Victorian Grand Lodge Finance.

Grand Lodge , much harm will be done . The guiding principle witn the Board should be to dispose of small matters in the most private method possible , so that Grand Lodge may need to know as little as possible about them , and when sums of £ 200 , £ 300 , or more are required to ask the Lodges

to find the whole amount , and if the first subscriptions do not reach the total required , to report progress to them and make a second appeal . The Lodges would take especial pride in denying themselves comforts to render such help ,

and the general results would be more ennobling . The resentment against the present system is its apparent paltriness , and all those who understand the working of the Board will feel that the fuller its powers are , the sater will be the conservation of the funds and the best interests of the Order .

There are many expenses in connection with'the affairs of the United s Grand Lodge of Victoria which are not consided necessary elsewhere , and good management will soon result in increasing funds and more independent and respectable surroundings . — " Masonry . "

Freemasonry And The Press.

FREEMASONRY AND THE PRESS .

IN October 178 9 the Grand Lodge of Ireland passed a regulation which is still in force , " That no Masonic transaction be inserted in a newspaper by a Brother without permission from the Grand Lodge . " In view of much we have read in our daily journals concerning Freemasons and

their doings , this meets with our hearty concurrence , and w e cannot too highly praise the wisdom , prudence , and good sense of our Irish Brethren . Masonry is a secret Institution , and the general public have nothing whatever to do with what transpires within the precincts of the Lodge . Too

much is known now-a-days about our Order , and it is pretty generally understood by the profane world—be they npht or wrong—that we have no secrets beyond our peculiar modes of recognition . The newspapers frequently tell in plain terms the names of all present at a Lodge , including the

candidates ; mention what degree was given , who gave it , whether it was done well or ill ; speak of the various sections of the work , the lectures , charges , & c , the calling of dues , the themes of speakers and many other matters in such a manner as to give even the most ignorant a fair idea of what

is done inside during a meeting of the Craft . This is absolutely and entirely wrong , and results sometimes from the vanity of a few Brethren who are always flattered to see their names and actions in print , and sometimes from the eagerness of an editor to seize upon anything to fill up his columns .

The practice cannot be too strongly condemned . Only in the pages of a Craft journal should there ever be seen the slighest reference to subjects Masonic , and then only in the most guarded terms , for they are read only by Brethren : seldom or never by outsiders .

What good does it do the reading public to be informed that " Worshipful Brother So-and-So conferred the degree of Fellow Craft in Lodge No . last evening in a highly impressive style " ? or that certain well known citizens were " raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason " ? or that

the D . D . G . M . visited the Lodge and addressed the Brethren in feeling terms on the principles of the Order " ? Not only are our secrets , to a certain extent , revealed , but Masonry is

made common and debased . To say the least , the veil of mystery which formerly enshrouded us is raised , and the profanes are allowed to view us through the lower end of the telescope .

All that should ever find its way into the press should be whatever the un-Masonic reporter may be able to discover for himself , and this should only be accounts of public ceremonies ,

funerals , processions , corner-stone layings , and the like . Wh y meet in secret if we are to announce to the world at large next morning all but what we actually do , and even hint broadl y at that ?

This publicity of which we complain , and which our esteemed Brethren of Ireland have ever striven to repress , is aimed at making Masonry popular for the purpose of setting bait to catch candidates . But Masonry is too popular already . The extraordinary o-rowth of the Fraternity during the latter

part of this century is , we fear , not a healthy growth , and the time is not far distant when the major portion of the male population of all civilised countries not professing the Roman Catholic religion will be essentially a Masonic population . There is much in the rites we practice worthy the atten-

Freemasonry And The Press.

tion of poets , scholars , and philosophers , the thoughtful of every nation and creed , and much to help the conscientious who are seeking to benefit both themselves and their fellow men ; out the whole fabric will fall asunder unless we entrust our mysteries only to the keeping of those whom we know to be true and faithful . We cannot exercise due discretion

when candidates are admitted , as is now done daily almost everywhere , by wholesale . It is a menace to the integrity of the Order . We inveigh heavily against a growing evil and say unto you Masons : Keep your secrets ; be guarded in your words and actions ; scrutinise closely those who sound

the alarm upon your inner door . Above all things , keep your affairs from the public ; the newspapers have nothing to do with you , neither have you with them . The less that is known

about us , the more we will be respected , and the greater will be the surprise and pleasure of those new accessions who come to us at finding something about which they had never received the slightest intimation or hint . — " Rough Ashlar . "

The Outer And Inner Door.

THE OUTER AND INNER DOOR .

E VERY Lodge Room has two entrances , an outer and an inner door . Both are guarded ; the outer by the ' iyier , and the inner by the ballot . Through the outer door the Mason enters , through the inner comes the man who has passed the ordeal of the secret ballot . Both doors should be

guarded , but the inner more carefully than the outer , lo the inner door comes the man who is seeking light , who professes as he knocks for admission to have been first prepared in his heart to receive instruction and to be made a Mason . To the outer door comes the one who has passed

through the ceremonies of the Lodge Room and has been accounted worthy and well qualified . After he has been admitted through the inner door he has given to him a certain right to enter the outer door . The qualifications for admittance through both doors are precisely the same . As

it is true that not every man who is received into the Lodge Room through the inner door is in every way fitted for membership , so it is equally true that every one who visits his own or another Lodge is not possessed of those qualities of heart , brain and disposition which a Mason should have .

In the Lodge Room we meet with men of various conditions in life , the rich and the poor , the educated and the man of limited knowledge , men of refinement and men inured to toil , men of kindly disposition and men of churlish demeanour , men who are liberal and men who are close-fisted , and

all meet on one common level , as Masons . A Lodge is a miniature world , with its different classes of men made so by the circumstances of birth and opportunities . Here we meet a man from England , one from Germany , another from Scotland , one from France , and a man from India , all of

whom have passed through the inner door and are therefore recognised as Brothers and entitled to certain privileges . They mingle their voices in the same song of praise , and unite in the same words of supplication to the All-Father . In this service , which is the service of the heart , the whole

race of mankind may unite . This is the level upon which they meet and the equality which they occupy in the sight of one God . They can meet upon no other , for that is the level of Fraternity . Any other must be a limited and narrow platform , for the learned scholar rises in his mental capacity

above the man of little learning , and if he speaks of the wonders of science and the greatness of the earth as discovered by research and study , he mystifies his less informed Brother , and there is no companionship between them . And so the man of riches enjoys an ability to do

that which his poorer Brother cannot accomplish . These are the conditions of society outside the Lodge Room . Inside is Brotherhood , simple , plain , Brotherhood . It is therefore of the greatest importance that those admitted through both doors should be first prepared in their hearts .

It is , after all , the heart that makes the Mason . " Out of the heart are the issues of life . " If the heart be right the head will not be far wrong ; and if the head should go astray once in a while the pure heart will bring it right again .

On the other hand , if the heart be wrong the head cannot change it . It is a wrong heart not a wrong head , that makes a hypocrite . It is a wrong heart , a degenerate heart , that works murder , rapine and wickedness . The true heart is like the bow , if the head goes wrong by reason of

temptations and adverse surroundings , as soon as the