The Lodge And The Craft.

The Lodge and the Craft .

r PHE unit of Freemasonry is the lodge . Grand and I Provincial Lodges are a sort of federation , not unlike in many respects , mutatis uiiilaiidis , those forms of federal government yvhich bind together the various independent jurisdictions that make up the United States or the Australian Commonyvealth . As far as the written layv is

concerned , private lodges possess a considerable amount of independence . Constitutions certainly exist for their observance , but a careful study of the Book of Constitutions reveals the fact that the laws and regulations therein contained have little to do yvith the purely private affairs of lodges , but they chiell y safeguard the rights and privileges of

one lodge as against the possible encroachments of another . For instance , so long as payments to head-quarters are regular , a lodge has absolute control over its oyvn ' funds ; it can admit yvhomsoever it pleases into its portals ; and the only limitations to its poyver of initiating into the Order anyone it pleases are based on the ground that this is a

matter yvhich affects the yvhole Order . It may appoint anyone it pleases to the most important offices , the only limit to this poyver being based on the fact that certain high officers become ipso facto members of Grand Lodge . The lodge may fix its oyvn scale of fees , making them as high or as loyv as it

pleases . Many more such examples could be adduced , but sufficient has been brought foryvard to make it clear that a lodge needs other guidance than that furnished by the Book of Constitutions . This is more especially the case yvith those lodges that are in the early stages of their existence . Older

lodges are steadied b y the traditions they have acquired or that they have erected , but a neyv lodge has no such steadying influence behind it .

A lodge has very often a very inadequate conception of its oyvn poyver , both for good and evil . Combination of any kind is more effective than private enterprise , and a combination for such excellent purposes as those we profess , cannot be entered intoyvithout making an impression of some kind . When a neyv lodge is erected , the honour of the

yvhole Craft is committed to its keeping , and the yvhole Craft rises or suffers in the estimation of the unlearned , by that lodge ' s doings or misdoings . And yve are disposed to go much further and say that such a combination as that afforded by a lodge , is bound to have an effect of one kind

or another on the whole community , and it may be either a blessing or a bane to the community . There are many yvho can date the beginning of a higher tone in their lives from the date of their entry into certain lodges , and , alas , there are not a feyv who can recount an experience the reverse

of this . W e do not seek for-any out of the yvay qualifications in those yvho wish to join us . On the contrary those qualities yvhich make a man a good Mason will invariably make him an excellent citizen and member of society-. And we assist a man in his efforts to adorn his sphere in

a yvay not to be found anyyvhere else . We provide him with friends , we protect his good name , we uphold him in all his layvful undertakings , yve remember him at the throne of Grace , yve preserve his confidence inviolate , and yve give him a hand yvhen lie is fallen . What other association can

promise all this ? And , having all this in our poyver , what a responsibility is incurred by those lodges that do not act up to their possibilities . We do indeed need to knoyv our oyvn poyver . Seeing that the private lodge is the unit of the Order , it folloyvs , from the very word , that unity is implied . Whilst

Grand Lodges may disagree yvith each other and excommunicate each other , whilst any one Grand Lodge may be rent in twain by the varying Masonic politics that distinguish its members , and even Provincial Grand Lodges are not withoi . t their troubles and dissensionsit must be remembered that

, these august bodies meet on a different platform from the private lodge . . The progress of Masonry may be hindered by their failure to act yvith unanimity , but the Order does not suffer in estimation . In the private lodge , a want of unity is

fatal . The lodge should have but one eyeUo see yvith , should have but one hand to act yvith , one tongue to speak yvith and one ear yvith yvhich to hear , and one pair of feet with yvhich to keep in step . If a brother cannot acquiesce in the opinion of the majority , he ought to retire from the meeting , if the matter be one yvhich moves him so deeply . Such

exhibitions of temper as now and then cause a brother to resign his membership because , say , he has not been appointed to office , cause pain and grief to the yvhole Order , and one feels that in a lodge which had entered upon its career with high principles , such incidents ought to be

impossible . It seems almost out of date to suggest that secrecy is another duty the lodge oyves to the Order . But yve are not noyv concerned with the strict letter of the layv . Is it in

accordance yvith the spirit of the injunction , that , for instance , the lodge room should be allowed to be inspected by the profane , that our lodges should adopt the advertising that is associated yvith the friendly society , and yvhich , hoyvever alloyvable in them , does not consist with the dignity of the Order ? Many lodges are unable to resist the invitation yvhich

often comes to them to form part of a friendly society procession , and the fact that they refrain from yvearing their clothing does not alter it . It may possibly be a counsel of perfection , but it yvould seem as if the obligation to secrecyreferred to the exhibition of Masonic paraphernalia yvhich some brethren are fond of making . The display of a

distinguished brother ' s photograph in Grand Lodge regalia , in the window of a photographer , to be seen and commented upon by the profane , is at the best but an exhibition of vanity .

A matter for grave reprehension is ot not infrequent occurrence yvhere the lodge meets in a licensed house . The lodge has been called off for refreshment , and brethren thoughtlessly find their yvay to the public bar , wearing their aprons and collars . A Masonic funeral or a Masonic ball is better than this .

It should go without saying that matters discussed within the lodge are not subjects for discussion elseyvhere . More particularly is this the case yvith regard to the result of the ballot . And yve should also say that even yvhen the Order - is referred to in public at all , there should be no suggestion

of frivolity . The dignity of the Order should be dear to all its members , and each Freemason oyves it to every other to let it be seen that his conception of it is the highest possible .

Ar01601

IMPORTANT NOTICE .

In our December issue we gave a reproduction of the most recent Portrait of H . R . H . the Duke of Connaught , in the Masonic Regalia of the M . W . Grand Master . The original is a Photogravure from a Photograph taken by Messrs . Downey , to whom His Royal Highness gave

a special sitting a few weeks before his departure for India , and is one of the most successful of the many portraits of the Royal Family emanating from this celebrated studio . The Portrait has been taken in two positions , one as our reproduction , f = face , size , framed

in Dark Wainscot Oak , 2 ii by i 6 \ inches ; and the other Full = face , seated , size , framed as above , 35 by 27 } inches , and may be obtained from the Publishers , flessrs . 5 pencer & Co ., at the Office of the " flasonic Illustrated , " 15 , Great Queen Street , London , W . C . No

handsomer or more suitable Presentation could be made to a Lodge . Prices , 21 i by 16 V inches , Framed 21 / - Unframed 10 / 6 „ 35 by 27 i „ Framed 63 / - „ „ „ „ Unframed 42 / -