Recollections Of The Lodge Of Freemasons At Thornhill.

sixpence as a nne oefore re-admission . To a direct assault upon any ofthe members , by Avhich personal injury may be sustained , a fine of ten shillings for fche first instance j and if persisted in to the second , final exclusion . To the indulgence

of passionate language , or where the mind may be greatly heated , a fine of sixpence in like manner . Fines for irregular conduct must be paid at or previous to the next annual meeting , under pain of utter exclusion . " The adoption of

such rules by a lodge of Freemasons would in some minds favour fche idea that little care had been taken in the selection of members Avhen special provision had to be made for the repression of blasphemy , obscenity of speech , drunkenness , and the like , in meetings begun and ended Avith

" ' solemn prayer , "—as would also the attempt made so recently as 1860 , to introduce this other bye-laAV : — " If any brother be convicted of carrying on a course of intoxication for tAvo days in succession , thereby rendering himself unfit to

folloAV his regular employment , for the first offence he be suspended for one month from all benefit of lodge or society ] second offence , two months ' suspension ] third offence , expulsion . " The spirit in Avhich such a proposal Avas received by fche

brethren very properly led to its withdrawal—a course fully justified , when it- is considered that there is only one instance on record of Thornhill St . John ' s being called upon to " exclude" and " admonish" for irregular conduct any of its members j and that expulsion has never yet had to be resorted to While the

annual banquet has from time immemorial been an institution of the Craft , Masonic balls are a modern invention ] and their introduction Avas opposed by the more seriously-disposed portion of the Fraternity . Bro . Northonck , under Avhoni

an edition of the English Book of Constitutions appeared in 1786 , is reported to have called Masonic balls " pollutions—alien to the principles of the Craft—an ill-advised measure , that has caused divisions among ourselves very difficult to

heal , and pointed the finger of scorn against the Institution in a manner very little to its credit . . . . If once the Fraternity are so Aveak and inconsiderate as to give themselves up to such frivolous and unworthy pursuits , they may bid

farewell to Masonry . ' '' It Avas in 1821 that the Lodge of Thornhill first authorised a ball as the terminating event of its St . John ' s Day celebration ] and its occasional participation in the

Recollections Of The Lodge Of Freemasons At Thornhill.

pleasures of the dance does not seem in the least to have marred its growth or alienated its members from Masonic principle ; for so recently as December , 1852 , we find the Lodge , "in deference to the religious scruples of some

of the brethren , " delaying their St . John's Day festivities till the 2 Sfch of the month , fche 27 th falling that year upon a Monday . The balls held under the auspices of St . John ' safforded , on many occasions prior to 1852 , an

opportunity to brethren to fraternise Avith Oddfellows and other outsiders , for whose conduct the brethren at whose instance they were invited , were held responsible ] but in that year these balls were ordered to be " composed of Masons

exclusively ] " —and going a step further in its regulating of these Terpsichorean fetes , the lodge in 1853 , agreed " unanimously , and with a very decided feeling upon the subject , thafc no brother be allowed to present a ticket for the ensuing

ball to any recruiting sergeant or corporal in . Her Majesty ' s service . " No record is left of the circumstances which suggested such a course so opposite to the feeling of respect for the soldier which the Scottish bard has inculcated :

" For gold the merchant ploughs the mam , The farmer ploughs the manor ; But glory is the sodger's prize : The sodger ' s wealth is honour . " The brave , poor soelgeT ne'er despise , Nor count him as a stranger ; Remember he ' s his country's stay , In clay anel hour 01 danger . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

PEATEItS "OT IOBGE . I have no difficulty in answering the inquiry of " Sigma . " When all the members of a Lodge profess the same Positive Religion , the Prayers may not improperly be those peculiar to that Religion . But when all the members of a Lodge do not profess the

same Positive Religion , the Prayers should , I apprehend , he those conformable with Natural Religion . In such Prayers every member of the Lodge can join . —CHABIES PUHTON COOPEE . POSITIVE BEIIIGIOH " .

A learned brother , who happens to have seen the preceding communication , suggests that the term "Positive Religion , " although common in metaphysics , is new in Freemasonry , and that it needs an explanation . I subjoin an explanation taken from "La Religion Naturelle" of Mons . Jules Simon . "Une Religion Positive est un ensemble de dogmes et cle preceptes ruveles . " — CHABIES PUBTOS COOPEB ,