Objects Of Masonic Reform.

felloAV man , whilst the latter should bo reserved- as a portion of that too otfc-noglected duty Ave OAVO to GOD alone . Called upon , as some of us are , to hold in veneration the original rulers and patrons of the Order of Freemasonry , and their regular successors , supremo and subordinate , according to their stations , AVC ought first to knoAV Who are those Ameliorable personages , and What are the

links that connect them Avith their successors 1 Freemasonry is not sufficiently well authenticated , in the Craft and Arch degrees , as IIOAV practised here , to alloAV any studious or reflective brother to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion as to the identity of the original rulers and patrons of the Order . If Ave fix on any definite era , as a basis for our foundation , the schisms and discrepancies Aidiich our

history present go very far to unsettle all accounts , verbally given , as to a regular succession of authorities , supremo or subordinate . If Ave travel beyond the year 1721 , all is confusion . Scrupulous brethren destroyed the records—not the ritual—because they should not fall into improper hands . So there is no documentary oAudence

to help us , and Ave have only to trust to imperfect reports and traditions , both of the most vague and unsatisfactory character ; and if AVC come doAvn to the Lodge of Reconciliation and Union , in 1813 , one , or both , of the parties tliat formed that lodge must have been acting in opposition to the regular successors of the venerable original rulers and patrons of the Order ; and either the ancient or

the modern Freemasons could not have shoAvn a pure , unbroken , descent . But , no doubt , it Avill be said , the fact of a coalition between those AVIIO Avere legitimate and those AVIIO Avere not either partially , or entirely , purged all previous errors and fixed Freemasonry on a sound and recognized foundation . Such may be all very Avell , as far as it goes ; but if it is adopted then Ave are seated

on one horn of a dilemma , for if the union of the tAvo Grand Lodges is to be taken as the definite basis of Freemasonry , the much-boasted antiquity of the craft is reduced to just fifty-tAvo years , and the original rulers and patrons can be no other than the Dukes of Kent , Sussex , and those AVIIO bore sAvay in 1813 !

If , then , it is so difficult to define AVIIO Avere tlie original rulers and patrons it is still more perplexing to decide AVIIO are , or have been , dissenters from the original plan of Freemasonry , and yet an individual—one perhaps AVIIO has never given a moment ' s thought to the point—is called upon to discountenance all such , Avithout any guide or intimation Avhich may help him to a conclusion or , if ho

has made the matter an object of inquiry , he finds that the existing Grand Lodge , in its LIAVS , ritual , customs , and usages , is the least in accordance Avith the original plan of 1717 , of any body of Freemasons in the ivorld . From the date of the revival to this present year of Grace , 1865 , eveiy landmark of the order has been most mercilessly tortured , hacked , hewed , and construed , to mean any ,

or eA'ory , thing at a given- moment . If this process of mangling is found to be insufficient to cany a point , there never arc wantin « those ready to propose the erasure of all such obstacles to their