Jewish Masonic Disabilities

time , our Grand Master , while regretting the circumstances " which for a time unfortunately impeded the wonted intercourse , " expressed the sense of his high consideration and brotherly affection for the Grand Lodge Royal York , aud its M . W . Grand Master . So much for the past . Now , it

seems we are once again landed in the midst of a similar difficulty . Jews aro not admissible into certain German Lodges in 1877 any more than they were in 1846 ; and the petition we reproduce elsewhere calls upon our M . W . Grand Master and the other officers of Grand Lodge , to take the

matter into their serious consideration . We hope and trust that those who are agitating this important question will persevere in their endeavours , and that our Grand Master will himself unhesitatingly grant the prayer of our brethren . There are Parsees , Hindoos , Mohammedans , as

well as Jews and Christians , under the jurisdiction of our Grand Lodge . All these enjoy equal privileges and rights . Our English Freemasonry is in this , as in all other respects , pure and unadulterated . We admit all men who are found worthy , provided they have in them a due sense of religion .

They must worship the Creator of all things , but there is no special form of worship , presented for all to follow . Moreover , with every sense of respect towards our German brethren , we in England may justly claim to know better than they do of the intent and purpose of Freemasonry , and

of its laws and constitutions . And , after all , though Prussia is justly entitled to a place among European powers of the first rank , it has not yet acquired , and we do not think it ever will acquire , the right to prescribe limits to what , as regards religious persuasion , is illimitable . Our Grand

Lodge is the Mother Grand Lodge of nearly all the Masonic bodies in the world . It is our constitutions and our laws which the great majority of them have adopted . Local differences may be accepted as a just reason for modifying those laws and constitutions so as to suit ; the altered

circumstances of each case , bnt not for undermining that basis of universality on which the structure of Freemasonry has rested throughout all ages . It ia our duty to remon - strate when we find other Masonic powers setting the very first principles of our Society at defiance ; and if our

remonstrances are allowed to pass unheeded , it then becomes our duty , how painful soever that duty may be , to indicate in a manner that cannot be mistaken , and with an energy , the depth and sincerity of which it is impossible to deny , our sense of the indignity that has been cast upon us . If

our German brethren insist that Freemasonry is not a universal system , it will be for our Grand Master to consider dispassionately whether such denial does not place the recusant German Grand Lodges outside the pale of

Masonry , and whether it will not be his duty , not only to withdraw our representatives from the German Grand Bodies to which they are severally accredited , but also to order the withdrawal of the German Masonic Ministers

accredited to our Grand Lodge . We are not called upon to champion the rights of Masonry all the world over , but it is our duty to resent injustice to the Craft universal when it is brought directly under our cognisance .- Otherwise , as we said at the outset , we shall be participes criminis .

Grand Lodge Of Massachusetts

GRAND LODGE OF MASSACHUSETTS

WE offer our thanks for copy of the Proceedings at the Annual Communication of this Grand Lodge , held in the Masonic Temple , Boston , on the 13 th December last , Grand Master P . Lowell Everett presiding , and there being

a strong muster of Grand Officers and brebhren to support him . As we have already noted briefly the particulars of this meeting , there are only a few portions of this report to which we shall call the attention of our readers . These

are the Grand Treasurer ' s account , the financial condition of Grand Lodge , and the numerical strength of the Craft in this jurisdiction . The accounts present the following features : —The receipts for the year amounted to dollars

57 , 987 33 c , including a balance brought forward from last yearof dollars 1691 34 c . The expenditure reached the sum of dollars 57 , 180 12 c ., theprincipalitemsbeing , for "principal of the debt , " dollarsl 2 , 250 ; for " interest , " dollars 22 , 320 10 c . ;

and salary of Grand Secretary and Treasurer dollars 3 , 000 . Thus there was a balance at the end of the year on the right side of the account of dollars 807 81 c . As to the

financial position , the picture is as follows : —There is a " Mortgage to Provident Institution , " amounting to a quarter of a million of dollars ; " Notes to Masonic Bodies , "

