Skip to main content
Museum of Freemasonry

Masonic Periodicals Online

  • Explore
  • Advanced Search
  • Home
  • Explore
  • The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
  • Dec. 24, 1864
  • Page 2
  • Ar00201
Current:

The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Dec. 24, 1864: Page 2

  • Back to The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Dec. 24, 1864
  • Print image
  • Articles/Ads
    Article GRAND LODGE. ← Page 2 of 2
    Article GRAND LODGE. Page 2 of 2
    Article Untitled Page 1 of 1
Page 2

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

Grand Lodge.

his ., office , -Avithout it be made commensurate to the amount of salary he is to receive , and then it Avould'be best to put the office up to auction at once ; aud we hold it is no greater honour to be Grand Secretary than it is to be a clerk in a merchant's

office , or a bank . Why , Ave Avould ask , if the Grand Secretary , AA * 1 IO is a paid officer , be charged a fee of honour , should the Assistant Grand Secretary , -who is equally a paid officer , escape ? If the first office is worth £ 10 10 s ., surely the other

is worth £ 5 5 s ., excepting that the present holder did receive the appointment as something like an acknoAvledgment of past services . Why , again , should the Grand Chaplains , who rank next to Grand Wardens , be exempted from all fees ? We

can see no sufficient reason , unless it be that it is notorious that clergymen , as a rule , are too little paid in their own profession . To return to the Grand Stewards . They have to proAdde the Grand Festival " as that no expense

fall on the Grand Lodge ; " to sell tickets to the brethren at a price not exceeding 15 s . each , and are to " assist in conducting the arrangements

made for the Quarterly Communications and other meetings of Grand Lodge , " and are finable for non-attendance Avhen "duly summoned . " It is true that nothing is said in the " Book of Constitutions " as to the price to be charged or paid

for the tickets ; but we should like to see the reception the Grand Stewards would meet Avith , if they put a five-shilling dinner and a bottle of Avine before the brethren by " arrangement AA'ith the tavern keeper , " as suggested by the Grand

Registrar . It is some j ^ oars since we served the office of Grand Steward , but , to the best of our recollection , a paper AA as read to the effect that Ave must pay not less than £ 15 , or sell the tickets ( which the Grand Stewards are bound to supply to all the brethren requiring them , so far as the

accommodation of the hall will permit ) at a higher price than 15 s . ; and this Ave do ICUOAV , that Ave received a letter from tlie Grand Secretary the very day-Ave paid our money into the banker ' s , informing us that , unless Ave paid forthwith , Ave

should be deprived of our office ; and it is specially provided in the " Book of Constitutions : ""No lodge shall ( under thc penalty of forfeiting the privilege of nomination ) subscribe or in any manner contribute towards the expense to be incurred by any Steward in the discbarge of his dutiesand Steward

; any who shall accept of money towards such expense , or shall neglect to pay his proportion of the necessary expenses , shall forfeit all privilege or distinction acquired in consequence of his serving that office . "

Grand Lodge.

What the privilege and distinction is , except that of Avearing a red apron , we do not know , it being also provided : —• "After his year of office shall have expired , he does not possess any precedence beyond that to which the seniority of his lodge may entitle him . " It is true that there was a reduction in the fees

upon a Past Grand Steward being raised to the purple on appointment to Grand Office—a privilege which not one in twenty was ever likely to taste , but it stood in the "Book of Constitutions , " and that was something . Grand Stewards

know they cannot all become Grand Officers , and , as they are at present appointed , it would be unfair to the large body of the Craft if they could ; though there is no doubt that , in former days , the majority of Grand Officers were selected

from amongst the brethren who had previously served the office of Grand Steward . This privilege being by the revised fees AvithdraAvn , Ave ask in fairness that the last lines in Rule 2 , which Ave have quoted above , should be repealed , and

that the Past Grand Stewards should be alloAved to take their proper rank in the list of precedence , and Avhich , indeed , they can do now , if they choose to join the Grand Stewards' Lodge at a further expense , by Avhich they show their " energy and

devotion to Masonry ; " and Avere Ave Grand Master , we would never appoint any Past Grand SteAvard to office AA'I IO had not been for at least twelve

months a member of that lodge . We may observe that the fee of honour of a Provincial Grand Master is to be reduced from forty guineas ( exclusive of three guineas for his patent ) to ten guineas—the provision of saAing

twenty guineas , should the brother appointed as Provincial Grand Master have previously served the office of Grand Steward , being of course here , as in the other cases , rendered unnecessary , and therefore repealed . We do not know Avhether

any Provincial Grand Master ever served the office of Grand Steward ; but certainly none of those appointed Avithin the last feAV years—and which have therefore come under our notice—have

done so . We trust theneAvlaAvmayAvork advantageously , and no one Avill be more rejoiced than Ave shall to find that it tends to the advancement of brethren distinguished for " their energy and devotion to Masonry . "

Ar00201

KEEP your temper in disputes . The cool hammer fashions the red-hot iorii to any shape needed .

