y be a man of irreproachable manners, but also a
free-born denizen of the country in which the mysteries were celebrated.

Some masonic writers have thought that, in this regulation in relation to
free birth, some allusion is intended, both in the Mysteries and in
Freemasonry, to the relative conditions and characters of Isaac and
Ishmael. The former--the accepted one, to whom the promise was given--was
the son of a free woman, and the latter, who was cast forth to have "his
hand against every man, and every man's hand against him," was the child
of a slave. Wherefore, we read that Sarah demanded of Abraham, "Cast out
this bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir
with my son." Dr. Oliver, in speaking of the grand festival with which
Abraham celebrated the weaning of Isaac, says, that he "had not paid the
same compliment at the weaning of Ishmael, because he was the son of a
bondwoman, and, consequently, could not be admitted to participate in the
Freemasonry of his father, which could only be conferred on free men born
of free women." The ancient Greeks were of the same opinion; for they used
the word [Greek: douloprepeia] or, "slave manners," to designate any very
great impropriety of manners.

The Grand Lodge of England extends this doctrine, that Masons should be
free in all their thoughts and actions, so far, that it will not permit
the initiation of a candidate who is only temporarily deprived of his
liberty, or even in a place of confinement. In the year 1782, the Master
of the Royal Military Lodge, at Woolwich, being confined, most probably
for debt, in the King's Bench prison, at London, the lodge, which was
itinerant in its character, and allowed to move from place to place with
its regiment, adjourned, with its warrant of constitution, to the Master
in prison, where several Masons were made. The Grand Lodge, being informed
of the circumstances, immediately summoned the Master and Wardens of the
lodge "to answer for their conduct in making Masons in the King's Bench
prison," and, at the same time, adopted a resolution, affirming that "it
is inconsistent with the principles of Freemasonry for any Freemason's
lodge to be held, for the purposes of making, passing, or raising Masons,
in any prison or place of confinement."

Section V.

_Of the Petition of Candidates for Admission, and the Action thereon_.

The application of a candidate to a lodge, for initiation, is called a