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Article CORRESPONDENCE. Page 1 of 2 →
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Correspondence.
COMESPOIDIIGE
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' # i ^ EM-AS 6 . NS MACUZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Sir awd Beother , —It will probably be in the recollection of some of your readers ^ that at the last meeting of Grand Lodge , I thought proper , in the exercise of my privilege as a meniber of that assembly / to criticise a part of the report of the Board of General Purposes / arid on asking a question with the view of ascertaining the degree of unanimity with which
[ The Editor does not hold > himselfresponsible for any opinions entertained hy Correspondents . ]
THE BOARD OF GENERAL PURPOSES
a certain clause in that report had been adopted , I was somewhat peremptorily called to order hy a Brother on the dais , who , in a style not remarkable for excess of courtesy , expressed his surprise that I—having been a member of the Board of General Purposes—should be ignorant of the fact , that the members of it were sworn to secrecy , and could not therefore reveal what took place at their meetings . Now , sir , as I never have been a member of that board ; and as I have
not taken any active part in Masonry for several years past , it is but natural that I should have hecome somewhat diffident as to my present knowledge of the laws of the Craft ; and therefore it was that I bowed with , I hope , becoming submission both to the decision of the Grand Master—who declared I was out of order—and also to the doctrine of the Brother who interrupted me .
But diffidence does not mean conviction , and feeling uneasy on the subject , I resolved by further investigation to ascertain and determine the precise extent of my declared irregularity , And what has that investigation proved ? Why that I was perfectly in order in asking the question I did , and that it was quite competent for any member of the board to have answered it if he had thought proper ; and I may state that within the last twenty-four hours , I have been assured by a very intelligent Brother , who has had a seat at that board for many years , that lie individually should
have felt no difficulty or hesitation in doing so . The obligation taken by every member of > the Board of General Purposes , is in the following terms : — u That the individual opinion of any meinber upon any subject or proceeding before the board , shall on no account be divulged at any time ; nor shall the proceedings of the board upon any question or matter ' under consideration be divulged , before the decision shccll have been pronounced thereon " Now , sir , if I understand the English language at all , this obligation requires continued secrecy as regards individual opinion upon a question , but as regards the question itself , secrecy only until it shall have been disposed of by the hoard , and no longer , my interrogatory was not
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Correspondence.
COMESPOIDIIGE
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' # i ^ EM-AS 6 . NS MACUZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Sir awd Beother , —It will probably be in the recollection of some of your readers ^ that at the last meeting of Grand Lodge , I thought proper , in the exercise of my privilege as a meniber of that assembly / to criticise a part of the report of the Board of General Purposes / arid on asking a question with the view of ascertaining the degree of unanimity with which
[ The Editor does not hold > himselfresponsible for any opinions entertained hy Correspondents . ]
THE BOARD OF GENERAL PURPOSES
a certain clause in that report had been adopted , I was somewhat peremptorily called to order hy a Brother on the dais , who , in a style not remarkable for excess of courtesy , expressed his surprise that I—having been a member of the Board of General Purposes—should be ignorant of the fact , that the members of it were sworn to secrecy , and could not therefore reveal what took place at their meetings . Now , sir , as I never have been a member of that board ; and as I have
not taken any active part in Masonry for several years past , it is but natural that I should have hecome somewhat diffident as to my present knowledge of the laws of the Craft ; and therefore it was that I bowed with , I hope , becoming submission both to the decision of the Grand Master—who declared I was out of order—and also to the doctrine of the Brother who interrupted me .
But diffidence does not mean conviction , and feeling uneasy on the subject , I resolved by further investigation to ascertain and determine the precise extent of my declared irregularity , And what has that investigation proved ? Why that I was perfectly in order in asking the question I did , and that it was quite competent for any member of the board to have answered it if he had thought proper ; and I may state that within the last twenty-four hours , I have been assured by a very intelligent Brother , who has had a seat at that board for many years , that lie individually should
have felt no difficulty or hesitation in doing so . The obligation taken by every member of > the Board of General Purposes , is in the following terms : — u That the individual opinion of any meinber upon any subject or proceeding before the board , shall on no account be divulged at any time ; nor shall the proceedings of the board upon any question or matter ' under consideration be divulged , before the decision shccll have been pronounced thereon " Now , sir , if I understand the English language at all , this obligation requires continued secrecy as regards individual opinion upon a question , but as regards the question itself , secrecy only until it shall have been disposed of by the hoard , and no longer , my interrogatory was not