Ad00702

BRO . THOMAS FEISTEL will be pleased to entertain the Brethren with his Dramatic and Humourous Eecitals , and to supply artistes for Installation and other Banquets . 54 Maury Eoad , Stoke Newington .

Ad00704

EVERY DESCRIPTION OF COMMERCIAL * PRINTING IN GOOD STYLE AND AT REASONABLE PRICES . Fleet Steam Printing Works , BULWER ROAD , NEW BARNET .

Ad00703

New Barnet School of Music , STATIC ! " * " ROAD , NEW BARNET . For ali Particulars and Prospectus , apply to the Secretary . THE NEW BARNET SCHOOL OF MUSIC will be happy to provide high class entertainments and Ceremonial Music for Masonic Meetings , Consecrations , Installations and Ladies' Nights . For terms : —Bro . John Probert , Station Road , New Barnet , N .

Ad00705

Fifth Year of Publication . " THE MINSTREL . " SS . a Year SIXPFNCP 5 s - a Year Post Free . SsIXFtsfNl , !*** . post Pree Has already published over 600 Portraits of MASONS , POETS , MUSICIANS . "THE MINSTREL" AGENCY Provides the BEST ENTERTAINMENTS for Dinners in London and in the Country . Terms lower than any other Agency . Address : —The Manager of "The Minstrel , " 115 Fleet Street , London .

Ad00706

Weaver ' s Depository . PERSONAL ^ MM ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ E ^] ° 1 / S H | l } p 3 ¦ CARLpN TERRACE H ^^ RO ^ H 0 UR * 8 Carlton Terrace , Harrow Rd ., W .

Ar00707

< rr ~! a ^^^^^^^ *&* ** - * a- * t * - * - * a ^^ fM SATUEDAY , 26 TH SEPTEMBER 1896 .

Christianity And Freemasonry.

CHRISTIANITY AND FREEMASONRY .

THE following further letters have appeared in the " Church Times , " in answer to the one we recently extracted : SIB , —The arguments as to the incompatibility of Chiu-chmanship and Masonry have practically dwindled down to two , discarding those that are obviousl y absurd or baseless . Theso two aro ( 1 ) that it is irreligious ; ( 2 ) that it is too religions .

As to the former , I am glad to have got " Architect " to explain that by "' infidel" he only meant unbeliever in Christ as God . But , as the great majority of Masons in England aro not only Christians , but Churchmen , one cannot accept for our country the Papal position that the Craft is to be excommunicated , or even tabooed for Catholics , as being infidel in any sense of the word . Where it has departed from the doctrinal landmarks of the

Order the Pope rightly condemns it , and rightly , also , has England Masonically excommunicated the Grand Orient of France , which has become atheistic . But his Holiness might as well condemn all books because he has an "Index Expurgatorius " for those that are evil in his sight , as condemn Masonry everywhere because of the errors of Masonry somewhere . That Lodges in Italy and France are atheistic is , no doubt , largely duo to Eomans having made it impassible for members of their faith to be Masons . If

Christianity And Freemasonry.

some of your correspondents had their way , it is conceivable that the Graft in England might soon suffer a similar lapse into atheism . Our Parliament is not irreligious ; but it would speedily become so if Christians were told they must not become M . P . 's because Jews and agnostics are admitted . Were Christians and Churchmen only a minority in the Craft , yet it would be desirable for them to remain as a leaven ; while they are its backbone no one but anti-Christ would profit by their withdrawal . And let it not ba

supposed that England , from a Masonic point view , is Athanasius " contra mundum . " The Boman countries in which Masonry haa suffered by the general decay of any faith amongst men are the exceptions . The following authoritative statements of natural bodies may be of interest : —Portugal put out a manifesto in 1869 against the wholesale condemnation by the Pope , ia which it said , " Freemasonry is neither a religious sect nor a political party . It claims no Divine origin , assumes not to usurp the prerogative of tha

Church or the offices of the ministry . It has no sympathy with that spirit which opposes or ridicules the Church , or seeks to exalt any society or system of philanthropy above religion . " And in 1878 the Grand Lodge League of Germany published certain resolutions , from which I quote : " The principles and the history of Freemasonry teach and testify to God . The Sacred Moral law of the Freemasons has its deepest and strongest root in

God . Were Freemasonry to disown the idea of God , its ideal aspirations would lose their sustaining strength altogether and their highest aim , and would become untenable and impotent . In the name of the German Freemasons' Union , the German Grand Lodge Diet therefore expresses the conviction that any Freemasons' Lodge which disputes or denies the existence of God cannot be regarded as a regular and perfect Lodge , and that ' Atheistical' Freemasonry has altogether ceased to be Freemasonry . "

