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Masonic Notes.

Masonic Notes .

A Quarterly Communication of United Grand Lod ge will be held at Freemasons' Hall on Wednesday , the 7 th inst ., at the usual hour of 6 for 7 p . m . The earlier items on the Agenda are referred to elsewhere in our first leading article , but there are sundry matters in the report of the Board of General Purposes to which attention may properly be called . Thus SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 3 , 18 9 8 .

re gret is expressed at the death , after a long , painful , ; , nd expensive illness , of Bro . A . A . Pendlebury , Past Asst . G . Secretary , and under the circumstances the Hoard recommends that a sum of £ 100 , being thc tmount of one quarter ' s pension , be paid to the widow . We have no doubt that the recommendation will be " "Jopted and our only regret is that a larger sum has " " ¦ l been reccmmended .

* * Ihe circumstances connected with another of the ' oard ' s recommendations are somewhat curious . "The gardens and other officers and members " of Lodge th ° ' ' ' , ' rrlnidad > finding that the greater number of scH t 7 ' oers are in arrea '' 'n payment of their sub-Ptions , and that soin . among them have been

Masonic Notes.

guilty of un-Masohic conduct in lodge , pray that their lodge may be erased , and the Board recommends that the prayer of the petition be granted . We imagine the reasons for this unusual request will be fully explained , but it seems strange that with the number of

subscribing brethren which " the Wardens and other officers and members " of a lodge may be presumed to represent , there should be no other way out of their difficulties than for them to suggest , and the Board to recommend , the commission of an act of "happy dispatch . " * * *

As regards the complaint of the W . M . elect of Lodge No . 1632 and the points connected therewith , we offer no opinion until the whole of the circumstances are before us , but it is not a little curious that what appears to be a somewhat similar case is to be found under the head of " Questions and Answers " in the

Freemason s Repository lor July last . The question there raised is as follows : "Should the Master elect of a Lodge decline to be installed , is it lawful to proceed and install the other officers duly elected ? " Both in this case and that of our Lodge No . 16 * 32 , the usual installation of the Master does not take place , but in both it is declared to be lawful for the other officers to

be appointed , or , in the American lodge , installed . According to next Wednesday ' s Agenda , Bro . his Honour Judge Philbrick , when G . Registrar , gave it in writing as his opinion some years since , that in the event of the minutes relating to the election of Master being non-confirmed , it was competent for the W . M .

to appoint and invest the officers for the ensuing year . In the case recited in the Repository , the Editor expresses it as his opinion that there is " not sufficient reason why the installation of one officer of a lodge should be made dependent on the installation of another officer . "

» * * It appears that the number of new lodges for the constitution of which his Royal Highness the M . W . G . Master has been pleased to grant warrants since the Quarterly Communication i n June last is 10 . Of these two—the Lodge of Light and the Edward Terry

Lodge , Nos . 2721 and 2722 respectively—will be located in London . The following five will be constituted in the Provinces : The Albert Lucking , No . 2717 , at Southend ; on-Sea , in Essex ; the Loyal Commercial ,. No . 2720 , at Cardiff , in South Wales ( E . D . ); the Heaton , No . 2723 , at Newcastle-on-Tyne , in

Northumberland ; the St . Lawrence , No . 2724 , at Northfield , in Worcestershire ; and the Maristow Lodge , No . 2725 , Yelverton , in Devonshire . As regards the remaining three , tho Transvaal will be the stronger for two of them—the Fordsburg , No . 2718 , and the Barberton , No .

2719—which will meet in the towns they are severally named after ; while the Lodge Light on the Surma , No . 2726 , will meet at Silchar , in the District of Bengal . * ' *

The Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales will take place at Mark Masons' - Hall on Tuesday , the 6 th inst ,, but the business to be transacted is of the usual routine character . We learn , however , from the Report of the General Board that during the . quarter

to 30 th June last 347 Mark and 9 S Royal Ark Mariner Certificates were issued , . raising the total number registered in the former to 38 , 66 9 , and and in the latter to 5670 . No Warrants for new lodges in either Degree have been granted since the June Communication .

* * * The Report further announces ( lie appointment of two District Grand Masters , Bro . the Hon . C . E . Davies , M . L . C—who is M . W . G . M . of the Grand Lodge of Tasmania—to be Dist . G . M . of the newlycreated District of Tasmania ; and Bro . the Hon . Mr .

