This alone will insure the necessary care and proper observance of prudence.
If the information given is on the ground that the person, vouched has been seen sitting in a lodge by the voucher, care must be taken to inquire if it was a "Lodge of Master Masons." A person may forget, from the lapse of time, and vouch for a stranger as a Master Mason, when the lodge in which he saw him was only opened in the first or second degree.
Section V.
_Of the Right of Claiming Relief._ One of the great objects of our institution is, to afford relief to a worthy, distressed Brother.

In his want and destitution, the claim of a Mason upon his Brethren is much greater than that of a profane.

This is a Christian as well as a masonic doctrine.

"As we have therefore opportunity," says St.Paul, "let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." This claim for relief he may present either to a lodge or to a Brother Mason.

The rule, as well as the principles by which it is to be regulated, is laid down in that fundamental law of Masonry, the Old Charges, in the following explicit words, under the head of "Behavior towards a strange Brother:" "You are cautiously to examine him, in such a method as prudence shall direct you, that you may not be imposed upon by an ignorant, false pretender, whom you are to reject with contempt and derision, and beware of giving him any hints of knowledge.
"But if you discover him to be a true and genuine Brother, you are to respect him accordingly; and if he is in want, you must relieve him if you can, or else direct him how he may be relieved.