Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS ' 57 Royal Masonic Insti . ution for Girls 162 Lord Wolselcy ' at ' Manchester — Consccra- REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS—~ lion of the W ' LeleV Lodge , No . 11 , 93 i ^ S Craft Masonry 163 CimRKseoN'nExi ' . K— Instruction 166 The Ap il Elections 160 Royal Arch 167 iik
Our •haritks ' 60 M- Masonry 165 Election of Grand Treasurer 160 China ... -. 168 Provincial G and Lodge Banquets 100 Testimonial to R . W . Bro . William Kingslixchange of Votes 161 ton , Dist . G . M . of Malta 16 S Renews ' ° i The Theatres 16 S Masonic Notes and Queries 161 Masonic and General Tidings log Li , d c of Benevolence 162 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 1 J 0
Ar00100
BRO . B INCKES ' letter in our last deserves much consideration , and we trust will lead many to think over the points involved . The SECRETARY of the Boys' School , with his practical knowledge of exactly " where the shoe pinches , " thus openly endorses the arguments we have been for some time seeking to press on the Craft , as to a more general support by lodges and
chapters , qua corporate bodies , of our great Charities . Much is done , a great deal has been effected by individuals , by the munificence of some , the large-hoartcdness of many , the steady , presevering liberality of more . Our Masonic returns have been of late years very remarkable indeed , far outstripping and overpassing those of all other contemporaneous similar
institutions . But still there is a weak place in our armour , there "lingerspots ut our feasts of charity . " The returns are the outcome of the free-handed , the realistic beneficence of Ihe few , not the careful contribution of the in . inj . Our lodges and chapters have too often left it to individuals to uphold the credit of their bodies , and have not sought to supplement personal efforts and
individual sacrifices by liberal donations from a common fund . And though yet there arc truly bright exceptions , the majority of our lodges as lodges have made no sign . Let us note this grave fact . It is to this almost alarming question that Bro . BINCKES ' S clear and meaning words are directed } it is this very problem , serious and difficult , which we
invoke the sympathy of our many readers to help to solve . When all our Charity Festivals are over for 1883 it will be very interesting to note and record how many lodges and chapters have been represented , and how many have put in a duplicate and a triplicate appearance . We , therefore , beg once more to press upon all lodges and chapters the bounden duty in some
way , as corporate bodies , of recognizing our great and useful Charities , inasmuch as their still more general and steady support year by year of these most important and valuable institutions , will undoubtedly tend to increase their efficiency , to strengthen their very stability , and to render their developement for utility and for good still more apparent , and still more real , still more beneficent than it happily is even at the present hour .
* # IT seems to . us , though we may be mistaken , that just now there is sometimes a forgetfulness of long and faithful services to Freemasonry . It is easy enough , when the sun shines , and prestige and populaiity wait upon our Order , for many to avow themselves members of our Craft , and to
plume themselves on its general and particular favour as before the world . Bat it is a very different and somewhat harder experiment to attach themselves to it , when it is by no means generally thought well of , and consistently to adhere to it , through prosperous or unprosperous fortune , through good or evil report , through many changing years . If we who still survive
to-day , members of our now most flourishing Fraternity , will but look back in memory a generation , 30 years back , we shall realize a very different state of things . Freemasonry then , no doubt , was progressing , but there was still lingering in society and the world as regards it , those tonesof ridicule and those clouds of suspicion and distrust which had generally so impeded its
progress in the early part of the century . Take one illustration in proof of our contention . We then knew two provinces , one in particular , one of the most nourishing , and the number of Chaplains was very small indeed . Since then that total has been marvellously increased . And so it is all over England . How many faithful old Masons still survive who beheld our
Order in its slow advances , and no . v exult in its " later glory . " For them , probably , no Provincial or Grand Lodge honours are available ; but notwithstanding , they constitute the " salt" of our Fraternity , and we are indebted Vo them for its safe progress , its goodly vitality , and its happy perpetuation , even for the general favour which greets it in these latter days .
Ar00101
WE call attention to a letter about * ' exchanges " in chanty votes elsewhere . This is just one of those questions on which a good deal may fairly be said on both sides , and on which it does not certainly do to be either dogmatic or pragmatic . There is much force in what our correspondent advances , but yet logically , we apprehend , if any exchanges are allowed or allowable , you cannot limit them to one charity .
•% MASONIC research seems opening out a new phasis in Masonic investigation . It has been quite plain to students for some time , that before we in England can lay down the safe lines of a History of Freemasonry which will be anything more than ephemeral , however ably written and carefully
compiled , we must ascertain the real condition of English seventeenth century Freemasonry , though of it at present little is known . That such a Freemasonry existed , despite the ingenious paradoxes of those who cling to the exploded eighteenth century Freemasonry theory ( 1717 ) is alike certain
and undeniable even from non-Masonic testimony . To that subject then all our attention should be turned , as on its satisfactory outcome and lucid development must depend , humanly speaking , the possibility of our really grasping and safely realizing the undoubted history of our wonderful Order .
