Why Women Are Precluded From Becoming Masons.

WHY WOMEN ARE PRECLUDED FROM BECOMING MASONS .

There is perhaps no more cogent reason for the obloquy and derision cast : lt Freemasons , than that the fair sex are forbidden admission into the O der . No one doubts the power woman exerts over the affairs of the social world ; and this power has long been used to cause our noble Order to bc sc ( fed at and ridiculed , partly from jealousy and partly from malevolence because they cannot learn our secrets .

The reasons , dear reader , for th ; ir exclusion aro muiy , and are important . Masons are fully sensible of th ; fact that no society of men can bo so agreeable and pleasant as when the more gentle and genial sex are united with them in rendering life happy ; and were our Order only a convivial society , eagerly should we seek them to join us . But excuse me , ladies Masonry is not a convivial society only ; il is founded for far more serious

matters , which admit of no levity . Your sex is already too altractivc whilst engaging in unholy matters . You require much attention , are so fascinating as to engage all our thoughts while in your presence , when you often turn men ' s heads and captivate their hearts . Your spell once on us , we are lit for nothing but admiration for yourselves and devotion to your wishes ; hence all labour must cease in your bewitching presence . This alone should be reason sufficient for keeping you from our workmen when employed in their duties .

The world belies us when it says it is because you cannot keep a secret that you are not admitted . Now , none know better than Masons that this is false . We will allow that you may enjoy a little tittle-tattle now and then , and like it too . Ill-natured people may call it scandal , but we hope that

Masons are not ill-natured . There is , perhaps , a little pleasure in talking of other people ' s concerns , " but don ' t repeat what I tell you . " And what harm ? But a regular secret , which ought not to be spoken of , no man can guard more securely or better than a woman . It is a libel on our Order to say we do not wish to have them at our meetings . All Masons know the good old

song—What mortal can more the ladies adore Than a Free and an Accepted Mason ? But , seriously , Masons cannot admit ladies . You were not made lor Masonry . Ought women to be obliged to mix mortar , carry the hod , go up ladders in crinoline , wilh nasty bricks ? Certainly not . God made dear

women for a far more noble purpose . He made women as a helpmeet for man , and this means , as a comforter , consoler , and friend of man . Man , it is ordered , shall work . He is to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow . But whilst toiling and doing work suited to man , woman should be at her peculiar work , rendering his home happy , looking after the man ' s household , and receiving him after his daily toil is over with a glad heart and cheerful countenance .

And which is the more honourable post for a woman ? That which she wishes to occupy , or the happy and useful one that it has pleased her Maker to place her in ? From the foundation of the world can you find any work devised or ordered by God , such , as building the temple of Jerusalem , administering as Priests , & c , in which women were ever permitted to have a part ? No ! it

is the lot of a man to toil and labour ; and God made woman to look after and to be a blessing to man . Let woman , then , be satisfied to do that duty for which her Maker created her , and not mar that intention of God by rendering herself , her husband , or her neighbour , unhappy , fomenting quarrels , & c , through wishing from jealousy , envy , or curiosity to enter into a society of men , from which , for wise purposes , she is excluded , end for which it has pleased God to render unfit .

Nor Jet a woman taunt her husband about his secrets ; for if a man told that which he is bound not to tell , woman would be the first to shun him as a betrayer of secrets ; one who had broken his word ; one unfit for society or for her love . Woman , too , would be wrong to endeavour to elicit those secrets which she knows she cannot obtain , and which , could she obtain , would render her unhappy , for she would ever after lose the loving trust she

had for the man . If a woman really loves a man , his honour is most dear to her ; so she should abstain from any act that would lead to his dishonour ; •and we all know that to betray a secret , and one that is so binding as that in Masonry , would be most dishonourable , losing the betrayer his position among his fellow men , and so bring down heavy punishment upon the woman who would fall with her husband . Bro . Mackay says :

Ihe objection so often made by the fair sex , that they are most ungallantl y refused an entrance into our Order , and a knowledge of our secrets , is best answered by a reference to the originally operative character of our Institution .

lhat woman is not admitted to a participation in our rites and ceremf f n ' . * " ?* ls most true . But it is not because we deem her unworthy , or unfaithful , or deny her the mind to understand , or the heart to appreciate our principles . But simply because , in the very organisation of Masinry , man alone can fulfil the duties it inculcates , or perform the labours it enjoins .

Free and speculative Masonry is but an application of the art of 0 f jfH Masonry to moral and intellectual purposes . Our ancestors worked at the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem ; while we are engaged in the erection of a more immortal edifice , the temple of tin mind . I hey employed their implements for merely mechanical purposes ; we use mem symbolicall y with more exalted designs . A " ' . " emblems , our language , and rites , there is a beautiful xemphfication and application of the rules of operative Masonry as it was

•erased at the building of the Temple . And as King Solomon employed in e construction of that edifice , only hale and hoary men and cunning ind S ° ° Ur 'ot ' ges ' '" ifilation of that great exemplar , demand , as thc Dispensable requisites to admission , that the candidate shall be a freeman , be u ! £ e ' ' ' possession of all his limbs and members , that he may capable of performing such work as the Master shall assign to him . would rnUSt ' PP arent 'ha' 'he admission of woman into our Order , mv t b . alt * snded with a singular anomaly . One of the holiest of our son flg inculcates a reverence for thc widow , and pity for the widow ' s

Why Women Are Precluded From Becoming Masons.

