CHAPTER V

UNITED GRAND LODGE
THE United Grand Lodge of Antient Free-. masons of England, or, as it is now styled in the Book of Constitutions, the United Grand’ Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons. of England, came into existence, as narrated’ in Chapter III., on St. John’s Day, in winter—viz., December 27, 1813—and now*: consists of the Masters, Past Masters, and‘ Wardens of all private Lodges on record, together with the Grand Stewards of the- year and the present and past Grand Officers, and the Grand Master at their head.
The Grand Lodge possesses the supreme: superintending authority, and alone has the: inherent power of enacting laws and regula- tions for the government of the Craft, and of altering, repealing, and abrogating them,, always taking care that the antient Land- marks of the Order be preserved.
* See Article VII.: Articles of Union. 61
Freemasonry and its Etiquette
The Grand Lodge has also the power of ‘investigating, regulating, and deciding all matters relative to the Craft, or to particular Lodges, or to individual Brothers, which it may exercise either of itself or by such. delegated authority as, in its wisdom and discretion, it may appoint; but the Grand Lodge alone has the power of erasing Lodges and expelling Brethren from the Craft, a power which it does not delegate to any subordinate authority in England.
Every Brother regularly elected and in- stalled as Master of a Lodge, under the con- stitution of the Grand Lodge of England, who has filled that office for one year, so long as he continues a subscribing member of any such Lodge, is a member of the Grand Lodge; but having for twelve months ceased to be a subscribing member of any English Lodge, he no longer continues a member of the Grand Lodge, nor can he regain the right of mem- bership of the Grand Lodge, as a Past Master, until he has again duly served the office of Master of such a Lodge.
Four Grand Lodges are held in London, for quarterly communication, in each year —viz., on the first Wednesday in the months of March, June, September, and December.
62
United Grand Lodge
There is a Grand Masonic Festival an- mually, on the Wednesday next following St. George’s Day, to which all regular Masons who provide themselves with tickets from the Grand Stewards of the year are admitted.
The Grand Master, according to antient usage, is nominated at the Grand Lodge in December in every year, and at the ensuing Grand Lodge in March the election takes
_ place. The Grand Master, so elected, is
regularly installed on the day of the Grand Masonic Festival.
No Brother can be a Grand Master unless he has been a Fellow Craft before his elec- tion, who is also to be nobly born, or a gentleman of the best fashion, or some eminent scholar, or other artist, descended of honest parents, and who is of singularly great merit in the opinion of the Lodges.
The Grand Master, if a Prince of the . Blood Royal, appoints a Pro Grand Master, ~ who must be a Peer of the Realm.
And for the better, and easier, and more honourable discharge of his office, the Grand Master has a power to choose his own Deputy Grand Master, who must then be, or have formerly been, the Master of a par- ticular Lodge, and who has the privilege
63
Freemasonry and its Etiquette
of acting whatever the Grand Master, his principal, should act, unless the said prin- cipal be present, or interpose his authority by letter.
These rulers and governors supreme and subordinate, of the antient Lodge, are to be obeyed in their respective stations by all the brethren, according to the old charges and regulations, with all humility, reverence, love, and alacrity.
* * * *
Nineteen Grand Stewards are annually © appointed, for the regulation of the Grand | Festival, under the directions of the Grand | Master. They assist in conducting the | arrangements made for the quarterly com- | munications and other meetings of the |
Grand Lodge.
The Grand Stewards are appointed from |
nineteen different Lodges, each of which recommends one of its subscribing members, who must be a Master Mason, and presented by the former Grand Steward of that Lodge, for the approbation and appointment of the Grand Master; when so approved and ap- pointed, he is entitled to wear the clothing of a Grand Steward (see p. 369). * * * * 64
United Grand Lodge
All members of the Grand Lodge may have papers of business and notices of special Grand Lodge meetings, together with all reports of the quarterly communications forwarded to them by post on registering their addresses and paying a fee of five shillings per annum in advance.
