Untitled Article

host being allowed to bring in his friends by shoals , who , while swelling the Lodge to great apparent strength , actually brought it to disgrace and debt by extravagant refreshments , which have diverted the whole income of the Lodge ( nearly two hundred pounds per annum ) from the true purposes of Masonry to the landlord ' s pocket .

The second impediment to the greater usefulness of Freemasonry is the want of a well-sustained law of charity . If charity comprehends the whole of Masonry , as we are taught in our lectures , why is it not recognised as the ruling principle in our Lodges , not in words only , but in deed and in truth ? Is it true Masonry to spend fifty pounds on a banquet , and on the same evening to give forty shillings to the distressed widow and orphans of a well-deserving Brother , and plead poverty in the treasury as an excuse for the meanness ?

A t least hal f the income of every Lodge should beset apart for charity . Out of this reserve might be paid subscriptions to all the Craft institutions , the moiety remaining for the acts of lodge charity , which in general would , be amply sufficient . I have been seeking for some such Lodge , but grieve to say , after some months'inquiry , I can find no Lodge within four miles round St . Paul ' s which proves by its acts that it is possessed of the virtue of charity in its highest sensenot one that has attained the summit of its profession .

I shall be only too happy to hear from any of your readers that I am mistaken , or that my inquiries have not been extended far enough , or in the right direction ; and shall be pleased to have the opportunity of joining a Lodge whose subscription is moderate ( say three or four guineas per annum ) , and whose charity is a living principle , not a hollow profession . If such a Lodge be not in existence in London , are there not sufficient among your readers to form one which shall commence a new state of things , " adding to virtue knowledge , and to knowledge temperance , and to brotherly kindness charity ?"

Hoping my humble suggestions will elicit some discussion in your pages leading to important changes for the better , I beg to subscribe myself , yours , fraternally and respectfully , October 3 , 1855 . Zeredathah .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MONTHLY MAGAZINE . Sir and Brother , —In my poor opinion , one of the grand impediments to intellectual advancement , in the present day , is a fictitious originality . If a public teacher of any description professes that his lectures contain nothing but original thoughts , and can persuade men so , he is listened to and applauded . If he ventured to instruct by reading from a book which anybody can purchase who has the means , he would find no supporters—no , not if his selections contained

the most sublime and elevating truths that ever emanated from the mind of man . I love Freemasonry for this , that it is superior to such quackery ; that what it teaches , it teaches as the embodiment of the wisdom of successive generations of the Order , handing down the same great truths as truths , not originalities ; transmitting them onwards , from age to age , in language which only varies from its precedents , as it sets forth those truths more clearly and -conspicuously . For example , to speak of language alone , I can truly state—and I think that many

have experienced the same in preparing for the office I fill , that of W . M . of my Lodge—I always found in my private and solitary rehearsals of Lodge ceremonies , that I was near to , or departing from that form of words which I had been taught in Ltodge , in proportion to the exactness and appropriateness , or otherwise , of the form of words running through my mind . And the same principle , I think , applies to all doctrines or tenets set forth in Masonry . They ha , ve been pondered over and considered by men in different ages , and their development is marked by a peculiar collective wisdom , and not " fashioned to the varying * hour . "

If your readers agree with me in this judgment , I most affectionately ask them why should not Masonic teaching be enlarged in its compass of instruction , and more employed in the development of conjoint knowledge ? I venture most humbly to suggest to the rulers of the Craft a very simple mode to effect this important object . There are in England and its islands alone , say