Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

EMERGENT
ENCAMPMENT 241
Emergent Lodge. A Lodge held at an
emergent meeting .
Emergent Meeting . The meeting of a
Lodge called to elect a candidate, and confer
the degrees in a case of emergency, or for any
other sudden and unexpected cause, has been
called an emergent meeting. The term is not
very common, but it has been used by W . S .
Mitchell and a few other writers .
Emeritus. Latin ; plural, emeriti. The
Romans applied this word-which comes
from the verb emerere, to gain by service-to a
soldier who had served out his time • hence
in the Supreme Councils of the Ancient and
Accepted Scottish Rite of this country, an
active member, who resigns his seat by reason
of age, infirmity, or for other cause deemed
good by the Council, may be elected an Emeritus
member, and will possess the privilege of
proposing measures and being heard in debate,
but not of voting.
Emeth . Hebrew, =M . One of the words
in the high degrees . It signifies integrity,
fidelity, firmness, and constancy in keeping a
promise, and especially TRUTH, as opposed to
falsehood. In the Scottish Rite, the Sublime
Knights Elect of Twelve of the Eleventh Degree
are called "Princes Emeth," which mean
simply men of exalted character who are devoted
to truth.
Eminent. The title given to the Commander
or presiding officer of a Commandery
of Knights Templar, and to all officers below
the Grand Commander in a Grand Commander
. The Grand Commander is styled
I'Mght Eminent," and the Grand Master of
the brand Encampment of the United States,
"Most Eminent." The word is from the Latin
eminens, "standing above," and literally signifies
"exalted in rank ." Hence, it is a title
given to the cardinals in the Roman Church .
Emounah. (Fidelity, Truth .) The name of
the Fourth Step of the mystic ladder of the
Kadosh of the A . A. Scottish Rite .
Emperor of Lebanon. (Empereur du
Liban .) This degree, says Thory (Act. Lat., i .,
311), which was a part of the collection of M .
Le Rouge, was composed in the isle of Bourbon,
in 1778, by the Marquis de Beurnonville,
who was then National Grand Master of all
the Lodges of India.
Emperors of the East and West. In
1758 there was established in Paris a Chapter
called the "Council of Emperors of the East
and West." The members assumed the titles
of "Sovereign Prince Masonsl " "Substitutes
General of the Royal Art, Grand Superintendents
and Officers of the Grand and Sovereign
Lodge of St . John of Jerusalem." Their
ritual, which was based on the Templar system,
consisted of twenty-five degrees, as follows
: 1 to 19, the same as the Scottish Rite •
20, Grand Patriarch Noachite ; 21, Key of
Masonry ; 22, Prince of Lebanon ; 23, Knight
of the Sun ; 24, Kadosh ; 25, Prince of the
Royal Secret . It granted warrants for Lodges
of the high degrees, appointed Grand Inspectors
and Deputies, and established several
subordinate bodies in the interior of France,
among which was a "Council of Princes of the
Royal Secret," at Bordeaux . In 1763, one
Pincemaille, the Master of the Lodge La Candeur
at Metz, began to publish an exposition
of these degrees in the serial numbers of a
work entitled Conversations Allegoriques sur
la Franche-Magonnerie . In 1764, the Grand
Lodge of France offered him 300 livres to suppress
the book . Pincemaille accepted the
bribe but continued the publication, which
lasted until 1766 .
In 1758, the year of their establishment in
France, the degrees of this Rite of Heredom, or
of Perfection, as it was called, were carried by
the Marquis de Bernez to Berlin, and adopted
by the Grand Lodge of the Three Globes .
Between the years 1760 and 1765, there was
much dissension in the Rite . A new Council,
called the Knights of the East, was established
at Paris, in 1760, as the rival of the Emperors
of the East and West . The controversies of
these two bodies were carried into the Grand
Lodge, which, in 1766, was compelled, for the
sake of peace, to issue a decree in opposition
to the high degrees, excluding the malcontents,
and forbidding the symbolical Lodges to
recognize the authority of these Chapters .
But the excluded Masons continued to work
clandestinely and to grant warrants. From
that time until its dissolution, the history of
the Council of the Emperors of the East and
West is but a history of continuous disputes
with the Grand Lodge of France . At length,
in 1781, it was completely absorbed in the
Grand Orient, and has no longer an existence.
The assertion of Thory (Act . Lat .), and of
Ragon (Orthod. Mac .), that the Council of the
Emperors of the East and West was the origin
of the Ancient and Accepted Rite, although it
has been denied, does not seem destitute of
truth . It is very certain, if the documentary
evidence is authentic, that the Constitutions
of 1672 were framed by this Council ; and it is
equally certain that under these Constitutions
a patent was granted to Stephen Morin,
through whom the Ancient and Accepted
Scottish Rite was established in America .
Emunah . 111tk. Sometimes spelled
Amunah, but not in accordance with the
Masoretic points . A significant word in the
high degrees signifying fidelity, especially in
fulfilling one's promises .
Encampment. All regular assemblies of
Knights Templar were formerly called Encampments.
They are now styled Commanderies
in America, and Grand Encampments
of the States are called Grand Commanderies.
In England they are now called
"Preceptories ." (See Commandery and Commandery,
Grand.)
Encampment, General Grand. The
title, before the adoption of the Constitution
of 1856, of the Grand Encampment of the
United States.
Encampment, Grand. The Grand Encam
pwent of the United States was instituted
on the 22d of June, 1816, in the city of New
York. It consists of a Grand Master, Deputy
Grand Master, and other Grand Officers who