Grand Lodge Of Massachusetts

dollars 37 , 550 ; and " Note to Third National Bank , " five thousand dollars , making a total of dollars 292 , " > 5 " . Deducting cash in hand and rents outstanding , this sum is reduced to dollars 290 , 981 41 c , and though this is unquestionably n heavy load of debt to boar , yet it is satisfactory

to find that ifc is less by a little over nine thousand dollars than at the same period last year . As regard the numerical strength of the Craft in the jurisdiction of this Grand Lodge , the total number of affiliated members is 2 d , 141 , and this shows a decrease from last year of no less than

667 . The jurisdiction is portioned out into eighteen districts , besides tho China and Chili Districts , there being altogether 216 Lodges , three of which are in Chili , and one in China , leaving , therefore , 212 Lodges in the State itself . Each of these districts is governed by a District

Grand Master , corresponding with our Provincial Grand Master . District No . 1 is in the City of Boston , and has twelve Lodges , and a total of 2 , 260 members on the roll ; District No . 2 , ten Lodges , and 1 , 520 members ; District No . 3 , twelve Lodges , and 1 , 867 members ; District No . 4 ,

eleven Lodges , and 1 , 282 members ; District No . 5 , twelve Lodges , and 1 , 571 members ; District No . 6 , thirteen Lodges , and 1 , 689 members ; District No . 7 , nine Lodges , and 1 , 437 members ; District No . 8 , eleven Lodges , and 1 , 046 members ; District No . 9 , ten Lodges , ancl 844

members ; District No . 10 , eleven Lodges , and 1 , 947 members ; DistrictNo . il , twelve Lodges , and 1 , 616 members ; District No . 12 , twelve Lodges , and 1 , 200 members ; District No . 13 , fifteen Lodges , and 1 , 621 members ; District No . 14 , twelve Lodges , and 1 , 555 members ; ' District No . 15 ,

eleven Lodges , and 1 , 053 members ; District No . 16 , fourteen Lodges , and 1 , 618 members ; District No . 17 , ten Lodges , and 1 , 154 members ; and District No . 18 , ten Lodges , and 809 members . In the Chili District , two Lodges muster together 162 members , and the Lodge

at Shanghai has 47 members on the roll . The number of initiations during the year amounts to 1 , 307 . There were 1 , 233 brethren passed , and 1 * 360 raised . The considerable number of 481 candidates for degrees was rejected . No less than 306 members were suspended , and one was expelled ,

while the number of dimissions amounted to 523 , and there were 316 members discharged from membership . In addition 284 members died , so that thereduction of numbers from all causes was very considerable . Against this we must

record that 1 , 662 members were admitted and 123 were re-instated . The number of Grand Lodge diplomas granted during the year was 1 , 173 , and there were 88 Past Masters' diplomas granted .

We have thus far confined ourselves especially to the statistical portion of the report , in order that our readers may learn how ifc fares with Freemasonry in one of the most ancient Grand Lodges of the United States . Ifc remains for us to add that this report is very ample in the information it affords . Not the least valuable and

interesting portion of its contents is the list of Grand Officers who have held office during the past hundred years . The list includes the names of many eminent brethren , not the least eminent of whom are those of Bros . John T . Heard , W . T . Coolidge , W . Parkman , C . C .

Damey , W . G . Gardner , Sereno , and D . Nickerson , who are still living , and are both able and willing to take an active part in the government of the Grand Lodge and in the general furtherance of its interests . Ifc is also a matter of duty on our part that we should offer a few words of

compliment and thanks to the Rev . Bro . Charles S . Titus , the Recording Grand Secretary , who fully realises our ideal of what a Secretary should be . His arrangement of the matter comprised in this record is admirable . The record itself is clear as the sun at noon-day , so that he who

runs may read without the slightest impediment whatever . The Grand Feast was held on the 27 th December , and a very full account is given of the speeches attending the various toasts , the first of which was that of the " Holy Saints John . " After this , followed a toast , " To the

memory of onr illustrious Brother , George Washington , " which it is almost needless to say , was drunk standing and in deep silence . The evening passed off most harmoniously , the chair being ably filled by the M . W . G . M . Everett . We congratulate our brethren of Massachusetts on the

order , regularity , and harmony which mark all their proceedings , and the extremely lucid manner in which such proceedings are recorded , not only for their own benefit , but also for that of brethren who reside at a great distance . It is also worthy of remark that on Thursday this Grand Lodge completed the first century of its existence as an in-