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Article THE FREEMASONS' QUARTERLY MAGAZINE. ← Page 4 of 4
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine.
sonry than what was sanctioned by the Grand Lodge and Grancl Chapter . " This , let it be remembered , for it seems hardly credible , was before the dismissal of the R . W . Brother . What could lie Lave done more to put himself right with the Masonic authority that questioned his act ?
Wc cannot believe that this harsh ancl unwise proceeding , as we shall ever characterise it , was the spontaneous work of the M . W . Grand Master , or his Grand Secretary . There has been some under-current at work , with which we are not made acquainted , but which time will bring to light . We should now leave this sad affair , but there are some
things in the letter of the Grand Secretary , which cannot he passed over in silence . The Masonic world is there led to believe that the universality of the Craft means the admission into the Order of all persons , whatever their creed or belief . We deny that this is so , and most emphatically state , that no Brotherunless he be a hypocritecan be a Master Mason
, , , or a Royal Arch Mason , as sanctioned by the Grancl Lodge and Grancl Chapter , without he be a believer in revealed religion as found in the Old Testament . What ! we who have reared the Temple , and hacl King David , King Solomon , and Zerubbabel , for our Grancl Masters ! ancl Ezra and Nehemiah
for our Scribes !—not believers in revealed religion ! The idea is preposterous . The cant of the words alone it is that has made the meaning of the thing obscure . The universality of the Craft means the eligibility of those to admission into the Order , who admit the moral law , —that Decalogue revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai , —as part of their belief , and the
foundation of their morality . The Grand Lodge ancl the Grand Chapter acknowledge no universality in the Craft beyond this . We now take leave of this subject as we began , more in sorrow than in anger . We trust the performance of our public duty has lost us no friends ; but however that may be , there are some things holier than friendship , —stronger than the
grave . With us our belief and duty form part of these ; we should have violated both had Ave said less than we have done . Many will think we ought to have said much more . We may say , however , that our R . W . Bro . Tucker has nothing to regret in having candidly admitted that he was in error ; and we feel that he has deservedly earned the sympathof
y reflecting Masons for so doing . Perhaps , also , the all-trying hand of Time will lead those , who have been induced officially to dismiss him , to the conviction that a confession of their error in having done so , would be of the nature of that repentance that needs not to be repented of .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine.
sonry than what was sanctioned by the Grand Lodge and Grancl Chapter . " This , let it be remembered , for it seems hardly credible , was before the dismissal of the R . W . Brother . What could lie Lave done more to put himself right with the Masonic authority that questioned his act ?
Wc cannot believe that this harsh ancl unwise proceeding , as we shall ever characterise it , was the spontaneous work of the M . W . Grand Master , or his Grand Secretary . There has been some under-current at work , with which we are not made acquainted , but which time will bring to light . We should now leave this sad affair , but there are some
things in the letter of the Grand Secretary , which cannot he passed over in silence . The Masonic world is there led to believe that the universality of the Craft means the admission into the Order of all persons , whatever their creed or belief . We deny that this is so , and most emphatically state , that no Brotherunless he be a hypocritecan be a Master Mason
, , , or a Royal Arch Mason , as sanctioned by the Grancl Lodge and Grancl Chapter , without he be a believer in revealed religion as found in the Old Testament . What ! we who have reared the Temple , and hacl King David , King Solomon , and Zerubbabel , for our Grancl Masters ! ancl Ezra and Nehemiah
for our Scribes !—not believers in revealed religion ! The idea is preposterous . The cant of the words alone it is that has made the meaning of the thing obscure . The universality of the Craft means the eligibility of those to admission into the Order , who admit the moral law , —that Decalogue revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai , —as part of their belief , and the
foundation of their morality . The Grand Lodge ancl the Grand Chapter acknowledge no universality in the Craft beyond this . We now take leave of this subject as we began , more in sorrow than in anger . We trust the performance of our public duty has lost us no friends ; but however that may be , there are some things holier than friendship , —stronger than the
grave . With us our belief and duty form part of these ; we should have violated both had Ave said less than we have done . Many will think we ought to have said much more . We may say , however , that our R . W . Bro . Tucker has nothing to regret in having candidly admitted that he was in error ; and we feel that he has deservedly earned the sympathof
y reflecting Masons for so doing . Perhaps , also , the all-trying hand of Time will lead those , who have been induced officially to dismiss him , to the conviction that a confession of their error in having done so , would be of the nature of that repentance that needs not to be repented of .