About Change Of Opinion.

Master , and who is also an out and out advocate of sectarianism in Masonry , and who seems to belong to that unfortunate class whose opinions cannot be changed ; hence

the decision of the Grand Lodge of Illinois naturally shocked his deep-seated Masonic notions , and thereupon he said : —

" Now , if this decision of the Grand Lodge is concurred in by tho Fraternity of Illinois , wo simply ask them to be consistent , and remove the Bible from their Masonic altars ;

but if it is not approved by them , that they repeal that section of the law under which the charge was preferred against the Master of the Lodge . "

Bro . Brown , in the Voice of Masonry , replies to the Kansas Bro . Brown , as follows : — " The peremptory air ... with which this non secmiiur is put forward indicates that our . . . friend

and brother did not reach the east by way of tho south , or , that going that way , he did not tarry long enough to learn to make his passions and prejudices coincide with the line of his duty . " It is a profitless and thankless job to discuss

questions of this kind with one who has apparently caught nothing of the Catholic spirit of Masonry , but makes a virtue of attempting to engraft his theological prejudices

upon the Fraternity , in defiance of the unmistakable provision of its organic law . We say this , not with reference solely to his remarks quoted above , for in his lasb year ' s report he made occasion to declare as follows : —

" We say unhesitatingly , without fear or favour , that any man who does not believe in the authenticity of the Holy Scriptures should never seek admission to our Order . " ,, -W i « 1 T 1 ••* 1 1 •-I- T- % l » I "I

* * " it is a cheap ana easy tnrag , replies uro . . Drown , ot tne Voice , " to talk about fear or favour when one is certain that his brave declarations will be in accord with popular prejudice . . . Bro . Brown ( of Kansas ) assumes that

becauso the Bible lies on the Masonic altar every brother should take the same view that he does ; while the fact is , that every other brother has precisely the same right to judge of tho nature , quality , and degree of its inspiration

that he has . The proposition that because the law of the Grand Lodge of Illinois , in strict accord with the paramount law of Masonry . . . forbids the introduction

of sectarian quarrels into the Lodge , the Bible ought in consistency to be removed from our altars , is , as we have said , a non seqtritur . "

Here our brother quotes , from Anderson ' s Constitutions , the charges relating to religion for the information of the Kansas Bro . Brown , who has probably never read them ; for most of our Grand Lodge luminaries know no more about Masonry than what they learn from the ritual . As

the readers of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE are familiar with

Anderson ' s Charges , I shall therefore omit them . The Voice of Masonry then proceeds as follows : — " In the face of this ( Anderson ' s Charges ) , which all who have not been misled by the bogus Charges of Dermott

agree to be tho correct version of the unalterable law , can it be claimed that as ( the Kansas ) Bro . Brown implies that the Bible lies on our altar as a fountain of dogma ? No , it

lies there as a symbol , just like the other two symbols with which it is correlated—no more , no less—deriving its symbolic significance , as they do , from prescriptions of the ritual . "

Having proved that Bro . Brown , of the Voice of Masonry , is no longer tho fierce champion for sectarian Masonry , I must here add , besides fighting the Kansas luminary our

rsro . Brown also measures swords with another champion of the pious sort . Bro . Staton , Secretary of Correspondence of tho Grand Lodge Kentucky , made the following comments on the doings of the Illinois Grand Lodge .

" In this day of scepticism ( says the Kentucky luminary ) Grand Masters should be very careful to place no one at the head of a correspondence committee who is not perfectly

orthodox on all vital questions affecting Masonry , and if a belief in the divinity of the Holy Bible is not a Masonic prerequisite , then we have studied Masonry to little or no purpose . "

But our Bro . Brown , of Chicago , replies to Bro . Staton thus : — " At the initiation of our brother , did any one ask him for his views with reference to the divine authenticitv of

the Bible ? If not it must have been an inexcusable omission—from his standpoint . We need not repeat here what we have said of the general subject in our review of Kansas , but we must beg to suggest to Bro . Staton that the ritual is no safer to go to as a fountain of law than as

