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LONDON , N . W . otel , H Grand Midland Venetia for Masonic n Rooms Dinners now availa , etc b . le Other Midland Railway Hotels at Liverpool , Leeds , Bradford , Derby , Morecombe , and Heysham . Chief Office : W . TOWLE , Midland Grand Hotel , Manager . London , N . W . IV ! . R . Hotels , etc . - *•— " - * ' * " ~~~ " " ' ~ " ~ '" "" * * * * - " -- ¦

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PERRIER = JOUET & Cos . CHAMPAGNES . FINEST VINTAGE RESERVE-CUVEES . THE FAVOURITE MASONIC BRAND . Agent—A . BOURSOT , 9 , Hart Street , Hark Lane , London .

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ASSURANCE . EXCHANGE L ROYA IXCOKl'OKATKD A . I ) . 1720 . Funds in Hand Exceed - - , £ 4 , 900 , 000 Claims Paid Exceed - - £ 41 , 000 , 000 FIRE , LIFE , MARINE , ANNUITIES , ACCIDENTS , BURGLARY , EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY . New Especial Concession to Private House Insurers . Applv for full Prospectus to Hie Secretary . Head Office : —ROYAL EXCHANGE , LONDON , E . C .

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Imjsmxnan

Cheapening The Order.

Cheapening the Order .

THERE is a marked tendency in the present clay to abate some of the rigour with which the approaches to Freemasonry used to be guarded . The praiseworthy motive has been , doubtless , to make the Order more accessible to a larger constituency , more popular in fact . But we venture to think that popularity is the very last thing that

ought to be taken into consideration when any modification is being thought of , either in our laws or our traditional practice . The worst feature of this tendency , is that when once the rigour of a regulation has been relaxed , it is practically

impossible to restore it , but on the contrary a precedent has been erected for further relaxations . We are governed in many ways , and lo the good and

true Freemason none ol " these is " afore or after another . A free and easy wav of dealing with constitutions and by-laws may entail penal consequences , but the landmarks , ceremonies ,, charges , and even local and general traditions , should be quite as powerful in determining our procedure , even though not legally enforcible . Some few years ago it was necessary

to insist on the stricter scrutiny that ought to be made ol candidates for admission , and it is satisfactory to be able to say that practice has begun to conform with theory in this respect in a very marked degree . It may be safely claimed that the admission of an openly irreligious or immoral person

is practically impossible in the vast majority of our lodges . Worshipful Masters are not , as they once were , content with the favourable testimony of a proposer or seconder , when frequently the latter had but second-hand knowledge of the candidate . There are committees of enquiry , and , as a rule , when the Worshipful Master says of the suppliant for admission that the tongue of good report has been heard in

his favour , the statement may be taken as a fairly accurate one . The laxity which has to be noticed is to be found in a different direction . Let us first of all refer to the habit of discussing Masonic matters in public . It will often be found that the observant man in the street very often has a fairly accurate knowledge of what goes on in lodge . It is not

uncommon to I ' mcl that phrases which are peculiarly Masonic , and which have a history that endears them to the Craft , are heard in the mouths of the profane ; and it implies some want of circumspection on the part of their Masonic friends . Our conduct in this respect should be regulated by the good

old charge , " You shall be cautious in your words and carriage , that the most penetrating stranger shall not be able to discover or find out what is not proper to be intimated ; and sometimes you shall divert a discourse . " There is no ambiguitv about this rule of Masonic conduct . The admission of the casual visitor needs some care , and

the issuing of indiscriminate invitations is more common than it used to be . That this is the case is evidenced by the irritation felt at what are called the vexatious precautions laid down . The demand for his certificate is not always relished by the visiting brother , who , as often as not , has not brought it with him . To ask him to submit to an examination is often

regarded as all but an insult by the visitor , and even very often by his introducer . There are those who will vouch for their visitor on the slenderest evidence . Worshipful Masters should remember that it is not the introducer who is responsible to the Craft for the good standing of visitors . The introducer's responsibility is only to the lodge , but the

Master's is to the Craft . In this way : The commonest form of vouching is that which asserts that the voucher has sat in open lodge with the vouchee . By his introduction into the lodge the visitor will be able to appeal to some further score or more brethren in future , who

will not be able to deny that they have sat in lodge with him , and thus if he be unworthy , the chance of his detection decreases twentyfold with every visit . Even if the brother vouching , does so on the strength of an actual examination , it should be remembered that it is not

every one that is able to conduct an examination . The onl y remedy is to enforce the rule strictly in every case of a visitor who is not well known to most of the brethren , or , at all events , to the Master . It is of no use to enforce it in some cases and not in others , as this would cause an undesirable feeling .

And we venture to think , in conclusion , that the Order loses much in usefulness by the practice of promoting brethren according to seniority . Especially is some reform necessary when it is a case of electing the Master . There should be no hesitation in passing over a brother who has proved himself incompetent . Such a Master can do infinite

harm to the lodge which it may take years to recover from . The chair is not made for the Master , but the Master for the chair . With the object of sparing sonic estimable , but incompetent , brother's feelings , the lodge is practically put back for a year , and loses more ground that it can possibly recover in many years . And a lodge cannot afford this .