During the storm which raged in this State so fiercely against Masonry, he was among the faithful who stood manfully for the right, never faltering in his devotion to the truth.

As a citizen he was honored and respected by all.

As a christian, he was beloved by the church of which he was a member, and his Brethren mourn the loss of one to whom they looked for counsel, and in times of trouble for consolation and sympathy.

His remains were followed to their last resting place by a great number of Brethren and mourners, and under the solemn ritual of the Templar service committed to the earth.

"Rest to his ashes, and peace to his soul."

By order of M. W. Jervis J. Smith, Grand Master,

THOMAS A. DOYLE, Acting Grand Sec.

OBJECTIONS TO CANDIDATES.

Ir is now generally conceded that the safety of our Institution rests almost wholly with its individual members. Guarding the portals against the admission of unworthy men is the only way to prevent discord and difficulty in our ranks, and preserve peace and harmony. One bad man, once within the sanctum sanctorum, may in a short time sow the seeds of contention, which will spring up and bear an hundred fold. But it is not simply the difficulty which an unworthy member causes that should claim our attention in this connection. His conduct and character bring reproach on our ancient society, and injure it in the eyes of the profane.

There is, and has been for years, too little attention paid to the qualifications of candidates. Lodges seem to be imbued with the idea that the more members they gain, the greater their success. This is too often the case with new Lodges. Commencing with few members, and having a large expense staring them in the face, the Brethren are overanxious to replenish the funds of their treasury by doing a large amount of work. Nothing can be more dangerous to the welfare of a subordinate body, and it seems strange indeed that every Mason does not see this plainly.

Quality and not quantity should be the criterion. This should be remembered by every member when he is called upon to ballot for a

candidate. If he is not satisfied that the person desiring the benefits of Masonry is worthy, he should unhesitatingly cast a black ball. Yet how often do we see Brethren avoiding the individual responsibility by keeping away from the Lodge, or asking to be excused from voting! How many there are who cast a white ball when they have strong doubts in their minds as to the fitness of the candidate! This is wholly and entirely wrong, and those who act thus are not true to themselves are not true to the Institution. They are false to the trust reposed in them, and violate a plain and imperative duty. They can find no reasonable excuse for their conduct-no palliation.

Only by

a free and fearless use of the black ball can our time-honored Institution be securely guarded.

EXTRACT FROM THE CALIFORNIA REPORT ON F. C.

THE Report on Foreign Correspondence [Florida] is again from the ready pen of Bro. Thomas Brown; and it certainly well compensates for the brevity of the Grand Master's Address, as it occupies one hundred and thirty-three pages of the volume before us. The proceedings of twenty-six Grand Lodges in the United States, of the (so called) Phillips Grand Lodge, in New York, and of the two Grand Lodges in Canada, are reviewed and extracted from at length; and a comparatively brief notice is given to the transactions of the "Universal Masonic Congress" of 1855. Bro. Brown appears to entertain opinions similar to our own in regard to the inexpediency of attempting to establish Masonic colleges; and, while treating of the Grand Lodges of Arkansas and North Carolina, now both struggling with all the difficulties of such an effort, gives considerable space and much good reasoning to that subject. The publication of the very peculiar "Anderson's Constitutions," which accompanied the proceedings of Florida in 1856, and which we adverted to in our Report for 1857, is attributed by the committee to the machinations of the devil-in the printing office. Probably that imp was not intrusted with the superintendence of the issue thereafter, as we are reminded that in the following year the Grand Lodge succeeded in publishing the work intended. An extract from the Report on Correspondence from Connecticut, in 1857, in answer to some remarks of ours upon the subject of Lodges under dispensation, is presented by Bro. Brown, with the hope that we will 8-VOL. V. NO. III.

regard the argument therein set forth, "as sufficiently explicit, and cogent enough to remove all doubts on that question." It is always painful to us to disappoint a brother's hopes, but a reference to our last report, in 1858, will show that in this instance we have been placed under that unhappy necessity, inasmuch as we were not enabled to discover the special cogency which he suggests. Not a little space is given by the Florida committee to the consideration of the new Christian test, which, within the past three or four years, has been advocated by a few of the Grand Lodges of the United States. Our own views upon this subject have already been presented sufficiently often; and we have seen nothing thus far to induce us to change the opinion we have heretofore entertained, that it is an absolute and positive "innovation upon the body of Masonry." From the remarks presented by Bro. Brown upon this question, in the earlier portions of his report, we had supposed that he disagreed with us, toto cœlo, and was in favor of the Ohio proposition requiring a candidate "to express an unqualified belief in the divine authenticity of the Holy Scriptures"; and certainly the high commendation and cordial assent which he gives to certain portions of the publications of Delaware, Mississippi and Texas, in reference to that subject, might well lead to that supposition. But at a later period we find him using the following language:

