Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Proposed Union Of The Early Grand Of Scotland With The General Grand R.A. Chapter Of Scotland.
gether . It was argued that , inasmuch as those seeking the Early Grand to fraternize with them on the Eoyal Arch Degree were themselves an unrecognised body , no real advautage could possibly accrue to members of the Early Grand joining the new body . Was it to be thought that the charters
offered by seceders from the Supreme Grand Chapter were to be accepted in preference to those under which for nearly eig hty years the Early Grand had conferred both the Royal Arch and Knight Templar Degrees ? The most natural and the only ground
upon which au amalgamation of the two bodies could ever be effected would be the acceptance by their Glasgow fraters of Early Grand warrants for the practice of Red and Black Masonry . Time enough to talk of union with the seceders when
their minds were brought respectfully to seek admission into the ranks of the Early Grand Encampment of Scotland . That body at present enjoyed much prosperity—strength , union , and concord being prominent features of that prosperity ; and they
required neither men from the ranks nor money from the exchequer of the General or any other Grand Body : the Earlv Grand were the first , and they
will be the last—it therefore behoved the Sir Knights dubbed under their charters to uphold the dignify and independence of the Early Grand , aud thus reftise to sink their identity in the membership of any other Masonic body . The mother encampment of Scotland had been legally constituted and recognised
as an in independent Grand Body by their Masonic parent , the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland , — that position was not yet attained by the Glasgow Grand , why then should the members of the Early Grand be asked to acknowledge the superiority of
the Glasgow Grand , and to raise that very young and as yet untried and uninfluential body at the expense of their own . As au independent body they could now govern themselves : by joining hands with , the new Grand Chapter , they would have to put
up with the dictation and the rule of others who might possess little or no disposition to study the wants or redress the , grivances of their Early Grand brethren . " In accordance with these and similarly expressed sentiments , on the motion of Sir Knight Weir , of
Muirkirk , seconded by Sir Knight Burns , of Kilmarnock , it was unanimously resolved that the Early Grand dismiss the proposal for union with the Glasgow Grand , and continue in their present state of independence .
- The election of Grand Master was then fixed to take place at Muirkirk , on Hol y Cross Day , 14 th September ; and after a most cordial vote of thanks to Sir Knight Maston for the ahilitv in conducting the business of the meeting , the delegates dispersed .
Evening Thouhts On Masonry.
EVENING THOUHTS ON MASONRY .
Was ever anything written more truly than this ?—"Masonry : —Ibis much ; it is of the highest importance , or it is nothing . It is nothing to the sensualist or the vicious . It is of much , nay , almost of the hi g hest importance to the virtuous and rational man . It is no more to ambitious , miserly , selfish , or lying men , than are colours to the blind , music to the deaf , or pociry and
the fine arts to the brutes . " The name of Bro . Des Etangs , who wrote this golden truth , ought to be , with others , a household word indeed to the true Mason . Aud if it were , a growing evil , an evil which threatens to become a serious cancer in the body of Masonry , would be checked at once . How often and often do we hear these words , most melancholy
to one who loves our Order— " What good is it ? I have now taken my three degrees , and , prithee , wherein am I benfitted ? " Does not the man who can say this belong to the class to whom Masonry is nothing ? Are wo not tempted to say of such a one , he has no' feeling for beauty , or majesty , or antiquity , or purity , or for anything under the canopy of heaven but the miserable Ego ?
We cannot subdue our pity for this man , or our sorrow that he and the like of him should ever have been received into our Order . And the evil wo complain of is the indiscriminate admission of men unfit by their education , their habits , or their very nature , to comprehend one iota of Freemasonry . Is it not true that our brethren , in proposing and receiving a candidate , think
only of his social character and position , or of his being a " good fellow , " and the former being proved to bo blameless , forthwith with joy initiate him , forgetting utterly that , however uprightly and honestly he may have his walk and conversation in the world , however much he may bo respected in business , or to whatever height his talents and his integrity may have raised him in the social scale , however much he may be a " capital fellow , " he may yet bo a most unfit and
improper person to be made a Mason . There are many such beside the sensualist , the vicious , the miser , the egotist , or the liar . Tho common , hard , worldly man—worldly , withal , in a degree less those who keep their souls at the bankers—is not a man lit to be a Mason . He will not appreciate the beauties of tho Order , hidden or displayed . Most probably he will
condemn the whole institution in his mind , if not openly , as a veritable humbug . He will speedily withdraw from all connection with it : and soon those with whom ho should have mingled as brothers , will , as brothers , know him no more . The weak-minded and ultra-and-credulously-romantie man is no fit person to be made a Mason . Hethe very
, opposite of our friend above , will plunge heart aud soul into the ocean of Masonry , will surely get beyond his depth , and be lost in Iho waves of mysticism . Ho will devote an extravagant portion of his time aud monej' to Masonry which , being carried by the true Mason into the world , is there displayed by him in the battle of fife —not for his own good primarily , but for that of all with
whom ho conies iu contact . Freemasonry is to bo used , we tike it ; it is not a jewel which certain persons only are privileged to look at and mayhap admire . It is a pure white garment of truth , charity , and knowledge , to he worn and used , with a sincere desire to render ourselves more generally useful to onr fellow creatures . So it unhappily conies about , that , after all , there are
bnt few who are really worthy to be made masons . And if so , if the difficulty of choosing the proper man from among a crowd of applicants be so great , how strongly does the fact stand out that we are . far too' lax in our system of admission ? . . . The high degrees are notoriously as sieves , wherewith to eliminate the unworthy of the order : the higher you ascend , the finer the sieve and the thinner the ranks . This ought not to be so , but it is so ; and until more discrimination be used , until more is required of the candidate than a good
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Proposed Union Of The Early Grand Of Scotland With The General Grand R.A. Chapter Of Scotland.
