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  • Aug. 8, 1874
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  • Multum in Parbo, or Masonic Notes and Queries.
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The Freemason, Aug. 8, 1874: Page 9

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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Masonic Personalities.

MASONIC PERSONALITIES .

It has long been a reproach to Freemasonry that its professed representatives by publication , especially in other days , allowed so much of personality always to intrude into pages given

up to the teachings and principles of a peaceful and kindly brotherhood . It seems a strange fact in itself , yet not strange when we look back on the course of the world , , nd of human thought

and individual opinion , that all subjects treated on in the pages of Masonic journals , should not be free from personalities in every respect As a general rule The Freemason has been

singularly free , on the whole , from any such imputation ; but even in some of the lettters which have appeared , it mig ht have been better , perhaps if the Masonic censor ' s pen had been

editorially applied to several passages of questionable propriety , personally . B nt all who have to conduct a journal like this know the real difficulty of any such repressive process . We live in a land of free life and free

enquiry , and are lovers of fair dealing and fair play , and were the editor to interfere between two angry combatants , as the foolish man did between an infuriated husband

and wife , ( shocking fact in itself ) , he would inevitably receive the reward of such interference ; he would be condemned and attacked by both . In fact he would be in the position of amiable

Mr . Pickwick , between the indignant Pott and the irascible Slurk . We should never hear the last of " unauthorised excision , " " garbled letters , " " suppressed passages , " " indefensible

treatment , " in all that glory of inverted commas , and fiery denunciation with which our " feeble forcibles" would soon fill our crowded pages .

So all we can do is to counsel a general abstinence fiom personalities , from imputing motives , from insinuating objects , from all that plethora of often useless incrimination and invective which

weaken instead of strengthening , disfigure instead of improving , so many of the writings , of so many of the writers , Masonic and non-Masonic , of the day . We shall henceforth

exclude anything like actual personalities from our pages , noting the fact , and stating the reason , in all ofthe correspondence which appears weekly in The Freemason . But we can do no more than this !

It is a little difficult to lay down an absolute rule , as to what is and what is not personality . Some people may call that " scurrilous , " which is , after all , only fair criticism . Some

may deem that " personality , " which , after all , is only scholarly opposition , for we must bear in mind we have to deal with some very peculiar correspondents . We have the

dogmatic , the self-satisfied , the self-laudatory , the impatient , the intolerant , who are sometimes somewhat difficult subjects , while we have those who trade upon a very little , and give less , and

yet expect everyone to submit to some untenable dictum , and who yet only show most conclusively to the true scholar , and the competent critic , how , in that one only sense , Pope ' s line

is true , which runs , " a little learning is a dangerous thing . " For they at once fall into the hands of those who understand the subject , who have studied it " ab orgine , " and who cannot allow pretentiousness or ' superficiality , to impose on the

Masonic Personalities.

credulous or the careless . Hence they sometimes treat their opponents a little roughly , driving them from pillar to post . No doubt

thc " victim" considers it personality . But it is not personality in its true sense , it is honest and well-considered criticism .

For , as "truth' is the great object of all enquiry , no one has a right to propound hopeless and untenable theories , and proclaim them to be truth and expect every one to "vail his bonnet , "

ane give assent . If so , honest criticism must be silent , and true knowledge must give way to the idle lucubrations of the incompetent and the sciolist . We must always , therefore , allow a

wide margin , in archaeological controversies , as though wc . , in 1874 , have not yet outlived the age of " fables , " of " crude fancies , " and of " unverified quotations and statements . " We

think , too , that a little more forbearance should be shown in all discussions and pamphlets , as regards Craft Masonry and the High Grades . It is not right , because we do not

approve of the High Grades , for instance , to condemn their proceedings , or to cavil at their ways , to call hard names , and impute bad motives . Neither is it ' right for High Grade

Masons to speak disparagingly of Craft Masonry or to assume any superior station or position . Craft Masonry and the High Grades can coexist , and ought to co-exist in all of brotherly

forbearance and good will . We do not agree in aims or end , it is true , but we must agree to differ , and we can surely demonstrate to others , that our true principles are best illustrated not

by words of bitterness or antagonism , but by the deeds of benevolence , sympathy , charity and good will . Some of us will be content to remain , as we have ever been , only Craft Masons ,

because it isthe very universality of our Order which commends itself to our personal support , and dispassionate judgment . Others of us see much of good and utility in the High Grades . So be

it ! Let us gp on our way , treating each other with mutual respect and good will , and we shall see less of Masonic personality , and more , happily , we believe , a good deal more , of Masonic kindness and brotherly love amongst us all .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

