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  • The Masonic Press
  • Jan. 1, 1866
  • Page 36
  • NOTES AND QUERIES FOR FREEMASONS.
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The Masonic Press, Jan. 1, 1866: Page 36

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Page 36

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Notes And Queries For Freemasons.

NOTES AND QUERIES FOR FREEMASONS .

CONSERVATISM IN EBEEMASONKY . EADING your Prospectus , I Avas struck by tho expression of your intention to adA'ocate "A thorough Conservative Ileform in all branches of Freemasonry , " and although you do partially explain your meaning , I should 9 he lad if Avouldin the first number

B g you , , be a little more explicit . QUAL . [ There are two parties in Freemasonry , —the upholders of Fogoyism and the Radicals . Tho former , —generally having sat at the feet of some unlettered innovator , —regard all the errors and absurdities taught them by their mentor as incapable of improvement ^ and as unalterable as the decrees of the Modes and Persians

. "Leges Anglice nolunms imitare , " is a favorite motto Avith them , and , like the feudal barons of old , Avhilst being foremost in every innovation , in an age when there Avere none to say them nay , they respond to every proposition for improA'ement Avith the magic and , as they think , unansAverable sentence , " AVe are opposed to innovation . " The radicals betake themselves to the other extreme , and are as much too

prone to a change as the fogies are too averse . The radicals , as then- name imports , are not content , Avhen they discover a rotteu branch , to lop it of £ -md it alone , but they are for applying the axe at once to the root , and for felling the Avhole tree . If the fogies believe CA'ery thing to be a landmark , the radicals inA'est nothing Avith that character . Tho radical is , in Freemasonry , a very dangerous character . As much a despiser of precedents as tlie fogey is their Avorshipperhe is too readildisposed

, y to yield his rash , and often unfledged , opinions to no force of authority and to no argument of expediency . For him it is sufficient that a change has been proposed , and , in his lov- ' . of change , he frequently forgets his love of truth and his love of right . He cannot tolerate an evil , however trifling in its nature or transitory in its duration , and is ever ready to abolish it by the adoption of a

remedy as questionable , m its expected results , as the evil it is proposed to cure . In the hands of tho fogies , Freemasonry Avould long since have lost all its vitality , and , becoming lifeless and effete , must have been cast aside as a Avorn-out engine , Avhich had done its work and Avas incapable of repair . In the hands of the radicals , Freemasonry Avould soon lose its identity , and , amid a multitude of dangerous and irrational experiments , must , in brief time , wear out its forces , and , like tho unfortunate patient celebrated in the Italian epitaph , die of too much

physic . It is evident , then , that both fogeyism and radicalism are opposed , —hut in different ways , —to true and healthful progress , and that either system is dangerous to the Avelfare and perpetuity of Freemasonry . Fortunately there is a middle system , Avhich , partaking of the excellencies of both , —for both have excellencies , —is Avithout the faults of either . Conservatism is tlyj . t mezzo iermina from which every thing is to he hoped and

nothing to be feared . Conservatism is not , —at least in the sense in Avhich we here use it— "the desire and eftbvt of preserving Avhat is established . " By no means . That is exactly the definition Avhich suits fogeyism . Conservatism , on the contrary , has no blind and superstitious respect for things established , simply because they are so . Precedents , with it , have no authority unless they are founded on principle ; and , on the other hand , changes have no support unless they ; u- e prompted bnecessity and guided breason .

y y .To fogeyism Ave are indebted for tho retention of a thousand puerilities in Freemasonry , Avhich crept into the institution during times of great ignorance , and which have been since preserved by force of habit . A'OL . X . T

