What Makes A Mason.

proper reverence to the Creator , and never to mention His Holy Name except in a reverential manner . It is to avoid all intemperance and excesses , so as to keep the mind and body

unimpaired , and fit to perform the necessary duties of life . It is to deal justly with all , and to walk uprightly before God and man . It is to preserve a spotless reputation , and so to demean oneself as to be beyond censure and reproach .

But some will say , " I cannot spare the time from my business to do all that Masonry requires . " There is no reason for a man to neglect his business in order to be a Mason ; in fact Masonry teaches that the ordinary vocations of life must

not be neglected . . Yet it should be to act as a Mason even m the transaction of business . To be a good Mason there should be honesty of dealing , rendering to every man his just due without distinction .

The employer should act justly and fairly with those he employs , and the workman , to be a good Mason , should have the interest of those who pay him his wages as much at heart as if he were working for himself . He should be upright in

all his dealings , and be worthy to be taken by the hand by everyone and everywhere . He should be a man in every sense of the word , and render unto others those kind offices which he would , under similar circumstances , wish to be rendered

unto him . Such action makes a man a Mason , not membership ! —Exchange .

Cui Bono ?

CUI BONO ?

W FIAT do we gain by wasting our breath in arguments in defence of Freemasonry ? Ihose who oppose it are either malicious or ignorant , or both . No one fully understanding the mission , the power , the principles of Masonry can be the author of such groundless recriminations as those with which we are sometimes met . Many , doubtless ,

actually believe that Freemasonry wields a corrupt and dangerous influence , 'ihis they believe chiefly because it is to such an extent secret , and mysterious . Since they cannot be taught all that Masonry contains and cannot be made to know its beauty and nobility , what avails it to argue with

such persons ? Freemasonry is more honoured when a dignified silence is maintained , and when our lives rather than our tongues bear witness to the Tightness of its principles . " Speech is silvern , silence is golden , is an old adage , but a good one . — " American Tyler . "

Universality Of Masonry.

UNIVERSALITY OF MASONRY .

THERE is no more important study for the statesman , the philosopher , or the generous man than the bestowal ot gifts tor the benefit of our tellow-men . Since St . Paul announced that the three cardinal virtues were faith , hope , and charity , and the greatest ot them all charity ,

this sentiment has grown and expanded until now it finds expression in beneficent efforts ail over Christendom , but the prodigal liberality of the United States places them in the tront rank of humanitarian nations .

When an organisation runs back beyond historic records , and relies upon tradition for the story ot its origin , its career during a known period either justifies or falsifies the tradition . An ancestry of virtue and good works is a liberal education in both . The power ot the accumulated

wisdom of the past is a restless impelling force upon the present . The architects , the draughtsmen , the decorators , the wood-carvers , the workers in precious metals , and the Masons who were building the tamous Temple of King

Solomon , came from every nation in the then known wo : id . Their union for mutual help , protection , society , and improvement was the marvel or an age when all navies were pirates and all nations enemies .

Institutions do not survive through the ages by accident ; they live only through the possession and operation of everlasting principles . Dynasties have disappeared ; thrones have crumbled ; whole races have been annihilated ; governments have succeeded one another with a frequency the of the

beyond power historian to record ; civilisation itself has risen to the highest excellence and then sunk in darkness and oblivion . But Masonry has continued through the centuries with the same spirit of universal Brotherhood , of equal democracy , as existed by legend among its

Universality Of Masonry.

traditional founders . Belief in God and love for one ' s Brethren are ideas founded in divinity and humanity which are absolutely indestructible . During all these ages there have been no trials for heresy or rewards for orthodoxy in Masonic Lodges . The disciples of Dr . Briggs and his

adversaries are equally welcome . The followers of Huber Newton and those who would cast him out can find with us hospitable homes . Roman Catholics will be greeted in our portals . The advanced students who claim they have found errors in the accepted translation of the Bible which

necessitate a revision , and the associates of the good old deacon who remarked in regard to the translation by the authority of King James , which we have , that the version which was good enough for St Paul was good enough for him , can

all take equal and Fraternal rank with us . We are liberal enough to embrace all creeds and all sects who acknowledge one Supreme and Overruling Deity . How they shall worship Him , by what formula , or under what diversity of doctrine , we leave to their individual and independent conscience .

When the world has been plunged in savagery and superstition , when continents have been drenched with blood , when cruelty has immured in dungeons and stretched upon the rack the disciples of civil and religious liberty , as they were in the age of the Inquisition , the Masonic sign of distress

has always been recognised upon the battle-field or m the torture-chamber , and with it the kinship of blood and Brotherhood . Secrecy is not potent for perpetuity . Secret societies —politicial , religious , social , labour , and national—have been

created by the million and have lived their brief lives and expired . Organisations which have for their object the pursuit ot a policy in government , the propagation ot a creed or the improvement and strengthening oi a Craft , form and dissolve with the recurring years , and no

trace of them is found in succeeding centuries . Organisations formed with the best intentions for promoting the welfare of mankind by community of property and interests , have flourished for a brief period , and then resolved into their original elements because of their practical denial of

the truth that manhood and individuality are the eternal attributes of successful effort . The guild of the Middle Ages still exists , but it has lost its purpose and power , and survives only as an exhibit of mediaeval mummeries and for the support of the corporators who thrive upon its accumulated funds .

All societies save the one which celebrates to-day are the creatures of localities , nationality or temporary emergency . But Masonry , marching under the leadership of God and the banner which bears the motto , " Love thy neighbour as thyself , " with the peasant and the prince , the mechanic and

the merchant , the working-man and the millionaire , the learned and the unlearned , following in equal rank and common step , knows neither race nor nationality , neither caste nor conditions , as it proudly and beneficently moves down the centuries .

The chief factor in education and the conservator in society in association . The mighty movement of our century threatens the destruction of the individual . In the maelstrom of competition and crowded populations , each strives for himself at the expense of his neighbour . The old tie of

acquaintance and sympathy is broken . Associations properly formed and cultivated are the barriers against the flood which would engulf the best elements of humanity . There is virtue in secrecy where no wrongs are contemplated behind the closed doors , but only the mutual benefit of the members .

If the applicants are properly sifted , those who pass into the inner circle are the survivals of the fittest . In the attrition of ingenious minds , discussing freely all subjects under the rose in the communings of warm hearts and liberal souls , each gains from the other a measure of strength , and the

composite is a more perfect man . Associations of men and women engaged in similar pursuits accomplish most admirable results , out mainly in the direction of their material welfare . Trades unions have their mission and their sphere , which are essential to the proper working of a great industrial community .

No society , however , can long harmoniously live with increasing populations , unless there be some method by which those of different pursuits , conditions in life , intellectual acquirement , and success in the battle for supremacy can

meet upon common ground . This is one of the missions of political parties . It is one of the great human benefits of churches . It is the best of the results of academic and collegiate companionship . Every Institution , every organ *