CHAPTER XIV

RITUAL
NEXT in importance to ‘ the foundation on which Freemasonry rests—the practice of every moral and social virtue ’—the solemn ceremonies by which every Mason is made acquainted with ‘the mysteries and privi- leges of Freemasonry’ undoubtedly must take a prominent position in the thoughts of every earnest member of our great Fra- ternity.
Every Mason remembers the deep impres- sion made upon his mind by the first touch- ing experiences of his novitiate, and in after- years it becomes his valued and responsible privilege to assist in creating those sacred impressions upon the minds of his Brethren in the early stages of their Masonic educa- tion.
These ceremonies are comprehensively described as ‘ Ritual.’
Our ancient Brethren viewed the question
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of ‘ Ritual’ very seriously, and almost the first act of the United Grand Lodge in 1813 was to constitute the Lodge of Reconcilia- tion, composed (in conformity with the Articles of Union) of an equal number of representatives of the two previous Grand Lodges, for the express purpose of setéling the Ritual once and for all; and Grand Lodge approved, sanctioned, and confirmed that Ritual on June 5, 1816.
Article XV. of the Act of Union (q.v.) provides :—
‘For this purpose the worthy and expert Master Masons, appointed as aforesaid, shall visit and attend the several Lodges, ... and they shall assist the Master and Wardens to promulgate and enjoin the pure and un- sullied system, that perfect reconciliation, unity of obligation, law, working, language and dress, may be happily restored to the English Craft.’
Article XVI. reads:
‘It shall be in the power of the Grand Lodge to take the most effectual measures for the establishment of this unity of doctrine throughout the whole community of Masons, and to declare the Warrants to be forfeited, if the measures proposed shall be resisted.’
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ignorance of these cardinal facts breeds in the minds of some an idea that the Ritual can follow the deviations of personal idiosyn- crasies, individual and collective.
It is not so. No Mason has a right to _ tamper with a comma of it. Only Grand _» Lodge could do that (vide Article 4 of Book _ of Constitutions).
“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.’
‘It is not in the power of any man or body of men to make innovation in the body of Masonry,’ and any attempt to introduce or perpetuate any deviation is a breach of that Law of Obedience to which a Mason’s attention has PP. peculiarly and forcibly, : directed.’ é
It may be fr Pd, if sorrowlully, admitted that there are, unfortuhately, many errors and discrepancies, and even misstatements of fact, in the Ritual submitted by the Lodge of Reconciliation and approved by Grand
Lodge in 1816: but it is difficult to conceive F2%
Freemasonry and its Etiquette
with what authority any subordinate Mason or body of Masons, can imagine himself or themselves to be clothed. which would warrant him or them in even deliberating upon the subject of the Ritual with a view to alter it after it has once been sanctioned and confirmed by the United Grand Lodge.
Every Worshipful Master is under a special — obligation ‘not to permit or suffer any deviation from the established Land-marks of the Order.’
If Grand Lodge in 1813 treated the ques- tion of Ritual as of such primary import- ance, there can be no excuse for us to treat it lightly or irreverently in these days; and as in civil matters, ignorantia legis neminem excusat, so in Masonic matters it is inex-. cusable to blunder as a consequence of failure ‘to make a daily advancement in Masonic knowledge,’ and it becomes our bounden duty to assure ourselves that we are rightly discharging our responsibility in this connection.
This, however, is a busy world, and many . causes conspire to make us treat our Masonry more as a social relaxation than an earnest probing of ‘the hidden mysteries of Nature © and Science’; and we are, often perforce,
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more content to remain in the category of those whose duty it is to ‘ submit and obey * than to qualify ourselves by study and research to occupy fitly the position of those whose function it becomes to ‘rule and
~ teach.’
The subject, however, is of primary im- portance, and the following collated facts. will enable the reader to arrive at a sound conclusion upon a serious and vexed ques- tion:
The constant desire of Grand Lodge to insure Uniformity of Working is evidenced by the measures it has taken from time to time for the purpose of supervising and co- ordinating the ‘Working’ of subordinate Lodges.
That this desire is by no means of modern growth may be learned from official records. of the ancient régime. So far back as Sep- tember 2, 1752, it was resolved: ‘ That this. Grand Committee shall be formed immedi-. ately into a working Lodge of Master Masons, in order to hear a Lecture from the Grand’ Secretary. The Lodge was opened in antient form, and every part of real Freemasonry was traced and explained, except the Royal
Arch.’ 123
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In the year 1792 the Nine Excellent ‘Masters, familiarly known as ‘The Nine ‘Worthies,’ were instituted by the Grand Committee. These Brethren were elected annually to assist Grand officers in visiting Lodges, in order ‘ that the general uniformity of Ancient Masonry may be preserved and handed down unchanged to posterity.’
The Lodge of Promulgation was instituted by Warrant, dated October 28, 1809, from the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of England, ‘ authorizing certain distinguished Brethren to hold a special Lodge for the pur- pose of ascertaining and promulgating the Ancient Land-Marks of the Craft.’
In the case of the Lodge of Promulgation,
. . . the object to be attained was to make the Lodges of the Moderns fall into line with those of the Antients as regards their Land- Marks and esoteric practices.’
“There can be no possible doubt that the Grand Lodge of the Moderns gave in on all points where their Ceremonies differed from those of the Antients.’
The Articles of Union, November 25, 1813, themselves lay especial stress on the point of Uniformity.
Articles III., IV., and V. refer to‘... the
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purpose of establishing and securing Uni- formity of Working.’
Article XV. provides ‘. . . that perfect reconciliation, Unity of obligation, law, working, language, and dress, may be happily restored to the English Craft.’
