be a Royal Arch Alason . It is in fact stated that none but Royal Arch Masons are admissible to the Order of Knights Templars of England antl Wales .
Noss ' , it may lie svorth svhile to enquire svhether such a regulation is either reasonable and prudent or svell founded and legitimate . In the first place it is clear that this regulation is not sanctioned by antiquity , but must of necessity be of modern origin , as its date must be subsequent to that of the introduction of the degree of the Royal Arch into the English system of Freemasonry . If , therefore , there svere in this country , previously to the middle of the eihteenth centuryany
g , representatives of the ancient Knights Templar , sheltering themselves as such under the protection of the Alasonic banner , such Knights Templar must have been admitted , if any Alasonic qualification svere required of them , upou the qualification of the Master A'lason ' s degree . The qualification nosv required b y the Grand Conclave of England is one svhich , not defensible in theory , has crept into practice certainly not at any remote time , and probably svithin a comparatively
very recent period . The Ortter of Knights Templar , like Freemasonry , and necessarily svith Freemasonry , as having been so intimately associated , has been subject to great fluctuations of prosperity and adversity . Ten years ago there svere only tsvo Encampments held in London ; there are nosv five or six in active and prosperous operation . Alany A'losonic Lodges nosv containing in their ranks numerous svealthy and respectable individualsand holding their meetings at the largest and best established
, hotels in the country , svere , ss'ithin tlie memory of Jiving Alasons , rescued from losv and disreputable pot-houses . In fact , Masonry has had a great revival in England in the last half century ; and svith Alasonry , the Order of the Temple again rose in public estimation . It seems to have been for a long time considered a purely Masonic degree , svithout reference to its chivalric character , as svitness the gross absurdity of the black apron ; antl as those svho cherished it svere Royal Arch Alasons ,
the latter degree svas naturally made a stepping-stone to the other . Had half-a-dozen other Craft degrees been in practice in English Alasonry at the time , no doubt they svould have formed a part of the system , and the Grand Conclave svould , on their principle of taking matters as they find them , either have had to make such other degrees , if loss'er in rank , a part of the necessary qualification for a Knight Templar ; or if considered Masonically higher , have had to place themselves under a nesv Alasonic banner .
Hosv indeetl the Grand Conclave of Knights Templar explains the fact of their styling themselves the " Grand Conclave of the Royal Order of H . R- D . M . K . D . S . H . Palestine , " as expressed in the circular letter of their Grand Chancellor , I am at a loss to imagine , and doubt very much if that excellent functionary could tlirosv any light on the authority of the Grand Conclave to assume those mysterious letters , svhich if they have any meaning , refer to some of the higher degrees of Alasonry as practised in France and America , and svhich belong to a Alasonic system called the " Rite Ancien et Accepte , " under the chief ' s of svhich rite the Grand Conclave , if they profess to practise any of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Conclave Of Knights Templar And The Royal Arch Degree.
circular , as stated by the Editor of the " Freemasons' Quarterly Reviesv , ' December , 1846 . p . 439 , is to enable the Grand Conclave of Knights Templar to ascertain that no one shall be admitted into the Order , or being a Knight Templar of foreign origin , received as a visitor in any Encampment in England , unless he be a Royal Arch Alason . It is in fact stated that none but Royal Arch Masons are admissible to the Order of Knights Templars of England antl Wales .
Noss ' , it may lie svorth svhile to enquire svhether such a regulation is either reasonable and prudent or svell founded and legitimate . In the first place it is clear that this regulation is not sanctioned by antiquity , but must of necessity be of modern origin , as its date must be subsequent to that of the introduction of the degree of the Royal Arch into the English system of Freemasonry . If , therefore , there svere in this country , previously to the middle of the eihteenth centuryany
g , representatives of the ancient Knights Templar , sheltering themselves as such under the protection of the Alasonic banner , such Knights Templar must have been admitted , if any Alasonic qualification svere required of them , upou the qualification of the Master A'lason ' s degree . The qualification nosv required b y the Grand Conclave of England is one svhich , not defensible in theory , has crept into practice certainly not at any remote time , and probably svithin a comparatively
very recent period . The Ortter of Knights Templar , like Freemasonry , and necessarily svith Freemasonry , as having been so intimately associated , has been subject to great fluctuations of prosperity and adversity . Ten years ago there svere only tsvo Encampments held in London ; there are nosv five or six in active and prosperous operation . Alany A'losonic Lodges nosv containing in their ranks numerous svealthy and respectable individualsand holding their meetings at the largest and best established
, hotels in the country , svere , ss'ithin tlie memory of Jiving Alasons , rescued from losv and disreputable pot-houses . In fact , Masonry has had a great revival in England in the last half century ; and svith Alasonry , the Order of the Temple again rose in public estimation . It seems to have been for a long time considered a purely Masonic degree , svithout reference to its chivalric character , as svitness the gross absurdity of the black apron ; antl as those svho cherished it svere Royal Arch Alasons ,
the latter degree svas naturally made a stepping-stone to the other . Had half-a-dozen other Craft degrees been in practice in English Alasonry at the time , no doubt they svould have formed a part of the system , and the Grand Conclave svould , on their principle of taking matters as they find them , either have had to make such other degrees , if loss'er in rank , a part of the necessary qualification for a Knight Templar ; or if considered Masonically higher , have had to place themselves under a nesv Alasonic banner .
Hosv indeetl the Grand Conclave of Knights Templar explains the fact of their styling themselves the " Grand Conclave of the Royal Order of H . R- D . M . K . D . S . H . Palestine , " as expressed in the circular letter of their Grand Chancellor , I am at a loss to imagine , and doubt very much if that excellent functionary could tlirosv any light on the authority of the Grand Conclave to assume those mysterious letters , svhich if they have any meaning , refer to some of the higher degrees of Alasonry as practised in France and America , and svhich belong to a Alasonic system called the " Rite Ancien et Accepte , " under the chief ' s of svhich rite the Grand Conclave , if they profess to practise any of