Mother Kilwinning.

MOTHER KILWINNING .

ZONDON , SATURDAY , OCTOBER 31 , 1863 .

Bv BRO . D . MTJBKAX Lvoisr , K . T ., PEOV . J . G . W . 03 ? ATESHIEE . No . V . That the Lodge of Kilwinning , in agreeing to the election of a Grand Master for Scotlandnever

con-, templated abandoning their ancient landmarks , is abundantly testified by their continuance to act in the matter of erecting lodges independently of the new Masonic power which they had , in 1736 , been a party to establish in the Scottish metropolis ; nor does it appear that they ever were formerly called upon to

divest themselves of the functions in this respect so long : exercised by them , in the knowledge , and with the acquiescence , of many of the leading lodges in the country . There is not in the records under consideration any mention made of the difference Avhich caused Mother

Kilwinning to break with the Grand Lodge : but the minutes of the latter body , November 20 , 1743 , show a letter to have been received from the Lodge of Kilwinning , " complaining that they were only second on the roll , while as the Mother Lodge of Scotland they vrere entitled to the first place . " This claim of precedency over all other lodges

washoweverdis-, , allowed by Grand Lodge , who " decreed that as the Lodge of Kilwinning had produced no documents to show that they Avere the oldest Lodge in Scotland , and as the Lodge of St . Mary ' s Chapel had shown their records as far back as 159 S , the latter had an undoubted right to continue first on the roll . " This

decision of Grand Lodge was given in accordance Avith their previously adopted resolution , to the effect that the seniority of the lodges " should be determined from the authentic documents which , they produced : " but , however , mortifying to the Lodge of Kilwinning , AVIIO stood alone in their claim to be the

original one instituted on the introduction of the Order to the village whence they derive their name , this settlement of the question of seniority among the

lodges on the roll of Grand Lodge was not understood to affect the universally-admitted opinion that Kilwinning was the " cradle of Scottish Masonry . " That the present is the original Lodge of Kilwinning there can , Ave think , be little doubt . That there was such a lodge in active operation at the period

from which the oldest records of St . Mary ' s Chapel date , is established by the recently discovered Masonic Ordinance promulgated in 159 S by William Scbaw , Maister of Wark and Warden General of Scotland ; —in 1642 , the Lodge of Kilwinning are found exercising Masonic authority in four of the five distriets

over which they were by that ordinance placed;—their earliest records extant , which purport to be those of " ye Ludge of Kilwyning , ye antient Ludge of Scotland , " do not seem to be those of a newlyformed body , but on the contrary bear evidence of their being nothing less than a continuation of the

recorded transactions of a society enjoying an uninterrupted existence;—and as it may reasonabl y be taken for granted that there were alive in 1642 craftsmen cognizant of tbe position assigned by statute

of 159 S to the lodge meeting in Kilwinning , is it at all likely that an upstart lodge would , without challenge , have been permitted to assume the name and exercise the functions belonging to a lodge of such repute as that of the " heid and secund ludge" in the realm , and quietly to settle down upon the honours of an antiquity not their own ? Again ; the

extinction of the lodge recognised in 159 S as the original Lodge of Kilwinning , and the occupation of their place by another , are events which could scarcely have transpired during the lapse of the first forty years of the 17 th century Avithout a record or tradition of the same being preserved by some portion of

the Craft ; and it is Avell known that no record of such au event has ever yet been discovered , nor is there the slightest ground for supposing that any such evidence exists . We have ever been taught to venerate the existing Lodge of Kilwinning as the fountain-head of Scottish Masonry , and until it be

shown by evidence more convincing than to our mind has yet been produced , that their traditionary antiquity as the first established Scottish lodge of Craft Masons is a myth , we cannot do otherwise than accord to them the honoui'able pre-eminence of being the Mother Lodge of Scotland .

So long as Mother Kilwinning ' s position in Grand Lodge remained open to adjustment they rendered an apparent allegiance to the elected head ; but whenever they found themselves permanently placed in a secondary rank , they withdrew from the newlyformed Masonic confederacy , and for well-nig h ,

seventy years continued to exist as an independent Grand Body , dividing with the Edinburgh Grand Lodge the honour of forming branches in this country , as well as in our North American colonies aud other parts of the British possessions . This rivalry did not , however , disturb the fraternal relations subsisting between the brethren of both

constitutions : indeed , so far from this being the case , Ave find members of Grand Lodge itself petitioning for admission as affiliated sons into the Kilwinning Lodge . Here is one such petition , copied from the original : — "TJnto the Worshipfull Claud ThomsonDeputy

, Master ; Eobert Gemell and John Cuninghame , Wardens ; James Haddo , Secretary ; and the Remnant Members of the Antient and Honourable The Mother Lodge of Kilwinning . " The Petition of Alexander Bspline , presently one of the Grand Stewards of the Grand Lodge of

Scotland , and Patrk . Bowie , Master of the Stewards of St . David ' s Lodge at Edinr ., a legitimate Daughter of Mother Kilwinning :

" Humbly Sheweth , that your petitioners , fired with the highest esteem for our mother Lodge , and being occasionally in this country , have come to Kilwining that they might have the honour of seeing some of the Breetheren of That Lodge ; and having the most Sincere regard for it , if concistent with the amiable Rules of the Lodge

, do in the most earnest manner entreat the favour of being admitted members of Our Mother Lodge of Kilwining . " May it therefore please the Worship full Deputy Master to Appoint such of the Bretheren as he Shall Judge proper to take Tryall of our knoledge in