Article XVI. enacts that ‘...Grand Lodge: may declare the Warrants to be forfeited if the measures proposed shall be resisted.’
The Lodge of Reconciliation was consti-
tuted December 7,. 1813, ‘. . . with power to meet, unite, and incorporate themselves with a Lodge of equal numbers . ... accord-
ing to the Old Institutions contained and set forth in Articles 4 and 15 of a certain instrument bearing date November 25 last entitled ‘‘ Articles of Union” between the two Grand Lodges of England... .’
The Lodge of Reconciliation worked for over two years at its important task.
On May 20, 1816, the Ceremonies of the three degrees were rehearsed for the ap- proval of the United Grand Lodge.
On June 5, 1816, alterations on two points* in the Third Degree having been resolved upon, the several Ceremonies recommended were approved, sanctioned, and confirmed.
* See Appendix: Master’s Light, 125
‘Freemasonry and its Etiquette
On August 6, 1818, the Grand Secretary (E. Harper), in reply to an inquiry concerning the correct Ritual, wrote that ‘ Bro. Peter W. Gilkes would instruct “‘in the correct method adopted since the Union.”
‘Bro. Peter W. Gilkes was officially acknow- ledged as the most perfect exponent of the Ceremonies and Ritual of the Craft.
‘He was in a manner something John- sonian in regard to Masonry. No advantage could be taken of him in Lodge; he would not allow the slightest deviation tn word, or manner, or matter... .
In 1823 Emulation Lodge of Improve- ment was Iormed to teach this approved ‘Mode of Working,’ and did so under the leadership of Bro. Peter W. Gilkes from 1825 until his death in 1833.
The Board of Installed Masters was War- ranted February 6, 1827, in these words: ‘... And feeling how important it is that all Rites and Ceremonies in the Craft should
__ be conducted with Uniformity and correct-
ness, and with a view, therefore, to produce
such Uniformity, we have theught it proper
to appoint, and do accordingly nominate
and appoint ...to make known to all
who may be entitled to participate in such 126
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knowledge, the Rites and Ceremonies of Installation as the same have already been approved by us... .’
In 1827 this Board of Installed Masters held three meetings at Freemasons’ Hall, which were very numerously attended by _ Masters and Past Masters, who ‘expressed themselves highly satisfied with the cere- monies and explanations which were then afforded them.’
In 1833 Bro. Stephen Barton Wilson (afterwards P.G.D.) succeeded Bro. Peter W. Gilkes as Leading Member of the Emulation Lodge of Improvement.
On September 6, 1843, the Grand Secre- tary (W. H. White) wrote, in reply to an inquiry whether any alteration had been made in the Ceremonies, that no alteration had ‘been made since the Grand Lodge formally approved and decided on them in the year 1816. Bro. Gilkes was fully Master of all the Ceremonies, and, I believe, most strictly observed them.’
Bro. S. B. Wilson remained in command until his death, April 25, 1866.
Bro. Thomas Fenn (afterwards P.B.G.P.) succeeded Bro. S. B. Wilson, and remained
in charge until 1894, when 127
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Bro. R. Clay Sudlow (afterwards P.G.D.) took up that position, and retained it until his death in 1914.
There has thus been an uninterrupted chain of communication from the Lodge of Reconciliation down to the present day, and at this point the following letter finds an appropriate place:
‘UNITED GRAND LODGE oF ENGLAND, ‘FREEMASONS’ HALL, ‘GREAT QUEEN STREET, *“Lonpon, W.C.
‘ November 22, 1912. ‘DEAR SIR AND BROTHER,
‘I am in receipt of your letter of the 20th instant, and am pleased to learn that a correct rendering of the Ritual is a subject of concern to the members of your Lodge.
‘While it is true that no edict has ever been issued by Grand Lodge as to any par- ticular working being accepted, nor is it con- sidered compulsory that Lodges should con- form to what is termed the ‘“ Emulation ” system of ritual, on the other hand it is an historical fact that Grand Lodge in 1816 definitely adopted and gave its approval to the system of working submitted to it by the Lodge of Reconciliation, and it is also a.
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fact that this is the system which the “Emulation”? Lodge of Improvement was founded in 1823 to teach, and which is taught by that Lodge to-day.
“The late Bro. Thomas Fenn, who was considered the most able exponent of Masonic
_ Ritual of his day, always held the opinion that the “ Emulation ”’ working was author- ized, and that opinion is also held by Bro. Sudlow, his successor in the teaching of that system. Certainly no other system or ritual has received at any time the official approval of Grand Lodge.
‘J am, Yours fraternally, “E. Letcuwortu, G.S. FW. Bro. W. P. Campbell-Everden, L.R., Lodge No. 19, London.’
It must be admitted by all unbiassed minds that, having regard to the great and extraordinary care which Emulation Lodge of Improvement has, fortunately, always
taken to preserve its own rigid and absolute
conformity with the original. ‘Mode of Working ’ adopted by the Lodge of Recon- ciliation in 1816, while no other Lodge has had the inclination or the means to take such measures, it would redound to the credit
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of Freemasonry in general if every Lodge were now to revert to, and in the future adhere to, that standard of accuracy and strict conformity with—
1. The ‘ Mode of Working’ the Ancient Ceremonies of Initiation, Passing, and Rais- ing, as approved, sanctioned, and confirmed by the United Grand Lodge on June 5, 1816; and
2. The Ceremony of Installation as agreed by the Board of Installed Masters and sanc- tioned and approved by the Grand Master in 1827; and
3. The Lectures corresponding with the said Ceremonies and the ancient usages and established customs of the Order.
Ne Varientur.
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