Mother Kilwinning, Scotland.

doe belong . Witt yo us , -the persons under-senbers , masters , freemen , and fellow-craft masoncs , resident-ers within the Brugh of Pearth . That wheir for sameikle p . s AVC and our predecessors ha \ e and hold from the Temple of Temples build ou this earth , sine uniformo comrmuiitie and union throughout the whole world , from Temple proceeded one in Kilwinning in this our Nation

of Scotland . And from that of Kilwinning many move within this kingdome , of which these proceeded tho Abbacie and Lodge of Scone , built by men of airb and architectry , wheir they placed that lodge as the second lodge within this nation , which is now past inemorie of many generations , and was uphold be tho Kings of Scotland for tho tyme , both at Scone and the decayed

citie of Berth , when it stood , and noiv .-it Perth head brugh of the sheriffdom thereof to this veric day , Avhich is now four hundredth three score and fyvc yeirs since thereby . . . . " This deed , which contains a number of other causes , bears date , Perth , December 21 , 1658 , and is signed by forty brethren . Another quotation , taken from tho notes to "

Maconnerie , " a poem published in Paris in 1 S 20 , carries Mother Kilwinning back to the days of Wallace and Bruce : " James Lord Stewart received in his lodge at Kilwinning , in Scotland , in 1826 , the Earls of Gloucester and of Ulster . " In Tytler ' s History of Scotland , under the corresponding date , wo find that the Earls of Gloucester and Ulster , both of Avhom had pspoased the cause of

Robert Bruce , Aveve sojourning in Ayrshire about that period , and were present at a meeting of Brace ' s adherents held in Turuberry Castle ( about thirty miles ivest of Kilwinning Abbey ) , to concert plans for the successful vindication of the patriot ' s claim to tho Scottish throne . In another way is Mother Kilwinning associated with these troublous times in the history of Scotland ; for it is confidcnfclj' - asserted that the Royal Order having originally its chief seat in Kilwinning , was along with the ancient Grand Lodge of Kilwinning , governed

by the same Grand Master , Robert Bruce , Avho is said to have added the second degree to the Royal Order , as a reward for the valour displayed by those Templars who fought on the Scottish side at Bannockburn . We know not upon Avhat authority the identification of Knight Templary Avith the mother lodge is sought to be established ; but being curious to know whether the

Masonic records at Kilwinning could shed any light upon that subject , in the autumn of last year we devoted some time to a minute examination of these interesting documents , and , as Ave fully expected , failed in obtaining the slightest tvace of Knight Templary or any of the other so-called haut grades . In regard to the Templars' connection Avith Ayrshirethere are onltwo

, y places in that county at all associated with their name—Darvel , and another place iu Cunningham , where stand the ruins of a castle said to have belonged to the " soldiers of the Cross . " It is certain they never possessed property in Kilwinning , neither have local traditions preserved anything whatever regarding their alliance with the Mason Craft

of Kilwinning . Indeed , so far from that being the case , our belief is that " ye Ludge of Kilvv 3 'ning" was never more nor less than a society of architects and artisans incorporated for' the regulation of the business of the building trade , and the relief of indigent brethren , until the development , early in the eighteenth centur }' , of Speculative Masonry—an element Avhich has completely

changed the original complexion of the more ancient of the craft lodges of this country , and that instead of the ceremonial at initiation now obtaining having been bequeathed to us by the Crusaders , as is held by some , the ritual of Ereemasonry , with tho . exception of the "Ancient Charges , " is the creation of comparatively modern times . And so imperceptibly has the purely operative character merged into the condition of a purely speculative one , that the precise date of such change cannot with any certainty be condescended upon .

ID is aiso worthy of notice that when m the end of the . last century tho Royal Arch and K . T . degrees were practised to such an extent among the Craft lodges of the country as to call forth the censure of Grand Lodge , they were never introduced into nor countenanced by Mother Kilwinning . Of course so long as she continued to preserve anything of nil operative character , the

fellowcraft mark w : is conferred by the Mother Lodge uponthose qualified to receive the same ; but at thepreseni day the liark Dagreo is AinkiAovrn to her as a lodge , although her roll bears the names of many brethren who have taken other than the Craft degrees . The appointment of James IL of the Baron of Eoslin .. to the Grand Mastershipand the rendering of that

di-, g nity hereditary in his illustrious family , whose possessions lay at a considerable distance from Ayrshire , theadoption of Holyrood as the permanent residence of Royalty , the concentration in Edinburgh of the legislative , law , and church courts , all these circumstances must have contributed to bring about the removal from Kilwinning of tho Masonic head-quarters , and to advance to

the highest Masonic importance the Lodge of Edinburgh , Avhose meetings would in all probability very often be graced by the presence of tho Grand Master , and thus--, come to be identified as tho principal lodge of thecountry . It is somewhat remarkable that in the re-installation , by charter of St . Clair of Eoslin into the Grand

Mastership of Scottish Craft , the Kilwinning Lodge is never once mentioned , nor does it appear to have taken any part in these important proceedings . The silence of the Kilwinning brethren may bo accounted for as the result of their being called upon to occupy a position secondary to that which tradition pointed to as by right belongingto them ; and that the question of precedence may havebeen at that period under discussion can reasonably be inferred from tho information to be gathered from an authentic document of the time ( 1598 ) ivhich has but

recently become patent to the Craft , but which appeared in the MAGAZINE of 18 th April last . The " Ordinance " sets forth certain arrangements made by his Majesty , James YI . ' s Maister of Work of the period alluded to for the future guidance of Mother Kilwinning , and assigns to > her the Masonic supervision of the West of Scotland . The presence of a commissioner from the Lodge of

Kilwinning before the Warden General , at "Halyrud . Hous , " and his "honest and carefull" behaviour , would seem to imply tho consent of his constituents to tho arrangement by which for the future Mother Kilwinning should rank " as heid and secund ludge of Scotland , " with certain powers and privileges defined in the Ordiance of the Maister of Warkbut Avhether or not the

; instrument was ever completed by the issuing of Hi * Majesty ' s warrant , we fear there is no Masonic record to prove . This matters little , for the Ordiance in question does not to our mind militate against the claim set up in favour of Mother Kilwinning ' s being the first established Scottish lodge ; it only shews the system of centralisation to have in previous years been powerful

enough to cause the removal of the supreme court of tho building fraternity , from an obscure village in Ayrshire to the acknowledged metropolis of the country , where interests of the Graft could be directed under the personal supervision of the Sovereign himself , or of his Masonic proxy , ivho usually resided at Edinburgh , and who enjoyed the title of Warden General ; and that tho

regulations ordained by authority of" my lord warden generall " * Avere but confirmatory of the arrangements consequent upon the permanent establishment at Edinburgh of the principal Masonic court , and Mother Kilwinning ' s acquiescence thereing . How long the Kilwinning Lodge continued in the subordinate position in which the ordinances of 1598 placed her , Ave possess no means of knowing ; but scarcely half a century after that date we find her designating ' herself "The Antient Ludge of Scotland , " and