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Contents . PAGOS . The Duties of the -Worshipful Alaster—By AV . Bro . C . S . Elliot 201 Decorations of Honour—Gormogons—Freemasons 203 Masonic Jottings—No . 10 20 ' 1 A Council of Rites—By Bro . John Yarker 205 Masonic Notes and Queries 206

Correspondence 208 The Election of Grand Master 208 Music and Words for use in a Lodge of Mark Master Masons ( concluding portion ) ~ 209 , 210 , 211 Masonic Mems 212 United Grand Lodge 212 CEAIT LODGE MEETINGS : — Metropolitan 214

Provincial 210 India 217 Royal Arch 217 Ancient and Accepted Rite 218 Masonic Festivities 219 Obituary 219 Scientific Meetings 220 List of Lodge , & c ., Meetings for ensuing week 220 To Correspondents 220

The Duties Of The Worshipful Master.

THE DUTIES OF THE WORSHIPFUL MASTER .

LONDON , SATURDAY , MARCH 12 , 1870 .

By W . BEO . 0 . S . ELLIOT , M . D . Masonic Avriters , journalists and jurists have ever given the highest consideration to the duties , privileges , and prerogatives of those who succeed to the Oriental chair of King Solomon . In this

brief article it is our intention merely to recapitulate the more important of them , and to dwell in more detail upon some of those duties which have been considered of minor importance , and in many instances entirely overlooked .

It is universally conceded that the powers and privileges of a Master of a lodge are almost unlimited in extent ; his power is absolute ; he has a right to demand the most rigid obedience ; his lodge cannot remove , censure , or suspend him ; vote him out of the chair or nrevent him from

taking it ; cannot compel him to open , close , or adjourn the lodge ; he decides all points of order , ceremonial , Masonic laAv , discipline , including arrangement of business , & c . ; he may command the attendance ofhis officers and members at any time ;

and open , close , or call off his lodge at pleasure . No appeal from the decision of the Master in the chair can be taken to the body of the lodge , right or Avrong , as individual members may suppose ; it is final , and reversible only by himself , or by the

Grand Lodge , to which body alone he is amenable for his conduct Avhile in the chair . The W . Master of a lodge being , therefore , a complete autocrat , as far as his lodge and its members are concerned ,

The Duties Of The Worshipful Master.

it will be readily admitted that his qualifications should be of no inferior or ordinary character . We find in the summary of ancient charges his general qualifications concisely enumerated , some of which Ave quote : " He ought to be true and

trusty ; of good repute ; held in high estimation among the Fraternity ; skilled in Masonic knowledge ; a lover of the Graft ; exemplary in his private conduce ; courteous in his manners , and steady and firm in principle . " These , Ave maintain ,

are essential qualifications , for , as his power is great , so are his responsibilities correspondingly great , and the consequences of a lack of them cannot but be disastrous to the lodge over which he presides , as well as to the Fraternity at- large ;

and yet how often alas ! do Ave find Worshipful Masters possessing but few of the required quali- fications . '

It is frequently urged as a sufficient reason for this , that in some lodges , especially those in the country , where the number of members is limited , it is impossible often to find a brother properly qualified ancl willing- to undertake the responsible

duties of governing a lodge . Now , while we admit that in some instances this may be true , we cannot but regard it as a very unfortunate circumstance , that there are to be found so many inefficient and incompetent Worshipful Masters .

We have no hesitation in saying that this , more than anything else , injures our glorious cause , and even in some localities brings into disrepute . Sufficient caution is not exercised by members of private lodges in the election of him who is to

preside over them , because they , through ignorance or carelessness , do not attach sufficient importance to the matter . To all such Ave wish to raise a

warningvoice , to beware of incompetency in . the brother whom you exalt to this responsible and timehonoured position . Every member of society at large exerts an influence for good or for evil over those with whom he associates and comes in

contact , and how much more is this true m a society like ours , and especially as regards him who is at once placed in the position of both ruler and teacher . As is the Master , so is the lodge over which he presides . We may lay this down as a

maxim which Avill invariably be found to be true . In a Avorld like ours , composed of individuals of all degrees of intelligence , cultivation , and moral susceptibility , it is not to be wondered at that we find a vast diversity of opinion as to what constitutes a model of excellence , Avhich can be set up