Contents.

CONTENTS .

EDITORIAL : CANDIDATES FOR " MASTERSHIP' 35 FESTIVAL OF ROYAL MASONIC BENEVOLENT INSTITUTION ... 30 MASONIC POET ' CORNER— The Five Points of Fellowship "" 37 THE ANNUAL FESTIVAL or THE EMULATION LODGE OF

IMPROVEMENT 37 CONVOCATION OF THE DISTRICT GRAND LODGE OF MADRAS 37 THE OLD MASONIANS 37 ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE AND ANSWERS 38

OUR TRESTLE BOARD 3 ' . l POINT—LEFT—RIGHT -lo QUATUOR GORONATI LODGE . No . 207 ( i 11 NOTIFICATIONS II

HIGH TWELVE 11 REPORTS OF LODGES AND CHAPTERS ... 11 M ' KTROPOLITAX Axn PROVINCIAL LODGE AND CHAPTER

MEKTIXGS FORTHCOMING 12 , 13 , -1 J METROPOLITAN LODGES AND CHAPTERS OF INSTRUCTION ... -15 ADVERTISEMENTS Front rarer . 34 , 46 . 47 . -IS

Candidates For " Mastership."

Candidates for " Mastership . "

VERY Candidate for the Office of Master must be presented to a Board of Installed Masters . " So runs a portion of our Installation Ritual . It

would appear from letters we have received , some of which we have published , that the meaning of the phrase is not

understood by the Craft at large , or that the stipulation is wantonly or carelessly ignored . Which is it' ? The

requirement itself is certainly expressive , and should leave no room for misunderstanding . Every Candidate shall be presented to a Hoard of Installed Masters ! For what

purpose ' ? Can it be for any other than to prove , as a ( Jaudtilaie , that he is fitted for election ; and qualified in all the other respects which are set forth in the recited

requirements for the position he seeks ? Wo think not . Having satisfied those brethren who have a greater knowledge of the duties of a Master of a Lodge by reason oi

having themselves discharged such duties—more or less efficiently , as the case may be—the Candidate submits himself for election , and being elected is installed;—by

whom ? Not by a Board of Installed Masters , but by a predecessor in the chair , or by some other qualified brother , m a Board of Installed Masters , and in accordance with

ancient custom . Can anything be much plainer or more consistent with that due order of things which did , does , or should characterise masonic work ? So

much for the meaning ; and now for the disregard of the injunction contained , if not in any constitutional

law , still in t' -. o ritual which is acknowledged , ( not m isolated cases , but generally ) , to be in accordance with ancient custom , and , being such , to be uniformly

Candidates For " Mastership."

observed . Is it or is it not a fact that there is practiced in many parts of England , and more particularly where ancient masonic customs are almost religiously

preserved by Craftsmen , a form of ceremony for constituting in due order and with much solemnity a " Board , " or , as it might be called , an " advanced Lodge" of

Installed Masters for purposes connected with the Installation of Masters of Lodges ? Is it not also a fact that in the Metropolis , and quite immediately under the purview

of the Grand Lodge itself , this ancient ceremony , which bears evidence of most careful consideration and deep purpose , is unknown , or at any rate so little known that

its practice now and then becomes an event , and those who seek to retain it as an integral part of a perfect whole are looked upon with disfavour as pedants and innovators ' . '

If these be not facts why should so much questioning arise as to what is proper to be done or be left undone by those who are interested in the purity and comprehensiveness of masonic ritual ?

In our last and present numbers will be found two letters on what we consider cognate subjects , viz .: the " Hoard of Installed Masters , " and the " Qualifications of Candidates

for the Master ' s Chair . " One writer asserts that the most interesting ceremony connected with the Board of Installed Masters , in which are conveyed certain

symbolical teachings which every Master of a Lodge should know , but which a large majority have never had the opportunity of learning , was until just lately a dead letter to

him . The other proves that in some instances bye-laws are necessary to ensure the operation now of what in earlier days was a well-observed custom . We should be glad to know

from some authority , if such there be whose dictum would have all the force of a command , what is or is not proper to be observed by all lodges alike in regard to both

subjects . Confident that the general body of the Craft would acquiesce in either the retention o ^ an ancient custom in connection Avith the ritual , or the entire

abandonment thereof , if after due consideration it should be determined one way or the other by whomsoever has the ability and right to determine , as well as the power to

enforce such determination , we should be content with merely suggesting that this matter should at once receive attention in high quarters . But past experience teaches

us that no such attention is likely to be given to any wishes or complaints of those who really desire the preservation of our ancient rites from interference or

abandonment , unless a strong resolve be made to raise the question in Grand Lodge by constitutional procedure . We have no ritual committee , as have some other Grand Lodges , and

failing such a court of appeal on ritualistic matters , Ave look upon this subject as one Avhich might consistently be referred to our Board of General Purposes .