•% WE are among those who hail the advance and extension of provincial funds , whether for education or relief . Indeed we wish they were more general , the more so as we do not think they need impinge on the claims or aims of our great central Charities at all in any way . We have before
expressed our opinion in the Freemason that the time might arrive , when we should have to endeavour to amalgamate our provincial and metropolitan Charities , making our Metropolitan Schools for instance the receptacle for a given term , of pupils passed in by competition , from provincial centres and " succursales " as the French say . But this would then become a great
system , which would entail many changes in administration and organization , and we are probably not ripe for it yet . It will however , we fancy , come some fine day and be realized among the developements and wonders which yet shall be . At present we have only to express our great admiration of such well managed Institutions as those in East Lancashire and West
Lancashire and Cheshire , and other provinces and localities at home and abroad under our English jurisdiction , which seek in a truly Masonic spirit , and with much commendable liberality , to educate the young , grant annuities to the aged , test the claims of Masonic mendicancy , and ascertain and relieve the wants of actual and undoubted Masonic necessity .
•* WE rejoice very much to learn that the second volume of Bro . GOULD ' S " Magnum Opus" has now appeared , as we feel convinced that such a fact
will afford pleasure to all reading Freemasons everywhere . The care and pains the eminent writer has taken with the first volume affords a most justifiable anticipation of an equally agreeable and valuable second volume . A reveiw of Vol . II . will appear in our next issue .
* # IF some reports which reach us are correct , there will probably be some " surprises " as regards the new Grand Officers . A good many " canards " are of course " afloat , " and several disappointments must be anticipated . We have , however , no doubt that the list when settled by supreme authority will give every satisfaction to the " public opinion " of the Craft .
•» THE predominent claims of the Speculative Grand Lodge of England to superior antiquity to any Grand Jurisdiction at present existing are so clear
and undeniable that we do not suppose any doubt exists really upon the subject anywhere . The suppositious claims of other Bodies are really not worth consideration . With the exc 'ption of the " York " Grand Lodge , which was in abeyance , there . vai no other Grand Body in existence in 1717 .
••• THE York Lodge has lost a vi ry worthy brother and old Mason , Bro . DAVISON , whose services to the Craft at York have been conspicuous . We shall give a fuller account of our lamented and deservedly esteemed brother in our next .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Contents.
CONTENTS .
LEADERS ' 57 Royal Masonic Insti . ution for Girls 162 Lord Wolselcy ' at ' Manchester — Consccra- REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINGS—~ lion of the W ' LeleV Lodge , No . 11 , 93 i ^ S Craft Masonry 163 CimRKseoN'nExi ' . K— Instruction 166 The Ap il Elections 160 Royal Arch 167 iik
Our •haritks ' 60 M- Masonry 165 Election of Grand Treasurer 160 China ... -. 168 Provincial G and Lodge Banquets 100 Testimonial to R . W . Bro . William Kingslixchange of Votes 161 ton , Dist . G . M . of Malta 16 S Renews ' ° i The Theatres 16 S Masonic Notes and Queries 161 Masonic and General Tidings log Li , d c of Benevolence 162 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 1 J 0
Ar00100
BRO . B INCKES ' letter in our last deserves much consideration , and we trust will lead many to think over the points involved . The SECRETARY of the Boys' School , with his practical knowledge of exactly " where the shoe pinches , " thus openly endorses the arguments we have been for some time seeking to press on the Craft , as to a more general support by lodges and
chapters , qua corporate bodies , of our great Charities . Much is done , a great deal has been effected by individuals , by the munificence of some , the large-hoartcdness of many , the steady , presevering liberality of more . Our Masonic returns have been of late years very remarkable indeed , far outstripping and overpassing those of all other contemporaneous similar
institutions . But still there is a weak place in our armour , there "lingerspots ut our feasts of charity . " The returns are the outcome of the free-handed , the realistic beneficence of Ihe few , not the careful contribution of the in . inj . Our lodges and chapters have too often left it to individuals to uphold the credit of their bodies , and have not sought to supplement personal efforts and
individual sacrifices by liberal donations from a common fund . And though yet there arc truly bright exceptions , the majority of our lodges as lodges have made no sign . Let us note this grave fact . It is to this almost alarming question that Bro . BINCKES ' S clear and meaning words are directed } it is this very problem , serious and difficult , which we
invoke the sympathy of our many readers to help to solve . When all our Charity Festivals are over for 1883 it will be very interesting to note and record how many lodges and chapters have been represented , and how many have put in a duplicate and a triplicate appearance . We , therefore , beg once more to press upon all lodges and chapters the bounden duty in some
way , as corporate bodies , of recognizing our great and useful Charities , inasmuch as their still more general and steady support year by year of these most important and valuable institutions , will undoubtedly tend to increase their efficiency , to strengthen their very stability , and to render their developement for utility and for good still more apparent , and still more real , still more beneficent than it happily is even at the present hour .
