Inauguration Of The Johannesburg Lodge, No. 2313.

would avoid the enforced alternative of having no longer " a habitation and a name . " But we are now spared the ignominy of these conditions . Prudent counsels , thanks to our Delegates and our many Brethren , prevailed at Grand Lodge ; all reasons for

refusing our prayer were satisfactorily met , and the Craft in general was the gainer on the day that the Grand Master , with his usual graciousneas and his deep-seated love for Freemasonry , recognised the fitness of those representations , and granted us what we asked .

Except Warrant No . 1135 , granted in 1879 to the William Kingston , at Goletta in Tunis ; No . 1851 , to Tientsin in China , in 1881 ; and No . 2015 to Tokio in Japan

in 1883 , no other Warrants for parts outside tha } Queen ' s dominions had been granted until that which we now have , and for which I am sure we are all truly grateful to His Royal Highness .

And what has been the effect , already , of the removal of our Grand Master ' s difficulties , with respect to the granting of a Charter to this Lodge ? It has borne very early fruit ,

for it was almost immediately followed by a Charter to El Dorado , No . 2314 , Malmani ; and then to the Royal Albert , No . 2315 , Klerksdorp , both mining centres iu this Republic .

At this point the questions arise : —In what way can we best show that we are grateful for what has been done for us ? In what form or forms shall we prove ourselves worth y of the Order to which we belong ; and that the Craft , not only is meant to be , but in our hands , shall le , something more than a name , and of practical utility ?

In answer to the first question , the Brethren who have been working in these matters , have felt it their duty , in the establishing of this Lodge , to base it on the strictest principles of the Craft . Mindful of the singular conditions of the populations in

which we are living , and that the Lodge , to be maintained without reproach , must be started with every precaution , such By-Laws have been framed as will when submitted to you show that in all things the welfare of the actual and of the intended members has been the first consideration .

For the number will be limited ( and I am humbly of opinion that the first hundred should be foundation aud joining members only , the second hundred initiated

candidates ); and it is further resolved that within the doors of the Temple no one shall be admitted , as a member or visitor , whom the Ancient Charges and the Book of Constitutions tell us must not be admitted , such as : —

1 . Brethren under exclusion from their Lodge 2 . Men expelled by Grand Lodge . 3 . Men of scandalous character . 4 . Men notoriously immoral . 5 . Men ex prisoners for crime .

And , as it is likewise provided by our supreme controllers that no needy persons , but only such as are in reputable circumstances , can be initiated , so is it determined that it shall not be a question merely of a man ' s monetary

prominence , but of his personal fitness and character to be a member ; whether in the first place , the peace , happiness and usefulness of the Lodge will be added to by his admission ; and , next , whether the Craft at large will be tbe gainer by bis joining .

By acting on these lines from the beginning it is believed we shall be realising our high responsibility ; that in hauding on to others its Warrant , its By-Laws and its continuing duties , this Lodge will not have been established

in vain ; and that in this way its Founders will have endeavoured to prove their thankfulness for having , in a Foreign Country , been permitted to assemble , as we now can , under our own bright banner .

But shall we as men , in these times of advanced intelligence , with all the benefits of the preceding centuries about us to aid in any wise and useful course we would take , be satisfied , when and where , as in this country ,

there is so much to be done ? Shall we , I ask , rest content with being only moral men , who assemble week by week to listen to and talk about the precepts of Freemasonry , and there halt ?

Seeing who and what we are , where we live , what we profess , and the exigencies that demand all that thoughtful , careful , progressive men can do , and ought to do , let

us as members of the first British Lodge of freemasons on these Gold Fields , recognise , at its very birth , what duty demands of us as men and most imperatively , as the members of a Guild ever meant to lead rather than to follow

Inauguration Of The Johannesburg Lodge, No. 2313.

in tbo wake of the Arts and of Science ; and therefore , besides helping the orphan and the widow in their distress , the luckless Brother in his need , and the sick and afflicted in their suffering , give direct assistance to education for their children , organise aid for the others , and promote Technical Schools , Schools of Art , Schools of Science , and

of Mines in our midst . For , of all who ought so to act , Freemasons are the men . Unless we do these things , the injunctions to our initiates and the recommendations to our Fellow Crafts are worthy only of mummers , and we are guilty of shams , of mockeries , of transparent insincerities .

For , do we not tell Novitiates on their admission to our Order that , in addition to other subjects , they are more especially to study such of the liberal Arts and Sciences as may be within the compass of their attainments ?

If we tell them this how can we reconcile the fresent donothing condition with what Freemasonry presses upon our attention at every meeting that we hold , in fact at every step in our daily lives ?

If we will be real , if we will hare the kernel and not the husk of Freemasonry ; if , in other words , we will be true to ourselves , clearly understanding the meaning of the words we use and the name we bear , we shall be directly practical in our day .

In addition to relieving the needy , we shall use our funds to provide the means and the men competent to impart technical Education amongst us ; and encourage knowledge of the Arts and skill in those Sciences , which will be useful to us as a Mining population , and tend also to polish and adorn the mind .

By thus practising what we preach , we shall ourselves improve , by the very modes we adopt for the improvement of others : and it surely is necessary P For generations past the Craft has lost one of the chief parts of its vitality . For want of Arfc-and-Science-culture

by it , as by a distinct Corporation , it has retrograded in its nature , and gradually fallen back from the proud position it should have retained—a foremost place in the ranks of

Science and the Arts , until it has become an almost generally accepted idea that Freemasons have nothing to do but meet occasionally , and then eat and drink , and contribute to a fund for the relief of their poor !

Thus , instead of following the natural laws of growth , our Order has neglected the forces that have played aronnd it , for it has , in fact , degenerated where it should havo progressed and been reproductive . Neglect of the pursuits

aud precepts of our Founders has exerted so baneful an influence upon those who have come after them , that our capacity to walk in their footsteps has , to a certain degree , diminished .

This neglect of duty by the Order , and consequeut atrophying of the intellectual powers , may be accounted for , partly , by the fact that in the Mother Couitry means outside the Order have been provided for those individuals , acting apart from the Craft , who choose to make the liberal Arts and Sciences their study .

But here our lot is a different one . We are in a new

country , and founding a new community . Here especially the teachings and intentions of Freemasonry have the soil on which to work to the widest scope . Here is the stimulus to the Freemason to awake to the occasion ; and rising to it , avail himself of all the resources in his power for improvement .

If he will improve and be useful , be must work to adapt himself to the requirements about him . For , just as surely as there is no such thing as spontaneous generation in the organic world , quite as truly is there no such condition as spontaneous generation in the Mental and Moral Spheres of human existence .

Men cannot be good without effort . Man must exert himself if he will be useful ; he cannot be beneficial to himself or to others without action . We of the Craft as a whole have been too long in a state of arrested development . We have refused the requisite

food , and the exercise necessary to our progress , and adaptability to the conditions r bout us ; forgetting that man is a complex organism ; that he should grow in stature and in mind ; and that as the body and the mind improve or fall back according to the nature of the food aud

exercise taken by each , Freemasons have been unconsciously falling away from that high standard of useful manhood as a Society , which I would now ask you to aim for , as first units of this Temple of the brotherhood in these parts . Oar surroundings call on ns to rally , to press shoulder to