Masonic Reform.

afc the very threshold , we meefc the agreement that Masons may nofc undertake to change Masonry . Not one of us has been obliged to enter ifcs portals ; every oue of us , on the contrary , has declared such entry to be an act of our seeking , and au

agreement to accept the situation as Ave might find it ; and hence , in attempting to change it in form or essence , we are voiding our share of a contract made freely on our part , and sinning against the first principles of the institution we have declared a desire to enter Avithout any motive but that of being useful to ourselves aud our fellow citizens .

The principles of the Masonic society are immutable , aud it is not in the power of any man or body of men to change them ; they are founded on the rock of eternal truth , and they will stand erect when everything else goes doAvn in

the final crash . They do not need proof but elucidation ; they need no argument to set forth their excellence and entire acceptability ; but they demand of those Avho profess them that they shall make manifest the fact that these enduring

principles have found a lodgment in their nearfcs , and been incorporated in their daily lives . The methods by Avhich Masonry inculcates these duties are old as the hills , antiquated , behind the age , as is frequently charged against us ; but they are

the way of Masomy , and we cannot turn aside from them without at the same time ceasing to be Masons . Whether they are the best that could have been selected , Avhether modern ideas are nofc greatly superior , are questions not pertinent to the

issue ; Ave have only to consider whether they are just and true , and nofc whether the method of teaching them is the best that could be invented . It folloAvs that this point being admitted , as it must be by all who will consider the premises ,

there is no room for reform in the sense held by the persons to Avhom we have referred . They must either accept Masonry as it is , or let it alone for a bad job , seeing that there is no intermediate stopping-place from Avhich they can launch forth on the career of reform .

W e cannot be Masons and reformers too , because the moment we depart from the beaten track , we violate the trust confided to us , and become anything you please but Masonic . Bufc we may improve Masonry without reforming ifc . We can make onr knowledge of ifc more thorough , our practice of ifcs teachings more in accordance

Avith the lessons taught , and therefore more practical . We can learn that as man lives not by bread alone , so the mere giving of a dollar or tAvo afc fche lodge door is not a practical exercise of Masonic charity ; thafc a kind word , a helping

hand to raise the desponding and unfortunate out out of the slough of despair , and afford him the means by his OAVU labour to be independent , is the work that Ave can and ought fco do ; a work fche doing of which does not require any alteration in

the plans of Masonry , bufc-only , as we have already said , a more practical application of its tenets . We can keep a vigilant eye upon the tendency to extend and ornament the verbiage of the ritual , and use our influence to the end of keeping it

Avithin bounds set by the fathers . We can resist the tendency to over-legislation apparent in most of the Masonic Grand Bodies , and thus preserve the largest degree of liberty in subordinate , consistent with the maintenance of discipline , and the permanent Avelfare of the craft .

We can consecrate a greater degree of energy to the work of rearing the Temple , and making its revenues a perpetual endoAvment for the benevolent operations of the fraternity : and so , if we rightly consider these things , we shall all be

convinced that Masonry does not need reforming , but only a more thorough practice of its excellent tenets and inculcations : that the most zealous and

earnest men can find for the exercise of their highest talents ample field for development within the fold as it is ; that to tear doAvn the walls already built , and to cast aside the material already accumulated , would be a mere act of Avantonness Avithout any surety whatever that the new experiment Avould be even as successful in its results as

the work already accomplished . Masonry has lived' too long , accomplished too much good , cemented too many friendships , broken down too manv barriers , cast out too many prejudices , too largely spread abroad in the hearts of men the spirit of toleration , of kindness , and fraternity , to need now the hand of the modern reformer . We

may improve , as Ave have endeavoured to show , but we cannot , as Ave value our plighted words , as we value the memories of our predecessors and the sacred trust they have left us , as we desire to be Masons , and have Masons to folloAv us Avhen our work is done—Ave cannot , we repeat , admit fche idea of reform . — N ~ ew Yorlc Dispatch