Mark Masonry.

MARK MASONRY .

LONDON , SATURDAY , JUKE 5 , 1869 .

By REITAJU :. The peculiar and anomalous position of the degree of Mark Master in England , has , no doubt ; , been a cause of sincere regret to every member of the Graft , and Avhile calling attention to a report

of the consecration & c , of a new Mark Lodge in Manchester , under a Avarrant from the S . R . A . Chapter of Scotland it may be interesting to many of the brethren , to take a retrospect of the position and status of this essential part of the F .

C . degree . In Scotland from time immemorial , and longbefore the institution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland ,, what is now known as the Mark Masters ' degree , was worked by the operative Lodges of

St . John ' s Masonry as part of the Fellow Craft degree . At the institution of the G . L . of Scotland in

1736 , and from that date down to the year 1860 , it continued to be worked on this footing in the operative Lodges , but in what may be called the speculative lodges , it was never worked at all , or , at all events , only in a very few .

Such was the state of matters , when the Supreme E . A . Chapter of Scotland was formed in 1818 , and that body , considering it necessary that candidates for the Holy Eoyal Arch should be instructed in the degree of Mark Master , assumed

the management of it , ( which the Grand Lodge of Scotland had declined ) and constituted it the fourth degree in Freemasonry , or the first in that series of degrees worked in all chapters , holding of the Supreme E . A . Chapter of Scotland .

Nothing occured to disturb this arrangement until the year 1856 , when the Bon Accord Chapter of Aberdeen No . 70 , took upon itself to grant a warrant to certain brethren in London to work the Mark degree there . Immediately on this coming

to the knowledge of the Supreme Chapter of Scotland , the Bon Accord Chapter was suspended , but the Supreme Chapter could not get possession of the illegal and spurious warrant granted by the Bon Accord Chapter , neither could they get it

cancelled . At that time the position of Mark Masonry in England was very anomalous . We believe several old Craft lodges ( as in Scotland ) continued to work the degree , but neither the Grand Lodge ,

nor the Grand E . A . Chapter of England would recognise it , and it therefore was , Avithout any laAvfully constituted head . This being the position of the degree in England . Several brethren in London , Bolton and other

places , who ^ highly prized it , applied to the Supreme Chapter of Scotland , as the only lawfully constituted governing Masonic body in Great Britain , which recognised and superintended the degree , to issue warrants in England for working ; it . In

the special circumstances of the case the Scottish Supreme Chapter , reluctantly acceded to the petitions , and granted several warrants to Mark Master Lodges in England , with the express condition , contained in the following clause copied

from the warrants or charters issued by them : " Farther , in the event of the degree of Mark Master , hereby authorised , becoming at any time hereafter a degree lawfully sanctioned and acknowledged by a Supreme Body of the country

in which the Mark Lodge hereby constituted shall be situated , this present warrant or chapter of constitution shall co ipse , become null and void , the holders thereof be deprived of their functions under it , and thereupon bound to return the same to our Supreme Chapter , "

Since the year 18 o 6 , every warrant issued by the Supreme Chapter of Scotland to Mark Lodges in England contains the clause above quoted . In the year 1856 , the members of the Bon Accord Mark Lodge of London ( illegally

constituted as before mentioned ) , and the members of several Craft lodges who affirmed they had worked the degree from time immemorial , formed themselves into what is termed " the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters of England and Wales , and the

Colonies and possessions of the British Crown , " and this body has continued to the present date to grant charters to subordinate lodges , for the purpose of working the Mark Degree , as distinct and separate from the Fellow Craft Degree . The

lodges holding of the Supreme Chapter of Scotland , have also up to the present time continued working in England , but have not recognised or visited any of the lodges holding of the Body , calling itself the " Grand Lodge of Mark Masters . "

At the quarterly communication of the S . E . A . C of Scotland on 21 st September , 1864 , a memorandum from the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters , was laid before the meeting , calling on the Supreme Chapter to recognise them as the lawful head of