Masonic Discipline.—Viii.

MASONIC DISCIPLINE . —VIII .

LONDON , SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 6 , 1869 .

BY CRUX . Previous to investigating in categorical detail tiie duties of the respective officers in a lodge , and accepting as a lamentable but incontestable fact , that as a rule they are entirely incompetent to

perform them , a general remedy must be sought . Where is this to be found , aud how shall it be ensured that the regalar routine duty of every officer in a lodge shall be performed with the same accuracy , precision and fidelity that characterise

the evolutions of a well drilled regiment ? It may be answered , what are our lodges of Instruction for ? Let the brethren attend there and they can all learn their duty . If the brethren were to attend , ancl if they were to learn their duty we should have no more to say . But the brethren

do not attend ; they do not learn their duties , and the very fact that the working of our lodges is in its present deplorable condition is the best proof that lodges of Instruction are totally inadequate to the occasion . They are powerless to contend

with this great and acknowledged evil which constitutes one of the most prominent and most serious wholesale departures from the true principles of "Masonic Discipline . " Unless our ceremonies are conducted with fervency and zeal ,

they fall as flat as ditch water upon the eye and ear of the initiate . Unless some vitality , some reality is imparted to the Avorking of a lodge it is in vain to hope , to impress the candidate , the initiate , the P . O . or the M . M . with a due sense of the serious nature and sacred character of the

obligations they have taken upon themselves . It is quite evident to every working brother , that he cannot learn to perform the duties of the respective officers , by attending simply at his own lodge . Independently of what has been already

stated , that the duties are not properly or efficiently performed , the intervals of attendance are so few and far between , that it would be a matter of sheer impossibility for the most retentive memory and most assiduous intellect to master the ritual , even

should a knowledge of the mere routine work be correctly acquired . Attendance therefore at a lodge of instruction becoms imperative upon every Mason who is desirous of properly " learning his trade . " He must in fact go to school again ; and learn his Masonic catechism . Were all the brethren

to do this our lodges would not present the lamentable spectacle that most of them do , but the evil being acknowledged , it remains to find a l'emedy . Can a remedy be found ? We think so ; provided those in authority will seriously take up tho matter J

and encourage the project we are now about to submit to the consideration of the Graft at large . The present state of our lodges , the loose manner in which the ceremonies and duties arc performed . , and the general laxity of " Masonic Discipline "

throughout the various component sub-divisions of our noble institution , are incontestitable proofs that the supreme authority ought to exercise more immediate supervision , over tho welfare and status of the individual lodges corn mi ted to its care .

What is really and urgently required to keep the working of our lodges up to tho mark , to stimulate the officers to an earnest and faithful

performance of their duties , and to maintain that universality of ritualistic phraseology and ceremonial routine , which is alike the boast aud the falsehood of Masonry , is tho appointment of Masonic inspectors . We shall return to this

subject on another occasion ; let us now consider the remedy for the great evil alluded to . The present age is pre-eminently one of examinations . There are very few situations of either a private or a public character , into which

the entree . is open , without the candidate beingrequired to undergo a " test of merit" of some description or another , Iu some instances the ordeal is of a severe and trying nature ; in others it is merely nominal , but still the very circumstance that some preliminary preparation is necessary , that some degree of knowledge , however slight , is

demanded of the noviciate , is an unmistakable indication that the spirit of the times is universally in favour of merit ancl ability . Is Freemasonry to be a solitary exception to the principle that governs the whole world and actuates every living

being , viz ., progression ? It must be borne in mind also that the individual or the collective body , that does not progress in the present day—¦ retrogrades . There is no intermediate staye , in neutral ground . Go forward or go back are the

only alternatives , stop still , one cannot . Progre . ? ion is totally distinct from both innovation , and alteration or change . So far as Masonry is concerned it signifies that yielding or adapting itself to the exigencies of modern times wliich can alone ensure its future success and advancement . It is a great and flagrant error to calculate the progress of the