Masonic Temple At Chest Er-Le-Street.

MASONIC TEMPLE AT CHEST ER-LE-STREET .

SINCE the year 1870 the members of the Earl of Durham Lodge , No . 1274 have met in rooms adjoining the Lambton Arms , Chester-le-Street . Becently , however , as it had come to be felt that the accommodation was insufficient for the large number of members attending the ordinary meetings , steps were taken to make structural alterations to meet the requirements of the Lodge .

From designs by Brother John Gibson Cowe , the small and inconvenient rooms have now been transformed into two large rooms—one upstairs and one down—with adjoining anterooms .

Entrance is gained by means of a fine staircase . Pending the alterations , the Lodge met in the Church Institute , and on returning to their old habitation the Brethren were delighted with the improvements effected .

The Earl of Durhan Lodge was constituted by a Warrant dated 29 th June 1869 . The Lodge was named after the Eight Hon . George Frederick D'Arcy , the second Earl of Durham , who succeeded his father , the Eight Hon . John George Lambton , first Earl of Durham , and who at the time of his death was the Pro

Graad Master ot England and the Provincial Grand Master for the Province of Durham , having previously been Deputy Grand Master of England . The Lodge was consecrated on the 8 th September 1869 , at the Lambton Arms Hotel , by the P . G . M . for

Durham Bro . John Fawcett , assisted by Sir Hedworth Williamson , Bart ., M . P ., D . P . G . M ., and the Officers of the Provincial Grand Lodge , on which occasion a large gathering of the Fraternity assembled to do honour to their Provincial chief .

In the early part ot the year 1870 the Brethren of the Lodge , owing to the large increase of membership , resolved upon meeting in a building to be exclusively devoted to the proper performance of Masonic rites and ceremonies . The dwelling-house immediately

adjoining the Lambton Arms Hotel was utilised . On the 13 th of April 1870 the first Lodge meeting took place in the new temple . Since that time the Lodge has steadily increased in membership , with the result that the more adequate accommodation now provided has been rendered necessary .

Religion Of Masonry.

RELIGION OF MASONRY .

BEO . the Eev . Abraham Lazarus , B . A ., Eabbi of the Holy Blossom Synagogue , Toronto , and also Chaplain-of Zetland Lodge , No . 326 , G . E . C ., delivered a fine oration on " Eeligion of Masonry " before the Brethren at a regular meeting of that Lodge , on the 28 th October . After a few prefatory remarks he said : Because the unknown inspires fear in vulgar minds , and that

which is wrapped in obscurity and mystery exposes itself to suspicion and doubt , Masonry throughout the long course of its history has been subjected by those who have not been initiated into ids secrets to more misrepresentation perhaps than any other institution that has ever been founded . In the absence of any

real information with regard to its doctrines and aims , all sorts of lying rumours and cock and bull stories have been circulated amongst the masses , to its injury and detriment , and if one were to believe half of the nonsense that passes current amongst even educated people in ordinary conversation for facts about the Craft ,

he would have to come to the conclusion that beside the members of the Fraternity the inmates of a lunatic asylum are paragons of intelligence and wisdom . It is true that owing to the spread o £ culture and . the growth of education , the absurd popular superstitions which attributed to Masonic agency dark and

sinister crimes like those perpetrated by the Carbonari of Italy or the Nihilists of Eussia ou those who have broken their oaths of fidelity , have now been swept into the rubbish heap of oblivion , and , if referred to at all , are treated as a huge joke , rather than as a matter for serious attention . It is only in penny novels and

juvenile yellow literature nowadays that blood-curdling , creepy , sensational tales about men being strangled on lonely heaths by unknown hands for having divul ged the mystic rites practised in the sacred precincts of the Lodge figure any longer , and ideas about wild orgies , bacchanalian revels , unholy agreements being

signed with Old Nick , riding the goat , treading on red-hot iron , and sitting upon pyrin ids of grinning skulls , have been given over to the makers of burlesque and melodrama . Still , for all that , there exists an iuimense amount of prejudice against Masonry as to the nature and object of the organisation .