* # IT seems to . us , though we may be mistaken , that just now there is sometimes a forgetfulness of long and faithful services to Freemasonry . It is easy enough , when the sun shines , and prestige and populaiity wait upon our Order , for many to avow themselves members of our Craft , and to
plume themselves on its general and particular favour as before the world . Bat it is a very different and somewhat harder experiment to attach themselves to it , when it is by no means generally thought well of , and consistently to adhere to it , through prosperous or unprosperous fortune , through good or evil report , through many changing years . If we who still survive
to-day , members of our now most flourishing Fraternity , will but look back in memory a generation , 30 years back , we shall realize a very different state of things . Freemasonry then , no doubt , was progressing , but there was still lingering in society and the world as regards it , those tonesof ridicule and those clouds of suspicion and distrust which had generally so impeded its
progress in the early part of the century . Take one illustration in proof of our contention . We then knew two provinces , one in particular , one of the most nourishing , and the number of Chaplains was very small indeed . Since then that total has been marvellously increased . And so it is all over England . How many faithful old Masons still survive who beheld our
Order in its slow advances , and no . v exult in its " later glory . " For them , probably , no Provincial or Grand Lodge honours are available ; but notwithstanding , they constitute the " salt" of our Fraternity , and we are indebted Vo them for its safe progress , its goodly vitality , and its happy perpetuation , even for the general favour which greets it in these latter days .
Ar00101
WE call attention to a letter about * ' exchanges " in chanty votes elsewhere . This is just one of those questions on which a good deal may fairly be said on both sides , and on which it does not certainly do to be either dogmatic or pragmatic . There is much force in what our correspondent advances , but yet logically , we apprehend , if any exchanges are allowed or allowable , you cannot limit them to one charity .
•% MASONIC research seems opening out a new phasis in Masonic investigation . It has been quite plain to students for some time , that before we in England can lay down the safe lines of a History of Freemasonry which will be anything more than ephemeral , however ably written and carefully
compiled , we must ascertain the real condition of English seventeenth century Freemasonry , though of it at present little is known . That such a Freemasonry existed , despite the ingenious paradoxes of those who cling to the exploded eighteenth century Freemasonry theory ( 1717 ) is alike certain
and undeniable even from non-Masonic testimony . To that subject then all our attention should be turned , as on its satisfactory outcome and lucid development must depend , humanly speaking , the possibility of our really grasping and safely realizing the undoubted history of our wonderful Order .
•% WE are among those who hail the advance and extension of provincial funds , whether for education or relief . Indeed we wish they were more general , the more so as we do not think they need impinge on the claims or aims of our great central Charities at all in any way . We have before
expressed our opinion in the Freemason that the time might arrive , when we should have to endeavour to amalgamate our provincial and metropolitan Charities , making our Metropolitan Schools for instance the receptacle for a given term , of pupils passed in by competition , from provincial centres and " succursales " as the French say . But this would then become a great
system , which would entail many changes in administration and organization , and we are probably not ripe for it yet . It will however , we fancy , come some fine day and be realized among the developements and wonders which yet shall be . At present we have only to express our great admiration of such well managed Institutions as those in East Lancashire and West
Lancashire and Cheshire , and other provinces and localities at home and abroad under our English jurisdiction , which seek in a truly Masonic spirit , and with much commendable liberality , to educate the young , grant annuities to the aged , test the claims of Masonic mendicancy , and ascertain and relieve the wants of actual and undoubted Masonic necessity .
•* WE rejoice very much to learn that the second volume of Bro . GOULD ' S " Magnum Opus" has now appeared , as we feel convinced that such a fact
will afford pleasure to all reading Freemasons everywhere . The care and pains the eminent writer has taken with the first volume affords a most justifiable anticipation of an equally agreeable and valuable second volume . A reveiw of Vol . II . will appear in our next issue .
* # IF some reports which reach us are correct , there will probably be some " surprises " as regards the new Grand Officers . A good many " canards " are of course " afloat , " and several disappointments must be anticipated . We have , however , no doubt that the list when settled by supreme authority will give every satisfaction to the " public opinion " of the Craft .
•» THE predominent claims of the Speculative Grand Lodge of England to superior antiquity to any Grand Jurisdiction at present existing are so clear
and undeniable that we do not suppose any doubt exists really upon the subject anywhere . The suppositious claims of other Bodies are really not worth consideration . With the exc 'ption of the " York " Grand Lodge , which was in abeyance , there . vai no other Grand Body in existence in 1717 .
••• THE York Lodge has lost a vi ry worthy brother and old Mason , Bro . DAVISON , whose services to the Craft at York have been conspicuous . We shall give a fuller account of our lamented and deservedly esteemed brother in our next .