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

382 KILWINNING
KING
tion of the Chevalier Ramsay, whose birthplace
was in the vicinity of Kilwinning .
I confess that I look upon the legend and
the documents that contain it with some favor,
as at least furnishing the evidence that there
has been among the Fraternity a general belief
of the antiquity of the Kilwinning Lodge .
Those, however, whose faith is of a more
hesitating character, will find the most satisfactory
testimonies of the existence of that
Lodge in the beginni ng of the fifteenth century.
At that period, when James II . was on
the throne, the Barons of Roslin, as hereditary
Patrons of Scotch Masonry, held their annual
meetings at Kilwinning, and the Lodge at that
place granted Warrants of Constitution for
the formation of subordinate Lodges in other
parts of the kingdom . The Lodges thus
formed in token of their respect for, and submission
to, the mother Lodge whence they derived
their existence, affixed the word Kilwinning
to their own distinctive name ; many
instances of which are still to be found on the
register of the Grand Lodge of Scotland-such
as Canongate Kilwinning, Greenock Kilwinning,
Cumberland Kilwinning, etc .
But, in process of time, this Grand Lodge at
Kilwinning ceased to retain its supremacy,
and finally its very existence . As in the case
of the sister kingdom, where the Grand Lodge
was removed from York, the birthplace of
Enpjish Masonry, to London, so in Scotland,
the supreme seat of the Order was at length
transferred from Kilwinning to the metropolis
; and hence, in the doubtful document entitled
the "Charter of Cologne," which purports
to have been written in 1542, we find, in
a list of nineteen Grand Lodges in Europe,
that that of Scotland is mentioned as sitting
at Edinburgh, under the Grand Mastership of
John Bruce. In 1736, when the Grand Lodge
of Scotland was organized, the Kilwinning
Lodge was one of its constituent bodies, and
continued in its obedience until 1743 . In that
year it petitioned to be recognized as the
oldest Lodge in Scotland ; but as the records of
the original Lodge had been lost, the present
Lodge could not prove, says Lawrie, that it
was the identical Lodge which had first practised
Freemasonry in Scotland . The petition
was therefore rejected, and, in consequence,
the Kilwinning Lodge seceded from
the Grand Lodge and established itself as an
independent body. It organized Lodges in
Scotland ; and several instances are on record
of its issuing charters as Mother Kilwinning
Lodge to Lodges in foreign countries . Thus, it
granted one to a Lodge in Virginia in 1758,
and another in 1779 to some brethren in Ireland
calling themselves the Lodge of High
Knights Templar . But in 1807 the Mother
Lodge of Kilwinning renounced all right of
granting charters, and came once more into
the bosom of the Grand Lodge, bringing with
her all her daughter Lodges .
Here terminates the connection of Kilwinning
as a place of any special importance
with the Masonry of Scotland . As for the
abbey, the stupendous fabric which was exe-
toted by the Freemasons who first migrated
into Scotland, its history, like that of the
Lodge which they founded, is one of decline
and decay . In 1560, it was in a great measure
demolished by Alexander, Earl of Glencairne
in obedience to an Order from the States o
Scotland, in the exercise of their usurped authority
during the imprisonment of Mary
Stuart. A few years afterward, a part of the
abbey chapel was repaired and converted into
the parish church, and was used as such until
about the year 1775, when, in consequence of
its ruinous and dangerous state, it was pulled
down and an elegant church erected in the
modern style. In 1789, so much of the ancient
abbey remained as to enable Grose, the
antiquary, to take a sketch of the ruins ; but
now not a vestige of the building is to be found,
nor can its exact site be ascertained with any
precision.
Kilwinning Manuscript . Also called the
Edinburgh Kilwinning. This manuscript derives
its name from its being written in a small
quarto book, belonging to the celebrated
"Mother Kilwinning Lodge" of Scotland .
For its publication, the Masonic Fraternity is
indebted to Bro . William James Hughan, who
has inserted it in his Unpublished Records of
the Craft, from a copy made for him from tha
original by Bro . D . Murray Lyon, of Ayr,
Scotland . Bro. Lyon, "whilst glancing at the
minutes of the Lodge of Edinburgh from De,
cember 27, 1675, till March 12, 1678 wa%
struck with the similarity which the land,
writing bore to that in which the Kilwinning 4
copy of the Narrative of the Founding of the
Craft of Masonry is written, and upon closer
examination he was convinced that in both
cases the caligraphy is the same ." (History of
the Lodge of Edinburgh, p . 107 .) It was prob .
ably written in 1665. The Anglican phraseology,
and the fact that one of the charges re .
quires that Masons should be "liedgemen to
the King of England," conclusively show that
the manuscript was written in England and
introduced into Scotland . It is so much like
the text of the Grand Lodge MS ., published by
Bro . Hughan in his Old Charges of British Freemasons,
that, to use the language of Bro.
Woodford, "it would pass as au indifferent
copy of that document ."
Kilwinning, Mother Lodge . For an account
of this body, which was fur some time,
the rival of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, see
Kilwinning .
Kilwinning System . The, Masonry practised
in Scotland, so called bee .ause it is supposed
to have been instituted at the Abbey of
Kilwinning . Oliver uses the term in his
Mirror for the Johannite Masons (p. 120) .
(See Saint John's Masonry .)
King . The second offic..r in a Royal Arch
Chapter in America. He ire the representative
of Zerubbabel, prince or governor of
Judah . When the Chapt r meets as a Lodge
of Mark, Past, or Most Excellent Masters, the
king acts as Senior Warden .
After the rebuilding of the second Temple
the government of the Jews was administered