Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-11-30
yEMPRIS APPEAL
MAsoNIC INTELLIGENCE
H
rnRAnEnIrAN RIrE. AaAIn.

grand body to govern it.
The Templar degree is whelly differen
| from the English, Scottish and Irisl
Ten plar degrees, and from that worked
= in Pennsylvania. It was invented bl
WEBB. The Red Cross was made by
him cut of the 18th and 18th OF the An
cient and Accepted Rite. The MARI
3 made by him out-and-out. So wa
what there is of the Past Mas
ter. The Royal Arch degree wal
b, made about 1855, with the help q
RAMsEY's Royal Arch; but the Mis-
: souri, Brethren must not imagine thai
they have the original Degree. WEBB
re-vamped it, and made it totally differ
ent, and the Council Degrees originated
about 1900, nobody knows where, except
that the Deputy Inspectors of the Scottish
Z Rite had and gave them. Why do moi
the followers of Bro. GoULEY take in
!. the Super Master also? 1t is
quite as legitimate Masonry as the rest
"The only legitimate Rite of Freema-
sonTy :" Really this is going rather too
far. Do these Brethren suppose that the
= United States are the whole Masonic
world, or that nobody knows enough to
:. expose their ridiculous pretensions? II
is bad enough to have continually plum
dered the Rite OF Perfection, taking what
they wanted of its ceremonial and
lectures, and using its instruction as a
pretended commentary on the three
degrees, in which there is little or no
text for the huge superstructure but it
is rather a rash eXpeFimen to venture
upon, to undertake to make those who do
not read believe that Scottish Ma
sonTy reveals the secretsn Of degrees
borrowed from itself, and is more modern
than they.
DR.. OLIVER says: ain many Lodges
Of our own country, the Royal Arch is
conferred as ffth degree, the five being
the Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft,
Master Mason, Past Master and Royal
Arch; although in reality the grades are
Entered Apprentice, Fellow Graft,
Mark Master, Master Mason, Past Mas
ter, Most Excellent Master and Royal
Arch. In Ireland they stand, Entered
Apprentice, Fellow Graft, Master Mason,
Past Master, Excellent, Super Excellent,
Royal Arch. y " Few of our Lodges" he
saws, "practice Mark Masonry, which
indeed is unsanctioDed by the Grand
LODGE
Now we do not know when degree Of
of ROseav vrOiX was established. The Royal
OrCRr of Heredom of Scotland we know
to be very sncient. 1t claips to have
been established in 1914 BY ROBERT
| RRr-CE. We do not know when the
| Ksdosh degree was created. We do know
that the Rite Of Perfection, in twenty
five degrees, was worked in 175S; and
it is of course quite certain that it must
! have required many years to establish
so. many degrees, and gather them
! into a Rite. We do not know
| when the Royal Arch Of SOLOMON
! or ENOCH, and the Degree Of Perfection
! were established, or the Knights of the
/ East, or the Princes of jerusalem. They
are very little younger, and may be
/ older than the Masters degree, which in
! I7l7 and for many years after, was not
| given to the body of the Fraternity, but
only to Masters elect, and in Grand
/ Lodge. Bro. DIR. OLIVER says, 1.-THE
/ Masters degree, in the early part Of the
| past century, was not conferred lndis-
| criminately, as it is now. By the old
! charges, il was only necessary that
/ Brother should be Fellow-Craft, to be
! eligible 10 the office OF Warden or Mas
! ter and this degree qualified a noble
/ Brother for the Grand Msstersbip Of
England: indeed no one aCds called q
| Master Mason, TIL he had become the
| Master Of his lodge ~ 81 7---- q t-t
In the Revelations of a Square, he
says: "Iu ancient times the l.. A. ?.
degree JCGs alone prevalent amongst the
| generality Of our LOdges, for no Brother
could be passed and raised except in the
| Grand Lodge, and few availed them
selves Of the privilege. Hence they had
| only one sign, one token aud one word"
Il is a long step from all this to the
making it necessary that one should have
eleUeR degrees, before he shall take any
Of the degrees Of a Rite which knows
nothing at all about eight Of them.