I think that "A Masonic Enquirer has done good service by his letter . I hope that the " points " he alludes to may be cleared up by Bro . Paton , though , to say the truth , they all , or most of them , at any rate , belong to the good old period of unverified statements and

unhistoric traditions . If they are no more wellfounded than the so-called Locke letter , I fear they are all in jeopardy as historical facts . For the greatest doubts exist , I believe , as regards the so-called " Locke letter , " as much also as regards the so-called " Locke MS . " The fact that

the latter existed in MS . was , for the first time , stated in The Freemason a week or two ago , by a coutributor to Notes and Queries , and that MS . is in Essex ' s handwriting , and if so , cannot be earlier , by any possibility , than the middle of last century . Essex may have copied it from a

manuscript copy , though that copy , if it ever existed , is now unknown , but he probably copied it from the printed version of it , which appeared in more than one Masonic publication . Of Mr . Locke ' s letter , appended , the original has never been seen , and at the present time , though itcannot be said , perhaps absolutely , that it is a forgery ,

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

we have no satisfactory evidence as yet ot its genuineness . It clearly is not a reliable document therefore , in any Masonic controversy . SCOTICUS .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even as approving ofthe opinion" expressed by onr correspondents , but wc wish ; in a spirit of fa * play to all , to permit ^ -within certain necessary limits—free discussion . —Eu . J

SLIPSHOD TERMINOLOGY . To the Editor of the Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , I see in your last Freemason , a report of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hampshire in which it is called by more than one speaker

and by the Provincial Grand Master , himself the highest authority there , the " Grand Lodge , " " this Grand Lodge , " etc . I hope your readers will not deem me hypercritical when I point out this little " erratum , " aud whether it comes

from the reporter , or the brethren who spoke , it is a careless use of v-ords , and deserves to be checked and commented upon . Some time ago , the Yorkshire Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Masters styled itself the

" Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire , ' which , however , was properly animadverted upon at the time by a Yorkshire Provincial brother , and I think you will accord me space to permit me to submit my little fraternal criticism

to day , and my protest against this slipshod terminology on the part of our good Hampshire brethren . I am , dear sir and brother , yours fraternally , PARTICULAR P . M .

Lodge Bye-Laws.

LODGE BYE-LAWS .

To Ihe Editor of The Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , I wish to ask you a question on Masonic Law , if it is not too much trouble to insert it in The Freemason , to which I have been for some years a subscriber .

No . 3 of the bye-laws of the lodge , of which I am for many years a member , states : —That the Master , Treasurer and Ty ler shall be annually nominated in February , and ballotted for in March , and this bye-law has been acted on ever since the lodge had existence . Bye-law

No . aa , states—That any brother wishing to propose any alteration or addition to the byelaws , shall give notice to that effect , at the regular meeting previous to that at which the proposal is to be taken into consideration , and notice of particulars of such propositions shall be inserted in the summonses convening the

meeting at which it has to be put to the vote . The Master , being on a visit to a sister lodge , heard a letter read from Grand Secretary , who said that such a method of electing a Master , was contrary to the constitutions . At the next regular meeting of his lodge , the Master told the brethren present , what he had heard read at the sister lodge .

It was then proposed " as an unapposed motion , " that so far as the election of Master was concerned , No . 3 , should be expunged . Question . —Can bye-law No . 3 , be expunged by unopposed motion , in direct opposition to byelaw No . 22 . I am , yours fraternally , M . M .

[ We are of opinion , that bye-law No . 3 being clearly , as the Grand Secretary states , contrary to the Book of Constitutions , is ipso facto , bad per se ! And though undoubtedly the more regular

way would have been to have acted in conformity with bye-law aa , yet if bye-law 3 was radically unconstitutional , the lodge probably exercised a very wise discretion in expunging it at once , from the bye-laws , where it ought never to have been . The same objection , clearly applies to the election of Treasurer and Ty ler . —ED" ] .

