Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Conclave Of Knights Templar And The Royal Arch Degree.
those degrees , must of necessity place themselves . It may then svell be asked , by or upon svhat authority is this regulation founded , that none but Royal Arch Masons can be atlmitted into Encampments of Knights Templar ? I believe the anssver svill on inquiry be , None , except a practice of recent date , founded on ignorance and originating in the decadence and desuetude of the Order , unadvisedly and imprudentl y revived svith the revivification of the Orderand nosv attempted to be
, perpetuated as a statutory regulation , aided and enforced b y the poss'er antl influence of the Grand Conclave , svhich may , if evil counsel should prevail , nosv render permanent svhat svill assuredly prove in the result detrimental to the best interests of the Order . The next question is ; is it reasonable and prudent to attempt to perpetuate this regulation , said i : osv to be in force accortling to the practice of the Order in England ? It may here be observed , that the Order of
the Temple is in a different position in this country to that ofthe same Order in France , Scotland , and Ireland , * osving to the different character of the Alasonic system here , from the systems in use in those countries respectively . I shall defer to a future communication any remarks on this head , ancl confine my observations to the point particularl y in question in this matter , the connexion betsveen Freemasonry and the Order of Templar Knighthood in this country .
The Order of Christian Knighthood called the Order of Knights Templar , has been in this country so long and so intimately mixed up and connected svith Freemasonry , that it may be conceded that it might svell be a question svith the Grand Conclave svhether they coultl at the
present time prudently attempt to restore the Order to an independent position , even if there did not exist legal obstacles in the svay of such an attempt ; though not only has a similar attempt very recently been made , but according to report successfully carried out in Scotland , svhere the Order has been revived and placed in a position independent of though still in friendly alliance with the Alasonic body . As hosvever it is probable that for centuries , perhaps since the bull of abolition of the Order by Pope Clement in A . D . 1312 the representatives ofthe Order
, have been members of the great body of Freemasons , a society svith whom the Templars are supposed to have been connected even before the fall of their Order , it seems not unreasonable that the Grand Conclave , the present rulers of the Order , should in the state and under the circumstances in svhich they nosv find it , hesitate suddenly and at once to dissolve that ancient intimate connexion , amounting almost to an
incorporation , and replace it by a relation of merely fraternal alliance . In this viesv , regarding such a provision as temporary only , and intended to serve as a bulsvark and security to the Order until the time should arrive when its permanent separation from Freemasonry might safely be carried into effect , the Grand Conclave might justify their proceeding in so far as requiring that all candidates for admission to the Order should possess the Masonic degree of Alaster Alason . Hosvever desirable it may seem to those svho are somesvhat enthusiastic in their admiration
of tbe Order of the Temple , that it should be entirely separated from Freemasonry , it is clear that to accomplish such an object much forethought and consideration svould be required , and the svay must be previously svell and carefully prepared . To require as a qualification the Master ' s degree , is therefore perhaps at the present time a rea-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Grand Conclave Of Knights Templar And The Royal Arch Degree.
those degrees , must of necessity place themselves . It may then svell be asked , by or upon svhat authority is this regulation founded , that none but Royal Arch Masons can be atlmitted into Encampments of Knights Templar ? I believe the anssver svill on inquiry be , None , except a practice of recent date , founded on ignorance and originating in the decadence and desuetude of the Order , unadvisedly and imprudentl y revived svith the revivification of the Orderand nosv attempted to be
, perpetuated as a statutory regulation , aided and enforced b y the poss'er antl influence of the Grand Conclave , svhich may , if evil counsel should prevail , nosv render permanent svhat svill assuredly prove in the result detrimental to the best interests of the Order . The next question is ; is it reasonable and prudent to attempt to perpetuate this regulation , said i : osv to be in force accortling to the practice of the Order in England ? It may here be observed , that the Order of
the Temple is in a different position in this country to that ofthe same Order in France , Scotland , and Ireland , * osving to the different character of the Alasonic system here , from the systems in use in those countries respectively . I shall defer to a future communication any remarks on this head , ancl confine my observations to the point particularl y in question in this matter , the connexion betsveen Freemasonry and the Order of Templar Knighthood in this country .
The Order of Christian Knighthood called the Order of Knights Templar , has been in this country so long and so intimately mixed up and connected svith Freemasonry , that it may be conceded that it might svell be a question svith the Grand Conclave svhether they coultl at the
present time prudently attempt to restore the Order to an independent position , even if there did not exist legal obstacles in the svay of such an attempt ; though not only has a similar attempt very recently been made , but according to report successfully carried out in Scotland , svhere the Order has been revived and placed in a position independent of though still in friendly alliance with the Alasonic body . As hosvever it is probable that for centuries , perhaps since the bull of abolition of the Order by Pope Clement in A . D . 1312 the representatives ofthe Order
, have been members of the great body of Freemasons , a society svith whom the Templars are supposed to have been connected even before the fall of their Order , it seems not unreasonable that the Grand Conclave , the present rulers of the Order , should in the state and under the circumstances in svhich they nosv find it , hesitate suddenly and at once to dissolve that ancient intimate connexion , amounting almost to an
incorporation , and replace it by a relation of merely fraternal alliance . In this viesv , regarding such a provision as temporary only , and intended to serve as a bulsvark and security to the Order until the time should arrive when its permanent separation from Freemasonry might safely be carried into effect , the Grand Conclave might justify their proceeding in so far as requiring that all candidates for admission to the Order should possess the Masonic degree of Alaster Alason . Hosvever desirable it may seem to those svho are somesvhat enthusiastic in their admiration
of tbe Order of the Temple , that it should be entirely separated from Freemasonry , it is clear that to accomplish such an object much forethought and consideration svould be required , and the svay must be previously svell and carefully prepared . To require as a qualification the Master ' s degree , is therefore perhaps at the present time a rea-