Masonic Discipline.—Vi.—(Contd.)

true and faithful Mason , and the promotion among the members of individual lodges , would be arranged upon a basis at ouee satisfactory , impartial , and universal . There is no greater error , no mistake more palpable and deplorable than to suppose that there

is no room for improvement in Masonry . By the term improvement , we do not for a moment mean innovation , as we have already distinctly stated . But Ave protest in loto against the idea which seems to be prevalent , the indolent lethargic notion , that there is

nothing to be done for the advancement of the Craft , axcept increasing our numbers and securing the entrance fees .

Before leaving the subject of the legal constitution of lodges , aud proceeding to that involving educational and moral considerations , we will draw the attention of our readers to an example that admirably illustrates the truth aud force of the ars-uments we

put forward in the last article . We request our readers to refer to pages 10 and 17 of the last number ¦ of TnE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE , and peruse the notice under the head " Glasgow , " relating to " Lodge of Glasgow St . John ( No . 3 , bis ) . There were two brethren eligible for the chair according to the

present system , although we should consider the one ultimately elected , as completely ineligible . One of these had filled both the Warden ' s chair ; the other had not . It will scarcely be credited , and we blush to record it , that iu a Masonic lodge the arguments

put forward by one party were essentially those which , however well they might have become the harangue of an electioneering agent , were in total opposition to the spirit and meaning of true Masonry . Read this , — " The supporters of Bro . Baird urged

that , being an architect by profession , he was therefore in a better position , and better qualified for the chair than Bro . Buchau , who was a master

tradesman ; also that Bro . Baird was the richer of the two . " From the renegade conduct of "Bro . Slack , " to to which we drew prominent attention , many of our readers may not be surprised at finding our Scotch brethren even worse disci p linarians than ourselves . But we did not expect to witness a whole lodge

following the bad example of a solitary individual , we did not expect that it might be truly said of Masonic " black sheep , " and applicable to their brethren ah uno disce onnies . Have the members of " St . John , " who perpetrated so scandalous a violation of Masonic

princi ples , forgotten their obligation to " prize honour and virtue above the external advantages of rank and fortune ? " They have ajmarently not only forgotten it , but actually inverted it . Instead of deciding the relative merits of the candidates upon pure Masonic

grounds , they backed up their arguments by placing in the first place " the external advantages of rank and fortune above honour and virtue , " and introducing

into tho lodge subjects that are alien to its constitution , humiliating to all true and faithful brethren stultifying and self-contradictory to themselves , and calculated to impress the uninitiated world , that the discussions iu a lodge are carried on in the same spirit

of personal animosity , private squabbles , and petty jealousies that disgrace the contests outside its doors . How like a farce that beautiful paragraph of the obligation of the E . A . reads , when tested by the conduct we allude to ! If Masons themselves are the

first to show that they regard their obligations as simple forms , to be broken through or kept as circumstances or convenience may require , then farewell to the Craft . Furewell to our ancient glory , which shone so brightly iu days gone by . Farewell to that

integrity , that iuviucible honour , which distinguished our Grand Master , H . A . His degenerate brethren , alas ! cannot equal him iu spirit . "What would become of them were they required to imitate his unflinching courage , his unconquerable resolution , his

indomitable vindication of the inviolability of his sacred obligation ? At the commencement of these articles we asserted , that " every body or community of men possessed within itself the seeds of danger and death , " and we

little thought that we should be so speedily furnished with an indisputable proof of our regretful observation . Nevertheless , such is the fact . From outward

foes we are secure ; our open enemies are known , and their assaults can be guarded against and warded off . But from internal assaults we are not secure ; from intestinal conflicts we have much to fear , and internecine war may yet be the death of Freemasonry , as it has been of the mightiest empires and most

powerful nations that the world ever saw . Were any proof required to demonstrate the necessity of the passing of some regulation to govern in future the conssitution of lodges , it has been afforded in the case we have adduced . To omit to elect as a R W . M ., a

brother who had filled all the offices in the lodge , and who was evidently Masonically thoroughly qualified to discharge those important duties , and to substitute in his p lace a brother who was officially a nonentity , is so gross and unparalleled a dereliction

of all conscientious obligation , that we trust we shall never hear of its repetition . In this , as well as in many other particulars , which we shall not fail to instance in their proper place , may be indistinctly traced the events that overshadow the futurity of Masonry . They are all distinguished by a direct

violation of "Masonic discipline , '' and if prompt and striugent measures be not taken to impose uniuniversal laws and regulations , our lodges will speedily resemble that lamentable state which prefigured the impending captivity of the tribes of Israel and Judah , in which " every man did that which was right in his own eyes . "