Old And New Lodges.

OLD AND NEW LODGES .

When King Solomon Avrote that there Avas nothing neAV under the sun , he seemed to overlook UOAV Lodges . And yet , in one sense they are not IIOAV , except in name . They are formed exclusivel y from old materials . They are subtractions from the Old Lodges—units composed of mixed fractions . Their creation makes the Craft

none the richer . It is analagous to taking money out of one pocket and scattering it into others ; there are more pockets with money in them , but not more money . This , hoAvever , does not long remain the ease . These Lodges after their

constitution , gi'OAV to be neAv very rapidly . Proposals of neAV members in large numbers occur , often upon the very day of constitution , and the Masonic Mill is kept so rapidly in motion grinding out Masons , at

both regular and special meetings , that it soon grows to be a matter of Avonder Avhere all the material comes from . We have

heard of as many as tAventy candidates being balloted for and approved at one meeting . There Avere not twenty Masons made , of course , but they Avere booked for making , and waited their time , and no long time , either , before in due course they

entered the mystic portal . If you Avere present on the day of constitution , you saAv none around you but old Masons , and you could scarce persuade yourself that it Avas other than an old Lodge ; but three or four months later " all things have

, become neAV . " The charter members are lost in ' the throng of their felloAvs . There is something neAv under the sun . Tho apprentices and felloAV crafts perhaps outnumber the masters . You noiv realize that you are in a neAV Lodge , new in

material as well as neAv in name . It is . not a matter of course , nor ought it to be , that a neAV Masonic body , whether Lodge , Chapter , Council or Commandery , should obtain a warrant . Various laAvhd forms must be complied -with ; the consent of other sister bodies must be obtained

and finally it must be made apparent to the Grand Body that the best interests of Freemasonry Avill be advanced by the grant of the IIOAV warrant . - Safeguard ' s have not been omitted to insure , so far as general regulations can do so , the healthy progress

of the Craft , and prevent anything like a forced giwth ; and yet when one recalls the number of warrants returned or revoked , after having been worked under for but a brief season , he cannot but ^ feel that wisdom does not always direct either

the asking or the granting of warrants . The possibility of evil is so great , and the benefit in comparison so small , attending the creation of neAV Masonic bodies , that it ought to be done only after the most deliberate forethought , and Avith the

exercise of the maturest judgment . The granting of the warrant of every neAV Lodge on the instant Aveakens several old ones ; and the drain upon the parents does not cease then , but continues indefinitely . The neAV Lodge draws its support from the

ailment of the old Lodges—petitions for membership continually go into the former at the expense of the latter . But this evil is trivial , in comparison Avith another Ave

are about to name . No thinking Freemason who observes the Avholesale maimer in which petitions are often presented in neAV bodies , can help feeling that their groAvth are more or less forced . As soon as Masonry shall be found opening

recruiting stations , it will be time to think of enacting such stringent rules , bearing directly upon this point , as shall ensure the voluntary system being strictly observed . We may ask a man home to dinner with usor to vote our political ticketor to join

, , our church , but never to be made a Mason . Candidates must freely and voluntarily offer themselves ; they must come seeking neither our OAvn nor their OAATI selfish ends , hut solely Avith a view to share in that Masonic light and knowledge Avhich it is

the g ift of the Craft to dispense , and to become members of the only ancient and accepted Brotherhood . No old Lodge must he supported , hecause it is Avorn out Avith age ; no new Lodge must be built up , to keep it from

dying in infancy . Better both old and new perish together , rather than he made merely temporarily and nominally strong , by the accretion of bad material , gathered by unlaAvful mew . s .-r-American Keystone