Amount received this evening, as follows: 

Petition of Mr. G. F., $5 Fee of Bro.  C. B., 5 do. of Bro.  S. R., 5 do. of Bro.  W. Y., 5—­Total, $20

all of which was paid over to the Treasurer.

There being no further business, the lodge was closed in due form and harmony.

E. F——­,

Secretary.

Such is the form which has been adopted as the most convenient mode of recording the transactions of a lodge.  These minutes must be read, at the close of the meeting, that the Brethren may suggest any necessary alterations or additions, and then at the beginning of the next regular meeting, that they may be confirmed, after which they should be transcribed from the rough Minute Book in which they were first entered into the permanent Record Book of the lodge.

Book Third.

The Law Of Individuals.

Passing from the consideration of the law, which refers to Masons in their congregated masses, as the constituents of Grand and Subordinate Lodges, I next approach the discussion of the law which governs, them in their individual capacity, whether in the inception of their masonic life, as candidates for initiation, or in their gradual progress through each of the three degrees, for it will be found that a Mason, as he assumes new and additional obligations, and is presented with increased light, contracts new duties, and is invested with new prerogatives and privileges.

Chapter I.

Of the Qualifications of Candidates.

The qualifications of a candidate for initiation into the mysteries of Freemasonry, are four-fold in their character—­moral, physical, intellectual and political.

The moral character is intended to secure the respectability of the Order, because, by the worthiness of its candidates, their virtuous deportment, and good reputation, will the character of the institution be judged, while the admission of irreligious libertines and contemners of the moral law would necessarily impair its dignity and honor.

The physical qualifications of a candidate contribute to the utility of the Order, because he who is deficient in any of his limbs or members, and who is not in the possession of all his natural senses and endowments, is unable to perform, with pleasure to himself or credit to the fraternity, those peculiar labors in which all should take an equal part.  He thus becomes a drone in the hive, and so far impairs the usefulness of the lodge, as “a place where Freemasons assemble to work, and to instruct and improve themselves in the mysteries of their ancient science.”