THE INCREASE OF FREEMASONRY.

West Coast Times, Issue 130, 16 February 1866, Page 3

THE INCREASE OF FREEMASONRY.

(From tho Freemason's Magazine.) That Freemasonry is on the increase all over the world cannot be questioned. Wherever we look, cast or west, north or south, the same scene meets our oyo, the same fact is reported. In the United States, the rapidity of the growth of the order, and tho incveaso of its funds, are becoming matters of serious consideration.

It must be confessed that the growth of Freemasonry in this country is not less rapid than in America, and othor parts of tho world. The returns, which are periodically mado to the Grand Lodge, announce a considerable accumulation oFfunds,)bespeaking an increase of membership unparalleled in the history of the Order. The funds could not be so largely augmented unless initiations had become more frequent than heretofore, nnd wore not a greater number pressing into the various Lodges, which abound throughout tho country, the greater part of which, it is to be feared, aro not in such good working order as they were in former years, though they may be very anxious to promulgate the principles of the Craft.

. That Masonry may ndvanco in this country is our ardent aspiration; that its pure principles of Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth, may be diffused to the utmost extent, commensurate with the blessings which such principles cannot but produce, every well-wisher of the Order must desire ; but it is very questionable whether the rapid increase of members is tending to those ends. The members who are annually " made" are no criterion that it will bo so ; liny, on the contrary, they tend to confirm our fears, that ruin or disaster may accrue sooner than somo seem to imagine, unless a check be put \ipon tho growing disposition to bring the " popular world " more largely within tho precincts of the Fraternity than it was once permitted to be. It is one of the fixed rules of the Craft, that " the tongue of good report should bo heard" in favor of all who de:ire to enlist under its banners. It is essential to the very life of tho Order, that " strict care nnd due examination " should be had that no unworthy person be permitted to pass the portals of a Lodge. It is imperative, according to the Constitutions that no person should solicit his friends to b6como Craftsmen, or offer any inducement to lend them to suppose that it would be for their benefit to undergo the process of initiation.

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