Justice Burkitt to be Dist . G . Master of Bengal ,. vice Bro . Major-General A . G . Yeatman-Biggs , deceased . Bros , thc Rev . Canon Tristram , C . Letch Mason , Col . G . S . Tudor , and Viscount Valentia have had their patents renewed for a further term of three years as

Prov . Grand Masters of Northumberland and Durham , West Yorkshire , Staffordshire , and Berks and Oxon respectively ; and Bro . Lieut .-Col . Sir G . M . J . Moore , R . A ., has had his renewed as District Grand Master of Madras .

* » * A meeting of the General Committee of the West Lancashire Masonic Educational Institution will be held at the Masonic Hall , Hope Street , Liverpool , this

( Friday ) evening at 7 p . m ., for the election of children ' upon the several Funds and for the transaction of other business . There are three candidates for the Educational Fund , two for the Combined Fund , and five for thc Advancement Fund .

Masonic Notes.

One of the questions propounded in the July number of the Freemasons' Repository and answered by the Editor is , whether a member of the Roman Catholic Church is eligible for admission into Freemasonry , and if he is not what the reasons are for keeping him

out . The answer of course is to the' effect that he is eligible , as " Freemasonry bars no man out of its communion because of his religious belief or because of his connection with any branch of the church of the living God . " But the Editor goes further and

explains that very few Roman Catholics offer themselves as candidates for the mysteries and privileges of our Order owing to the fact that " nearly every pope from Clement XII . until now" has anathematised it and that it is " barely tolerated in countries where Roman Catholicism bears rule . "

* « * There is also another question , as to whether the time has not come " when it would be well to leave out or greatly abridge some of the forms observed in the lodge room ; and whether the Masonic organisation would not be just as strong and useful if a considerable

part of its ceremonies were omitted . " To this the reply of the editor is in the negative . " We think not , " says he , and then he proceeds to give his reasons for so thinking . These reasons are so clearly and concisely expressed that we reproduce them almost in their entirety , so that our readers may have the opportunity of pondering them well and carefully .

* * » Firstly , he suggests that "to set aside the ceremony of the Craft and abridge the forms established by the wisdom of the fathers would surely bring evil upon the Institution , " his reason being that

" it accords with the genius of Freemasonry to find expression in orderly and precise forms and to practice ceremonials which are not without meaning to thoughtful brethren . " He contends , and

in our opinion , most justly , that "that to give up or abbreviate those methods would be to so change the character of the Masonic Fraternity as to depiive it of something of its attractiveness and something of its powers . "

* * Moreover , as with equal justice he is careful to point out in the remaining sentences of his answer" All the forms and ceremonies of Freemasonry are for a purpose ; they are to set forth and illustrate some

truth j they are object-lessons in the moral teaching which goes on in the lodge room . Thus they have value . Every part of the Masonic ceremony is freighted with instruction , and every form observed is associated with some idea or lesson worthy of man ' s

consideration . Forms and ceremonies , " he adds , by way of conclusion , " are but the outworks of Freemasonry , but all the same they have their importance , and to remove them would most assuredly tend to the injury of the Institution . "

? * * Let any one who feels inclined to question the wisdom of this answer or any part thereof , mentally run through any portion of our ritual with the object of determining , so far as his opinion goes , where an

abridgment or omission would appear to be either possible or desirable . Let him ponder well every part of any one of our ceremonies ; let him clearly examine into the meaning and intent of such ; let him carefully note how beautifully all the several parts fit together ;

how completely they fulfil the purpose intended . Then let him omit or abridge any one part , and let him carefully compare the version as he has curtailed it with . the true version as it has been handed down to us , and we venture to think he will , sooner or later , come

to the conclusion that there is a something wanting in the version as amended by himself , that it does not , in fact , quite convey the lesson which is intended by the original version . Let him continue his experiment

restoring what he had amended or abridged and making alterations elsewhere , and he will find himself confronted by results similarly disappointing . In short , he will find , after all , that in dealing with our ceremonial , the best policy is " to leave well alone . "

We have to acknowledge receipt of copy of the new work by Bro . Henry Sadler , Grand Tyler , and Sub-Librarian of Grand Lodge , entitled , " Masonic Reprints and Historical Revelations . " We had the pleasure of announcing some time since that it was in the press ,

and that its publication might be looked for at an early date ; and from the particulars we then furnished , we feel sure the new work will be read with the same pleasure and profit as those which have preceded it from the same pen . We shall take an early opportunity of reviewing its contents .