The Selection Of Members.

do so , I conclude that it is my prejudice and not my judgment that sAvays me against him . " And we have known that man to vote for a candidate with whom he had had a personal difficulty . "That difficulty did not involve any laxity of

principle , or immoral aid , and he may been as conscientious as myself , and hence I have no right to close the door against him / ' he said to us at one time when he had thus voted for a person Avith whom he was at variance . The policy of such a

course of conduct may be indicated by the fact that when the candidate becomes a Mason he also becomes a Avarm friend of the man AVIIO would not vote against his admission , though he Avas his enemy .

Should all Masons follow the example of this father in the institution , there would be fewer good men rejected , and less nourishing of wrath in the bosom of members . Let it be understood and insisted on everyAvhere that no one has a right to

cast a black ball on merely personal feuds that do not involve moral obliquity , and the Order , as Avell as the world , Avould be the better for it always . — Mystic Star .

Ideal Freemasonry.

IDEAL FREEMASONRY .

A noble ideal is half the battle in life ; courage and virtue to attain unto it is the other half , making the victory complete . The Eoyal Art of Freemasonry is one Avhich , judged by its OAvn standard and avowed principles ,

claims , and has had aAvarded it , the very highest place among uninspired institutions . It has neither sought , nor accepted a charter or act of incorporation from the State , * and yet it has practically endowed itself Avith a capacity of

perpetual succession and unending life , beyoud that possessed and retained by any corporation whatsoever . The reason Avhy , Avith an origin so ancient , it has year after year , and century after century , unaided by a franchise from the State ,

built up a history so grand and enduring , is , the sublimity and yet simplicity of its Faith , and the purity and -practical nature of the virtues it

inculcates . Of the making of divers creeds there has been no end in the religious Avorld ; and the result is , the multiplication of as many religions . The mind of man , endowed as it is Avith refined reasoning poAvers , and gifted with freedom of

choice , but at the same time so liable to be influenced by prejudices of various kinds , must have submitted to it a simple faith ; the more refined the creed , the fewer will be its followers . In the great hereafter , when all mankind shall come to

appear before the Great Architect of the Universe , there shall be but one faith among those who shall pass in and out at pleasure of the Great Grand Lodge above . Whatever our creeds on earth , all

shall be melted into one there . Why not do this here ? This is the aim of Ereemasonry ; and that it largely succeeds in its aim , is proven by the fact that at our altars the Jew and the Gentile kneel side by side , Avhile offering their prayers to

a common Father . A Avell-known brother tells us , and his experience is not singular , that he has " seen a Jew soliciting contributions from his Masonic brethren to aid a Christian minister , ( an Episcopal clergyman ) who had his trunk and

money stolen , and Avas without funds in a strange place . " The barrier of deep feeling between that ancient people and the Christian Avorld is to a great extent , if not entirely , reniOA'edby Masonic influence .

1 ravellers in the East have repeatedly observed , that among oriental nations , to be a Freemason is to have a passport to the affections of many of their people , so that those who , to the profane , are enemies , are to the initiated transformed as if

by magic into friends . He AVIIO avows his trust in God , no matter what may be the minor details of his belief , is esteemed Avorthy , so far as his faith is concerned , to be associated as a brother in the Craft . He is a

participant in the ideal creed of Freemasonry . But faith without Avorks is vain , and therefore the Eoyal Art prescribes certain practical virtues . If Masonry had been a mere abstraction , or speculative faith , it Avould never have survived the

centuries ; it owes the preservation of its unity , and its ever-increasing vigour , to the fact that it is in addition to this , a life . Belief is the letter , but the life is tho spirit ; aud if the spirit should ever depart , although the letter remained , Freemasonry Avould perish as surely as the world ' s great empires haye , whose