A Subject For Masonic Students.

carelessness and unskillfulness have combined to create or preserve , to substitute clearer and truer and more reliable annals ; to apply the test of truth , reason and accuracy in critical measure and with a simple love of correctness to the confused traditions of yesterday , and the idle reiteration of to-day , to give at last to our globe belted zone that spans the world to-day Masonry , a

consistent , a reasonable , an historical account of our great Fraternity , are alike a task as it is noble , and the comforting reward of Masonic archaeology . The band of students , once very limited indeed , those vigilant patriarchs of Masonic investigation —whose names we may well hold in some little respect ; first , because they are very few , and , secondly , because they worked

very hard on an often ungrateful soil , and before an unappreciating audience—is now by slow degrees becoming larger , and as we write to-day , with a full , clear memory of the past struggles of Masonic archaeologists , ours , in the unselfishness of Masonic sympathy , is a hope for the future , for fresh efforts , greater discoveries and a more universal taste for Masonic archteology .

The writer is quite sure of this , that it will tend to elevate contemporary Masonry , not only within the radius of the Jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of the State of New York , but become a talisman to animate with promethean fires our own coordinate Grand Lodges , and waft the incense of its classics , dedicated as they are to the diffusion of the arts and sciences to all

parts of the world beyond and over the great waters , and make it easier to write to " discover and bring to light " the aroma and supernal mysteries that still lie below the dust and mosses of centuries , and must be upturned by tha spade and pick of the archiBologist and the mystery of mysteries solved and the arch of our archaeology completed . Let us " continue our search . " This

will remove many an idle cause of needless criticism and discussion , even in our good Lodges , and will lend to the present a greater reality and often to the past a more enduring charm , in that they will insist that kindly Brotherhood , to which we have so happily belonged and clung for years , with the ever-increasing certainty that we have adduced the proofs of its world-wide existence , its cosmopolitan progress , its mission , and development in the world ,

as the ages themselves have come and gone , and myriads of our race have been steadily moving on with the great world itself to their common appointed goal . Let us encourage the increase of Masonic study and Masonic talks among us , and let us always be ready to offer a favouring hand and help to all that can foster and develop intellectual aspirations and archaeological tendencies wherever they exist . — John E . Anderson , in " New York Tribune . "

The Negro Question.

THE NEGRO QUESTION .

THE report of the Committee of Grand Lodge of Kentucky on the position of the Grand Lodge of Washington on the Negro in Masonry , takes exception to the action of the Washington Grand Lodge , and refuses to recognise the negro . Its concluding paragraph is as follows : We have no quarrel with the negro , and certainly seek none with the Grand Lodge of Washington . We have no wish to curtail its privileges , or infringe upon its rights .

The Negro Question.

It can select its own associates , and we shall select ours . It has announced a principle whose acceptance means death to American Masonry . It has contemptuously set aside the doctrine of Jurisdiction upon which our system is founded , and this it has done at . the mere request of two irresponsible negroes , and upon

what seems to have been an agreed case . It has scoffed at the conclusion of a cenftiry ; it has reopened a question settled wisely , and justly , long ago , even when the passions of our civil war were not abated . It has been forgetful of its own dignity , reckless of its own honour , and zealous to disturb the harmony of the Craft . We approve the utterances of the Grand Master upon this subject ,

and agree with him , that this Grand Lodge shall speak with no uncertain sound . We therefore recommend the following : That in view of the action in regard to negro Masonry , taken by the Grand Lodge of Washington Free and Accepted Masons , at its last Communication , this Grand Lodge hereby declares non-intercourse between its subsordinates and members and the said Grand Lodge of Washington , its subordinates and members .

Masonry And The Ministry.

MASONRY AND THE MINISTRY .

THE following letters have appeared in the " Irish Ecclesiastical Gazette . " SIR , — " Omne ignotum pro tnagnifieo . " Presbuteros holds the reverse of this adage . He depreciates and derides that of which he is utterly ignorant . So did the Grand Inquisitor and his myrmidons the true theory

o £ Galileo . Many Bishops and Archbishops , indeed , never joined freemasonry , because they knew nothing of it . Archbishop Plunket and Bishop Welland , with men of mark , as the Prince of Wales , the Dukes of Edinburgh , Connaught , York , and Abercorn , and legions of such loyal subjects of God and Hia church , did become connected with that system , and having had intimate experience of it retained the abiding conviction of its

advantageousness . The rolls o £ Freemasonry are emblazoned with the names of the best and noblest in art , science , literature , statesmanship , philanthropy , and " pure religion , " and the few that ever deserted from its ranks did so from influencing motives , similar to those that actuated Julian in his apostasy from tho Christian faith . The Shimeis of vilification can be passed by placidly . It is to be hoped that Presbuteros will not imitate the example of

the Pharisee , who went up into the temple to pray , but only boasted of his own self-enthroned superiority . Finally—as my Parthian shaft , though unbarbed—I would solicit the foes of Freemasonry to ponder on that comprehensive Gospel sentence found in Phip . iv . 8 , also St . Paul ' s injunction in I Thes . v . 21 . I remain , Dear Sir , faithfully yours ,

A CHURCH AND MASONIC DIGNITARY . SIR , —Like many of your correspondents I , although not " pressed " have often , been " invited " to join the Masonic Institution , but the difficulty to me , a Christman layman , has always been the fact that Masonry proposes to do

without the Gospel what the Gospel professes to do ? I think I am correct in saying that the Masonic Institution is open to Jews , Unitarians , and such like ? In fact , I know several Unitarians very high up in the Order , and yet Prelate of St . John of Jerusalem tolls us that " prayers are offered to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord "—by—Jews , Unitarians , etc . IYours , CHRISTIAN LAYMAN .

All Books , & c , intended for review should be addressed to the Editor , Freemason ' s Chronicle , New Barnet .

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Royal Masonic Institution for Girls . Offices—5 Freemasons' Hall , Great Queen Street , London , W . C . Chief Patroness— HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN . Grand Patron and President—R . R . H . THE PRINCE OF WALES , K . G ., & c , M . W . G . M . Grand Patroness—H . R . H . THE PRINCESS OF WALES . Bankers—LONDON & WESTMINSTER BANK LTD . ( BLOOMSBURY BRANCH ) , HIGH HOLBORN , W . C . 19 U 1 Girls haVe been provided With Education , Clothing , and Maintenance , the full number of Girls noW receiving its benefits being 265 . The i nth Anniversary Festival will take place on ioth May next , under the distinguished Presidency of THE RIGHT HOI ^ VSSCOUNT DUNGARVAN , D . L . R . W . PROV . G . M ., SOMERSET . The names of Brethren Willing to serVe as Stewards are earnestly solicited . F . R . W . HEDGES , Secretary , 5 FREEMASONS' HALL , LONDON , W . C . Registered Office Telegraphic Address : " Girlands , London . " Telephone No . 2952 Gerrard .