The Present Position Of Freemasonry.

THE PRESENT POSITION OF FREEMASONRY .

No . V . PERHAPS one of the most distinguishing badges of our Mnsonic profession in this good English Craft of ours , and one of the most availing factors in respect of

its general recognition and prestige at this hour , is to be found in its laudable declaration of complete and universal toleration . Some we know object to the use of this word altogether . They say , that it is a disgrace to civilisation ,

to reason , and to religion , that such a word should be needed , that such an expression should have to be employed , that such terminology should ever be adopted as toleration , tolerant , and tolerated .

Abstractedly that may be so , and we do not quarrel with any such intelligent and right-thinking persons who so contend , who so demur .

But in the concrete it is very difficult indeed to find a word which so fitly and fully represents tho idea we seek to convey , the feeling we are so anxious to represent , the truth we are so wishful to establish .

Since 1717 , when English Freemasonry was revived into active work and distinct organization , this feature has been its great characteristic , and still more so since the

happy union of 1813 has a neutral pi'ogramme of complete , and peaceful , and kindly toleration been its standing order and its distinguishing feature .

There are those probably who may have desiderated for it a more direct continuation with the declaratory averments of the earlier guilds .

Much was left in this respect to Lodges themselves in the last century , aud even at this hour Grand Lodge very "wisely interferes as little as possible with ancient customs or cherished forms .

But it stands to reason that if , as in our English Freemasonry , we admit all within our Lodge portals who , according to the old Regulations , are neither atheists nor libertines , the form of prayer now generally in use , since

and about 1730 , at any rate more or less , best proclaims the toleration of opinion we openly avow . The Grand Lodge is undoubtedly right in strictly prohibiting all controversial or political discussions , and for this good reason ,

first and foremost , that as the ages come and go , thev have not hitherto been distinguished by the demonstration or development of an equal ratio of sympathy , concern , respect , and affection for those who differ from us in this or in that .

Indeed , there have been times in the often painful annals of our race , and the cruel records of the past , when just as they persecuted and destroyed with every surrounding circumstance of cruelty and horror poor doting old

women , whom they termed witches , so too there have been epochs when in the full fierce glare of the fires of a so-called religious persecution , unoffending persons , old and young , of all creeds and of both sexes , have been

"dragooned or " handed over to the secular arm , " or committed to the flames of the terrible stake , or the " auto da fe" of the Inquisition . These facts are indelibly impressed on the stereotyped pages of history , never to be

forgotten , rather ever to be remembered for warning and instruction by us , who are still but ever mortal here , surrounded and permeated by the indwelling weaknesses and often degrading tendencies of human ignorance and human

passion . Even our own times have witnessed the savage outburst of persecution against the Hebrew race in many countries

a persecution so senseless and so shameless , being solely cruelty and plunder apparently combined , that these deeds of pitilessness and rapine have awakened the warm indignation of the entire civilized world .

An ingenious writer has contended that man is by nature and inclination a persecutor . Perhaps he is . And clear it is that under certain circumstances a spirit in man is apparently roused , whether by external or internal

influences , or through some peculiarity in the development of our human psychology , by which instead of being the friend , the loving companion one of another , man becomes the persecutor and destroyer of his brother man .

We say nothing here to-day of those merely controversial quarrels or denominational animosities , which have so defamed the kindly offers and protestations of religion , so obscured its fair face and form , so made it a stumbling

The Present Position Of Freemasonry.

block , instead of the elevating aud sublime benefactress of our poor mortality . But it is the lasting credit , the peculiar commendation , the characteristic feature of Freemasonry proper , that it

never in any measure sanctions or assents to the debasing practice of persecution , that it never tacitly or openly countenances any denial of the abiding principles of mercy , charity , and brotherly goodwill .

On the contrary , lifting itself as it were above the overflow of normal or abnormal human passions , and utterly insensible to the cries of faction or the shouts of angry hosts , it proclaims universally , with unfaltering tongue , a

blessed message of peace , sympathy , and toleration to its brotherhood , and to all mankind . It welcomes to-day within its fair array and under its broad banner men of every colour and opinion .

It indeed enforces one limitation on the acceptation of tho candidates for its mysteries . It emphatically disavows the atheist , just as it ignores controversial difficulties . But it enrols in its vast army of peaceful combatants all

who acknowledge a Divine Creator , Preserver , and Benefactor ; all who cordially and sincerely accept and believe in tho great Fatherhood of God and the wide Brotherhood of man .

Some complain of its eclecticism in this respect , as well as its comprehensiveness on the other hand , but such necessary qualifications constitute both its pride and

peculiarity , its blazon and its boast , as before the Craft and the world .

When our Grand Lodge elected our respected and benevolent Bro . Cama as Grand Treasurer , it not only seemed to send a message of goodwill to all native brethren in our

great Indian Empire , but it served to make plain to all other jurisdictions that its practice squared with its professions in this respect above all .

So we cannot be wrong in concluding , as we commenced by saying , that in this its luminous principle of complete and loyal toleration , the Grand Lodge of England

best maintains its present unexampled position of prosperity and progress ., utility and union , popularity and preeminency .

In so teaching and acting we feel assured it but advances the true and lasting powers of Cosmopolitan Freemasonry , and conduces to the harmony and

brotherhood of its own members , and most fitly and becomingly acts as guide , instructor , and mentor to all Masonic bodies , wheresoever "diffused over the whole surface of the habitable world . "

Bro. Brennan's Attack On Bro. Meyer.

BRO . BRENNAN'S ATTACK ON BRO . MEYER .

BY BRO . W . J . HUGHAN . I AM exceedingly sorry to read in the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE , of 10 th Sept . 1887 , an article by Bro . J . Fletcher Brennan , entitled " History of a Crime . " Bro . Meyer is my oldest Masonic friend in America , and I am his oldest friend in this country , hence I must ask

for sufficient space to repudiate , with utter scorn and detestation , the hateful charge brought against him by Bro . Brennan . The article , after stating " The occasion demanded the man , and the man appeared for the occasion , "

and other similar references , proceeds as follows : " When the early summer heats began to be felt , the author of that story [ i . e ., * ohe " Bell Letter , " & c ] feeling himself [ i . e . Bro . Meyer ] badly broken up , headed a pilgrimage of Knights

Templars to England , there possibly to endeavour to straighten his damaged character , and satisfy those literary friends who erst had believed in him as a writer honest and honourable , and also in his able assistant the Editor

aforesaid [ Bro . C . MacCalla , Editor of the Keystone ] whom he left behind . " The grave charge is also made that Brother " Charles U . Meyer committed a crime to prove " that the Masons alluded to , of 1730 , in Philadelphia , received " a Charter from Daniel Coxe . "

Finally the writer asks , " Need I elaborate this history of a crime further ? " and then virtually characterises what he so terms the matter , " as having no parallel within the

present century in the history of English Freemasonry m America , or any other country . " Now , be it stated , Bro . Brennan is entitled to hold his own opinion of the " Bell Letter , " and to declare it is a