“The Freemason: 1874-08-08, Page 9” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 25 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/fvl/issues/fvl_08081874/page/9/.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS. Article 3
REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS. Article 3
Scotland. Article 3
PROVINCIAL GRAND LODGE OF MIDDLESEX. Article 4
SUPREME GRAND CHAPTER. Article 6
Masonic Tidings. Article 7
FREEMASONRY IN NEW SOUTH WALES. Article 7
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LABOURS FOR FREEMASONRY. Article 8
MASONIC PERSONALITIES. Article 9
Multum in Parbo, or Masonic Notes and Queries. Article 9
Original Correspondence. Article 9
LODGE BYE-LAWS. Article 9
FREEMASONS AND GOOD TEMPLARS. Article 10
SERMON. Article 10
CONSECRATION OF A CHAPTER AT PLUMSTEAD. Article 10
CONSECRATION OF A LODGE AT COATBRIDGE (ST. ANDREWS, NO.514.) Article 11
GRAND LODGE OF SCOTLAND. Article 11
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS. Article 12
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Article 12
METROPOLITAN MASONIC MEETINGS. Article 12
MASONIC MEETINGS IN WEST LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE, Article 12
MASONIC MEETINGS IN GLASGOW AND VICINITY. Article 12
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Masonic Personalities.

MASONIC PERSONALITIES .

It has long been a reproach to Freemasonry that its professed representatives by publication , especially in other days , allowed so much of personality always to intrude into pages given

up to the teachings and principles of a peaceful and kindly brotherhood . It seems a strange fact in itself , yet not strange when we look back on the course of the world , , nd of human thought

and individual opinion , that all subjects treated on in the pages of Masonic journals , should not be free from personalities in every respect As a general rule The Freemason has been

singularly free , on the whole , from any such imputation ; but even in some of the lettters which have appeared , it mig ht have been better , perhaps if the Masonic censor ' s pen had been

editorially applied to several passages of questionable propriety , personally . B nt all who have to conduct a journal like this know the real difficulty of any such repressive process . We live in a land of free life and free

enquiry , and are lovers of fair dealing and fair play , and were the editor to interfere between two angry combatants , as the foolish man did between an infuriated husband

and wife , ( shocking fact in itself ) , he would inevitably receive the reward of such interference ; he would be condemned and attacked by both . In fact he would be in the position of amiable

Mr . Pickwick , between the indignant Pott and the irascible Slurk . We should never hear the last of " unauthorised excision , " " garbled letters , " " suppressed passages , " " indefensible

treatment , " in all that glory of inverted commas , and fiery denunciation with which our " feeble forcibles" would soon fill our crowded pages .

So all we can do is to counsel a general abstinence fiom personalities , from imputing motives , from insinuating objects , from all that plethora of often useless incrimination and invective which

weaken instead of strengthening , disfigure instead of improving , so many of the writings , of so many of the writers , Masonic and non-Masonic , of the day . We shall henceforth

exclude anything like actual personalities from our pages , noting the fact , and stating the reason , in all ofthe correspondence which appears weekly in The Freemason . But we can do no more than this !

It is a little difficult to lay down an absolute rule , as to what is and what is not personality . Some people may call that " scurrilous , " which is , after all , only fair criticism . Some

may deem that " personality , " which , after all , is only scholarly opposition , for we must bear in mind we have to deal with some very peculiar correspondents . We have the

dogmatic , the self-satisfied , the self-laudatory , the impatient , the intolerant , who are sometimes somewhat difficult subjects , while we have those who trade upon a very little , and give less , and

yet expect everyone to submit to some untenable dictum , and who yet only show most conclusively to the true scholar , and the competent critic , how , in that one only sense , Pope ' s line

is true , which runs , " a little learning is a dangerous thing . " For they at once fall into the hands of those who understand the subject , who have studied it " ab orgine , " and who cannot allow pretentiousness or ' superficiality , to impose on the

Masonic Personalities.

credulous or the careless . Hence they sometimes treat their opponents a little roughly , driving them from pillar to post . No doubt

thc " victim" considers it personality . But it is not personality in its true sense , it is honest and well-considered criticism .

For , as "truth' is the great object of all enquiry , no one has a right to propound hopeless and untenable theories , and proclaim them to be truth and expect every one to "vail his bonnet , "

ane give assent . If so , honest criticism must be silent , and true knowledge must give way to the idle lucubrations of the incompetent and the sciolist . We must always , therefore , allow a

wide margin , in archaeological controversies , as though wc . , in 1874 , have not yet outlived the age of " fables , " of " crude fancies , " and of " unverified quotations and statements . " We

think , too , that a little more forbearance should be shown in all discussions and pamphlets , as regards Craft Masonry and the High Grades . It is not right , because we do not

approve of the High Grades , for instance , to condemn their proceedings , or to cavil at their ways , to call hard names , and impute bad motives . Neither is it ' right for High Grade

