IV. OF MASTERS, WARDENS, FELLOWS, AND

APPRENTICES. All preferment among Masons is grounded upon real Worth and personal Merit only ; that so the Lords may be well served, the Brethren not put to Shame,
18 UNIVERSAL MONITOR.
nor the Koyal Craft despis'd : Therefore no Master or Warden is chosen by Seniority, but for his Merit. It is impossible to describe these things in writing, and every Brother must attend in his Place, and learn them in a way peculiar to this Fraternity : Only Candidates may know that no Master should take an Apprentice unless he has sufficient employment for him, and un- less he be a perfect youth, having no Maim or Defect in his body, that may render him incapable of learning the Art, of serving his Master's Lord, and of being made a Brother, and then a Fellow-Craft in due time, even after he has served such a Term of Years as the Custom of the Country directs ; and that he should be descended of honest Parents ; that so, when otherwise qualify 'd, he may arrive to the Honor of being the Warden, and then the Master of the Lodge, the Grand Warden, and at length the Grand Master of all the Lodges, according to his Merit.*
No Brother can be a Warden until he has pass'd the part of a Fellow-Craft, nor a Master until he has acted as a Warden, nor Grand Warden until he has been a Master of a Lodge, nor Grand Master unless he has been a Fellow-Craft before his election, who is also to be nobly born, or a Gentleman of the best Fashion, or some eminent Scholar, or some curious Architect, or other Artist, descended of honest Par- ents, and who is of singular great Merit in the Opin- ion of the Lodges. And for the better and easier and
*The physical perfection herein required, applies only to candidates for the First Degree.— Proceedings, 1864, p. 88.
ANCIENT CHARGES. 19
more honorable discharge of his Office, the Grand- Master has a Power to choose his own Deputy Grand- Master, who must be then, or must have been for- merly, the Master of a particular Lodge, and has the Privilege of acting whatever the Grand-Master, his Principal, should act, unless the said Principal be present, or interpose his Authority by a Letter.
These Rulers and Governors, Supreme and Subor- dinate, of the ancient Lodge, are to be obey'd in their respective Stations by all the Brethren, according to the old Charges and Regulations, with all Humility, Reverence, Love, and Alacrity.