Then And Now.

Organist from 1 S 51 to 1 S 54 , having died 111 1884 , while Bro THOMAS FENN , who died early this year , served as President ol the Board of General Purposes 1884-189 * ., was made Past G . Warden in 1806 , and also acted during several years as

Grand D . C . for Sir A LBERT WOODS , the state of whose health prevented him from personally discharging the duties of the office . Thus of the 23 brethren whom H . R . H . the Prince of WALES—now King EEWARD VII ., and Protector of

English Freemasons—invested as Grand Officers after his installation as Grand Master in 1875 , 15 have died and eight survive , while of the three on whom he conferred Past Rank , two are dead and one survives .

It . may be interesting to add that in the years that have since elapsed , one Grand Office—that of Grand Secretary for German Correspondence—has been abolished , and 12—including those

of Assistant Grand Secretary and Assistant Grand Secretary for German Correspondence—created . In 1 S 82 , a Deputy G . D . C . and two Grand Standard Bearers were added to the

roll . In 1886 , the President of the Board of Benevolence became ex-officio , a Grand Officer . In 1 S 93 , six new offices were created , those of Deputy Grand Registrar , two additional Grand Deacons ( one Senior and one Junior ) , two additional

Assistant Grand Directors , of Ceremonies , and Deputy Grand Sword Bearer . Hence there are now 34 Grand Officers on the roll instead of 23 , while to make matters still better , two new Grand Chaplains are appointed annually , and also new Grand and Asst .

Grand Pursuivants . Formerly every Grand Chaplain served two years , one as junior and one as senior Chaplain ; while the Asst . G . 'Pursuivant was pj-omoted to the Grand Pursuivancy , so that only one new Grand Chaplain and a new Asst . Grand

Pursuivant were appointed . Now there arc four fi * esh appointments every year . It may also be worth while to record that the Duke of CONNAUGHT , M . W . G . M ., who will be formally installed in office on the 17 th July , was present at the installation

of his brother on thc day afore-mentioned , having been raised to the degree of M . M . the previous evening in the Prince of Wales ' s Lodge , No . 259 , and being , in all probability , as his

Royal Highness jocularly remarked in his speech at the Grand Festival , the youngest Master Mason in the jurisdiction of United Grand Lodge present at the ceremony .

Masonic Jurisprudence.

MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE .

[ COMMUNICATED . ] THE FREEMASON IN PUBLIC . Continued .

In the last article on this subject ( I ' rcemasoii , June 2 ) , and in previous issues , referred to in that article , it was exhaustivel y discussed from the point of view of the Constitutions and the proceedings of Grand Lodge . We will now go for further information to a source wbich is , unhappily , much neglected ,

that is , the Antient Charges and Regulations , hortunately , the charge of an entered apprentice is fairly well known , as custom has " decreed it to be an essential part of the ceremony of

initiation . The charges read to the Master elect are both by custom and law a part of the installation ceremony , and there-, fore every brother probably hears them once a year . They may , therefore , be regarded as familiar . What do they tell us ?

First of all we are told , in no uncertain language , that whatever else he may be , a Freemason as such , is not a political entity , nor is be , as such , a religious propagandist . Both politics and religion are expressly prohibited as topics of dis- j

c . ussion in lodge , nnd whenever an appeal has come before Grand Lodge in which either has seemed to give colour to the issues , Grand Lodge has invariably relused to be a judge or a divider .

It would be fatal ( o the well-being of the Craft , in England , at all events , were it ever to be suspected that Freemasonry existed to illustrate or propagate some particular political cult . As is well known , tbe opposite opinion prevails across tbe ¦ "fianncl , and one result has heen that the (" raft has been banned

and excommunicated by the head of the Roman Catholic ( " ¦ i ui ' i h , and Freemasons an : confounded with -Atheists , Anarchists , Nihilists , and what not .

' , ' nder our Grand Lodge the newly-made Freemason is enjoined t" obey the laws of whatever . State be may happen j to In * , domiciled in , and to discountenance any proposal which lias for its object the subversion of the good order of Society .

Masonic Jurisprudence.