About Change Of Opinion.

a fountain of historical facts and we say this quito apart from the fact that it represents the vagaries of successive lecturers , grand and otherwise , "who being generally

ritualists and nothing else , often do not know that their own additions thereto are incompatible with the ancient law which determines the character of the Institution . " But it is not to causes within the Institution so much

as to the influences reflected back upon it by other societies ,

made up of Masons , that we must look for the origin of tho disposition which has manifested itself in recent years , to enforce in Lodges and upon individuals the dogmatic definitions which the landmarks forbid . It is the influence

of the Temple Order , and the corresponding sectarian degree of the so-called Scottish Rite , that is threatening the broad Catholic foundation on which Masonry is built , to a degree that ought to awaken the apprehension of every

thoughtful Mason . " Another lesser , but still fruitful source of this narrowing evil influence is the unrepudiated utterances of wellmeaning , but ill-advised public defenders of Masonry

against the attacks of Blanchard ( who is publishing a Christian Anti-Masonic paper ) , and others of that ilk . They are constrained by the audience they seek to reach . . . by an effort to prove that the ( Masonic ) Institution

is more orthodox than the Church , and they have dwelt on one line so long that two of the great lights have disappeared , and dogma has well nigh taken the place of the symbolism of the other . "

The above hints prove conclusively that our Chicago Bro . Brown knows a great deal more than he is willing to let out . But , as hints are useless to sectarianizing luminaries , I shall therefore endeavour to argue in a less

roundabout way . First , the earliest copy of the New Testament that was ever known was in the Greek language ; and as noither

Christ nor his associates could write in the Greek language this Greek copy must have been translated from a Hebrew version by somebody . Now , does Bro . Staton know who that somebody ; was and if not , how does he know that every word in that Greek New Testament was inspired and

authentic r Second , there are in existence about one thousand manuscript Greek Bibles , all of which were written before the invention of printing ; and Christian scholars who have compared the said Bibles have declared that there were about one hundred and twenty thousand variations in the said thousand Greek Bibles . Now , I ask Bro . Staton to

inform me which of the said Bibles is inspired and authentic ; and why ? Third , we have in the English language several versions of the Bible , —from the Douay or Catholic Bible to the last

revised edition . All the said Bibles differ from each other more or less . Now , which of these Bibles does Bro . Staton require all Chairmen of Committees of Correspondence to believe as O . K ., and why ? And fourth , the Samaritan Pentateuch differs in about

two hundred places from the Hebrew Pentateuch ; and that is not all , for the most important part of Bro . Staton ' s article of faith , viz ., that Isaiah said "A virgin shall conceive , " cannot be found in the Hebrew version of Isaiah .

Now , I want Bro . Staton to inform mo whether a Chairman of a Committee of Correspondence must believe in tbe authenticity and inspiration of the English or Hebrew version of Isaiah ?

Lord Jtsrougham , who was a brother Mason , wrote somewhere that a man is no more accountable or responsible for his beliefs and disbeliefs than he is for the height of his stature , the colour of his eyes , or the hue of his hair .

Now , according to the opinions of the Kansas and the Kentucky Masonio oracles , the said Bro . Henry Brougham ought to have had charges preferred against him before a tribunal of the " Holy Masonic Inquisition " for having

written down ideas which are entirely incompatible with their notions derived from the Bible ; and from their standpoint Lord Brougham would have justly deserved expulsion from all rights and privileges of Masonry .

The fact , however , is , our Freemasonry was established not for the purpose of making all Masons believe alike that the Bible was either inspired or authentic , and for the believer to hate and expel from Masonry the disbeliever ,

but for the purpose of conciliating and for promoting friendship between good and true men who were believers , and equally good and true men who were not believers ;

hence they were cautioned to allow no religion to be introduced into the Lodge , except the one " in which all agree , "