Part 10 (2/2)

These old charges from which we derive the whole of our doctrine as to the moral qualifications of a candidate, further prescribe as to the political relations of a Mason, that he is to be ”a peaceable subject to the civil powers, wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation, nor to behave himself undutifully to inferior magistrates. He is cheerfully to conform to every lawful authority; to uphold on every occasion the interest of the community, and zealously promote the prosperity of his own country.”

Such being the characteristics of a true Mason, the candidate who desires to obtain that t.i.tle, must show his claim to the possession of these virtues; and hence the same charges declare, in reference to these moral qualifications, that ”The persons made Masons, or admitted members of a lodge, must be good and true men--no immoral or scandalous men, but of good report.”

Section II.

_Of the Physical Qualifications of Candidates._

The physical qualifications of a candidate refer to his s.e.x, his age, and the condition of his limbs.

The first and most important requisite of a candidate is, that he shall be ”_a man_.” No woman can be made a Mason. This landmark is so indisputable, that it would be wholly superfluous to adduce any arguments or authority in its support.

As to age, the old charges prescribe the rule, that the candidate must be ”of mature and discreet age.” But what is the precise period when one is supposed to have arrived at this maturity and discretion, cannot be inferred from any uniform practice of the craft in different countries.

The provisions of the civil law, which make twenty-one the age of maturity, have, however, been generally followed. In this country the regulation is general, that the candidate must be twenty-one years of age.

Such, too, was the regulation adopted by the General a.s.sembly, which met on the 27th Dec., 1663, and which prescribed that ”no person shall be accepted unless he be twenty-one years old or more.”[55] In Prussia, the candidate is required to be twenty-five; in England, twenty-one,[56]

”unless by dispensation from the Grand Master, or Provincial Grand Master;” in Ireland, twenty-one, except ”by dispensation from the Grand Master, or the Grand Lodge;” in France, twenty-one, unless the candidate be the son of a Mason who has rendered important service to the craft, with the consent of his parent or guardian, or a young man who has served six months with his corps in the army--such persons may be initiated at eighteen; in Switzerland, the age of qualification is fixed at twenty-one, and in Frankfort-on-Mayn, at twenty. In this country, as I have already observed, the regulation of 1663 is rigidly enforced, and no candidate, who has not arrived at the age of twenty-one, can be initiated.

Our ritual excludes ”an old man in his dotage” equally with a ”young man under age.” But as dotage signifies imbecility of mind, this subject will be more properly considered under the head of intellectual qualifications.

The physical qualifications, which refer to the condition of the candidate's body and limbs, have given rise, within a few years past, to a great amount of discussion and much variety of opinion. The regulation contained in the old charges of 1721, which requires the candidate to be ”a perfect youth,” has in some jurisdictions been rigidly enforced to the very letter of the law, while in others it has been so completely explained away as to mean anything or nothing. Thus, in South Carolina, where the rule is rigid, the candidate is required to be neither deformed nor dismembered, but of hale and entire limbs, as a man ought to be, while in Maine, a deformed person may be admitted, provided ”the deformity is not such as to prevent him from being instructed in the arts and mysteries of Freemasonry.”

The first written law which we find on this subject is that which was enacted by the General a.s.sembly held in 1663, under the Grand Masters.h.i.+p of the Earl of St. Albans, and which declares ”that no person shall hereafter be accepted a Freemason but such as are of _able_ body.”[57]

Twenty years after, in the reign of James II., or about the year 1683, it seems to have been found necessary, more exactly to define the meaning of this expression, ”of able body,” and accordingly we find, among the charges ordered to be read to a Master on his installation, the following regulation:

”Thirdly, that he that be made be able in all degrees; that is, free-born, of a good kindred, true, and no bondsman, and that _he have his right limbs as a man ought to have.”_[58]

The old charges, published in the original Book of Const.i.tutions in 1723, contain the following regulation:

”No Master should take an Apprentice, unless he be a perfect youth having no maim or defect that may render him uncapable of learning the art.”

