Club Licenses And Freemasons' Halls.

CLUB LICENSES AND FREEMASONS ' HALLS .

AVe have great pleasure in laying the following before our readers , showing that the fears Avhich were entertained as regards the Club License extending to Masonic Lodges held in private rooms was to a great extent -unfounded , the limitation as to rental , Avhich was not fully explained in the first instance ,

exempting them .- — TO TUB EDITOK OF THE FIIEEJU 50 XS' 3 IAGAZIWE AST ) MiSOSTC JtlKEOE . DEAR SIR AND BKOIHEK , —On the 27 th inst . I addressed a letter to the Right Hon . "W . E . Gladstone , Chancellor of the Exchequer , asking if he intended to include

Freemasons' lodges , meeting in priA'ate rooms , in his resolution respecting club licences ,- and I have now pleasure in handing you copy of his reply , which I am sure will be satisfactory to every Freemason . Yours fraternally , AVILLIAM RIGBY , W . M . 1060 . Runcorn , April 29 th , 1863 .

Corv . 11 , Downing-street , Whitehall , 28 fch April , 1863 . SIK , —In reply to your letter of tbe 27 th inst ., I am desired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to acquaint you that Freemasons' lodges Avill not bo liable to the

club licence , if held in private rooms . Nothing ivill be liable unless it occupy promises of £ 100 a year and upwards . Renting or meeting in . a private room is not within these terms . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , ( Signed ) CHARLES L . RYAN . AV . Rigby , Esq ., Runcorn .

The Door Of Freemasonry.

THE DOOR OF FREEMASONRY .

" Knock and it shall be open" are words familiar to all who are acquainted with the Holy Scriptures , and the candidate for Ereemasonry must , of his own accord , knock at the door of the Craft before he can be received . To entitle him to knock at that door for admission

he must be a free-man , of mature age , sound judgment and strict morals . No doubt ninety-nine per cent , of those Avho knock are free-men and of mature age , but what per centage of the great bulk of candidates for initiation are either sound in judgment or

strict in morals , it is impossible to ascertain . Sound judgment pre-supposes some acquaintance with the power of Aveighing facts and drawing from them both logical and correct inferences ; and it is a question if very many of our candidates haAre e \ rer

cultivated the inductive style of reasoning . To such we would advise an exercise of the faculty that has hitherto Iain dormant within them , and feel assured that there are but comparatively few Avho , upon the

exercise of this function , would not be the better for the attempt , and find , in its exercise , an agreeable advance in self-knowledge and an enlarged sphere of usefulness to their brother men . Strict morality can only be fully practised by a religious man ; one who perfectly feels that he " has

a reason to give for the hope that is in him , " and takes delight in performing his duty towards God and his neighbour . Morality may be looked at under two aspects , the one as being pure in all things , the other as doing to

others as you would be done by . The former is the morality of the christian gentleman , the latter that of the very often quoted " man of the world . " The door of Ereemasonry is open to the man of strict morals , and by the former word "we see

howstringent the framers of our ceremonies were in endeavouring to confine the mysteries of the institution to the higher class of moralists . They would receive no brethren AVIIO were not strict . Strict morality was one of the chief touchstones of a candidate's fitness

for reception , and it Avould be well for the interests of Ereemasomy if this qualification was more insisted upon at the present time for it cannot be denied that strict morality is not the inflexible rule upon which enquiry of a candidate's pretensions is , at present , based .

The door of Ereemasonry is not an open portal , inviting every passer by to enter and remain , or lounge so long as it may please him , but it is the closed guardian of secrets and mysteries , which Ave hope to confine to worthy men , and to them alone . It has often been urged by the erection of this door

Freemasonry is converted into an exclusive institution , but tin ' s is unjust , for any man of strict morality has but to seek for himself , to knock at the door , and he will be gladly received . The door is the wicket which scares the _ idle , ignorant , indifferent , and those of loose

morals . Those who knock at the door of Ereemasonry , in possession of previous' requisites , will find easy entrance , if they come prepared , hy no undue pressure from friends nor actuated by interested motives . Our

candidates must be free to choose for themselves , banishing all idea of securing pecuniary advantage or enlarging his circle of friends . The door of Ereemasonry conceals the light from the profane . It guards the brethren Avhen employed

in tlie work of Ereemasonry . It is closed and secured by two , one on either side , who are its jealous guardians , ever watching that no oue , but those having the right , shall pass or repass it . As the door of Ereemasonry is the first obstacle

that presents itself to the candidate's notice , so it is the last boundary out of which the secrets of the lodge should be allowed to travel . When the lodge