The Increase Of Freemasons.

THE INCREASE OF FREEMASONS .

IT is never to be forgotten that " proselyting " is forbidden in Freemasonry . No effort is permitted to bring over to Masonry any profane who has not of himself manifested a desire to unite with the Fraternity . Persuasion , or any inducement , cannot be used to bring into the Craft

anyone who is thus influenced , for he would not be worthy of the trust to be devolved on him as a Mason . It must be of his own free will , by the exercise of his intelligence and conscience that his judgment is impressed , and causes him to seek admission into and association with the Brotherhood of

Freemasons . All the information he may require to decide for himself can he found in the exoteric teachings of recognized Masonic authority . The history of Freemasonry is sufficiently well known , its influence on

society open to investigation , the character of the whole Craft before the whole world clearly pourtrayed , so that a true , earnest and honest aspirant for Masonic membership needs no inducements or allurements to excite compulsion to present his application for admission .

Masonry is not , never has been , and so long as its fundamental principles are maintained , never can be , composed of men who seek the benefits or advantages whioh mark the incitements to enter profane organizations . Entering Masonry , all must divest themselves of those motives and considerations which give all other associations whioh glitter with enticements , excuses or pretexts to attract members .

Masonry pays no premiums or bounties for membership . Its laws are as rigid as those of the " Medes and Persians , " which history has made into a proverb , that they are unalterable . These laws are few and plain , originating with the earliest of days in a system of jurisprudence that is to-day older than empires , languages or organized society ; is , therefore , free from those modern policies which , are liable to all sorts of interpretations .

Justice and equity are the corner stones of Masonic jurisprudence . Justice that has been sanctioned as right by the wisest of the generations of men ; equity , which is the conscience of the fathers since the aforetime . Both were living principles set forth before the " Ten Tables " of pre-Christian era . St . John and St . Paul , nearly two thousand years ago , taught the principles of that justice and equity .

Therefore it is beyond contradiction that Freemasonry is a law unto itself , and he who seeks to be a Freemason must come asking admission on the basis of obedience to the laws and regulations of the Fraternity . These have been tried by many generations of men ; they have been tested by long and close investigation and examination ; they have been honoured , commended and approved by the wise and the good .

It is not to be supposed then that such an Institution as Freemasonry needs to offer or present any inducements to secure membership . It cannot he asserted , for it is proclaimed that any such effort is not permitted . If any such influence was used in any individual case , and it tried to be hidden as though it could not be discovered in the " Light , " so that if made manifest it would destroy the possibility of its successful operation .

Thus it is , and therefore , that Freemasonry has maintained its character , defeated all attempts to impair its existence ; in full possession of its rank and power in the State , it has lost neither " jot nor tittle " of its principles , its esotericism , its landmarks or its symbology . Beyond reproach of all right thinking men , assailed only by one-sided cecytists , whose blindness would be total , unless their vision was excited by phantoms .

What need then has Masonry to proselyte ? It is wise enough to know that those who seek to enter its portals from persuasion of friends , or some unworthy motive , or for self-interest , or for what could be of personal advantage or benefit , would prove themselves destructive of the harmony of the Craft , bring reproach on the Masonic character , and go to justify the belief that Freemasons were their worst enemies , for they were found in the threshold of the Craft .

Careful watchfulness should he the duty of the members of a Lodge to prevent unworthy men from obtaining the rights and privileges of Masonry . Watch the preparing room door ; test every applicant on his application by the inexorable law which permits his initiation . — " Masonic Beview . "

The Quick Or The Dead.

THE QUICK OR THE DEAD .

THE evil that men do lives after them , the good is oft interred with their bones . Shakespeare , as a rule , was right in his wise and sagacious remarks upon human nature , and to look about , upon the monuments that cover so much of the earth ' s surface erected to the " memory of men , " we would think there was never anything but good in man , and as a consequence nothing else could be interred . Caesar was ambitious , and because he was ,

Brutus , who was an " honourable " man , and not a bit ambitious , slew him , and in this act he let out the evil blood of ambitious Csssar , and left the good bones to he interred . I have often been struck with the records upon tombstones , and wondered what those whose virtues are graven upon tablets of stone would think of themselves , could they but return to this mundane

sphere and gaze upon the inscriptions above their grassy resting-places . To be sure , only the good things of a man ' s life should be remembered , and only the virtues should be chiselled upon enduring brass , but is it not sometimes a matter of surprise , to find after a man is dead that he possessed virtues ( according to the tombstone legend ) of which we never heard him accused in life ?

