Lodge Officers, Their Powers And Duties.

They were in fact appendages to certain popular taverns , and assembled by authority of the Sheriff at their favourite locations when they desired to initiate some one into the mysteries of the first degree , Avhich alone Ai r as in their possession . Under

these circumstances there could be no permanent membership , and no business not immediately connected Avith the meeting in progress , and nothing for the Master to do beyond conferring the degree , Avhich was of a much briefer description

than at present . The abuses naturally growing out of this system led to the so-called revival of 1717 . and to the adoption of a regular organisation and system of government , one of the points of which was that no profane coulcl be made a

Mason until he had stood proposed at least a calendar month . It is somewhat curious to note in this connection that a few years since ive got back to the old Avays so far as to have a mania for making Masons at sight , and carried it , as Ave

generally do everything , to such an extent that the rule of proposing a candidate one week , balloting for and initiating him the next , got to be considered SIOAA 7- , and dispensations to confer the three degrees at once were as common as

Brigadier-Generals lately Avere in Washington . To the firmness of Bro . John L . Lewis , Past Grand Master , AYS owe it that this evil was fully stopped in this jurisdiction ; and let us hope that the good sense of the brethren Avill never permit any attempt at its revival to snficeed .

After the formation of the Grand Lode's of o England , from whence our Masonry comes , Bro . Anderson was empoivered to publish the constitution and regulations collated by George Payne , and then , as the Craft grew in numbers , the lodges were authorised to confer the second and third

degrees , aud from that time may be saicl to date the organisation of lodges as Ave now have them . The regulations , thirty-nine in number , are the basis of our present system of jurisprudence , and they bear about the same relation to the present system that

the acorn does to the oak . A glance at them , as compared ivith the intricacies of modern laiv , will furnish a better idea of the accumulated responsibilities of the Master in I 860 over , those of his

predecessors in the last century than I could give yon in a A oIume . The vast proportions of the society iu the present day , the heavy membership of lodges in genera ] , tlie numerous applications for initiation and advancement , the haste of applicants to get

Lodge Officers, Their Powers And Duties.

through as soon as possible , the checks established by Grand Lodge to that inordinate haste , and the troubles that grow cut of their use and abuse , the fact that all men are not Masons who belong to Masonry , the perverse qualities of our nature which

so often lead us to magnify a slight difficulty into a full feathered quarrel , the forgetfulness of solemn covenants and the indisposition always to submit to the expressed will of a majority , the occasional tendency of majorities to forget the rights of

minorities and abuse the power they hold , oblivion of the axiom that as a general rule Masonic office should seek the best man , and not the best man the office , though this is of course subject to exceptions , and , above all , the never ending and

always recurring questions of law that present themselves for decision , all combine to make the office of Master one not to be undertaken ivithout much experience in lodge matters and the possession of qualities not gioen to every man , however estimable he may be in a general sense . ( To be continued ) .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

SOUL ' S IMMORTALITY ; THE BELIEF THEEEIH " . A few lines furnish an answer to the letter of a Brother , written from Liverpool , which has reached me more than six weeks after its date . There are Freemasons ndio disregard all Positive Religions , and consequently . ill Sacred Books . Their belief in the

Immortality of the Soul is therefore derived from some other source . That source is Man ' s Reason . Consider my communication to the FREEMASON ' S MAGAZINE , vol . xiii ., page 71 , " Immortality of the Soul and Freemasonry . "—CHARLES PURTON COOPER . THEISM , DEISM , AXD FREEMASONRY .

In my opinion a Brother , at Louvain , is wrong . "Theism" and not "Deism" is the word ivhich should be used in relation to Freemasonry , when considered in the greatest extent of ivhich it is susceptible , the limits prescribed by its essential doctrines not being exceeded . The folloAving passage , extracted from the

"Dictionnaire des Sciences Philosophiques , " afford strong confirmation of my opinion , " Le theiame differe du deisme , bien que dans les noms , il y ait ce te seule difference , que l ' un vient du Grec et 1 'autre du Latin . Le deisme exclut quelquefois l'iclee de providence , ou tout an moines d ' uue providence morale ,

d ' une intervention , divine dans les affaires de l'humanite . II est hostile a toute revelation , a , toute tradition , et ne voit clans les faits qui portent ces . noms qu ' uu fruit de i'imposture . Le theisme au contraire , ne suppos point ces restrictions . " — CHARLES PURLON COOPER . SPURIOUS OB CZAZXDESTIXE I . ODGZES . What is their correct definition ? — SIGMA , —