The Enlargement Of Our Institutions.

Royal Benevolent and the Boys' School , have been greatly increased , but as regards the Girls' School , the premises at Battersea will not allow of any further extension , as the accommodation is only sufficient for the present number , one hundred and fifty . Already a notice of motion for its

enlargement has been given in Committee by Bro . Joshua Nunn , and a scheme will shortly belaid before the subscribers . It has been found impossible to enlarge the present site , as no more land , in immediate contiguity , could be obtained . Doubtless the ground , at present occupied , is very valuable ,

and we doubt not , would realise a very considerable sum , with which other premises mig ht be erected in some locality somewhat more remote from London , where land is cheaper . There is a growing tendency now-a-days to send all our big London schools into the country , where greater

accommodation can be had at a lower cost , and the marvellously increased value of land in , and around the Metropolis , enables the governing bodies of these schools to do this

without difficulty , as regards money , while the purer air of the country is an additional incentive thereto . We see no reason why the Masonic Girls' School should be an exception to , in this repect , the prevailing tendency of the day .

Charges Of A Freemason

CHARGES OF A FREEMASON

Br CORNELIUS MOORE , EDITOR or THE Masonic Revieiv . MERE seniority of years will not make up for a deficiency in essential qualities . It is safer , however , to select those who are mature in age , than the young and necessarily inexperienced . Wisdom and knowledge are more likely to dwell with gray hairs ; but they alone are not sufficient . Seniority should not be the standard , but qualifications ; and while these are more frequently the heritage of

years , the industrious and studious youth may have acquired a fitness which age has not gained . The writer of this , totally unexpected to himself , was elected and installed Master of his Lodge in less than a year after his initiation . This was evidently in violation of a venerable law , which requires ono to have served as Warden before he shall be eligible to the office of Master : but it was at a time when

those laws were not well understood or very strictly obeyed . Besides this , it was an experiment that should very rarely be tried , for he was evidently unfit to perform the duties of that office—not having had sufficient time to acquire the requisite knowledge or experience . But while youth should sit at the feet of age , and learn wisdom from the lips of experience , qualifications , and not seniority , should be the

passport to promotion and honour . The great reason for this rule of preferment is , "that the lords may be well served . " This was the rule when Masonry -was exclusively operative in its character ; and it is still a good rule in speculative Masonry . "The lords" were then " well served , " when the buildings on which the Craft were engaged were skilfully and tastefully erected ;

when the material was well selected and accurately prepared , and the several portions properly adjusted in the building . Now the work is well done when tho moral precepts of the Order are wisely and impressively taught , and the moral structure so reared that the supreme Grand Master will be" well served , " and tho temples built such as will meet his approbation .

The " mode and manner" of acquiring knowledge , such as will prepare a Mason for eminonce among his brethren , cannot bo " described in writing ; " they depend upon the listening ear , tho instructive tongue , and the faithfnl breast . The rituals of Masonry can only be acquired by diligent attention , oral instruction , and long experience . They can be learned nowhere but in the Lodgo room , for the

illustrations can be witnessed nowhero else . " Every brother must attend in his place , and learn them in a way peculiar to this Paternity . " The Lodge is the school room of the Masonic student ; and while ho may learn much from a constant study of tho written charges and constitutional rules of tho Order , as well as by " a diligent pcrnsal of the Holy Scriptures—the great Light in Masonrv , " and irs moral

trestle-hoard — yet . tho illustration and application , which are absolutely essential , can only be found in the tvled recesses of the Lodge room . No Mason should fail to attend the meetings of his Lodge unless a higher duty interpose . This rule was important when the Craft was engaged in building . Tf there were more Craftsmen than there was work to do , some of them mnst bo unemployed .

and , having no other resources for a livelihood , mnst hecomo a charge upon the brethren . The supply would be greater than iho demand , and tho evils resulting from this state of things would be serious Hence tho wisdom of this injunction , —not to" take an apprentice unless " there was" employment for him" -to instrnct . no more in the art than would be sufficient to perform the amount , of work to bp

done . Persons should not be admitted to the Order merely to enj > v its benefits , for no mercenary motives should dicrato their petition . " A desire for knowledge , and a sincere wish to be of service to hi « fel ' ow creatures , " should be his plea at thp dorr of the Lodgo . He should not C"tno to share the honours or the benefits of Masonry so much as the faithful lihcura of the Craft , and their legitimate

rewards . " It is more blessed to give than to receive . " A candidate Cor Ma-only must be p ' ysically perfect . As , under the Jewish economy , no person who was maimed or defective in hit physical organism , thongh of tho tribe of Aaron , Cuiild elder upon fh < office df a priest , nor a physically defective ) animal bo offered itsacrifice , so no man who ia not " perfect " in his bodily organisation can legall y be made a Mason . YYo havo occasionally met with men

Charges Of A Freemason

having but one arm or one leg , who in that condition had been made Masons ; and on one or two occasions we have found those who were totally blind who had been admitted ! This is so entirely illegalso utterly at variance with a law which every M ison is bound to obey —that it seems almost incredible , yet it is true . If a man cannot see , how can ho " learn the art" which is taught .

