"Taught To Be Cautious."

"TAUGHT TO BE CAUTIOUS . "

fVERY Freemason has been taught to be cautious . The practice of this duty is now , as strongly as ever , most necessary . If we . had the private ear of every brother , we would whisper at your initiation you were " taught to be cautious . " Eyes , prying eyes , are steadily watching our proceedings .

Every one of us is liable to be thrown off our guard , and , inadvertently , may make some admission which our opponents can detect and blazon forth to their followers . A case of this kind has lately occurred . A brother to whom our personal thanks are due , and we trust he will accept them offered thus publicly , sent us the report of a lecture , by a Roman Catholic Priest , on Freemasonry . For obvious reasons we do not state the name of the lecturer , the locality

where it took place , or the title of the journal m which it was reported . Two extracts , which we append , are worthy of consideration , and may be profitably borne in mind by our readers . The lecturer said . — " Nowit might ho askedat the very outset' How can 3-011 profess to

, , , " be acquainted with the secrets of Freemasonry , when you never belonged " to it ? ' "Well , his answer to that would he , in an association so extensive " as this there must , of necessity , ho some among its members willing to " reveal its secrets . It was partly in this way that he , himself , became " acquainted with what he knew respecting it . In conversation , one day ,

" with a Catholic convert , who was also a Freemason , and to whom , on " that account , he ( the lecturer ) had refused the sacraments of the Church , " the convert very strenuously denied that' either politics or matters of " religion were allowed to be discussed by the association , and with a view , " no doubt , to induce him and to admit him as a full member of the " Church , he mentioned the name of a book " , which he offered to lend him "to readand whichhe saidcontained all the ordinary secrets and princiles

, , , p " of the craft , . He refused the loan of the book , however , telling the man " that as he could not make any other legislation than that of the Church , " and he was bound to see the laws of the Church carried out , the reading " of the hook would not induce him to swerve from his dut y in refusing to " give the sacraments of the Church to one who was a Freemason . jSTevei " - " tholess , he bore the title of the book in his mind , and some time afterwards

" a copy came into his hand , and from what he had read of it . and from " other evidence he had gathered on the subject , he was satisfied that the " man ' s statement was true , and that the book did contain all the ordinary " secrets of the order ; not merely those of the lower degrees of Freemasonry , " but even of the higher degrees , up to what was called ' Kadosh . * * * " Only that week he had an opportunity of putting the knowledge he had

" learnt on the matter to the test , and he did so . He was walking along " " Queen Street , when he met a gentleman whom lie knew to be a Freemason , " and he ( the lecturer ) then made the sign to him he had just explained . " The gentleman looked astonished , and then exclaimed , "Ah . ' you have not " quite got it yet . ' But he thought if he had not quite got it he was verv