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

256 EXCALIBAR
EXCLUSNENESS
as to have forgotten the instructions he has
received, must pay the penalty of his carelessness,
and be deprived of his contemplated
visit to that society whose secret modes of recognition
he has so little valued as not to have
treasured them in his memory.
Lastly, never should an unjustifiable delicacy
weaken the rigor of these rules. Remember,
that for the wisest and most evident
reasons, the merciful maxim of the law, which
says that it is better that ninety nine guilty
men should escape than that one innocent man
should be punished, is with us reversed and
that in Masonry it is better that ninety and nine
true men should be turned away from the door o
a Lodge than that one cowan should be adm -
Excallbar. King Arthur's famous sword,
which he unfixed from a miraculous stone
after the unavailing efforts of 200 of his most
puissant barons. Hence, Arthur was proclaimed
king . When dying, Arthur commanded
a servant to throw the sword into a
neighboring lake, but the servant twice eluded
this command. When he finally complied, a
hand and arm arose from the water, seized the
sword by the hilt, waved it thrice, then sinking
into the lake, was seen no more?
Excavations. Excavations beneath Jerusalem
have for some years past been in progress,
under the direction of the English society, which
controls the " PalestineExploration Fund," and
many important discoveries, especially interesting
to Masons, have been made .
Excellent. A title conferred on the Grand
Captain of the Host and Grand Principal Sojourner
of a Grand Chapter, and on the King
and Scribe of a subordinate Chapter of Royal
Arch Masons in America .
Excellent Masons . Dr . Oliver (Hilt.
Landm ., i., 420-8) gives a tradition that at the
building of Solomon's Temple there were nine
Lodges of Excellent Masons having nine in
each, which were distributed as follows : Six
Lodges, or fifty-four Excellent Masons in the
quarries ; three Lodges, or twenty-seven Excellent
Masons in the forest of Lebanon ;
eight Lodges, or seventy-two Excellent Masons
engaged in preparing the materials ; and
nine Lodges, or eighty-one Excellent Masons
subsequently employed in building the Temple
. Of this tradition there is not the slightest
support in authentic history, and it must
have been invented altogether for a symbolic
purpose, in reference perhaps to the mystical
numbers which it details .
Excellent Master . A degree which, with
Super-Excellent Master was atone time given
as preparatory to the Loyal Arch . They now
form part of what is known as Cryptic Masonry
.
Most. (See Most Excellent.)
Excellent, Right . (See R' ht Excellent .)
Excellent, Super. (See Super-Excellent
Masons .)
Exclusion. In England the Grand Lodge
alone can expel from the rights and privileges
of Masonry. But a subordinate Lodge may
exclude a member after giving him due notice
of the charge preferred against him, and of the
time appointed for its consideration. The
name of any one so excluded, and the cause of
his exclusion must be sent to the Grand
Secretary and to the Provincial or District
Grand Secretary if the Lodge be in a Province
or District. No Mason excluded is eligible to
any other Lodge until the Lodge to which he
applies has been made acquainted with his
exclusion, and the cause, so that the brethren
may exercise their discretion as to his admission.
(Constitutions, Rules 210 and 212.) In
America, the word used as synonymous with
exclusion is striking from the roll, except that
the latter punishment is only inflicted for nonpayment
of Lodge dues.
Exclusiveness of Masonry . The exclusiveness
of Masonic benevolence is a charge
that has frequently been made against the
Order ; and it is said that the charity of which
it boasts is always conferred on its own members
in preference to strangers. It cannot be
denied that Masons, simply as Masons have
ever been more constant and more profuse in
their charities to their own brethren than to the
rest of the world; that in apportioning the alms
which God has given them to bestow, they have
first looked for the poor in their own home before
they sought those who were abroad ; and
that their hearts have felt more deeply for the
destitution of a Brother than a stranger.
The principle that governs the Institution of
Freemasonry, in the distribution of its charities,
and the exercise of all the friendly affections,
is that which was laid down by St .
Paul for the government of the infant church
at Galatia- "As we have therefore opportunity
let us do good unto all men, es eciall~y
unto diem who are of the household of faith . '
(Galatians vi. 10.)
This sentiment of preference for those of
one's own faith, thus sanctioned by apostolic
authority, is the dictate of human nature, and
the words of Scripture find their echo in every
heart. "Blood," says the Spanish proverb,
"is thicker than water," and the claims of
kindred, of friends and comrades to our affections,
must not be weighed in the same scale
with those of the stranger, who has no stronger
tie to bind him to our sympathies, than that
of a common origin from the founder of our
race . All associations of men act on this princi~e
. It is acknowledged in the church,
which follows with strict obedience the in'unction
of the apostle ; and in the relief it affords
to the distressed, in the comforts and consolations
which it imparts to the afflicted, and
in the rights and privileges which it bestows
upon its own members, distinguishes between
those who have no community with it of religious
belief, and those who, by worshiping at
the same altar, have established the higher
claim of being of the household of faith .
It is recognized by all other societies, which
however they may, from time to time, and
under the pressure of peculiar circumstances,
extend temporary aid to accidental cases of distress,
carefully preserve their own peculiar
funds for the relief of those who, by their election
as members, by their subscription to a