The W . Master elect promises to promote the general good oi Society , and to cultivate . thc social virtues , and when he has been installed be and his officers and all in the lodge are admonished to behave themselves in such wise , that when the

outer world chance to know that a man is a Freemason they also know as a natural sequence that he is one to whom the troubled heart , & c . All this is thoroughly well understood in Eno-Ij s | , lodges and in daughter Grand Lodges .

Whilst Freemasonry has nothing to fear from publicity , it should be equally understood that it has nothing to gain from it . Whilst a brother need never refuse to give information such as may lawfully be given to one who seeks it with a proper motive it is a very different thing to discourse about the interests of the

Craft coram publico . This is especially to bc deprecated with regard to subjects as to which divided opinions exist . Mention has been made in a former article of a weekl y newspaper which has a regular Masonic column , in which the prospects of local brethren ' s accession to Provincial rank are openly discussed .

No . _ V . of the charges enjoins the Freemason to allow not even his own family to know the affairs of thc lodge . No . IV . enjoins him to be cautious in his words and carriage , " so that the most penetrating stranger shall not be able to discover what is not proper to be intimated . " So far from openly discussing lodge business , he is told to " divert a discourse , and maiiao-e it prudently for thc honour of the worshi pful fraternity . ' " * It scarcel y needs to be said that all these injunctions very

especially include thc keeping the result of an unfavourable ballot within the precincts of the lod ge . Even the members of an ordinary club would scarcely deem it good taste to talk about the candidates they might have black-balled .

The lack of reticence that many brethren permit themselves to be guilty of inclines one sometimes to ask if Freemasonry is a secret society or not . The writer once heard the late Bro . Speth ingeniously argue that it was not . Somewhat curious to say , he was delivering a lecture on the subject of the Craft to

some mutual improvement society , and the lecture was afterwards published . Hc proved—to his own satisfaction , that is—that a society which was prepared to admit the whole world to membership , on certain guarantees being given , could not be called secret . That is all very well , but the admission that guarantees

are expected , gives away Bro . Speth ' s position and his contention . The secrecy becomes a necessary adjunct—if only to keep out such as cannot give the guarantees . If any other form of protection were feasible , possibly the secrecy might he waived !

It is , however , astonishing what an amount of information thc non-Mason generally possesses about thc Craft . There arc four forms of publicity which have been dear to Freemasons from time immemorial . One of these is legitimate , i . e ., constitutional , two have been permitted to exist without official

approbation , and one is distinctly illegitimate . The first of these is the Masonic foundation stone laying by the Grand Master , the ceremonial of which is printed at the end of the Book of

Constitutions . The difficulties recently raised as to public appearance in clothing would presumably vanish on an occasion of this kind , as everything would be done under thc Grand Master ' s direction .

The Masonic ball and thc Masonic religious service come next as being permissive . The Masonic ball will , however , in future be deprived of its raison d ' etre , being shorn , as it has been , of the splendour which was lent to it by the regalia that used to he exhibited .

The Masonic service is a different type of thing altogether . Masonic clothing is out of place , and , in fact , in the House of God might be regarded as being in questionable taste . Periodical attendance at a reli gious service is eminently desirable , and an orderly procession from the lodge room to tin * church cou \ t \ not be cavilled at .

The Masonic funeral is also to be deprecated on even ground . By a Masonic funeral is meant the addition to , or tin supersession of , the ordinary religious service by a distinct Masonic ceremonial ,. which implies that the ordinary relig ious

service does not convey all that is due to the deceased and lu > friends . The idea , however , is utterly heathen , and does not add anything to the estimation of the Order which would permit it .

We have mentioned lour occasions on which the Freemason conceives he has a right ( o publicly represent himself as such-There is a fifth , however , with which we must close this article-That is his appearance in Masonic regalia in the photograp her ' -

studio , not to mention his subsequent appearance in the p . ifof an illustrated journal . Few brethren are exempt from thi * weakness , and it is one which has been tenderl y dealt with by the authorities , possibly because very few brethren of eminent ' have succeeded in escaping the distinction of appearing in tbeir