The intellectual qualifications refer to the security of the Order;
because they require that its mysteries shall be confided only to those
whose mental developments are such as to enable them properly to
appreciate, and faithfully to preserve from imposition, the secrets thus
entrusted to them. It is evident, for instance, that an idiot could
neither understand the hidden doctrines that might be communicated to him,
nor could he so secure such portions as he might remember, in the
"depositary of his heart," as to prevent the designing knave from worming
them out of him; for, as the wise Solomon has said, "a fool's mouth is his
destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul."

The political qualifications are intended to maintain the independence of
the Order; because its obligations and privileges are thus confided only
to those who, from their position in society, are capable of obeying the
one, and of exercising the other without the danger of let or hindrance
from superior authority.

Of the moral, physical and political qualifications of a candidate there
can be no doubt, as they are distinctly laid down in the ancient charges
and constitutions. The intellectual are not so readily decided.

These four-fold qualifications may be briefly summed up in the following
axioms.

_Morally_, the candidate must be a man of irreproachable conduct, a
believer in the existence of God, and living "under the tongue of good
report."

_Physically_, he must be a man of at least twenty-one years of age,
upright in body, with the senses of a man, not deformed or dismembered,