Sec. 19. Every Worshipful Master shall give to the brethren who are about to ballot a candidate the following charge, to wit:

"One of your important privileges as a mason is that of accepting or rejecting all who may apply for the degrees or for membership. I wish to impress upon your mind the immense power for good or evil with which you are entrusted. The white ball, secretly cast by you, signifies your approbation of any candidate who may apply, while the black one, when cast by you, signifies that the candidate is unworthy for some reason known to you, and will have the same effect as though each member of this lodge were to cast one of them. Hence, how important it is that you should be extremely careful in depositing your ballot, always remembering that white balls elect and black reject. The ballot, my brother, is inviolably secret, and you are cautioned that to discuss or make known your ballot is one of the greatest of Masonic offenses. The ballot is never the proper place to exhibit petty spite towards any individual within or without the lodge, and the ceremony attending the casting of a ballot is equivalent to a sacred promise to cast it in accordance with your obligation."