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Article ORIGIN OF THE ROYAL ARCH. ← Page 4 of 4
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Origin Of The Royal Arch.
In conclusion , I may add , that Bro . Norton is scarcely justified , by the evidence he has brought forward , in assuming that , with the exception of the " Caledonian " Chapter , there were not , " outside of the j urisdiction of the ' Ancients ' any Chapters , either in this country or abroad , in 1-765 . " There is , on the contrary , the same authority for
believing that there were such bodies , as for conceding the prior existence of the " Caledonian " Chapter , viz ., the recital of a regulation appearing in the Minutes of the " Moderns . " I am of opinion that the expression Chapter was coined by the " Moderns . " It nowhere appears—at least I have not met with itin any "Atholl" records before 1765 , not indeed , until several years later ; and it seems very probable that the whole machinery of
the Royal Arch , was never adequately appreciated by the " Ancients , until the novelty was invested with so much importance by those who purloined it from them , and who decorated and embelished the degree Avith many fanciful alterations and additions of their own creation . As in the preparation of this article I have been put on a very
" short alloAvance " both of time and space by my friend the Editor , it has only been practicable to glance someAvhat hurriedly at my notes on Royal Arch Masonry , gleaned from the records several years ago ; and I must leave untouched , at all events in the current number of the MASONIC MONTHLY , the larger question of the sources from which
this interesting degree has been derived , and refrain from any present attempt to lay bare the causes AA'hich led to its ultimate absorption within the bod y of Freemasonry .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Origin Of The Royal Arch.
In conclusion , I may add , that Bro . Norton is scarcely justified , by the evidence he has brought forward , in assuming that , with the exception of the " Caledonian " Chapter , there were not , " outside of the j urisdiction of the ' Ancients ' any Chapters , either in this country or abroad , in 1-765 . " There is , on the contrary , the same authority for
believing that there were such bodies , as for conceding the prior existence of the " Caledonian " Chapter , viz ., the recital of a regulation appearing in the Minutes of the " Moderns . " I am of opinion that the expression Chapter was coined by the " Moderns . " It nowhere appears—at least I have not met with itin any "Atholl" records before 1765 , not indeed , until several years later ; and it seems very probable that the whole machinery of
the Royal Arch , was never adequately appreciated by the " Ancients , until the novelty was invested with so much importance by those who purloined it from them , and who decorated and embelished the degree Avith many fanciful alterations and additions of their own creation . As in the preparation of this article I have been put on a very
" short alloAvance " both of time and space by my friend the Editor , it has only been practicable to glance someAvhat hurriedly at my notes on Royal Arch Masonry , gleaned from the records several years ago ; and I must leave untouched , at all events in the current number of the MASONIC MONTHLY , the larger question of the sources from which
this interesting degree has been derived , and refrain from any present attempt to lay bare the causes AA'hich led to its ultimate absorption within the bod y of Freemasonry .