A vague impression prevails that it is somehow or other opposed to the interests of religion and subversive of the true welfare _ of society . The very fact that it recognises no distinction of race or creed , and that men of all shades and

varieties of belief can stand upon its platform , gives colour to the charge that it is atheistic in its tendencies , aud has for its basis a principle in which the belief iu a Supreme Being can have no place . As a matter of fact , with many ' * Freemason" and " freethinker " are synonymous terms , aud before a neoyhyte can

Religion Of Masonry.

gain admission to the body of a Lodge it is currently reported that he must leave his faith , along with his shoes , outside the door . At any rate , in the past the Church always looked with disfavour on Masonry as a possible rival to its authority and divine claims , and did everything in its power to discourage the movement , as if it involved an assault upon its influence and power . The

attitude of Protestantism towards it has been more friendly because the forces that brought the Eeformation made for freedom , and were largely due to the humanists from whom Masonry probably originated . But to-day more than ever bitter and relentless antagonism to the Craft is the unvarying policy of papal power at the Vatican , and no Bom an Catholic , if he is true

to his vows , can ever don the lambskin or wield the gavel in a Masonic Lodge . Now , in view of these misunderstandings it is well that we should emphasise the fact that Masonry , truly understood and properly apprehended , so far from seeking to undermine the foundations of faith and morality , as is suggested , is essentially religious in its character , and that if its lofty

teachings were lived up to and acted upon universally , beneficent alchemy would transmit the drossy element of human nature into fine gold , and convert this world from what it is , an abode of sin and shame , brutish passions and demoralised lusts , into a veritable paradise . Unfortunately Masons themselves are more often than not Masons in name but not in heart , by profession

and riot by deeds . They do not practice what they preach . They do not exemplify in their conduct and characters the glorious principles to which they give their adhesion . A few here and there may be distinguished by their shining virtues , their singular purity of life and unblemished reputation . As far as the vast majority are concerned , however , they do not stand

head and shoulders above the crowd for their moral dignity and worth , do not shed any particular lustre upon the Order they represent . On the contrary , nominal Masons often by their individual actions bring the Craft into discredit . They enter Masonry for what they can make out of it , as a means of gaining advantage in business arid acquiring perferences from those with whom they trade .

We all know the man who sports the square and compasses on his person , a Masonic emblem depending as a charm from his watch chain , a Masonic degree engraven upon his sleeve links , a Masonic ring upon the finger . With a knowing wink he gives every Brother he meets a vice-like grip that almost dislocates his knuckles , in order to advertise to you the fact that he belongs to

the Fraternity ; such an individual ought to be shunned like ai leper . He disgraces the emblems he wears by using them as a means of ostentation and display , and making them subserve to his own selfish interests . He shows that in joining Masonry he has been influenced by mercenary and other unworthy motives , which is in direct contradiction to the terms of the solemn

assurance that he gave when he stood on the threshold of his Masonic career . If , however , everyone who takes upon himself the sacred obligations which the Order imposes upon him were to carry them out in spirit as well as in letter , then he would become a power for good among his fellows , and lead a life whose fragrance would sweeten the whole atmosphere of the Order in

which be moves . The Lodge would be an abode of love and pruifcy , a centre of light diffusing its radiance all around and illuminating the pathway of duty . It would be a temple dedicated to the true worship of God , and those who sit beneath its roof would hear priests serving at the altar of humanity . It would be symbolical of the whole universe , which is the sanctuary in which dwells the glory of the Church . Supported on the

three Grand Pillars , representing wisdom , strength and beauty , and covered with the celestial canopy of divers colours typifying the heavens , and standing on ground hallowed by self-sacrifice , it would shadow forth a divine ideal , that ethereal mansion veiled from mortal eye by the stary firmament , ascent to which is only to be gained by those who have climbed the ladder whose staves are faith , hope and charity . For Masonry is at once the grandest and simplest system of religion that it is possible to construct . ( To be continued . )

EXPIRED SUBSCRIPTIONS . A CASE has just been decided at the Dublin Gity Sessions which may assist newspaper publishers a little with regard to what has hitherto been a somewhat difficult and doubtful point . A subscriber to the " Irish Field " paid his subscription to the paper in advance in the years 1895 and 1896 . He did not pay for it in 1897 , nor at the beginning of this year . The paper was , however , still sent to him , and he made no objection or protest

until 15 th August last , when , upon receiving an account , he returned the current week ' s copy and wrote that he did not want the paper . He refused to pay the £ 1 is 9 d which had accumulated , and hence the action . The Recorder gave a decree for the full amount . An attempt was made to show that there were good reasons for the refusal to pay , the paper having , since

1896 , been transformed from a sporting into a financial journal , and raised in price from ld . _ to 3 d . The Eecorder , however , held that the defendant should have written to express his disapproval , and to stop the paper ; and we think that most people , certainiy most newspaper publishers , will agree with this view . — " Newspaper Owner and Manager . "