has been composed. It is not pretended to present to the craft an
encyclopedia of jurisprudence, in which every question that can possibly
arise, in the transactions of a Lodge, is decided with an especial
reference to its particular circumstances. Were the accomplishment of such
an herculean task possible, except after years of intense and unremitting
labor, the unwieldy size of the book produced, and the heterogeneous
nature of its contents, so far from inviting, would rather tend to
distract attention, and the object of communicating a knowledge of the
Principles of Masonic Law, would be lost in the tedious collation of
precedents, arranged without scientific system, and enunciated without
explanation.

When I first contemplated the composition of a work on this subject, a
distinguished friend and Brother, whose opinion I much respect, and with
whose advice I am always anxious to comply, unless for the most
satisfactory reasons, suggested the expediency of collecting the decisions
of all Grand Masters, Grand Lodges, and other masonic authorities upon
every subject of Masonic Law, and of presenting them, without commentary,
to the fraternity.

But a brief examination of this method, led me to perceive that I would be
thus constructing simply a digest of decrees, many of which would probably
be the results of inexperience, of prejudice, or of erroneous views of the
masonic system, and from which the authors themselves have, in repeated
instances, subsequently receded--for Grand Masters and Grand Lodges,
although entitled to great respect, are not infallible--and I could not,
conscientiously, have consented to assist, without any qualifying remark,
in the extension and perpetuation of edicts and opinions, which, however
high the authority from which they emanated, I did not believe to be in
accordance with the principles of Masonic jurisprudence.