The Quick Or The Dead.

There is one thing emphatically true , that we often do not discover the good in a man ' s life until that life is done . There are noble impulses , pure aspirations , and acts of kindness , that we never think of until after the man has squared his accounts with time , and we discover a large balance to his

credit on the ledger of virtue . To praise it , then , is wise in man . It may do some poor , struggling fellow-man good to "hope" that " after life ' s fitful fever , " when he sleeps well , some friend may drop a tear upon his grave , and say : " He was a good fellow . "

But I have sometimes thought that these expressions , or rewards , or good opinions , might be of greater benefit , if they were not posthumous . Why wait until a man is cold in death before you say a word of encouragement 1 Why not help a struggling fellow-man a little while above ground ? Why not help bear his burden of life , not praise him for having

borne the load so bravely all alone ? There is a vast amount of hypocritical cant in these posthumous praises . The monuments erected in cemeteries are all well to mark the last resting place of our loved ones , but we should erect monuments of love and appreciation in their lives . What does it matter to the senseless clay , whether there is a shaft a hundred feet high , or

a mausoleum of lasting granite erected to mark its place of rest ? It does matter to the living , it did to that same senseless clay when it was quickened with the spirit of active life , whether those who were its associates were really and truly appreciative of the labours performed . There is too much hating the quick and loving the dead .

Let us build monuments to the living by making their lives more tolerable , and by showing an appreciation of their existence . Each man and woman on the face of the earth deserves something from the circle of acquaintances in which he or she moves . It may be that some poor criminal is suffering in a felon ' s cell , because the word of warning or advice

was not spoken at the proper time . This is a great big world , but it is not so big that every one may not find sustenance . There is wealth enough in the bosom of mother earth , all created hy the All-Father for his children , and those children have but to reach forth their hands and take it . Nothing ever came from idleness , except evil , and so no man can hope for tho good

of life without an effort . Some are more successful than others , and secure more of the good things our Father has provided . What monuments of sweet contentment , and what praises , before angelic translation , would we see if these successful mortals would speak a word of encouragement and advice to the less favoured of their fellows .

The time for speaking good of a man is during his life . To praise him then , and advise with him there , is the part of wisdom , but it seems that we are all Cains and every man ' s hand is against us . A man who makes a mistake receives no encouragement to do better , but is kicked to hurry him down hill . A word spoken at the right time may save many a heartache , and entitle a man to praise both before and after death .

The Quick , not the Dead , are those who need the words of praise and monuments to their virtues and good deeds . The Quick we see and mingle with ; the Dead arc gone from our circle into the silence of inactivity . No words of praise can do them good , and it is too late when the tombstone is erected to say what ought to have been said before . — " Lounger , " in "New York Dispatch . "

A Mason's Duty.

A MASON'S DUTY .

HOW many of us are there who ever stop and consider whether as members of the Masonic Order we owe more to ourselves and the community in which we live , than we otherwise should were we not Masons ; yet this query appeals to us from many good and sufficient reasons . From the standpoint of many outsiders , the Order itself , and all

belonging thereto , are looked upon with more or less suspicion ; even the church organizations look upon our Order with more or less disfavour , born of a jealously of the willing and zealous allegiance which the average Mason hears to it .

Many are prone to lay to the door of Freemasonry very much that occurs not beneficial to the community , and stand constantly on the look-out to discover any short-comings among the members , and to decry the Order and all Masons , upon the slightest shadow of anything emanating therefrom that seems to them not to be entirely right .

As Masons , we should be fully aware that our critics are keenly on the alert to pick up the lightest word , and to bring forward the simplest act , spoken or performed by a Mason , which can possibly be construed into a semblance of something which is dangerous to the community or of evil import to mankind in general .

Another class of critics are those who think they are afraid of the evil influence of all secret societies , but more especially of the Masonic Order , it being the oldest , the most prominent , and the one of all others that holds its members to the truest allegiance , and consequently , to them the most to

be suspected and feared ; among the latter class are many very intelligent , and even well educated people , who through their early education , or by certain circumstances , or the animus of their thoughts , are turned in this direction .

Another class are those who have never given the matter very much thought , but without any positive opinions of their own are ready to accept the ideas advanced by others as a matter of course , and to allow that all such secret organizations are quite harmful , and to blame any and all the fortunate or unfortunate happenings that fall upon mankind . If a man is particularly fortunate in his business ventures , in the estimation of these