BY what right does any body Of so
called Knight Templars forbid its mem
bers to be present or assist in comforting
the degrees Of the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite on snv one who is not him
self a Templ8r? ? 1t is to order them to
disobey the laws of another order into
which they have voluntarily entered, to
refuse 90 obey peremptory summons,
in compliance with their solemn vows OF
obedience, or to leave an assembly of the
order without permission, and so become
liable TO expulsion. By what right does
q Grand Commandery OF one order un-
dertake to say what its members shall
or shall not do as members Of another
and independeut order? 1t is a singular
stretch of arrogant insOlence in them 10 /
pronounce by this law, thatsuch other or /
der has no right to confer its degrees on |
those who haven received the degree Of
Tenplar, and to not only encourage, but 4
cOypDel characterization and rebellion in 4
its bosom. For If they consider the /
degrees Of the A. and A. Rite unfit to /
be taken, why do they not prOhibit its /
members from taking them st all. Ger /
taiBlv il is not for them to say what |
shall be the prerequisites required by that |
Rite and its authorities, to the reception |
Of its degrees. 1t rather seems that they |
deem them SO high and exalted that no /
body but n Templar is worthy to take |
them but the truth is, that the purpose |
is TO compel Master Mss0ns, first to pay /
for and receive those Of Royal Arch Ma |
sonry and Templarism and then to pre- /
tend that their obligations as Templars 1
are paramount to those as Kadoshim and 4
Princes of the Royal Secret.
TFOtC trCre they induced to enact such q /
tar? We know thst only a very small 1
number among them hsd received the /
degrees of the Ancient and Accepted /
Rite. They could therefore lawfully |
know nothing about them. Did any one /
who had received them violate his obli- /
cations by disclosing the secrets, and |
iibelling the Rite? /
Suppose the Grand Chapter and Grand /
Council follow suit, aud then Grand |
Consistory Of Missouri prohibits those of
Hs obedience from being present at the 4
comforting of the Royal Arch, Select 4
Master or Templar Degree on any per-
son not Prince Of the Royal Secret j
You cannot even advise man to take |
any degree in Masonry, and still less
persuade him to do it, and vet here Is q /
body Of MssOns pretending to be res
pectable that undertakes to force Master /
No. 80 nav fnr and raaaivra ffe do
grees, before be shall take those of an
other Rite, whether he lCaglts their |
degrees or not Is it the object 4
10 make money, or do they fear that /
those aDkO receiUe the degrees Of the A..
d A.. Rite 1OiH prefer them TO theirs, and /
Un1iie them more. II we had said that, /
they would with justice have denounced /
US for it: and now they themselves con
fess it. They fear that the success of the /
A.. d A. Rite will injtsre Templar Ma
sonry. Why? II must be because it is in /
trinsically more worthy of the devotion 4
and study of an intelligent man. There
can be no other reason. We viii not say 4
what zoe think OF such an enactment;
but we shall say this, that If the authori-
ties OF the A. d A. Rite bad made It
law that no one shsuld assist In confer
ring the Tempiar Degree on any one not |
AlEeaQN EEluct "a Tue w NJ cSCActi Tie Ma
sonic world would be justified in declaring
with unanimous accord their action to be
arrogant, IL not Indecent in the extreme.
We shalt take occasion to show, at our
leisure, and 6y documents tOhose duthen-
Geitg cannot be disputed, what 10Gs the
origin Of English and American Tenn
piarism. We are Of that Christian and
n0n- Masonic Order; but we never as
sumed an obligation to falsify the facts
Of history, or TO pretend that we had the
right, because we have the two degrees
which it confers, to demand admission
into body Of REAL Templars anywhere
in the world. We hsve not wished for
this controversy, and have endeayored to
avoid it. But IL the State Grand Com
mandery Of Missouri, legislating without
the knowledge of the Grand body for the
United States, or Of its Grand Master,
IL 1. q. Il