ON
THE APPROACHING ELECTION TO THE MASONIC CHAIRS
THE FREEMASON'S QUARTERLY REVIEW - 1834
" All preferment
among Masons is grounded upon real worth and personal
merit only."-Constitutions, p. 6. One of the most
important franchises which the Masonic character offers is THE
ELECTION OF MASTER FOR THE ENSUING TWELVE MONTHS. - "The
qualifications necessary are, that the candidate should be true
and trusty, of good repute, held in high estimation amongst
the fraternity, skilled in Masonic knowledge, and moreover a
lover of the Craft; he ought to be exemplary in his conduct,
courteous in his manner, but, above all, steady and firm
in principle." Unless the Brother who aspires to the
Chair of a Freemason's Lodge can conscientiously feel himself
so qualified, he should pause ere he assumes or rather morally
usurps it, and by tarrying somewhat, profit by the example of
another, by whose conduct lie may improve his own unskilfulness,
or amend in himself what his observations may have perceived
to be defective in his Brother. The fulfilment of the duties
of a Mastership requires much personal inconvenience, and some
sacrifice of time. The interests of a lodge, alike with its
immediate welfare and ultimate prosperity, depend upon the
skill and sagacity of the Master; while the general peace and
harmony of its members take their tone from his conciliating
courtesy, or suffer from his want of so vital
an attribute. The Master is called upon to attend (with
the Past-Masters and Wardens of his Lodge) at the quarterly
communications, and by his careful observation of the current
questions to sanction or prevent what may support or injure
the sacred and glorious institution he is bound to protect. It is
to be remembered, that upon the ACTIVITY or SUPINENESS of
the actual Masters that the order itself will be SUPPORTED or
DEGRADED. The Master is directed to attend the
monthly boards of benevolence, that the wants of his deserving
brethren may be generously and immediately relieved, or the
application of the unworthy summarily rejected; there the cry
of the widow and the orphan is heard, and there should the Master
be to administer the funds which a confiding Lodge has
entrusted to his vigilance; let him remember that he has bound
himself to observe the ancient charges in which the foregoing
obligations form some of the clauses; let him not hope
to excuse his own neglect by that of others; rather let him be
foremost in the ranks of emulation, and shame such who, while
they assume the profession of a Master of a Lodge, withhold
the practice it enjoins. Let his actions during the year be such,
that when it terminates, the brethren will feel thankful for
his services, and reward him by their approbation. How
different is the effect produced upon Freemasonry by those who
merely falter through their official duties, who never
show themselves where a personal service is demanded, and, in
fact, who, if the charges have ever been read to them, disregard
their importance by a coldness which is alike insulting to
decency as to common sense. Another important duty of a
Master is the selection of his Wardens - the members of
a Lodge may exercise their franchise in the election of a
Master with a view to please a friend or to self-gratification,
but the Master in his selection of officers ought always to
have in view the interests of the Lodge. He should avoid
appointing to the office of Wardens any brethren who may not
be enabled to qualify for the superior dignity of Master, in
order that when the period of election for that office shall
approach, the Wardens, by attending carefully to their duties
in Lodge and at the public meetings of the Craft, may become so
experienced, that the brethren will not feel themselves
placed in the difficulty of either wounding the feelings of an
otherwise respectable individual by passing him over, or
by electing him to an office he is incompetent to sustain -
either of these possible cases the Master may prevent by timely
discretion. Finally, let him as well as the
brethren of the Lodge diligently read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the
constitutions of the fraternity, remembering that "ALL
PREFERMENT AMONG MASONS IS GROUNDED UPON REAL WORTH AND PERSONAL MERIT ONLY"
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