But the second class of objectors urge that Masonry is practically a religion with its own worship , and with prayers so defective or misdirected that members of the Catholic Church should abstain from . it . And the name " Great Architect" is a stumbling block to some of your correspondents . Why ? In the first place , it is only one of the names by which we approach or mention God , and you will see in the German extract given above it does not occur once , while " God" simply occurs thrice . And , in the next place

suppose we had a special Guild for shepherds and those interested in pastoral pursuits , might we not habitually use the term "The Great Shepherd ? " Or would the Guild of St . Luke be wrong in . having special prayers addressed to "The Great Physician ? " But as a matter of fact , Masonry is not a religion ; repudiates the idea" of being suoh ; but might possibly be forced into becoming some sort of a religion if Christians were forbidden , " more "Vaticano , " to associate for the advancement of morality and

philanthropy with those who were not prepared to accept the full faith of Christendom . And as to worship , I think it hardly correct to say that wo have anything to do with it except when we use the exclamation , " All glory to the Most Highl" One must distinguish between prayer and worship . The former we believe in and practice in our ceremonies with a regularity and reverence that many outside might copy with advantage . But to fulfil the higher duty of worship we go to our places of worship outside . *

Is it wrong for those who differ in faith and worship yet to unite in prayer ? Will the Chaplain of the House of Commons ask Nonconformists to withdraw before he offers prayer ? Will they refuse to attend because their Chaplain believes moro than they do ? Here again comes the trail of the narrow spirit that is forcing men apart , and fights against all efforts to promote the Master's desire that all may be one . No doubt Rome thus acts —are we to copy her because she is Borne , or are we prepared to

maintain that she is right ? I lunched with a friend whose daughter had become a Boman . I said grace . The young lady , as she had been taught by her new teachers , ostentatiously refrained from tho Amen , and then said her own grace to herself—using very likely the self-same words as I had . What surer way to get Masons not to pray than to refuse to pray with them , because their prayers contain no more dogma than the Lord's Prayer ? Personally , I delight in the Athanasian Creed ; but am I to deny

the existence of faith in all who do not accept or use it , and still more am I not to associate or unite with them in such religious or even devotional acta as do not contain or require its recital ? There is a deeper question underlying this discussion than many think . The salvation of the world , on man's part , seems to me to lie with Catholics who are catholic , and not with those who think so much of the big C , that they forget the utility and the necessity of the little c ; and this present attack on Masonry is but one shaft

of the volley thafc the Contractors discharge against the Expanders , the Exclude-all-you-cans against the Include-all-you-cans . While two-thirds of the world is non-Christian shall we habitually ignore , or habitually seek for , some common ground of Brotherhood , whence we may elevate their religion nearer to His full revelation ? Masonry never can be anti-Christian , and "he that is not against us is for us" is a truth largely forgotten in these days . It was many years ago that in a Synod of the S . S . C . some clergy

proposed a motion condemning Freemasonry on the lines of " Ofieinad's letter to you . Though not a Mason then , in the spirit of justice I inquired into the subject as thoroughly as I could , and as a result I carried in that assembly of priests an amendment to the effect that we had no reason to oppose that which might be , and probably was in England , a great power making for righteousness . And twenty years ago in a sermon ( now out of print ) preached before that Society , and published by its request , I used the

words that I may use again in this connexion , " Far truer Catholics should we be if we knew and loved moro men who walk not pari passu by our side . Our zeal , our love , the outlook of our mind , would surely grow in depth as well as width by contact with the same virtues and powers in those who are not cast in fche same mould . Need we no restraint again , no corrective to the very truths which seem distinctive of our mode of thought , that so the balance and analogy of faith may be maintained . Deep is the wisdom of

the Persian sage , ' If thou art a Mussulman , go stay with the Franks ; if a Christian , join the Jews ; if a Shiah , mix with the schismatics ; whatever thy religion , associate with men of opposite persuasion . '" And I ended as I end now , " Oh , Brethren , let us on our knees before this throne of grace confess the failings of the past , and humbly pray that we may go forth more dowered

wifch the hate of hate , the scorn of scorn , the love of love ; more resolutely repressing the crochet , the party spirit , the suspicion , and the strife ; with the olivo branch , and not the branding-iron , in our hands ; dictating nofc to God how He should work in fche hearts of men , nor contracting our home the Church till it assumes the dimensions and fulfils the office of a coffin for the un-Catholic and narrow heart that has died by pride to love . "

J . W . HOBSLE -Z . St , Peter ' s Rectory , Walworth . Sm , —A few days ago the newspapers reported thab the Pope had made a statement to the effect fchafc " Freemasonry was becoming more pernicious than ever" and a " menace both to Church and State . " He hopes that