Brother Sadler's Answer To Bro. Jacob Norton's

one , of £ 500 , to the Fund of Benevolence , and the other , the interest of £ 300 , for the annual delivery of his lecture . Of the first of these legacies I cannot speak too highly ; but as for the second , it appears to me that if he had wished to

promote and perpetuate discord , he could not have done anything more likely to produce that result . I must confess that I fail to see anything in the character , thus depicted , to inspire veneration . If Bro . Norton is more successful , he

is heartily welcome , so far as I am concerned , to venerate as much as he pleases . I make him a present of his idol , together with his legacies , his History of Masonry , and his Prestonian Lecture into the bargain , Laurence Dermott is quite good enough for me : the man

who stuck to his colours from first to last , and stood his

ground in the face of tremendous odds ; who inspired his raw recruits with his own indomitable pluck ; and although he did not live ! long enough to lead them to victory , he taught them how to gain it , and fell fighting ; the man who lived down slander and misrepresentation , alike discreditable to tbe originators and to those who persist in

perpetuating them ; who expressed a hope that he would " live

to see a general conformity and unity between the worthy Masons of all denominations ; " and who , although comparatively a poor man , gave up the profits of the fourth and all future editions of his book for tbe relief of the poor and

needy of the Craffc he loved , and had so long and faithfully served . ( To be continued . )

Ancient Landmark Sticklers.

ANCIENT LANDMARK STICKLERS .

BY BRO . JACOB NORTON . SIR JOHN LUBBOCK , in his "Prehistoric Times , " informs us that , in a newly discovered island , the natives were ignorant of the existence of fire . It is not , therefore , im . possible that far back in ancient times our ancestors were also ignorant of the existence of fire until some genius discovered that by rubbing two sticks together fire was evolved . How many years intervened between the discovery

of tbe above method and the invention of the steel , flint and tinder-box process for obtaining fire , I know nofc . But it is certain that our ancestors preferred the new method to the old , and never troubled themselves about sticking to "ancient

landmarks , " or " the wisdom of their ancestors . " And iu a like manner , after the invention of lucifer matches we also discarded the wisdom of the steel , flint and tinder-box inventor .

Now , among other valuable discoveries bequeathed to us by our forefathers , they left us a number of books , called " sacred books . " These generally contain codes of laws ,

morals , theologies , creeds , ceremonies , < fcc . About the morals there are no disputes ; but the theologies , creeds and ceremonies have divided mankind into numerous sects . Each sectarian , however , is positive that all the theologies ,

& c , are very absurd and ridiculous , save and except his own . And when be is assailed by positive proof that his creed and ceremonies are foolish and childish , then he points out the excellent morals contained in his book , and he

argues that as the morals are very excellent , hence everything enjoined in fche book must also be excellent , and then

he pleads " the wisdom of our ancestors , " and " ancient landmarks . " For instance , for thousands of years the ancients believed in witchcraft , and who knows how many hundreds of

thousands of human beings have been destroyed through fche belief in witchcraft ? The slaughter of those poor "innocents" began at a very early period of time , and within a few hundred years Catholics , Episcopalians ,

Presbyterians and Puritans were alike convinced of the truth of witchcraft , and all alike mercilessly burned and otherwise slaughtered men and women by thousands . Since the invention of printing , however , men began to

think and to reason . Some of them , here and there , began to suspect that the ancients were not wise in all things , and thafc some improvements may yefc be made on the knowledge bequeathed to us by the ancients ; also that

some of the ancients were erroneous ; and among those thinkers some one suspected the truth about witchcraft . It , however , took a long time before a sufficient number oi

Englishmen were enlightened upon the witchcraft subject , and when fche English Parliament , in 1736 , finally repealed the laws made by their wise ancestors for burning witches , the Rev . John Wesley , a true blue landmark stickler , pro-

Ancient Landmark Sticklers.

