Thoughts On Masonry.

tablished its virtues : in . its dawn , its numbers were few , and merit was the passport to those secrets , which violence and fraud would . have extorted ; numbers brought disgrace on what the wisdom of him , who first regulated our mysteries , strove to confine .

The good of masonry , and the increase of its fund , founded upon and applied to such noble purposes , is the only reason that can be urged for the zealous attachment some brethren , who are in other respects worthy membersshewto increase

, , by any means , the society of free masons : the reasoning is false , were our numbers less , they would want less relief ; were the interests to become a mason more difficult , they would be more respectable . Reasoning and argument may do much

to establish a contrary opinion to mine , but truth is its foundation ; we must either trifle with the most disinterested and noble principles of our order , or dispence with their existence ; must either destroy the fountain from which it springs , or poison the stream that should nourish us in truth and honour . Have I a friend whom I regard , and

wish to be nearer allied to me , I would most cordially invite him to partake with me those truths which masonry reveals ; I would tempt him by an anticipation of a happy and unmolested intercourse with worthy and illustrious characters ; I would if rthoughthim deservingdo all that ht

, oug to be done , to induce him to become a brother ; he who does more , deceives himself , and disgraces the craft : tis thus , that which is in itself replete with the sublimest doctrines , is degenerated into a miserable traffic for knaves , and a plaything for

fools : in this assertion I affront not the brotherhood , as he who deserves either of the above distinctions is not a mason . Our first and most excellent Grand Master , neither manifested the WISDOM , the STRENGTHnor the BEAUTY of

, his works , by the number of the masons he chose to employ ; he made emulation the passport to proferment , and a virtuous skill the only title to be rewarded with further mysteries . It would not be PRUDENCE in us to

mtroduce indiscriminately into masonry , every one who solicits , nor would it be JUSTICE , oithertothejcraftortho candidate , to initiate an object whom we know to be

unfit for it . —Ought we not then to have FORTITUDE enough to resist the temptation of a paltry fee , which though it enables us to be more liberal in our contributions to the cause of humanity , yet must lessen us in our own esteem ?

since the very act is a violation of the justice we owe to the constitution : I would though reluctantly , embrace a partial evil for the general good , but such an evil is subversive of the comforts , and dangerous to the constitution of masonry .

Can that TEMPERANCE which we should endeavour to acquire , warrant such an act ? should it not rather teach us to husband our present possessions , than grasp at those , which though they appear brihtwill not in the end be attended

g , with equal prosperity ? Must these virtuous accomplishments exist but in words ? Are they but the paintings of morality ? if they are so , let us haste to convert them into substance by an honourable attachment to the duties they inculcate .

No necessity of a private lodge , no motive of mistaken respect for the accommodation of an individual , can palliate the dispensing with a single formality which ' our excellent constitution has

established , rules , the observance of which , upon the fullest deliberation , has been deemed indispensably necessary . There is an article in the book of constitutions , which positively forbids the making a mason , without due enquiry into Ms ' character ; from which there is a

reference to a note that I presume mustj have escaped the attention of masters , or I know not how they will excuse the non-observance of so useful a lesson , and which I shall here intrude upon the reader by introducingbefore I take the liberty of

, giving my opinion on the intention of . the discretion invested in the master . " It is to be lamented that the indulgence subjoined to this wholesome injunction should weaken the regard seriously due to it ; for as no man will build a house upon

a bog or a quicksand , a man of suspicious integrity will be found equally unfit to sustain the character of a true mason : and if some corresponding regard to worldly circumstances were included , it would operate more for the welfare and credit of the society . There is no violation of truth in affirming , that , in London especially , propositions for initiation into