Masons to speak disparagingly of Craft Masonry or to assume any superior station or position . Craft Masonry and the High Grades can coexist , and ought to co-exist in all of brotherly

forbearance and good will . We do not agree in aims or end , it is true , but we must agree to differ , and we can surely demonstrate to others , that our true principles are best illustrated not

by words of bitterness or antagonism , but by the deeds of benevolence , sympathy , charity and good will . Some of us will be content to remain , as we have ever been , only Craft Masons ,

because it isthe very universality of our Order which commends itself to our personal support , and dispassionate judgment . Others of us see much of good and utility in the High Grades . So be

it ! Let us gp on our way , treating each other with mutual respect and good will , and we shall see less of Masonic personality , and more , happily , we believe , a good deal more , of Masonic kindness and brotherly love amongst us all .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

I think that "A Masonic Enquirer has done good service by his letter . I hope that the " points " he alludes to may be cleared up by Bro . Paton , though , to say the truth , they all , or most of them , at any rate , belong to the good old period of unverified statements and

unhistoric traditions . If they are no more wellfounded than the so-called Locke letter , I fear they are all in jeopardy as historical facts . For the greatest doubts exist , I believe , as regards the so-called " Locke letter , " as much also as regards the so-called " Locke MS . " The fact that

the latter existed in MS . was , for the first time , stated in The Freemason a week or two ago , by a coutributor to Notes and Queries , and that MS . is in Essex ' s handwriting , and if so , cannot be earlier , by any possibility , than the middle of last century . Essex may have copied it from a

manuscript copy , though that copy , if it ever existed , is now unknown , but he probably copied it from the printed version of it , which appeared in more than one Masonic publication . Of Mr . Locke ' s letter , appended , the original has never been seen , and at the present time , though itcannot be said , perhaps absolutely , that it is a forgery ,

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

we have no satisfactory evidence as yet ot its genuineness . It clearly is not a reliable document therefore , in any Masonic controversy . SCOTICUS .

Original Correspondence.

Original Correspondence .

[ We do not hold ourselves responsible for , or even as approving ofthe opinion" expressed by onr correspondents , but wc wish ; in a spirit of fa * play to all , to permit ^ -within certain necessary limits—free discussion . —Eu . J

SLIPSHOD TERMINOLOGY . To the Editor of the Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , I see in your last Freemason , a report of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Hampshire in which it is called by more than one speaker

and by the Provincial Grand Master , himself the highest authority there , the " Grand Lodge , " " this Grand Lodge , " etc . I hope your readers will not deem me hypercritical when I point out this little " erratum , " aud whether it comes

from the reporter , or the brethren who spoke , it is a careless use of v-ords , and deserves to be checked and commented upon . Some time ago , the Yorkshire Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Masters styled itself the

" Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire , ' which , however , was properly animadverted upon at the time by a Yorkshire Provincial brother , and I think you will accord me space to permit me to submit my little fraternal criticism

to day , and my protest against this slipshod terminology on the part of our good Hampshire brethren . I am , dear sir and brother , yours fraternally , PARTICULAR P . M .

Lodge Bye-Laws.

LODGE BYE-LAWS .

To Ihe Editor of The Freemason . Dear Sir and Brother , I wish to ask you a question on Masonic Law , if it is not too much trouble to insert it in The Freemason , to which I have been for some years a subscriber .

No . 3 of the bye-laws of the lodge , of which I am for many years a member , states : —That the Master , Treasurer and Ty ler shall be annually nominated in February , and ballotted for in March , and this bye-law has been acted on ever since the lodge had existence . Bye-law

No . aa , states—That any brother wishing to propose any alteration or addition to the byelaws , shall give notice to that effect , at the regular meeting previous to that at which the proposal is to be taken into consideration , and notice of particulars of such propositions shall be inserted in the summonses convening the

meeting at which it has to be put to the vote . The Master , being on a visit to a sister lodge , heard a letter read from Grand Secretary , who said that such a method of electing a Master , was contrary to the constitutions . At the next regular meeting of his lodge , the Master told the brethren present , what he had heard read at the sister lodge .

It was then proposed " as an unapposed motion , " that so far as the election of Master was concerned , No . 3 , should be expunged . Question . —Can bye-law No . 3 , be expunged by unopposed motion , in direct opposition to byelaw No . 22 . I am , yours fraternally , M . M .

[ We are of opinion , that bye-law No . 3 being clearly , as the Grand Secretary states , contrary to the Book of Constitutions , is ipso facto , bad per se ! And though undoubtedly the more regular

way would have been to have acted in conformity with bye-law aa , yet if bye-law 3 was radically unconstitutional , the lodge probably exercised a very wise discretion in expunging it at once , from the bye-laws , where it ought never to have been . The same objection , clearly applies to the election of Treasurer and Ty ler . —ED" ] .

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