Freemasonry In Germany.

but if they were engaged in some common work their want of agreement would prove a hindrance , and they would cease from their work , because the one would Avish to follow an ultramontanethe other a liberalhumane

, , direction . A private individual conception of Freemasonry may be tolerated , but not by any means any and every arbitrary , unfounded conception of it

that one may choose to entertain . Certain limits must be observed if there is to be any Freemasonry at all . We are all agreed in this , that Freemasonry is an art , and that therefore something must be done , some work achieved on

our part , and that in an artistic Avay . Then it is a social art , hence it requires a regulated co-operation of many . Lastly , it aspires to improve man morally ; consequently it will have to repress the chief

impedimentselfish-, ness , to direct its votaries to find their happiness and satisfaction in the furtherance of the welfare of others , and to exercise them therein . He , therefore ,

Avho wants to be idle and lead a merely contemplative life ; he Avho does not seek community with humanely-minded men , or lowers the spirit of such an association by helping to make it a mass of stereotype forms and formulas ;

lie who , in defiance of the proposed moral impiwement , only studies his clear self , and in the lodge cloaks his egotism Avith empty phrases , is no Freemason at all in the proper sense of the word . Briefly , true Freemasonry

requires true men . Skilfully to find out the proper men is a task for which the brief clauses of the statutes will not

siuhce , for all depends upon IIOAV such general rules are applied in a given case . Much would already be gained if the hints _ and counsels given for the examination of candidates , and found dispersed in our periodicals , were

collected , so as to render that which has Jeeii tested by actual experience accessible to the brotherhood by means of the printing press . But even then an ^ sti'uction of the candidates or the Profane in the spirit , nature , and form

of Freemasonry would continue necessary and desirable—an instruction , I mean , having official validity , and being in the shape of a printed volume , to he read , according to Law , by every candidate before his putting his definitive

request to be received . The carrying out of this measure would not onl y do aAA ay Avith many inconveniences , but would infallibly be of an exceedingly beneficial influence on the future

composition and , by implication , on the efficiency Of the brotherhood . It is obvious that by adequately instructing the candidate in our art , so as to enable him to judge for himself of his fitness for Freemasonry , Ave shall be much . less

exposed to mistakes than UOAV ; for in the instruction particular stress should , in my opinion , be laid on this point , that though the entrance into our Craft is voluntary , yet on being received a member has duties towards his

fellowmen , and that only by undertaking and discharging those duties the object of Freemasonry — moral improvement — can be attained . If a positive declaration on this most important point be given to the candidate , I think it will

keep from entering the lodge every one who is destitute of benevolence towards others , has no knowledge of the

solidarity of the interests of all , and possesses no energy of will . Till UOAV the profane man is generally expected to enter the lodge as an association about which he is at best most unsatisfactorily informed , i . e ., about Avhich he

frequently indulges in illusions , and thus unintentionally deceives himself and others . If so inexpedient a course is still to be adhered to , we are no longer justified in complaining of the penetration of improper elements into

the lodges ; at the same time , by Avithholding from the public at large the necessary information other evils are produced , for the profane IIOAV obtain it from traitorous and worthless sources ; prejudices against the Craft are

perpetuated and increase ; and many individuals , highly qualified though they may be for our cause , are thus kept , at