-
Articles/Ads
Article CORRESPONDENCE. Page 1 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
G 0 E 1 ESP 0 NB 1 ICE .
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir andi Brother , —I have to thank you for inserting my previous communication frbni this remote corner of the globe , among so much more valuable matter . I would like to see more space devoted in sion of Masonic Jurisprudence , and the elucidation of points which are daily occurring in the working of a Lodge or Chapter , and which require to be decided
MASONIC JUBISPKIJDENCE
[ The EditOb does not Jiold'Mmself responsive few any opinions entertained by ' Correspondents J ]
upon at once , but which , in order to decide correctly , involve a good deal of study ; and the more we study the details of the working of the Craft , the more do we see that they are dovetailed , as it were , into each other ; so that what appears at first sight trifling and insignificant , becomes , when properly understood , of great importance as to its bearing on the plan as a whole , so as fully to convince us- . " that no p art thereof was formed without due and sufficient reason , and for a special purpose . "
In this communication I purpose to review two letters of Bro . G . F . Newmarch , which appeared in the January and February numbers , and your answers to the queries of "H . O . B ., " Trinidad , in the February number of the Magazine , in the hope that others will take up these and kindred subjects , and give the Graft in general the benefit of their knowledge and research . You can , of course , see from my style , that I am unaccustomed to write with even common fluency , and that I labour under a serious defect in clothing my thoughts in appropriate language ; but my object being to elicit information , and not display , I feel confident my Brethren will overlook the defects for the sake of the object .
Bro . Newmarch states , as a broad principle , that a Master of a Lodge has no right to refuse admission into his Lodge a Brother who shall have given the requisite proofs of being a Mason . In arguing from this basis , Bro . Newmarch mixes up two very distinct questions , viz ., that of refusing admission to a Brother who is not a member of the Lodge , and excluding a member . The discussion arose from the fact that the Grand Lodge has affirmed that " the Worshipful Master and Wardens may refuse admission to a visitor of known bad character . " Bro . Newmarch quotes the Constitutions in support of his views : —( on private Lodges )
" No Lodge shall exclude any member without giving him due notice , " & c . ; and ( Members and their Duty )— " A member excluded from one Lodge , shall not be eligible to any other Lodge until , " & c . These passages clearly refer to membership with individual Lodges , and not to the relation Brethren bear to the Craft in general . Bro . Newmarch quotes the Constitutions still more unhappily in his second letter ( of Visitors)— " No visitor shall be admitted into a Lodge unless
personally known or recommended , " & c . ; and insists that "it never yet has been held to enjoin or permit inquiry into character , or to extend further than to require that visitors must be known , recommended , or vouched for as being Brethren . " How this opinion can be held in view of the very next clause is more than I can fathom : — "A Brother who is not a subscribing member to some YOh . III . 3 E
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
G 0 E 1 ESP 0 NB 1 ICE .
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir andi Brother , —I have to thank you for inserting my previous communication frbni this remote corner of the globe , among so much more valuable matter . I would like to see more space devoted in sion of Masonic Jurisprudence , and the elucidation of points which are daily occurring in the working of a Lodge or Chapter , and which require to be decided
MASONIC JUBISPKIJDENCE
[ The EditOb does not Jiold'Mmself responsive few any opinions entertained by ' Correspondents J ]
upon at once , but which , in order to decide correctly , involve a good deal of study ; and the more we study the details of the working of the Craft , the more do we see that they are dovetailed , as it were , into each other ; so that what appears at first sight trifling and insignificant , becomes , when properly understood , of great importance as to its bearing on the plan as a whole , so as fully to convince us- . " that no p art thereof was formed without due and sufficient reason , and for a special purpose . "
In this communication I purpose to review two letters of Bro . G . F . Newmarch , which appeared in the January and February numbers , and your answers to the queries of "H . O . B ., " Trinidad , in the February number of the Magazine , in the hope that others will take up these and kindred subjects , and give the Graft in general the benefit of their knowledge and research . You can , of course , see from my style , that I am unaccustomed to write with even common fluency , and that I labour under a serious defect in clothing my thoughts in appropriate language ; but my object being to elicit information , and not display , I feel confident my Brethren will overlook the defects for the sake of the object .
Bro . Newmarch states , as a broad principle , that a Master of a Lodge has no right to refuse admission into his Lodge a Brother who shall have given the requisite proofs of being a Mason . In arguing from this basis , Bro . Newmarch mixes up two very distinct questions , viz ., that of refusing admission to a Brother who is not a member of the Lodge , and excluding a member . The discussion arose from the fact that the Grand Lodge has affirmed that " the Worshipful Master and Wardens may refuse admission to a visitor of known bad character . " Bro . Newmarch quotes the Constitutions in support of his views : —( on private Lodges )
" No Lodge shall exclude any member without giving him due notice , " & c . ; and ( Members and their Duty )— " A member excluded from one Lodge , shall not be eligible to any other Lodge until , " & c . These passages clearly refer to membership with individual Lodges , and not to the relation Brethren bear to the Craft in general . Bro . Newmarch quotes the Constitutions still more unhappily in his second letter ( of Visitors)— " No visitor shall be admitted into a Lodge unless
personally known or recommended , " & c . ; and insists that "it never yet has been held to enjoin or permit inquiry into character , or to extend further than to require that visitors must be known , recommended , or vouched for as being Brethren . " How this opinion can be held in view of the very next clause is more than I can fathom : — "A Brother who is not a subscribing member to some YOh . III . 3 E