We entirely agree with Bro. Mackey, when he says that "the fundamental law of Masonry requires only a belief in the Supreme Architect of the Universe." In our experience we have never known any other test of faith required of a candidate than the declaration of a belief and trust in God, because such an assent is an acknowledgment of a belief in the truth of the revelation by which a knowledge of His existence is obtained, and that implied assent is confirmed by submitting to the ceremonies of initiation. But if we are to understand by this declaration of Bro. Mackey, that he means to say that a man who declares his disbelief in the authenticity of the Bible, as recorded by Moses and the Prophets, can be made a Mason, then we say we entirely disagree with him: and, on the other hand, we say with equal assurance, if the opinions declared by the Grand Lodges of Ohio and Texas, that " a distinct avowal of a belief in the divine authenticity of the Holy Scriptures is an indispensable prerequisite to Masonic admission in all Christian countries,"-is to be understood as including the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or the New Testament, then we say we entirely disagree with them, and regard such a "prerequisite palpable innovation upon the established landmarks of the Order."

as a

Now, in all kindness and with sincere respect, we ask our intelligent Brother of Florida, if, upon a retrospect of the foregoing paragraph, it will not seem that he has set up two men of straw for the especial

purpose of bringing them both down with an argumentative brickbat. He perfectly coincides with Bro. Mackey when he announces a fundamental law of Masonry, which is universally known to the intelligent brethren of the Order, and which is so plain and definite in its language that it appears scarcely possible that its exact meaning should be involved in any doubt; but he "entirely disagrees" with him if that annunciation is intended to mean something which it does not say, -which it cannot possibly be construed into,-which Bro. Mackey probably never dreamed of,—and which involves a negative declaration of “disbelief" which no Mason perhaps ever heard required of a candidate. On the other hand, he altogether disagrees with the opinions advanced by the Grand Lodges of Ohio and Texas, if they are what the words in which they are set forth unqualifiedly and unmistakably declare them to be; but if they are something else, which their plainly written language renders it impossible to suppose, we are left to infer that he cordially coincides with them in views which as yet they have not presented. After all, then, stripped of the suppositious constructions which Bro. Brown's inventive mind has imagined for the language of those from whom he quotes, his opinion appears to be exactly ours that the ancient and only religious test heretofore known to Freemasonry should still remain the only one, and that a "declaration of a belief and trust in God" is all, so far as his religion is concerned, that should be required of a candidate making application for. our mysteries.

Sheridan, in a measure like Shakspeare, wrote for all time. His comedy-The School for Scandal,' can never die while the human tongue has a place in the system. While it wags, the sharp satire with which it is barbed will sting. Would that the shafts would strike home! Would that all they who laugh at the brilliant epigrams, the cutting repartees of the play, would take its lessons honestly to heart. Scandal, to-day, as when Sheridan wrote, is the bane of society. It works more mischief, entails more calamitous consequences, lets loose more scalding tears, divides more hearts, destroys more pure and true and beautiful affections, and makes more men and women thoroughly miserable for life, than all the other causes combined. It is the Upas tree, in whose deadly shade broods Suspicion, 'poisoning a brother's cup,' Envy, Hatred, and an attendant train of grinning horrors."

DECLARATION OF THE MASONS OF CONNECTICUT IN 1832.

We take pleasure in laying before our readers the following document, published by the Fraternity in Connecticut in the excitement of the Morgan times. It is a sound document:

"PREAMBLE.

"WHEREAS, charges have been made against the Institution of Freemasonry, accusing the whole Fraternity with having adopted and cherished principles dangerous to the community and repugnant to morality and religion; and from the silence of the members of our Institution concerning these accusations, many persons have supposed or may suppose that we admit the truth of these charges, or that we cannot conscientiously deny them :

We, the officers and members of the Grand Lodge of the State of Connecticut, and of the subordinate Lodges under its jurisdiction, have come to the conclusion that justice to ourselves and a decent regard for the opinions of our fellow-citizens, demand from us a public avowal of the principles of the Order, and of the nature and tendency of the Institution. A declaration on this subject, dated December 31st, 1831, having been made and published by our Brethren of the Masonic Fraternity in the State of Massachusetts, to which we fully assent, as it is strictly true in all respects, we have adopted the same, and now beg leave to present it to the public.*

"THE DECLARATION.

"WHEREAS, it has been frequently asserted and published to the world, that in the several degrees of FREEMASONRY, as they are conferred in the United States, the candidate, on his initiation and subsequent advancement, binds himself by oath, to sustain his Masonic brethren in acts which are at variance with the fundamental principles of morality, and incompatible with his duty as a good and faithful citizen. In justice therefore to themselves, and with a view to establish TRUTH and expose IMPOSITION, the undersigned, members of the Masonic Fraternity, and many of us the recipients of every degree of Freemasonry known and acknowledged in this country, do MOST SOLEMNLY DENY the existence of any such obligation in the MASONIC INSTITUTION, as far as our knowledge respectively extends. And we do

*This "Declaration" was published, not only in the Masonic proceedings, but also in the public newspapers of the day, and was thus spread broad-cast over the State; and it evidently had a tendency to allay in a great measure the anti-masonic feeling which existed in this jurisdiction, and which was beginning to produce the unprofitable fruit of discord.