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1864-12-24, Page 2” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 24 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_24121864/page/2/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
GRAND LODGE. Article 1
Untitled Article 2
MASONIC SAYINGS AND DOINGS ABROAD. Article 3
SOME NOTES ON PROGRESS. Article 4
THE FUTURE OF FREEMASONRY. Article 6
THE ANTIQUITY AND TEACHINGS OF MASONRY. Article 6
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 8
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 11
MASONRY IN AUSTRALIA. Article 11
THE ABBEY OF KILWINNING. Article 12
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 13
METROPOLITAN. Article 13
PROVINCIAL. Article 14
INDIA. Article 15
CHINA. Article 16
MASONIC FESTIVITIES. Article 16
LITERARY EXTRACTS. Article 17
Untitled Article 17
THE WEEK. Article 17
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
Page 1

Page 1

1 Article
Page 2

Page 2

3 Articles
Page 3

Page 3

1 Article
Page 4

Page 4

1 Article
Page 5

Page 5

1 Article
Page 6

Page 6

2 Articles
Page 7

Page 7

1 Article
Page 8

Page 8

2 Articles
Page 9

Page 9

1 Article
Page 10

Page 10

1 Article
Page 11

Page 11

4 Articles
Page 12

Page 12

3 Articles
Page 13

Page 13

2 Articles
Page 14

Page 14

2 Articles
Page 15

Page 15

2 Articles
Page 16

Page 16

4 Articles
Page 17

Page 17

3 Articles
Page 18

Page 18

1 Article
Page 19

Page 19

1 Article
Page 20

Page 20

3 Articles
Page 2

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

Grand Lodge.

his ., office , -Avithout it be made commensurate to the amount of salary he is to receive , and then it Avould'be best to put the office up to auction at once ; aud we hold it is no greater honour to be Grand Secretary than it is to be a clerk in a merchant's

office , or a bank . Why , Ave Avould ask , if the Grand Secretary , AA * 1 IO is a paid officer , be charged a fee of honour , should the Assistant Grand Secretary , -who is equally a paid officer , escape ? If the first office is worth £ 10 10 s ., surely the other

is worth £ 5 5 s ., excepting that the present holder did receive the appointment as something like an acknoAvledgment of past services . Why , again , should the Grand Chaplains , who rank next to Grand Wardens , be exempted from all fees ? We

can see no sufficient reason , unless it be that it is notorious that clergymen , as a rule , are too little paid in their own profession . To return to the Grand Stewards . They have to proAdde the Grand Festival " as that no expense

fall on the Grand Lodge ; " to sell tickets to the brethren at a price not exceeding 15 s . each , and are to " assist in conducting the arrangements

made for the Quarterly Communications and other meetings of Grand Lodge , " and are finable for non-attendance Avhen "duly summoned . " It is true that nothing is said in the " Book of Constitutions " as to the price to be charged or paid

for the tickets ; but we should like to see the reception the Grand Stewards would meet Avith , if they put a five-shilling dinner and a bottle of Avine before the brethren by " arrangement AA'ith the tavern keeper , " as suggested by the Grand

Registrar . It is some j ^ oars since we served the office of Grand Steward , but , to the best of our recollection , a paper AA as read to the effect that Ave must pay not less than £ 15 , or sell the tickets ( which the Grand Stewards are bound to supply to all the brethren requiring them , so far as the

accommodation of the hall will permit ) at a higher price than 15 s . ; and this Ave do ICUOAV , that Ave received a letter from tlie Grand Secretary the very day-Ave paid our money into the banker ' s , informing us that , unless Ave paid forthwith , Ave

should be deprived of our office ; and it is specially provided in the " Book of Constitutions : ""No lodge shall ( under thc penalty of forfeiting the privilege of nomination ) subscribe or in any manner contribute towards the expense to be incurred by any Steward in the discbarge of his dutiesand Steward

; any who shall accept of money towards such expense , or shall neglect to pay his proportion of the necessary expenses , shall forfeit all privilege or distinction acquired in consequence of his serving that office . "

Grand Lodge.

What the privilege and distinction is , except that of Avearing a red apron , we do not know , it being also provided : —• "After his year of office shall have expired , he does not possess any precedence beyond that to which the seniority of his lodge may entitle him . " It is true that there was a reduction in the fees

upon a Past Grand Steward being raised to the purple on appointment to Grand Office—a privilege which not one in twenty was ever likely to taste , but it stood in the "Book of Constitutions , " and that was something . Grand Stewards

know they cannot all become Grand Officers , and , as they are at present appointed , it would be unfair to the large body of the Craft if they could ; though there is no doubt that , in former days , the majority of Grand Officers were selected

from amongst the brethren who had previously served the office of Grand Steward . This privilege being by the revised fees AvithdraAvn , Ave ask in fairness that the last lines in Rule 2 , which Ave have quoted above , should be repealed , and

that the Past Grand Stewards should be alloAved to take their proper rank in the list of precedence , and Avhich , indeed , they can do now , if they choose to join the Grand Stewards' Lodge at a further expense , by Avhich they show their " energy and

devotion to Masonry ; " and Avere Ave Grand Master , we would never appoint any Past Grand SteAvard to office AA'I IO had not been for at least twelve

months a member of that lodge . We may observe that the fee of honour of a Provincial Grand Master is to be reduced from forty guineas ( exclusive of three guineas for his patent ) to ten guineas—the provision of saAing

twenty guineas , should the brother appointed as Provincial Grand Master have previously served the office of Grand Steward , being of course here , as in the other cases , rendered unnecessary , and therefore repealed . We do not know Avhether

any Provincial Grand Master ever served the office of Grand Steward ; but certainly none of those appointed Avithin the last feAV years—and which have therefore come under our notice—have

done so . We trust theneAvlaAvmayAvork advantageously , and no one Avill be more rejoiced than Ave shall to find that it tends to the advancement of brethren distinguished for " their energy and devotion to Masonry . "

Ar00201

KEEP your temper in disputes . The cool hammer fashions the red-hot iorii to any shape needed .

  • Prev page
  • 1
  • You're on page2
  • 3
  • 20
  • Next page
  • Accredited Museum Designated Outstanding Collection
  • LIBRARY AND MUSEUM CHARITABLE TRUST OF THE UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER 1058497 / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2025

  • Accessibility statement

  • Designed, developed, and maintained by King's Digital Lab

We use cookies to track usage and preferences.

Privacy & cookie policy