General Rules of the Freemasons, with a Discourse on the Purpose of Masonry

-der, which cannot always fully know the brothers to be admitted, and which knows how heavily the secret weighs, would provide very poorly for its own preservation without this caution. The inquisitive person would learn too much, and the brother who became one for the sake of fashion would perhaps experience and learn something that would seem as trivial to him as the new design of a coat cuff original: "Aufschlages"; refers to the decorative facings or cuffs on 18th-century garments, used here as a metaphor for fleeting, superficial trends..

This law must not deter any new brother who is a sensible man; on the contrary, it must increase his esteem for the Order The Masonic fraternity. A prudence that proceeds with sure steps is worthy of veneration, and the test that one conducts in such a manner regarding discretion is reliable.

But because there might be some who take offense at the practice of being treated in this way, it shall be briefly shown what a Freemason should think of Masonry The practice and philosophy of the craft in general.