Extension Of Masonic Charity.

EXTENSION OF MASONIC CHARITY .

AS will be seen from the brief report we publish elsewhere of the half-yearly meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of West Yorkshire , that important district has decided on the establishment of a local Educational and Benevolent Institution , having for its objects the maintenance , clothing

and education of the children of deceased Brethren , their assistance on leaving school , and the provision of annuities to aged and decayed Freemasons or their widows . There was a certain amount of opposition from those who thought the

central Institutions might suffer from the establishment of such a Fund , but in the result the proposal was carried by a very large majority , and thus was laid the foundation of a Fund that ere long will doubtless stand out as a striking exemplification ' of Masonic Benevolence .

Devil Worship.

DEVIL WORSHIP .

JUDGING from the past it is not to be expected chat we have heard the last war-whoop of Eome against Freemasonry . So far it has been a one-sided fight , and I hope it may thus remain , anomalous as such a state of things may be , but it

would appear to be widely believed by Masons that the time has now come when something more Chan silence is necessary on the other .

I was early taught that the devil was the father of lies , and still believe lying to be a very sincere form of devil worship , although let me remark such worship has not even yet been defined . There are few forms of religion , inclusive of those

termed heathen , which do not admit powers of good and evil : to propitiate the latter ( or the devil in whatever form or name ) I should say is devil worship , and of great antiquity . This , however , is not the devil worship Catholic priests say is rampant

at the close of the nineteenth century , and confined to Freemasons . According to them the devil is the supreme God , whereas even Pagans as they are called deny this . I own that , as a Mason credited with more or less active experience of the

Graft , I never heard of this new Cult until lately . I can understand that the Catholic wish may be father to the thought , inasmuch as such a creed would utterly destroy Freemasonry . As a matter of fact we owe the orthodox presentment of the

devil—the barbed tail , cloven hoofs , horns and prominent ears , & c . —to the Catholic Church . It has always made , much of this personage , parading him on the backs of victims in the days of the Inquisition , but nobodv has cared to infringe upon the

copyright ; so it will be with this new invention . For my part , because I have been willing to pass the story that Eomulus was the son of a God , and similarly other stories connected with the foundation of the City of Rome , and regard lightly the spasmodic

fanaticism that persists in trotting out myths in the broad daylight of this nineteenth century with an assurance savouring of the dark ages , it is useless for anybody to tell ine that I ought and indeed must believe in them . If the fossilised inconsist-

Devil Worship.

encies of the fourteenth century are still sought to be kept up , it by no means follows that they will commend themselves to me simply on the plea of their antiquity ; obedience may be necessary to the very existence of a Church , and I do not affirm

that a very ignorant flock may not be all the better for leaving its conscience in the hands of the shepherd , but as a principle too generally applied even such obedience is apt to be practised with more or less suspicion even by devotees . I and my Brother

Masons , for example , are anathematised as devil worshippers , and if after more that 25 years active experience of Masons and Masonry I refuse to acknowledge that as a fact which never

existed , —in plain English to subscribe to a downright lie , —is not my good opinion of that teacher who claims my obedience likely to be rudely shaken ?

As to the effect of the recent fiasco at Trent , it will advertise the eagerness of Eome for converts of the Diana Vaughan type , who now know they will be received with open arms : beyond this I think nothing will result from the Congress . I doubt if

even the pitiable exhibition of 500 grave and reverend Fathers glorying over Lucifer ' s signature in green ink , written with an iron arrow ; or seriously discussing Miss Diana Vaughan ' s amazonic prowess at the head of an army of spirits of fire

supplied by the devil himself , and with which she was believed to have defeated the angelic guard , and entered the garden of Eden , sometime during the nineteenth century ; will tear up a single root of the antiquated weeds Chat seem indigenous to the

Papal garden . Although apparently it [ was expected that the " . lioness " of the gathering ( whose " Memoires " by the way , are a mere jobbery of incidents from the literature of the French Eevolution ) would be present , even her existence was stoutly

denied , and the Catholic reports admit that no evidence could be given in substantiation of her personality . However , I can quite conceive such presence might have been a sore trial to some of the members , for a woman who has interviewed the still

young and handsome Lucifer , enthroned on diamonds , and sat beside him on a golden chair , during au interesting conversation , must be nearly as uncanny a mortal as the actual relative of Satan she prophesied would be born at Paris , on the 29 th September 1896 .

About 100 years ago , a certain Eegent of France drew upon himself a great outcry of the Catholic Clergy , because , amongst other sins more hurtful , he went outside Paris , they said , to raise the devil . The Parisians of that day thought he need not have

gone so far , and that is exactly my opinion respecting the present devil-seekers . Let the latter recall the proceedings of the Anti-Masonic Congress at Trent , and then honescly ask themselves if it is not more than probable that devil worshi p seriously appeared for the first time there !

I take this opportunity of entering my indignant protest against the charge of devil worshipper , both as an individual and a Mason ; and especially the connection of the names of the

Prince of Wales , the Marquis of Londonderry , John Yarker , and others , with statements and insinuations which never had the slightest foundation on fact , HYKSOS .