in a great measure , by ocular illustration ? If ho cannot see , how can he recognise a call of distress which is addressd only to the sight f If his right arm be wanting how is ho to discharge those peculiar duties which devolve upon him in the Lodge room , or in his intercourse with the Craft ? So , also , if he be deprived of a leg or foot ? It ia impossible to explain , fully , the reason for this necessity for physical

perfection , but the intelligent Mason will readily understand , by recurring to the duties and ceremonies , from a participation in which no one is exempt . "A candidate must be perfect , having no maim or defect in hit body . " This is plain , positive , and admits of neither question nor cavil . He mnst be perfect to enable him to " learn the art , " to " serve his

Master and " be made a brother . " He will bo utterly incapable of any of these if he should be deprived of any of his limbs or his senses . Hearing , seeing , feeling—all are equally essential . But he mast be perfect to enable him to work as a Fellow Craft ; to examine and adjust the work , and see that it is well and accurately finished . If he cannot do tho work himself , he cannot tell whether it is done

well by others . Every person made a Mason should have the physical qualifications to discharge any duty required of him as a Mason , or to fill any office to which he may be called . " Term of years . " —In earlier days a much longer novitiate was required than now . The great truths and duties of Masonry wero not learned in a few weeks , or even months ; it required years . And

even now , m some portions of Europe , the rule is—one degree a year , until symbolic Masonry be passed , at least . One great evil now prevalent among the Craft in the United States is , that degrees aro too rapidly conferred . No man can be a proficient in the knowlodge of ancient Craft Masonry in less than one year , and very few will be in five . Yet how often we see him passing through a degree each

month , when it is utterly impossible , in that length of time , for him to have made a " suitable proficiency " in understanding the degree already received . Perhaps in six months ho is in the Chapter , and by the close of the year , has become a Royal and Select Master , and even a Knight of Malta ! This is a work which should have occupied at least five years ; and yet it has been accomplished in little more

than twice that number of months . By this haste a two-fold injustice is done : first , to the candidate j and , secondly , to the Craft . " It should be a rule of act ' on , in the admission of new members , never toadmit one , whi , from any defect in body , mind , or moral qnalities is not entirely eligible to the discharge of . any duty , or to fill any office to which the Order may call him . " The rule before us requires .

among other qualities , that he should " be descended of hottest parents "—that is , that he should have been born in lawful wedlock . It was a universal rule , and is still preserved in some Grand Lodge jurisdictions , that an il ' . o'itimate could not ho made a Mason . Ono reason for this , in the olden days , was the prevalence of the laws of primogeniture , which deprived the illegitimate of many rights and

privileges ; it may also havo been borrowed froni the Jewish Laws , which , in cases of illegitimacy , visited the " sins of the father upon the children . " But from whatever source it was borrowed , it is clenv from the text that the "fruits of illicit love" wero excluded from the tights and privileges of Masonry . We live too far from tho ti ; iics in which this law was enacted , to judge of its propriety . Masonry

was , undoubtedly , thpn , as now , influenced a little by the lavs anil customs of society : henco wc avo not capablo at this day , in this country of different laws and usages , properly to appreciate the reasons for excluding the class of persons referred to . That they werorxeluilcd , is perfectly clear from tho text ; and the principal reason then giv-n

for excluding them , is by implication , that such persons were I-M 1 - gible to tho various offices of honour and responsibility in tho Craft . They could not be Warden , Master , or Grand Master ; therefore , they should not be admitted . It may have been a mero !>•>" v .--I prohibition , and ceased to be operative when tho usages from which it was borrowed passed away .

Degrees were not conferred so rapidly in former times as now . Tho first degree was always conferred by the particular Lodae to whirh the application was made ; but the degrees of Fellow Craft and Master Mason were only conferred by the Grand Lodgo or General Assembly . Hence it might bo one , two , three , or half a dozen years , before an Entered Apprentice could reach the degree of Master :

and many , it is most likely , never received it . These degrees were distinctions , not conferred as a matter of course upon ovary one who was initiated , but after longprobation , and as a reward of singular merit . An Entered Apprentice was regarded as a Mason , and entitled to all the ordinary rights and privileges of tho Order , even to the attendance upon Grand Lodge , and voting there on great questions att ' eciing

the interests of the whole body . If after a reasonable time ho became disfingnishi'd as an artisan , and proved himself worthy , ho was advanced to the degree of a Fellow Craft . After having received tin ' s degree , he could act as Warden of a Lodge ; indeed , it would seem , from the language of tho text , that ho not only received the Fellow Craft degree as a reward for his industry and skill , but wiih a view

to his eligibility to tho position of Warden . After he had performed tho duties of a Warden , and proved himself worthy as a Fellow Craft , he was rewarded with the sublime degree of Master , and could then legally preside over a Lodgo . He could not bo a Grand Warden unless ho had beforo that been a Fellow Craft ; his having previously received this degree was the evidence which was required

hy the Craft to show that he was worthy and competent . But to be a Grand Warden another qualification was necessary ; he must bo a distinguished man , as well as a skilful Mason . He must be either ' nobly born , " a gentleman of " the best fashion , " an " eni ' iieiin s-holar , curious architect , or other artist , descended of honest pnrpnfs , " and be " of singular great merit in tho opinion of tho Lodges , " These provisions speak for themselves , and need no com-