“The Masonic Press: 1866-01-01, Page 36” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 23 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/msp/issues/mxr_01011866/page/36/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
Untitled Article 2
Untitled Article 3
NUMBER ONE. Article 4
"LIVE AND LET LIVE." Article 9
OBJECTS OF MASONIC REFORM. Article 11
MASONIC ANTIQUITIES, DOCUMENTS, &c. JERUSALEM ENCAMPMENT, MANCHESTER. Article 20
REPRINT OF SCARCE, OR CURICUS, BOOKS ON FREEMASONRY. Article 27
THE RITE OF MISRAIM. Article 32
NOTES AND QUERIES FOR FREEMASONS. Article 36
MASONIC ENCLAVES. Article 38
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 38
EVENTS AND THINGS TO BE REMEMBERED. Article 41
CLOTHING FOR THE RISING STAR OF WESTERN INDIA. Article 43
REVIEWS. Article 43
POETRY. Article 44
THE MASONIC REPORTER. Article 46
KNIGHT TEMPLARY. Article 47
CRAFT FREEMASONRY. Article 50
OBITUARY. Article 50
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 51
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Page 36

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Notes And Queries For Freemasons.

NOTES AND QUERIES FOR FREEMASONS .

CONSERVATISM IN EBEEMASONKY . EADING your Prospectus , I Avas struck by tho expression of your intention to adA'ocate "A thorough Conservative Ileform in all branches of Freemasonry , " and although you do partially explain your meaning , I should 9 he lad if Avouldin the first number

B g you , , be a little more explicit . QUAL . [ There are two parties in Freemasonry , —the upholders of Fogoyism and the Radicals . Tho former , —generally having sat at the feet of some unlettered innovator , —regard all the errors and absurdities taught them by their mentor as incapable of improvement ^ and as unalterable as the decrees of the Modes and Persians

. "Leges Anglice nolunms imitare , " is a favorite motto Avith them , and , like the feudal barons of old , Avhilst being foremost in every innovation , in an age when there Avere none to say them nay , they respond to every proposition for improA'ement Avith the magic and , as they think , unansAverable sentence , " AVe are opposed to innovation . " The radicals betake themselves to the other extreme , and are as much too

prone to a change as the fogies are too averse . The radicals , as then- name imports , are not content , Avhen they discover a rotteu branch , to lop it of £ -md it alone , but they are for applying the axe at once to the root , and for felling the Avhole tree . If the fogies believe CA'ery thing to be a landmark , the radicals inA'est nothing Avith that character . Tho radical is , in Freemasonry , a very dangerous character . As much a despiser of precedents as tlie fogey is their Avorshipperhe is too readildisposed

, y to yield his rash , and often unfledged , opinions to no force of authority and to no argument of expediency . For him it is sufficient that a change has been proposed , and , in his lov- ' . of change , he frequently forgets his love of truth and his love of right . He cannot tolerate an evil , however trifling in its nature or transitory in its duration , and is ever ready to abolish it by the adoption of a

remedy as questionable , m its expected results , as the evil it is proposed to cure . In the hands of tho fogies , Freemasonry Avould long since have lost all its vitality , and , becoming lifeless and effete , must have been cast aside as a Avorn-out engine , Avhich had done its work and Avas incapable of repair . In the hands of the radicals , Freemasonry Avould soon lose its identity , and , amid a multitude of dangerous and irrational experiments , must , in brief time , wear out its forces , and , like tho unfortunate patient celebrated in the Italian epitaph , die of too much

physic . It is evident , then , that both fogeyism and radicalism are opposed , —hut in different ways , —to true and healthful progress , and that either system is dangerous to the Avelfare and perpetuity of Freemasonry . Fortunately there is a middle system , Avhich , partaking of the excellencies of both , —for both have excellencies , —is Avithout the faults of either . Conservatism is tlyj . t mezzo iermina from which every thing is to he hoped and

nothing to be feared . Conservatism is not , —at least in the sense in Avhich we here use it— "the desire and eftbvt of preserving Avhat is established . " By no means . That is exactly the definition Avhich suits fogeyism . Conservatism , on the contrary , has no blind and superstitious respect for things established , simply because they are so . Precedents , with it , have no authority unless they are founded on principle ; and , on the other hand , changes have no support unless they ; u- e prompted bnecessity and guided breason .

y y .To fogeyism Ave are indebted for tho retention of a thousand puerilities in Freemasonry , Avhich crept into the institution during times of great ignorance , and which have been since preserved by force of habit . A'OL . X . T

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