On The Origin Of Grand Lodges And The Powers Of Grand Masters.

These , where they have been authenticated , as collected from the ancient charges and regulations , are , by universal consent , taken and deemed landmarks of the Order , as much as a belief in God is a landmark , and in which no change can take place without destroying the universality of the institution . The

most noted of these are the " old charges , " as collected and published by the Grand Lodge of England , in 1723 , and which is contained in what has been called " the first Masonic book ever published . " These " charges , " which we regard as landmarks , containthe princiles of the Order as above enunciatedand

p , though there may exist manuscripts of an older date , they enunciate the same doctrines , ancl even if authentic , but add to the authority of the " old charges " of 1723 , and confirm them as the chief authority , beyond which it is not safe to go . The ilers of these had undoubtedly before them all

comp the documents we have recently found of an older date , ancl many more quite as authentic . These more ancient ones are therefore valuable only as relics of the past and as confirming , by their similarity , the correctness and reliability of the latter . Aided bthese relics of the pastby our knowledge

y , of the nature of the institution , the present organization and recent histoiy , to what conclusions can we safely come in regard to the origin , nature , design and effect of our form of government , as exhibited in our system of Grand and Subordinate Lodges ? Your committee have endeavoured to solve this

question to the satisfaction of themselves , and can come to no other conclusion than this : that at an early day the members of the Masonic Praternity framed its form of government—in fact created itof themselves , by their own sovereign power , and , as the creators , retained in themselves the right of changeas well as all other rihts not expressly or b

, g y necessary implication disposed of in the grant , or such as are unchangeable from the very nature of its moral principles and its universality . In other words , we hold that all power existed primarily in the Masonic fraternity—in the people—who said before ever Preemasonry existed as an organization , " we will found

an association primarily for our benefit and incidentally to benefit the world , upon certain great fundamental moral truths—naming them—and under certain restrictions we will disseminate our doctrines by the initiation , after certain fixed forms , or the profane into our mysteries . " Again , when the whole mass of

the fraternity had subsequently met together in a general assembly , they said , " we will call this a Grand Lodge , " and choosing a presiding officer for the time being , " we will call him Grand Master , or will call upon the oldest man present to preside . " Masons thus ever choose their own Master or Grand Master

whenever they met , unless in process of time , the civil power , to ivhich by their laws they were ever subservient , imposed a presiding officer upon them , and thus made a law of the order not only for themselves but for those to whom they should constitute their successors .

Brother O'Sullivan , of Missouri , in combatting our remarks upon the powers of Grand Masters , found in our report of last year , and in which we , among other things , denied the inherent rights of Grand Masters , brings up the fact that the civil power did sometimes appoint the Grand Master ; but this only confirms

our statement . The Grand Master , thus appointed , was perchance forced upon the craft , and the incident cannot be used as an authority except to prove that Masons " ever conform to the laws of the country in which they live , " and are peaceable and quiet subjects-Whatever may have been the form of government under which the society acted from the ' General

Congress at York in A . D . 926 , to 1717 , when the four old lodges met in London , formed the Grand Lodge , and made regulations for its government , the conclusion of the whole matter is found in those " old

charges , " collected and published by the authority of that Grand Lodge . Thereafter no Masons were to be made except in a lodge having a legal warrant , and after certain formalities had been complied with . Certain qualifications were found then necessary forthe holding of certain offices . By the action of the .

whole fraternity the Grand Lodge became a representative body , as the great increase of members , necessitated . The three chief officers of a lodge were constituted representatives , and as by the ancient , charges these three men must have passed the degree of Pellow Craft at least before serving—that is ,

become Master Masons , the representative Grand Lodge became a body of Master Masons exclusively . The whole fraternity , subject to the ancient charges * , and the moral principles inculcated in the initiatory ceremonies—all landmarks of the Order—did all this ; granted all these created this representative

powers ; Grand Lodge for their own convenience and the good of the Order , all which they had a perfect right to do j and being the creator , ' the source of power , can change , limit or destroy the same , under the previously existing restrictions , and that , too , without a violation of any of the landmarks of the Order . Hencethere

, can be no inherent powers , either human or divine , belonging to Grand Lodges or Grand . Masters . In fact , no other powers or rights than those contained , expressly or by a necessary implication in the Constitution of each Grand Lodge , and in those ancient charges of the Order .

Preemasons are proverbially peaceable , inculcating the doctrine " that no contention should ever exist except that noble contention of who can best work ancl best agree . " They pay due respect to their superiors in office . Preemasons are also human in . their natures , affections , and habits , ancl learn ,

without being taught in the Lodge , to respect station ancl wealth as well as worth and merit . They also , by long occupancy of any high position , come to think there by a sort of divine or prescriptive right , and where information does not much abound , to claimprerogativesand rihtsand powerswhich never

, g , , pertained to them or their office . All this we know happens every clay , ancl is but rational to expect it . — Hence , the claims by Grand Masters , by virtue of their office , of the inherent and sovereign rights of Grand Lodges , which Grand Masters claim devolve upon them in their recess . All these are mere

assumptions of power and prerogative , and however often claimed , never yet made a right ; nor does their exercise prove anything except that power has been from time to time usurped , without complaint , and exercised without resistance . Can Bro . O'Sullivan , or Mackey , or any other advocate for the sovereignty of Grand Lodges and their inherent rights , point to any other source as the origin of these rights and pre-