" The wife , the mother , the sister , and the daughter of the Mason , exerc ' ss a peculiar claim upon each Mason ' s heart and affection . And wh le we know that woman ' s smile , like the mild beams of our April's sun , refl-cts a higher splendour on the light of prosperity , and warms with gratified glow the chilliness of adversity , we regret , not the less deeply because unav .-iilingly ,

that no ray of that sun can illumine the recesses of our lodge and call our weary workmen from their labours lo refreshment . No ! There is a station fo . man , and one for woman , and each should keep to his own . The woman has no more claim to be admitted into Masonry than she has to be admitted into the ranks of soldiers or sa brs . To be so , she would be out of her place . "

We hope , therefore , that the ladies with their usual good sense , will agree with us in the above remarks , and that the reasons are tenable why a woman cannot be a Freemason . —From the Masonic Record of West India .

Masonic Relief.

MASONIC RELIEF .

In our last issue we commented upon the principle of Masonic Relief , and showed how often that relief is abused . We propose now to discuss the duty of lodges in the matter of recommending cases . As a rule when a brother dies , the widow applies to the lodge to which he belonged , and the lodge sends on the petition to the Board of General Purposes wilh a letter of recommendation . In many cases little or no enquiry is made into the

circumstances of the case . Ihe deceased brother was a Mason , and his widow asks for assistance . This is often quite enough to cause a lodge to pass a vole recommending the ca ^ e . When the Board of General Purposes meet to consider the cases that come before them , they may perhaps be able to investigate the cases which have occurred in the Presidency Town . But in cases of application from the niofussil , they must rely upon the report of the local lodge .

At a recent meeting of the Madras Board of General Purposes , several cases were considered , in which it was evident that the recommending lodges had failed to make the proper enquiries before recommending the petitions . In one case a petitioner was found to be in receipt of a Government pension , about which nothing had been said . It cannot be too strongly urged that Masonic Relief should only begiven in cases of absolute necessity . There are

many calls upon the Masonic Charity Fund , and it is not right that pensions should begiven to those who are in comparatively comfortable circumstances . In most cases a widow cannot expect to be left in as affluent a position as she was when her husband was drawing a good salary . But it should be remembered that Masonic Relief is not intended tu supply the luxuries , but the necessaries of life .

No lodge ought to write a letter of recommentation until the case has been thoroughly well investigated upon the spot , and until it is proved that the Masonic Relief asked for is absolutely necessary . It would be a good thing also if ( he pension system could be discontinued except in very special circumstances . It would be far better in every case to grant a lump sum , which shoulel vary according to the Masonic qualifications of the deceased brother . A life pension of even a small monthly sum

represents the interests of a comparatively large sum of money . And it would be possible to do far more in the way of Masonic Relief if the pension system were discontinued . Payments for the education of children should also , as far as possible , be maele direct to the school or college , and not be paid to the parent . We trust that these few remarks will not be considered as personal by any particular lodge , but that all the lodges will endeavour to be more circumspect in their treatment of the petitions for Masonic Relief which come before them . —Indian Masonic Revieiv .

True Masonry.

TRUE MASONRY .

the more we study Masonry the more we succeed in understanding its mysteries and symbolisms , and the more am I convinced that Ancient Craft Masonry is entirely embraced between the Entered Apprentice ' s and the Select Master ' s Degree—that it must be taken ancl considered as a unity . The one is not complete without the other , arid , if we have not received all these Degrees , we are a Masonic fragment in this sublime allegory . The

centre of the whole system of Masonry , the source of its inspiration , yea , the Alpha and Omega , is the Master ' s word , or the ineffable name . Its loss and substitution , its concealment , its restoration , is the cycle of Masonic work and symbolism . All other degrees that do not revolve about this great centre are mere side degrees . Historically , the symbolism of Masonry dates from the reception of the

Word by Moses at the burning bush , anel ends with the seventy years of captivity . It begins in the Egyptian captivity , and ends with the Babylonian captivity—between the heroic figures of Moses , the lawgiver , and Zerubbabal , ths deliverer . The beautiful allegory portrays the revelation of God Himself , in His sacred name , recites its loss , its preservation , and final restitution .

S ' . rip so-called Ancient Craft Masonry of its multiplicity of Degrees , its philosophical speculation , and it stands as the beautiful system of morality , veiled in allegory , and illustrated by symbols , of man having a true knowledge of God , of his falling from that knowledge and the inheritance for which he was created from the foundation of the world ; of death , the penalty ; of the substitution of another when Shiloh shall come ; the

substitution of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah , whether in types ancl shadows , or in reality ; for in Him shall be concealed the Godhead , the Father , the Jehovah ; of the recovery of our first estate after this tabernacle of our earthly temple shall be destroyed and from beneath its rubbish and decay shall arise that second temple , whose builder and maker is God , and a recognition of the ineffable name , the " I am that I am hath sent me unto you . "

This is Ancient Craft Masonry . Recognising it to be this , I may be termed an enthusiast in Capitular and Cryptic work . The truths of Masonry , its mysteries , its interpretations , are dark and meaningless , until we receive tha Council Degrees ; wish them comes a revelation that must arouse our profound admiration and research . It is lhe midday splendour of thc noonday sun ; and I believe no man can call

himself a whole Mason who has not received the Council 1 ) grees . For he who can stand on the sublime eminence of the Select Mas . er ' s Dcgiee and look down and over the beautiful field of symbolism Oat he has pas .-ed through , may feel " as if he sit under a sh-nver of gold and rich pe iris were hailed upon him . "—WILLIAM FREDERICK . KUIIN , Grand Mas * . er of R . and S . M . of Missouri . Voice of Masonry .