+ S * *
The Grand Lodge is declared to be opened in ample form when the Grand Master or Pro Grand Master is present; in due form when a Past Grand Master or the Deputy presides; at all other times, only in form,
F yet with the same authority (as prescribed
by Rule 61 of the Book of Constitu- tions).
Grand Lodge is always considered to be
opened for Master Masons only, and the - correct Sn., when addressing the Chair,
appears, by custom, to be that of the E.A.; and the correct method of employing it is explained on p. 192.
The Ceremonies of Opening and Closing Grand Lodge form the basis of, and are similar to, the Ceremonies, mutatis mutandis, _ of Opening and Closing Provincial or District Grand Lodges (see pp. 292 to 297). : & * * %
65 F
Freemasonry and its Etiquette
There will be found in the Book of Con- stitutions, in Grand Lodge Transactions, in the Ritual, and in Masonic writings and conversations generally frequent references to the Antient Landmarks of the Order.
The powers of Grand Lodge are circum- scribed by these alone; and every Master Elect solemnly pledges himself to preserve them, and not to permit or suffer any devia- tion from them. !
It will be well, therefore, for the reader to have some clear and accurate impression of the term.
The word Landmark in its ordinary sense is quite well understood to mean a con- spicuous and immovable object (such as a mountain), or an object not easily moved or likely to be moved (such as a church), and so on, in descending scale, until we come down to pillars and posts of a more temporary and easily movable character.
A Landmark may thus be itself a boundary or a mark by which a boundary may be calculated and fixed, or by which a ship’s course may be determined.
This is the expressive word which has been appropriated by our ancestors to indicate, metaphorically, the immutable character of
66
United Grand Lodge the fundamental principles and customs of our Institution.
But while it is quite easy to understand what is meant by a Landmark, our difficulties commence when we attempt to apply the term in detail.
No official list of Landmarks has ever been compiled. Writers of importance have pre- pared various enumerations of them; but these enumerations command more or less assent according to the individual judgment of the reader.
There is one, however, about which there is no question in the mind of any Free Mason, and Grand Lodge has on more than one occasion affirmed and reaffirmed it— viz., that ‘“‘a belief in T.G.A.O.T.U. is the first and most important of the Antient Landmarks.”
The relation of this Landmark to Free- masonry is as unalterable and undebatable as the relationship of the sun to the earth.
All the rest are dependent upon it and comprehended within it. In some of the others may be detected possibilities of change, gradual, involuntary, or deliberate.
The claim of a Landmark to be so re- 67
Freemasonry and its Etiquette
garded must be tested, therefore, by its antiquity and by the degree in which it has resisted whatever mutability may be in- herent therein.
By this gauge the reader may consider and determine for himself the respective rights and the relative importance of the following claimants which have been suggested and discussed by Dr. Mackey as additional Antient Landmarks ot the Order:
Modes of recognition.
Division of Symbolic Masonry into three Degrees.
The Legend of the third Degree.
Government of Craft by a Grand Master.
Prerogative of Grand Master to preside; to grant Dispensations; to make Masons at sight.
Necessity of Lodge meetings.
Government of Lodge by a Master and
two Wardens. Necessity of Lodge being duly Tyled. Right of every Mason to be represented in General Assembly; to appeal to Grand Lodge; to visit any regular Lodge without invitation. Examinaties of visitors. 8
United Grand Lodge fF quality and independence of Lodges,
inter Se.
Subjection of every Mason to Masonic Jurisdiction.
Qualifications and disqualifications ot Candidates.
Obligation on appropriate V.S.L.
Equality of all Masons.
Secrecy of the Institution.
Speculative Science founded on Opera- tive Art.
Immutability of the Landmarks.
To the above may very fairly be added: Uniformity of the Ritual,
| as practised in each Jurisdiction. (Art. XV. of the Articles of Union. 1813.)