gether . It was argued that , inasmuch as those seeking the Early Grand to fraternize with them on the Eoyal Arch Degree were themselves an unrecognised body , no real advautage could possibly accrue to members of the Early Grand joining the new body . Was it to be thought that the charters
offered by seceders from the Supreme Grand Chapter were to be accepted in preference to those under which for nearly eig hty years the Early Grand had conferred both the Royal Arch and Knight Templar Degrees ? The most natural and the only ground
upon which au amalgamation of the two bodies could ever be effected would be the acceptance by their Glasgow fraters of Early Grand warrants for the practice of Red and Black Masonry . Time enough to talk of union with the seceders when
their minds were brought respectfully to seek admission into the ranks of the Early Grand Encampment of Scotland . That body at present enjoyed much prosperity—strength , union , and concord being prominent features of that prosperity ; and they
required neither men from the ranks nor money from the exchequer of the General or any other Grand Body : the Earlv Grand were the first , and they
will be the last—it therefore behoved the Sir Knights dubbed under their charters to uphold the dignify and independence of the Early Grand , aud thus reftise to sink their identity in the membership of any other Masonic body . The mother encampment of Scotland had been legally constituted and recognised
as an in independent Grand Body by their Masonic parent , the Early Grand Encampment of Ireland , — that position was not yet attained by the Glasgow Grand , why then should the members of the Early Grand be asked to acknowledge the superiority of
the Glasgow Grand , and to raise that very young and as yet untried and uninfluential body at the expense of their own . As au independent body they could now govern themselves : by joining hands with , the new Grand Chapter , they would have to put
up with the dictation and the rule of others who might possess little or no disposition to study the wants or redress the , grivances of their Early Grand brethren . " In accordance with these and similarly expressed sentiments , on the motion of Sir Knight Weir , of
Muirkirk , seconded by Sir Knight Burns , of Kilmarnock , it was unanimously resolved that the Early Grand dismiss the proposal for union with the Glasgow Grand , and continue in their present state of independence .
- The election of Grand Master was then fixed to take place at Muirkirk , on Hol y Cross Day , 14 th September ; and after a most cordial vote of thanks to Sir Knight Maston for the ahilitv in conducting the business of the meeting , the delegates dispersed .
Evening Thouhts On Masonry.
EVENING THOUHTS ON MASONRY .
Was ever anything written more truly than this ?—"Masonry : —Ibis much ; it is of the highest importance , or it is nothing . It is nothing to the sensualist or the vicious . It is of much , nay , almost of the hi g hest importance to the virtuous and rational man . It is no more to ambitious , miserly , selfish , or lying men , than are colours to the blind , music to the deaf , or pociry and
the fine arts to the brutes . " The name of Bro . Des Etangs , who wrote this golden truth , ought to be , with others , a household word indeed to the true Mason . Aud if it were , a growing evil , an evil which threatens to become a serious cancer in the body of Masonry , would be checked at once . How often and often do we hear these words , most melancholy
to one who loves our Order— " What good is it ? I have now taken my three degrees , and , prithee , wherein am I benfitted ? " Does not the man who can say this belong to the class to whom Masonry is nothing ? Are wo not tempted to say of such a one , he has no' feeling for beauty , or majesty , or antiquity , or purity , or for anything under the canopy of heaven but the miserable Ego ?
We cannot subdue our pity for this man , or our sorrow that he and the like of him should ever have been received into our Order . And the evil wo complain of is the indiscriminate admission of men unfit by their education , their habits , or their very nature , to comprehend one iota of Freemasonry . Is it not true that our brethren , in proposing and receiving a candidate , think
only of his social character and position , or of his being a " good fellow , " and the former being proved to bo blameless , forthwith with joy initiate him , forgetting utterly that , however uprightly and honestly he may have his walk and conversation in the world , however much he may bo respected in business , or to whatever height his talents and his integrity may have raised him in the social scale , however much he may be a " capital fellow , " he may yet bo a most unfit and
improper person to be made a Mason . There are many such beside the sensualist , the vicious , the miser , the egotist , or the liar . Tho common , hard , worldly man—worldly , withal , in a degree less those who keep their souls at the bankers—is not a man lit to be a Mason . He will not appreciate the beauties of tho Order , hidden or displayed . Most probably he will
condemn the whole institution in his mind , if not openly , as a veritable humbug . He will speedily withdraw from all connection with it : and soon those with whom ho should have mingled as brothers , will , as brothers , know him no more . The weak-minded and ultra-and-credulously-romantie man is no fit person to be made a Mason . Hethe very
, opposite of our friend above , will plunge heart aud soul into the ocean of Masonry , will surely get beyond his depth , and be lost in Iho waves of mysticism . Ho will devote an extravagant portion of his time aud monej' to Masonry which , being carried by the true Mason into the world , is there displayed by him in the battle of fife —not for his own good primarily , but for that of all with
whom ho conies iu contact . Freemasonry is to bo used , we tike it ; it is not a jewel which certain persons only are privileged to look at and mayhap admire . It is a pure white garment of truth , charity , and knowledge , to he worn and used , with a sincere desire to render ourselves more generally useful to onr fellow creatures . So it unhappily conies about , that , after all , there are
bnt few who are really worthy to be made masons . And if so , if the difficulty of choosing the proper man from among a crowd of applicants be so great , how strongly does the fact stand out that we are . far too' lax in our system of admission ? . . . The high degrees are notoriously as sieves , wherewith to eliminate the unworthy of the order : the higher you ascend , the finer the sieve and the thinner the ranks . This ought not to be so , but it is so ; and until more discrimination be used , until more is required of the candidate than a good