Royal Masonic Institution For Boys.

ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS .

LONDON , SATURDAY , AUGUST 1 , 1863 .

The following is the award in the late competition for designs for the building : —1 st premium , £ 70 , Mr . Edwin Pearce , Clapham ; motto , "Knowledge is Power . " 2 nd premium , £ 50 , "L'Uunion faifc la Poree , " Messrs . Simmonds and Bell , Hammersmith .

3 rd premium , £ 30 , " Integritas , " Mr . Prederick Boreham , Penge . Mr . Pearce ' s design is to he carried out , perhaps with modifications . The estimated expense is £ 8600 . "Whoever made the estimate should be asked to obtain a contract to carry it fully and

properly out for £ 10 , 000 . It is not very creditable to the architects iu the Order , that not one prize has gone to them , whilst in the case of the Hall and Tavern all the prizes went to Masons .

Freemasonry And Uniformity, Or A Council Of Rites.

FREEMASONRY AND UNIFORMITY , OR A COUNCIL OF RITES .

( From a Correspondent . ) The Holy Scriptures , in more than one place , lay down that , " if a house be divided against itself , that house cannot stand . " In all the relations of life , ivhether personal , commercial , religious , or political , the holy text holds

good , and each of these conditions of men afford numberless instances , which will readily occur to every reader , how applicable the quotation is to us and our times , and how it is daily exemplified in the cases of households , partnerships , churches , and

kingdoms . Division is a source of weakness and ultimate decay , whilst uniformity of thought and action is the precursor of strength and vigour . Let us see if Preemasonry is as consolidated as it ought to be , and what is wanting to render it so .

By Preemasonry , we mean the whole superstructure of rites , orders , and degrees which , though differing in government , go to make up the great whole known to the world as Preemasonry , and , discarding the pettiness of opposition which says " this , or that , is

not Preemasonry , " embrace the full system as part and parcel of one great , gigantic brotherhood bound together by indissoluble ties , varying only in ceremonies and doctrines according to the capabilities and comprehension of the recipients .

"When regarded in that light , Preemasonry may be truly said to be universal , but such cannot be maintained if the so-called universality is limited to one branch exclusively . Is Preemasonry then , as practised in England , as consolidated and uniform as it should be ? No ! and why ?

Because there are several independent jurisdictions who hold no common converse Avith each other , and have no general and well-defined reciprocity of action one with the other . The Craft , or blue Masonry , is the threshold of

Preemasonry , and many hold it as the only portion that should be recognised , but they are amiable enthusiasts who have no idea of the connection between Till the relative parts of Preemasonry . "We next come to Eoyal Arch , and , curiously enough ,

our Boole of Constitutions define ancient Masonry " to consist of but three degrees , including , " what ? "the Supreme Order of the Holy Eoyal Arch , " that is one Order within another , or a wheel within a wheel , unparalelled in any other community .

Now , how do the Craft and Arch manage their government ? By a Grand Lodge and a Grand Chapter , each respectively ordering its own dependents under separate laws , and yet , where the latter are deficient in certain cases , they are to be construed

by the former . They have also funds under distinct control , but , strange to say , we find in the Grand Lodge balance sheets various amounts , from time to time , credited to Grand Chapter , as if Grand Lodge had some control over the Grand Chapter funds . * It is self-evident that there is a want of uniformity

in " pure ancient Masonry . " "We now come to the Mark degree , which is in the most unsatisfactory state . There are two bodies of Mark Masons , one holding under old warrants , several of which exist , and another from the Grand Chapter of Scotland , and the anomally , in the latter case , is

that they , the Mark Masons , oive allegiance , out of England , to a Grand Chapter of Eoyal Arch Masonry , of ivhieh they are not registered Eoyal Arch members . There is also a third society , calling itself the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters of England , but that is ,

according to one of its shining lights , " on the glorious sea without any charter but its oivn . " These sections of a degree are hopelessly antagonistic . They make their neophytes swear not to visit , or receive visits from , brethren who do not hail from the same

authority with themselves ; and although their rituals differ but slightly , they are as opposed to each other as it is possible to be . There is no true uniformity betiveen the independent old English Mark Masons , the Scotch Mark Masons , and the English Grand Lodge

of Mark Masters . The Knights Templar , Hospitallers , St . John of Jerusalem , Palestine , Ehodes , and Malta , are independent of everything and everybody but the Order of the Holy Eoyal Arch . They are repudiated and