SECTION VII.

THE GRAND LECTURER.
The office of Grand Lecturer is one of great im- portance ; perhaps there is none so important in the whole series of offices which constitute the control- ling element of a Grand Lodge. He is the recog- nized teacher of the Masonic system, and it is by his faithful instructions alone that unity can be maintained in the methods of communicating our ritual.
" This unity," says a distinguished Mason, Bro. Sandford, of Iowa, " makes the world a Mason's home, and raising him high above geographical di- visions and the obstacles of language and religion, secures him protection and repose wherever fate or fortune may direct his steps. Without it, our grand fabric of universal benevolence, which has withstood the storms of numerous centuries, would be shat- tered to atoms in a single age."
I presume that it will be admitted by every intel- ligent Mason, that Bro. Sandford has not placed too high an estimate on the importance of a uniformity of work. If Masonry contain within itself anything worthy of the study of intellectual men — if our theories of its antiquity be not fallacious — if our legends and ceremonies and symbols are not, as one
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class of our opponents have declared them to be, the puerile amusements of a past age of dreamers — then surely it is the bounden duty of the supreme head of the Order, in every jurisdiction, to preserve those legends and ceremonies and symbols as pure and unsullied by error and innovation as they were when received. It is a part of the covenant into which we have all entered, and to which we are all bound by the most solemn obligations, to preserve the ancient Landmarks which have been intrusted to our care, and never to suffer them to be infringed, or to countenance a deviation from the established usages and customs of the fraternity.
This, it appears to me, is the most prominent and especial duty of a Grand Lodge. It is the conser- vator of the Order in its own jurisdiction, and is expected by all the sanctions of justice and reason to hand down to its successors the rites and cere- monies of the institution, as it received them from its predecessors. Unless it does this, it is recreant to its trust. It may dispense charity — it may endow colleges — it may decide disputes — it may invent financial systems, or legislate for general purposes — but unless it shall take constant and careful precau- tions for preserving the ancient Landmarks, and disseminating among the craft a uniformity of work and lectures, according to the true system, it will be neglecting the principal design of its organization, and will become a "cruel" instead of a "gentle mother" to its children. Under an administration which shall totally abandon all supervision of the
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482 GRAND LECTURER.
ritual, and devise no means of teaching it, the very identity of Masonry would soon altogether be ex- tinguished, and Lodges would speedily degenerate into social clubs.
Now, the only method by which this ritual can be efficiently supervised and taught, so that a uni- formity of work may be preserved, and every Mason in the jurisdiction be made acquainted with the true nature of the science of Masonry, is by the ap- pointment of a competent and permanent Grand Lecturer.
The appointment of this officer should be a per- manent one. In this advanced age of Masonic im- provement, any attempt to appoint a Grand Lecturer by the year, as we hire domestics, or employ labor- ers, is an insult to the intelligence of the Order. When an able teacher is found, he should hold his office, not for a year, or during the pleasure of the Grand Master or the Grand Lodge, but like the judicial tenure of our Supreme Court, or the Eng- lish Judges — dura se bene gesserit — during good be- havior. Let him continue for life, if he is " worthy and well qualified ;" for, the longer a good teacher labors in his vocation, the better will he discharge its duties. But any attempt to intrust the duty of instructing Lodges to a temporary Lecturer, changed, like the Wardens or the Deacons, every year, must inevitably result in the utter destruction of all that remains to us of the ancient symmetry of our beauti- ful temple.
Equally injurious is it to divide a i>rMict?rm
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between several Lecturers, each independent of the oilier*, each teaching a different system, and all pi'Hmps ignorant of the true one. To suppose that by the simple appointment of the presiding officer, some half a dozen District Deputies or Inspectors can be qualified to instruct the Lodges placed under their control in the arcana of Masonry, would be farcical, were it not so pregnant with clanger to the safety and preservation of our Landmarks. The attempt has been made in one or two jurisdictions, and most signally failed. Its necessary consequence is a destruction of all uniformity, and a degradation of Masonic science to a mere system of quackery.
But not only should the authority of the Grand Lecturer as a Masonic teacher be sovereign and un- divided in his jurisdiction, and the tenure of his office permanent, so that the craft may not be an- nually subjected to changes in the form and sub- stance of the instruction that they receive, but, above all, he should be fully competent, by previous study, to discharge the duties of his high calling.
No man can be qualified as a Grand Lecturer un- less he has devoted his time, his talent, and his labor to the arduous, though pleasant, task of Ma- sonic study. The old Eomans had a proverb that a Mercury could not be made out of any kind of wood, and neither can a Grand Lecturer be manufactured out of any kind of Mason. A Masonic teacher re- quires qualifications of the highest character. A profound knowledge of the ritual is. of course, essen- tial ; and this alone is to be acquired only after the
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most laborious study, aided by the adventitious as- sistance of an excellent a/nd retentive memory. But to this must be added, if we would give dignity to the office, or confer a benefit on the pupils whom he is to teach, an education dbove the common stand- ard, a cultivated intellect, an acquaintance with that ancient language from whose records our system is derived, a familiarity with history and antiquities, and an extent of reading and power of mind which will enable him to trace the symbolism of our Order through all its progress, from the ancient priest- hood of Egypt, the mysteries of Greece and Asia, and the kabhaia of Palestine.
It may be said that the standard is here placed too high, and that few will be found to reach it. Better, then, would it be to do without a Lecturer than to have an incompetent one ; and I know of no less amount of learning that would make a Ma- sonic teacher, such as a Masonic teacher should be. But moreover, by placing the standard of qualifica- tions high, intellectual men would be found to work up to it ; while, by placing it lower, ignorant men would readily avail themselves of the privileges that so low a standard would present. The " con- summation devoutly to be wished'7 in Masonry is, that none but learned men should become Masonic teachers.
The old Constitutions do not recognize the office of Grand Lecturer under that name; but it has al- ways existed, and its duties were performed in the eighteenth century by some of the most learned men
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of the order. Anderson, Desaguliers, Martin Clare, Hutchinson and Preston, were all, in the strict sense of the word, Grand Lecturers, and discharged the duties of the office with great benefit to the craft.