The Communication Of Wednesday

THE COMMUNICATION OF WEDNESDAY

IT Is long since so meagre a programme of business 1 ms been offered to Grand Lodge as was submitted for consideration on Wednesday . Ten grants , amounting in the aggregate to £ 800 , were recommended in the Report of the Lodge of Benevolence . The Board of General Purposes

reported that two Lodges had been subjected to fines , and to their Report was appended a statement of accounts at the last meeting of the Finance Committee from which it appeared that there was a balance in the Bank of England amounting to £ 5 , 649 0 s 5 d , irrespective of the usual

balances in the hands of Grand Secretary for wages and contingencies . The announcement that the annual Report of the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution would be submitted to Grand Lodge , and that a certain brother would

appeal against a sentence of suspension passed upon him by the D . G . Master of Wellington , North Island , New Zealand , for publishing the proceedings of the District G . Lodge without authority , completed the list . Grand Lodge , no doubt , must have felt a considerable amount of satisfaction

it was not called upon to embark in a heated discussion when we are in the midst of a warm season such as it does not often fall to the lot of Englishmen to enjoy—iu his own country . It is impossible to imagine any ono getting himself into a state of excitement over the announcement

that two Lodges had been fined two guineas a-piece for certain offences , or because a brother appealed against the sentence passed upon him by his Dist . G . Master for a breach of the Constitutions . Even several pairs of such breaches must have failed to stir the life blood of our grave

ancl reverend senators into anything more than the most languid attention to the circumstances . We are not likely to be found m the company of those who think the publication of Lodge or District Grand Lodge proceedings is a very serious offence . The business ordinarily transacted in

one G . Lodge or Lodge so closely resembles that in every other that a printed form describing what was done might be prepared , only spaces being left vacant for the title of the Lodge , date and place of meeting , names of members , and a few other particulars of a stereotyped character . Still

a D . G . Master , and indeed the W . M . of a private Lodge , has a perfect right to put his veto on the publication of proceedings . We may regard him as narrow-minded , not to say childish , for doing so , but he has undoubtedly the power to forbid publication , and those who set him at defiance must be prepared to take the consequences .

As to the Lodges which have been fined , and the offences of which they were guilty , we would draw the attention of our readers to a letter we publish elsewhere in our columns . The writer ' s remarks are worthy of some attention . Of the fifteen new Lodges warranted since

the June Communication , seven are Provincial and ei ght Colonial , among the latter being the Seaforth Lodge , No . I 860 , Cabul , Affghanistan . Now , however , that our armies have evacuated Cabul , we shall be curious to learn what will become of this Lodge . Will it continue—that is ,

m the event of its having begun—to meet in the capital of the Ameer , or will it find new quarters at Candahar or elsewhere in the neighbourhood ? One other matter must be noticed . The statement of accounts shows a balance in

the Bank of England of over £ 5 , G 00 , but what need is there for keeping so considerable a sum on hand , when , as ¦ moneys are always being received by Grand Lodge , probably one-half of the sum would be ample to meet all possible contingencies . It may be that just now there is a

The Communication Of Wednesday

moro frequent demand for draughts on Grand Lodge , in order to meet unusual expenditure . Still it is as well that balances should be kept as low as they can bo consistently with the demands likely to be made on the account .

Money should not be allowed to lie idle , and unless tho Bank of England makes a point of insisting on its customers retaining abnormal balances , wo think our Finance Committee might content itself with ono of between £ 2000 and £ 3000 .

Some Peculiar Views About Freemasonry.

SOME PECULIAR VIEWS ABOUT FREEMASONRY .

MANY are the strange ideas which people adopt as to tho character and purpose of Freemasonry . Some are never happy but when they insist that it is a kind of religion . Others not only deny that ib is a religion , but are determined it shall resent all connection with whatever is , even in the remotest degree , associated with religion .

Some hold that it has political tendencies , some that it is a dangerous Secret Society , and others that it merely practises the rites of conviviality . But it is long since we have seen more singular notions laid down than in the article wc published last week from our esteemed contemporary the

Keystone . The article was entitled , " A Peculiar System of Morality , " and no one will deny it was a most eloquent exposition of the false morality of the world , as well as of that system which shonld take its place ; but there was an amazing novelty in the duties it sought to inculcate on

Freemasons . We willingly admit that Freemasons are neither snivelling hypocrites , nor nasal-twanged Pharisees . " We grant that " our peculiar system , which allows such liberality of thought in religious matters , pertnits equal latitude in things pertaining to morality "—provided , of

course , no attempt is made to foist upon us a spurious morality . We also allow that , as Charity is of the very essence of Freemasonry , " it does not teach ns to despise and shun those that have erred . " But it sounds strange in our ears that Freemasonry " sends forth her sons to

save such men , to bring them back to the fold ; to try every means in their power to rescue them from the temptations by which they are surrounded . " Our Lodges , when they meet together , spend a part of their time in studying our particular system of morality , ancl the rest in

pleasant intercourse of a social character . If a brother has fallen into misfortune , the circumstances are brought under notice , ancl , provided he is found to be a worthy man—that is , that his misfortunes aro not due to his personal misconduct—his necessities are relieved according

to the ability of the brethren . But from what source did our Philadelphian contemporary learn that , speaking figuratively , it is the duty of every Mason to go forth into the wilderness of sin for the purpose of reclaiming to virtue those who had abandoned themselves to vicious pursuits ?

Such a duty necessarily devolves upon the minister of religion ; for , unless he can induce abandoned creatures to perceive the folly of their immorality , ho will find it impossible to awake in them any sense of religion . Religion and morality are so intimately associated that it is impossible

for any one to bo religious who is not moral , or moral who is not religions . Some will , doubtless , take exception to this view , and especially those who strive to dissociate Freemasonry from any ancl everything of a religious character . Nevertheless such is the view wc have again and again expressed of the character of our Masonic system ;