Notwithstanding the positive demand for _perfection_, and the positive and explicit declaration that he must have _no maim or defect_, the remainder of the sentence has, within a few years past, by some Grand Lodges, been considered as a qualifying clause, which would permit the admission of candidates whose physical defects did not exceed a particular point. But, in perfection, there can be no degrees of comparison, and he who is required to be perfect, is required to be so without modification or diminution. That which is _perfect_ is complete in all its parts, and, by a deficiency in any portion of its const.i.tuent materials, it becomes not less perfect, (which expression would be a solecism in grammar,) but at once by the deficiency ceases to be perfect at all--it then becomes imperfect. In the interpretation of a law, ”words,” says Blackstone, ”are generally to be understood in their usual and most known signification,”

and then ”perfect” would mean, ”complete, entire, neither defective nor redundant.” But another source of interpretation is, the ”comparison of a law with other laws, that are made by the same legislator, that have some affinity with the subject, or that expressly relate to the same point.”[59] Applying this law of the jurists, we shall have no difficulty in arriving at the true signification of the word ”perfect,” if we refer to the regulation of 1683, of which the clause in question appears to have been an exposition. Now, the regulation of 1683 says, in explicit terms, that the candidate must ”_have his right limbs as a man ought to have_.”

Comparing the one law with the other, there can be no doubt that the requisition of Masonry is and always has been, that admission could only be granted to him who was neither deformed nor dismembered, but of hale and entire limbs as a man should be.

But another, and, as Blackstone terms it, ”the most universal and effectual way of discovering the true meaning of a law” is, to consider ”the reason and spirit of it, or the cause which moved the legislator to enact it.” Now, we must look for the origin of the law requiring physical perfection, not to the formerly operative character of the inst.i.tution, (for there never was a time when it was not speculative as well as operative,) but to its symbolic nature. In the ancient temple, every stone was required to be _perfect_, for a perfect stone was the symbol of truth.

In our mystic a.s.sociation, every Mason represents a stone in that spiritual temple, ”that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” of which the temple of Solomon was the type. Hence it is required that he should present himself, like the perfect stone in the material temple, a perfect man in the spiritual building. ”The symbolic relation of each member of the Order to its mystic temple, forbids the idea,” says Bro. W.S. Rockwell, of Georgia,[60] ”that its const.i.tuent portions, its living stones, should be less perfect or less a type of their great original, than the immaculate material which formed the earthly dwelling place of the G.o.d of their adoration.” If, then, as I presume it will be readily conceded, by all except those who erroneously suppose the inst.i.tution to have been once wholly operative and afterwards wholly speculative, perfection is required in a candidate, not for the physical reason that he may be enabled to give the necessary signs of recognition, but because the defect would destroy the symbolism of that perfect stone which every Mason is supposed to represent in the spiritual temple, we thus arrive at a knowledge of the causes which moved the legislators of Masonry to enact the law, and we see at once, and without doubt, that the words _perfect youth_ are to be taken in an unqualified sense, as signifying one who has ”his right limbs as a man ought to have.”[61]

It is, however, but fair to state that the remaining clause of the old charge, which a.s.serts that the candidate must have no maim or defect that may render him incapable of learning the art, has been supposed to intend a modification of the word ”perfect,” and to permit the admission of one whose maim or defect was not of such a nature as to prevent his learning the art of Masonry. But I would respectfully suggest that a criticism of this kind is based upon a mistaken view of the import of the words. The sentence is not that the candidate must have no such maim or defect as might, by possibility, prevent him from learning the art; though this is the interpretation given by those who are in favor of admitting slightly maimed candidates. It is, on the contrary, so worded as to give a consequential meaning to the word ”_that_.” He must have no maim or defect _that_ may render him incapable; that is, _because_, by having such maim or defect, he would be rendered incapable of acquiring our art.

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