The Craft And Its Criticisers.—Iii.

speculative and practical information spread among any profession , than by establishing the profession itself into a community or order , all the members of which would have but one object and one interest in common . " The art of building is no longer a monopoly retained in the hands of a privileged body , and there is a gradually increasing tendency to throw open all occupations , in which skill is required , and to permit their exercise by such as can establish their powers to the satisfaction of their employers

, irrespective of any peculiar arrangements for association . While , therefore , as an art , Freemasonry has ceased to exist , it still flourishes as the inculcator of every moral and social virtue , and makes use of the working tools merely as symbols significant of great truths , which it is desirable to enforce by every legitimate means that can be brought into action by the members of the fraternity . Is there not a possibility that a society whose proceedings are all veiled in

mystery and secrecy may become most obnoxious to good government , and that under such a pretext conspiracies may be hatched , subversive of public order , and thus dangerous to all connected with it by membership , whether or not individually engaged in them ?—Such charges have been brought , and no doubt with perfect justice , against many secret societies formed at different periods and in various countries , but it by no means follows that these are in fact Masonicthough attempts have been made bsome writers

, y to affix such a stigma on the Order . Freemasonry having a certain amount of credit for totally opposite views , it is manifestly the policy of those entertaining sentiments and pursuing plans inimical to the constituted authorities of a nation , to lead to a supposition of their connexion with it in order to free themselves from suspicion ; but our own published regulations in the

Book of Constitutions , as well as the printed charge given to candidates at their initiation , show that such objects are not only not admitted by us , but that both on admission into the Order and on assuming a position of rule in it , a clear and distinct statement to the contrary is made . Thus— " You promise not to be concerned in plots or conspiracies against government , but patiently to submit to the decisions of the supreme legislature "—to which a candidate for the Master ' s chair is required to answer in the

affirmative . Again , an apprentice is enjoined to submission to the laws , " by never proposing or at all countenancing any act that may have a tendency to subvert the peace and good order of society , by paying due obedience to the laws of any state which may for a time become the place of your resi-. dence or afford you its protection , and above all , by never losing sight of the allegiance due to the sovereign of your native land . " Is not the custom of meeting in hotels inimical to the professed objects of

the Order?—To this question a decided affirmative answer may be given , with which , unfortunately , the practice is not in accordance . It is unnecessary to enter on the subject in this paper , because it is one which is at the present time attracting much attention with a view to amendment , as the records of the procedings of Grand Lodge , and the pages of the Freemasons ' Magazine in every number amply show . Reference to them is therefore given for evidence of the growing conviction , that in this respect great

changes , already commenced , must be made if the members of the fraternity desire to maintain their status and respectability , and to remove one of the most frequent grounds of complaint and censure , and , it may be added , one of the greatest temptations to depart from its principles and to bring discomfort and unhappincss to the domestic hearth , instead of leading to the promotion of peace and harmony , and to the protection rather than the desertion of those who ought to be able to regard Freemasonry as a boon , and not a source of affliction to a family .