Is Freemasonry Really Flourishing?

IS FREEMASONRY REALLY FLOURISHING ?

rpO this question , recently asked in our columns , several - ¦ - esteemed correspondents have ventured their opinions , many of which have elicited , as they deserved , a considerable amount of thoughtful respect and attention . Other sections of the Press , too , have , we are glad to observe , caught the spirit of the remarks contained in our first

article , and have added to the stock of information adduced upon the point . It is agreeable to find other Masonic writers coinciding with ns in many of the points we ventured to put forward on a subject of vital interest to all who are solicitous for the good and welfare of the Order ;

and our hope is that in the session now rapidly approaching the matter may be made to occupy the place of much of the stereotyped pabulum which serves to engage the attention of the brethren , in Lodge and at the banquet table . The chief points brought out by the correspondence

that has appeared in our columns tend , in the first place , to prove that the rapidity with which Masonry had advanced of recent years was of value only as to numerical strength , which ' , as regards the Craft , is not " an unmixed good . " Undoubtedly , if we compare our own with many other

" Orders , such as are dubbed " spurious " in ordinary parlance , the cases stand very widely different . To the Oddfellows , the Foresters , and the many other friendly societies which exercise their influence for good in various ways , strength in numbers means to them the unity and

stability of their very existence . Bat in Freemasonry this is not so . In the various friendly benefit societies to which allusion has been made , the larger the roll of financial members the better , because the greater the number who pay into the common fund for the relief of

sick and needy members the higher becomes the standard of those " mutual" principles for which they were constituted . Comparisons , according to the old saw , are odious , and in referring to the many benefit and other clubs which have sprung into existence within the last

half a century , we do not for a moment speak of them in terms of disparagement ; on the contrary , all must admit the vast amount of good they have accomplished in ameliorating the condition of the necessitous and the sick , throughout the length and breadth of the land ,

in times when they most required the succour of some friendl y hand . But what we wished to point out was that the motives which impelled men to join the other societies , and to seek a participation with Freemasonry , were totally and widely distinct . The one enters his club on a mutual

principle of self-help , and with the direct and avowed prospect of obtaining for himself and family some assistance in the hour of need , or , as they are fond of putting it , when the " rainy day " comes . In this he comes as an independent claimant for the benefits for which he has directly

paid , and which he demands as a right , scorning the very Mention of the word " charity . " On the other hand , he who seeks to join the Masonic ranks is justified by no princi ple to anticipate ulterior benefit—as a claim ; he is

Actuated by a desire to make himself more extensively useful * ° hig fellow-creatures . True , he is enjoined by one of the u * idamental principles of the Craft , and which is impressed ^ Pon his mind in the earliest stages of his Masonic career , tat charit y is the " distinguishing characteristic of a Freemason ' s heart , " and that he is bound not to disregard his

Is Freemasonry Really Flourishing?

responsibilities in ropecfc of a brother whom he may find in distress . But there is no fund to which he is entitled to come as a right , and to demand the fruits of his " prudence and forethought . " What he receives in the period of distress is the free-gift of his brethren , and is to all intents

and purposes charity . We think we have said quiet enough on the distinction to be drawn between the only Order we recognise and those others which exert their influence for good in other spheres around us ; and , as the various

writers have also pointed out , the mere numerical increase of Masonic Lodges is not a matter of supreme moment to those who would see Freemasonry really flourish .

Another phase of the question was the unweildiness of Lodges , which resulted in the lapse of many good men and true , who " did run well , " in consequence of so many competitors for the few prizes to be gained , and the overflowing of the surplus membership into " offshoot" Lodges , the

motives prompting the formation of which were not always of the purest . There was an expression employed by one of our correspondents last week , of which we have no doubt the experience might be multiplied , when he says : — " There is a case I could mention of a warrant being

applied for and obtained by a coterie , who saw no hope of attaining to honours in their own Lodges , and who were assisted by Past Masters who either sought after a second reign , or some Provincial honours . " True , as he is careful to observe , " this was prior to the year you mention , when

a curb was placed upon the granting of ' indiscriminate ' warrants ; " but nevertheless that does not take away from thefactthat the circumstances attendingtheaffair were , to say the least , " not very meritorious . " Several " brethren were invited by one most anxious to achieve distinction ( as is

only natural where one has occupied a Warden ' s chair , but has been passed over by an incoming Master who disbelieves in the strict order by rotation method of advancement ) to meet at his private residence , when the ' grievances ' of those who had hoped for , but did not receive ,

collars , found full vent in sympathetic company . The ' leader of the opposition' lost no opportunity of expatiating upon the ' slight' they had received , and urged upon each and all to strive their utmost to obtain a new Lodge . Of course , the leader was to be first Wor . Master , and those

who supported him were to be bis chosen Officers for the year . On that they all agreed , with wonderful unanimity , and it was furthermore made a condition that promotion should go by strict rotation , that is to say , each Officer should move one ' peg' up at the close of each

successive year , until he had passed the chair . " We believe many of our readers will make a shrewd guess at the Lodge for which the warrant alluded to was obtained , nor need the modus operandi , of which our correspondent is ignorant , be inquired into . When these little exploits

are plauned they are usually so conceived and carried out that it would be impossible to arrive at the actual moving and propelling power , and it would be equally difficult for Grand Lodge to see the animus locally astir . But in such cases—for the example quoted by a " Toung Mason " is

not a solitary one—the result is uniformly the same . The writer observes : — " The Lodge was founded , and in order to make a * good start , ' several persons were more than

persuaded to become members , with the obvious view of obtaining funds , by means of the initiation fees . The result has been that at least a dozen of the first initiates have since lapsed , proving that they could not afford , if they