Sermonising In Freemasonry.

SERMONISING IN FREEMASONRY .

WE are afraid there is a great deal said and written about Freemasonry winch is fairly entitled to come under the definition of humbug . "Humbug , " * we know , is a very homely , yet a very expresssive phrase ; many , indeed , may consider it vulgar . But whatever it may be , or whatever people may be pleased to consider it ,

there is no doubt as to its existence . Nor is there any sufficient reason for imagining that Freemasonry , being , as it is , an institution that owes its origin to man , enjoys any special

immunity from its influences . We hear and see this fact exemplified in the inner life of our Lodges and the pages of Masonic literature . There is no doubt the principles on which our Craft is based are most admirable , that those

principles have been most successfully carried out in all ages and countries , and that they are capable of still further development in the future . But nothing is so calculated to mar the beauty of those principles as the attempts which are continually being made to associate every

distinguished man that ever lived ancl every noteworthy event that has ever happened since the world was created with Freemasonry . We have seen it gravely stated that Adam was a Mason , though the native modesty of the writer induced him to refrain from any attempt at solving the

knotty question whether our worthy first parent was initiated before or after he took to wearing an apron of figleaves . Noah , the first naval architect—not " arkitect , " 0 waggish reader—of whom we read in history , has been set down as a Mason . The Patriarchs , we believe , are

supposed to have been Craftsmen . The two Saints John were G . M . ' s , though we have never heard any sufficient reason assigned for the supposition—perhaps the fact of one of

them having been decapitated and the other having died in the Isle of Patmos will answer as well as any other reason that might be suggested . Euclid was a learned geometrician , aud therefore he must have been a

Freemason . Pythagoras , who is said to have been , in reality , the author of the famous forty-seventh proposition of the First Book of Euclid , was also one of us—very probably a Past Master of the Craft , as the figure of the said proposition plays a prominent part in the jewels of our Past

Masters . Solomon , St . Alban , and a host of other celebrities of every age and race are claimed as members of onr fraternity , the newest addition to the long and honourable list being the great reformer Martin Luther , who has latel y been said to have been initiated into our mysteries a

short time after he had burnt the Pope ' s Bull of Excommunication . The most worthy absentee from the roll of worthies is the great Julius Caasar . We do not remember ever to have seen him described as a Brother by any trustworthy Mason . Perhaps his baldheadedness may have been ruled b

y the authorities of the Grand Lodge of Borne a sufficient imperfection to disqualify him from , participating in the benefits oE initiation . Some day this sad omission may be rectified , or perchance , in the lapse of time , some brother , more remarkable for his ambition to be enrolled among

< mr Masonic historians than for the profundity of his wisdom and discretion , may seek to counteract it by the insertion of another distinguished personage , mythical or actual—say , for instance , Jonah or the Last of the Mohicans .

Passin g from personages to events , we find the building ot the Tower of Babel included as marking one of the earliest epochs in her history , but whether or not the first stone was « Jd with Masonic ceremonial we have never heard . In

Sermonising In Freemasonry.

fact , we do not see how thero could possibly be any evidence on this point , having regard , at least , to the confusion of tongues which history tells us resulted from that extremely ill-advised attempt to erect so vast and lofty a structure . The Temple of Diana at Ephesus , that of

Minerva at Athens , the Coliseum at Rome , the Colossus of Rhodes—not the Brothers MacAdam of that ilk—tho Pyramids , the leaning tower of Pisa , Strasburg

Cathedralwe are mentioning these without regard to anything like chronological order—St . Paul ' s Cathedral , the Tower of London , the Monument , the Thames Tunnel , the Victoria and Albert Embankments , and the great Midland Railway

Hotel at St . Pancras , all » these are more or less associated with Freemasonry , or if not , it is high time they should be so associated forthwith . Now we do not doubt the good faith of those writers who have supposed these buildings are illustrative of the benefits conferred on man by

Freemasonry . They show undoubtedly , what man . has done and is capable of doing in the way of the edification of structures , but they have no connection whatever with the edification of morals , except by what tho late Artemus Ward has described as a " circootious route "—a very

" circootious route " indeed , and beyond all question . We must exclaim , however , against such a practice , on the ground that it is this association -with Masonry of every one who has made a name for himself , and everything that has attracted admiration or created a sensation , which has

involved us in so much ridicule . Who is there possessing even a small modicum of sense who must not be consumed with laughter when he hears a grave and reverend citizen , remarkable for almost every virtue that adorns mankindsobriety included—calmly speaking of Adam and Noah as

Grand Masters of Freemasonry , and the building of Babel as a great Masonic event ? Happily , we are gradually becoming wiser in our generation , aud brethren no longer make themselves conspicuous by such exhibitions of ignorance as we have been describing . Still , there is even now a

great deal of what may be called " Sermonising" connected with the Craft . This is a proposition we have been induced to promulgate , after considerable experience , and from a tolerably wide acquaintance with our literature . Perhaps what we are about to say further will convince

our readers that the statement is not without some justification . Be it well understood , however , that both in what has gone before and what follows we have no idea of speaking irreverently of any persons who have been mentioned by name . We are merely desirous of showing

how Masonry is affected by the absurd lengths to which such writers go when they give way to their imagination . It is doubtless within the experience of the majority of our readers that of the many orations which are delivered on particular occasions , a very considerable proportion

treat of Masonry as a religion . The orators are not content to speak in terms of legitimate praise of the Craft . They quietly ignore the received definition of Masonry , to wit , that it is a system of morality , veiled in allegory , ancl illustrated by symbols , and describe it unhesitatingly as a kind

of religious belief . That our principles have religion for their basis is true enough , but this is something widely different from the proposition so commonly advanced by well-meaning , but somewhat misguided members of the Craft . The beauty of Masonry lies iu its absolute

neutrality in respect of religions . It lays it down that all who seek admission into its ranks must have some kind of belief in a Supreme Being , but at the same time it strictl y prohibits them , when they are assembled for Masonic purposes , from offering any opinions whatever on the respective