tested fiercely against the repeal of the said laws , without avail , however . But the fact that only three hundred years ago , or even less , Doctors of Divinity , Bishops , Cardinals and Popes

believed in witchcraft proves conclusively that all the learned theologians of those days were not infallible . To be sure , Moses ordained that witches should not be suffered to live . But what of it ? It simply proves that Moses also

was not infallible . True , we are indebted to Moses for very good laws and moral precepts , but that is no reason why we should cling to his superstitious belief in witchcraft , or to any other errors that may be found in writings . In the Freemason of 2 nd " and 16 th November 1872 ,

I called attention to the fact that the phrase " ancient landmarks" was not Masonised before 1723 . Since then Masonic luminaries have gone stark mad about " our ancient

Masonic landmarks . " The old luminaries , however , believed thafc our mysteries descended either from Solomon or the Pagan mysteries , or the Essones , and what not ! Dr .

Oliver , in his " Star of the East , " says : — " Freemasonry was revealed by God Himself to the firsfc man , " and in a note he adds : — " This may appear a bold assertion , bnfc I - ___•¦ . __ ¦« r _ nt i _

am persuaded it is nevertheless true . These . ummarie s also believed that the symbols depicted on our "Tracingboards" are very ancient . And as they were somehow

persuaded that Moses and the Prophets were Trinitarian Christians , ifc is therefore no wonder that they believed that the Saints John were " Eminent Masons , " Grand Masters , and what not . Bro . H . J . Whymper , author of a new book , called " The Religion of Freemasonry , " does not believe in the Masonry of Adam , Moses , Solomon and Co ., but he undertakes to

advocate Christianised Masonry , because Masonry was unknown before Christianity existed ; and as the firsfc Masons were Christians , he therefore maintains that Christianity is a Masonic landmark , to prove which he quotes from the

Halliwell poem a Masonic prayer of the 15 th century , namely , "Pray we now to God Almyght , and to His sweet moder Mary bryght , " and several ofcher lines from

the same poem wherein Christ and the " holy church are mentioned . And again , that the prayers in the pre-1717 rituals were addressed to the Trinity , and the candidate was enjoined to be true to the holy church , & o . The question , however , is , was the " holy church " whioh the Masons believed in when the poem was written the same holy church which the Masons in the 17 th century

believed in ? To show that the older Masons' church was a very different thing to what the 17 th century Masons called " church , " I will simply mention a curious anecdote I have read , viz , the confessor to the widow of Phillip IV . of Spain said to the Duke of Lerma , in a most serious

manner , " It is you who ought to show me respect since I have every day your God in my hands , and your queen at my feet . " Such was the lesson taught by the church to the Masons in the 15 th century . Now , if Christians were allowed to remove " holy church " landmarks , why may we not also remove Masonic landmarks ? Nay , the Protestant

Masons were not only guilty of removing the ancient Masonic landmark of praying to " Mother Mary Bright , " but Bro . Whymper confesses that the Roman Catholic brethren never had a Bible in their Lodge , and that the

Bible was nofc introduced into Lodges for swearing candidates on before the year 1600 . Now , it seems to me right and proper that , as well as the Masons of 1660 could

make the innovation of introducing the Bible into the Lodge , we should certainly have the privilege of restoring fche old usage by removing fche Bible from fche Lodge . When our author comes to the introduction of modern Masonrv , he proves from the succession of rituals , lectures .

and the writings of Masonic luminaries , that by hook or by crook Christianity was the religion of Masonry . Well , and what of it ? It only proves that with all the boasting about the superior Christian virtues and Christian morals , orthodox Christians have been eruiltv . and are still erailtv .

of gross deception—they unscrupulously say one thing and mean another , or say one thing in one place , and assert the onnosite in another . Thus the Charge in Anderson ' s

Constitutions distinctly declares that the Masons should be charged " to that religion in which all men agree , " and " leaving their particular opinions to themselves ; " which means , if it means anything at all , that all doctrines and dogmas , about which good and true men disagree , should be

kept out of the Lodge . Now everybody knows that Jews disbelieve in Christianity , yet we find that as early as 1725 Jews have been initiated into Masonry . If the then