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

242 ENCYCLICAL
ENGLAND
are similar to those of a Grand Commandery,
with Past Grand Officers and the representatives
of the various Grand Commanderies .
and of the subordinate Commanderies deriving
their warrants immediately from it . It
exercises jurisdiction over all the Templars of
the United States, and meets triennially . The
term Encampment is borrowed from military
usage, and is very properly applied to the temporary
congregation at stated periods of the
army of Templars, who may be said to be, for
the time being, in camp .
Encyclical. Circular ; sent to many places
or persons . Encyclical letters, containing information,
advice, or admonition, are sometimes
issued by Grand Lodges or Grand
Masters to the Lodges and Masons of a
jurisdiction . The word is not in very common
use ; but in 1848 the Grand Lodge of
South Carolina issued "an encyclical letter
of advice, of admonition, and of direction,"
to the subordinate Lodges under her jurisdiction;
and a similar letter was issued in
1865 by the Grand Master of Iowa .
En famWe . French, meaning as a family.
In French Lodges, during the reading of the
minutes, and sometimes when the Lodge is
engaged in the discussion of delicate matters
affecting only itself the Lodge is said to meet
"en famille,' at which time visitors are not
admitted .
England. The following is a brief resume
of the history of Freemasonry in England as
it has hitherto been written, and is now generally
received by the Fraternity . It is but
right, however to say, that recent researches
have thrown doubts on the authenticity of
many of the statements-that the legend of
Prince Edwin has been doubted ; the establishment
of a Grand Lodge at York in the beginning
of the eighteenth century denied ; and
the existence of anything but Operative
Masonry before 1717 controverted. These
questions are still in dispute ; but the labors
of Masonic antiquaries, through which many
old records and ancient constitutions are being
continually exhumed from the British Museum
and from Lodge libraries, will eventually
enable us to settle upon the truth .
According to Anderson and Preston, the
first charter granted in England to the Masons,
as a body, was bestowed by King Athelstan,
in 926, upon the application of his
brother, Prince Edwin . "According)y," says
Anderson, quoting from the "Old Constitutions"
(Constitutions, 1738 p . 64), "Prince
Edwin summon'd all the 1 tree and Accepted
Masons in the Realm to meet him in a Congregation
at York, wlo came and form'd the
Grand Lodge under him as their Grand Master,
A .D . 926.
"They brought with them many old Writings
and Records of the Craft, some in Greek,
some in Latin some in French, and other Languages
; and from the Contents thereof, they
fram'd the Constitutions of the English
Lodges, and made a Law for Themselves, to
preserve and observe the same in all Time
coming, &c, &c, &o."
From this assembly at York, the rise of
Masonry in England is generally dated ; from
the statutes there enacted are derived the
English Masonic Constitutions ; and from the
place of meeting, the ritual of the English
Lodges is designated as the "Ancient York
Rite."
E
For a long time the York Assembly exercised
the Masonic jurisdiction over all England
; but in 1567 the Masons of the southern
part of the island elected Sir Thomas Gresham,
the celebrated merchant, their Grand Master,
according to Anderson . (Constitutions, 1738,
81 .) He was succeeded by the Earl of Effingham,am,
the Earl of Huntingdon, and by the illustrious
architect, Inigo Jones .
In the beginning of the eighteenth century,
Masonry in the south of England had fallen
into decay . The disturbances of the revolution,
which placed William III . on the throne,
and the subsequent warmth of political feelings
which agitated the two parties of the
state, had given this peaceful society a wound
fatal to its success . But in 1716 "the few
Lodges at London finding themselves neglected
by Sir Christopher Wren, thought fit
to cement under a Grand Master as the Center
of Union and Harmony," and so four of the
London Lodges "met at the Apple-Tree Tavern
; and having put into the chair the oldest
Master Mason, (now the Master of a Lodge,)
they constituted themselves a Grand Lodge,
pro tempore, in due form, and forthwith revived
the quarterly communication of the
officers of Lodges, (called the Grand Lodge,)
resolved to hold the annual assembly and
feast, and then to choose a Grand Master from
among themselves, till they should have the
honor of a noble brother at their head ." (Anderson,
Constitutions, 1738, p. 109.)
Accordingly, on St . John the Baptist's Day,
1717, the annual assembly and feast were
held, and Mr. Anthony Sayer duly proposed
and elected Grand Master . The Grand Lodge
adopted, among its regulations, the following :
"That the privilege of assembling as Masons,
which bad hitherto been unlimited, should be
vested in certain Lodges or assemblies of
Masons convened in certain places ; and that
every Lodge to be hereafter convened, except
the four old Lodges at this time existing,
should be legally authorized to act by a warrant
from the Grand Master for the time
being, granted to certain individuals by petition
with the consent and approbation of
the C rand Lodge in communication ; and
that, without such warrant no Lodge should
be hereafter deemed regular or constitutional .
In compliment, however, to the four old
Lodges, the privileges which they had always
possessed under the old organization were
particularly reserved to them ; and it was
enacted that "no law, rule, or regulation, to
be hereafter made or passed in Grand Lodge,
should deprive them of such privilege, or encroach
on any landmark which was at that
time established as the standard of Masonic
government." (Preston, Illustrations, ed .
1792, pp. 248,249.)