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Article THE APPOINTMENT OF GRAND WARDENS. Page 1 of 2 →
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The Appointment Of Grand Wardens.
THE APPOINTMENT OE GRAND W ABDENS .
The appointment of Grand Wardens is a subject to which our attention has long been directed ; and the frequent reference made of late to the appointment of the Earl of Durham to that office seems to render this an appropriate occasion on which to express the views we have arrived at . Lord Durham was appointed Grand " Warden without having previously passed through the chair of a Lodge . We believe that he was so honoured in graceful acknowledgment of the eminent services rendered to Masonry by his late lather .
In the Antient Charges it is said that no one can be a Grand Warden until he has beeii Master of a Lodge . Taking this byitself it would appear to offer an insuperable bar to appointing any one to that office who has not passed the Masters chair . We propose to consider why and wherefore such a law was passed ) whether it is a landmark , and how far it is influenced by custom or affected by our
common law . It was made at a time when Masonry was under very different circumstances to those which hold at present—when talent and expertness in a peculiar work were essential in those who might be called upon to rule and instruct their Brethren . Such is not the case now ; Grand Wardens need not of necessity be expert Masons , and there are no special duties required of them .
If the laws stood now as they stood in times gone by , or if ' our Book of Constitutions had never contained anything on . the subject , we should approach the matter with much more doubt ; but how stands the case ? In all the earlier editions of the Constitutions , we find it stated , not only in the Antient Charges , but laid down as a
law ( under the head of " Grand Officers" ) , that Grand Wardens shall be , or have been Masters of Lodges : at the period of the union we find that this law , hitherto impeiutive , becomes optional , and it is intimated that Grand Wardens " should" be Masters of Lodges ; from and after the edition of 1815 there is no mention made of its
being either imperative or optional—the qualification heretofore necessary is entirely omitted . What inference are we to draw from this ? We will next consider how custom has dealt with it : and here we shall find , that since 18 L 5 as many noblemen and men of rank have been appointed Wardens , who were not Masters , as of tho & e who were . Our present Grand Master , and many others we could name , are examples of this ; and wc presume that their appointments were made on the ground that the law no longer enforced the
qualification . We find then , that both custom and the common law have sanctioned such appointments—let us see how the matter works for or against the interests , of the Order . Wc will start with the remark , in which we presume all will agree , that it is most desirable to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Appointment Of Grand Wardens.
THE APPOINTMENT OE GRAND W ABDENS .
The appointment of Grand Wardens is a subject to which our attention has long been directed ; and the frequent reference made of late to the appointment of the Earl of Durham to that office seems to render this an appropriate occasion on which to express the views we have arrived at . Lord Durham was appointed Grand " Warden without having previously passed through the chair of a Lodge . We believe that he was so honoured in graceful acknowledgment of the eminent services rendered to Masonry by his late lather .
In the Antient Charges it is said that no one can be a Grand Warden until he has beeii Master of a Lodge . Taking this byitself it would appear to offer an insuperable bar to appointing any one to that office who has not passed the Masters chair . We propose to consider why and wherefore such a law was passed ) whether it is a landmark , and how far it is influenced by custom or affected by our
common law . It was made at a time when Masonry was under very different circumstances to those which hold at present—when talent and expertness in a peculiar work were essential in those who might be called upon to rule and instruct their Brethren . Such is not the case now ; Grand Wardens need not of necessity be expert Masons , and there are no special duties required of them .
If the laws stood now as they stood in times gone by , or if ' our Book of Constitutions had never contained anything on . the subject , we should approach the matter with much more doubt ; but how stands the case ? In all the earlier editions of the Constitutions , we find it stated , not only in the Antient Charges , but laid down as a
law ( under the head of " Grand Officers" ) , that Grand Wardens shall be , or have been Masters of Lodges : at the period of the union we find that this law , hitherto impeiutive , becomes optional , and it is intimated that Grand Wardens " should" be Masters of Lodges ; from and after the edition of 1815 there is no mention made of its
being either imperative or optional—the qualification heretofore necessary is entirely omitted . What inference are we to draw from this ? We will next consider how custom has dealt with it : and here we shall find , that since 18 L 5 as many noblemen and men of rank have been appointed Wardens , who were not Masters , as of tho & e who were . Our present Grand Master , and many others we could name , are examples of this ; and wc presume that their appointments were made on the ground that the law no longer enforced the
qualification . We find then , that both custom and the common law have sanctioned such appointments—let us see how the matter works for or against the interests , of the Order . Wc will start with the remark , in which we presume all will agree , that it is most desirable to