it not, he is clearly entitled to no
aid.

Lastly, never should an unjustifiable delicacy weaken the rigor of these
rules. Let it be remembered, that for the wisest and most evident reasons,
the merciful maxim of the law, which says, that it is better that
ninety-nine guilty men should escape than that one innocent man should be
punished, is with us reversed, and that in Masonry _it is better that
ninety and nine true men should be turned away from the door of a lodge
than that one cowan should be admitted_.

Section IV.

_Of Vouching for a Brother._

An examination may sometimes be omitted when any competent Brother present
will vouch for the visitor's masonic standing and qualifications. This
prerogative of vouching is an important one which every Master Mason is
entitled, under certain restrictions, to exercise; but it is also one
which may so materially affect the well-being of the whole
fraternity--since by its injudicious use impostors might be introduced
among the faithful--that it should be controlled by the most stringent
regulations.

To vouch for one, is to bear witness for him; and, in witnessing to truth,
every caution should be observed, lest falsehood should cunningly assume
its garb. The Brother who vouches should, therefore, know to a certainty
that the one for whom he vouches is really what he claims to be. He should
know this not from a casual conversation, nor a loose and careless
inquiry, but, as the unwritten law of the Order expresses it, from
"_strict trial, due examination, or lawful information_."

Of strict trial and due examination I have already treated in the
preceding section; and it only remains to say, that when the vouching is
founded on the knowledge obtained in this way, it is absolutely necessary
that the Brother so vouching shall be _competent_ to conduct such an
examination, and that his general intelligence and shrewdness and his
knowledge of Masonry shall be such as to place him above the probability
of being imposed upon. The important and indispensable qualification of a
voucher is, therefore, that he shall be competent. The Master of a lodge
has no right to accept, without further inquiry, the avouchment of a
young and inexperienced, or even of an old, if ignorant, Mason.

Lawful information, which is the remaining ground for an avouchment, may
be derived either from the declaration of another Brother, or from having
met the party vouched for in a lodge on some p