Provincial Grand Lodge Of Durham.

Charity . These were their aims and the work of Masonry was for time . The work of Christianity was for time and eternity , but work in time prepared for work throngh eternity . The places of two who were with them at the last gathering were now empty . On that day , they had with them their Eoyal brother exalted in the Craft , and not

les 3 exalted in the love and esteem of every loyal Englishman . In daily life , he was a perfect type of the Masonic Brotherhood . His last great public action , before his sudden removal , took place in that Cathedral , when , at the head of their Order , he worshipped there . In his short career , whatever his hand found to do , be did it with all

his mig ht . Life was not measured by year 3 . Their assembly there that day told them of another bereavement . They were gathered together to instal a worthy successor to that most noble Provincial Grand Master who but for four short years was permitted to rule over that province . He was the heir to the name of a race interwoven

with the history not of their county alone , but of their country . He proved , during his short career as Grand Master , how worthy he was to rule . Although a sufferer for years , and rarely free from pain , he spared no effort in the performance of his Masonic duties . In the course of his fnrther remarks , the rev . Canon said the time was

coming , was even upon them , when the principles upon which Freemasonry had been based for 3 . 000 years would be pnt to the test . Then it would be seen that Masonry was no visionary scheme , hut that it was a federation of men who knew that without order there could be no progress . It was for Masons to show , when wild schemes

were being advocated by designing and unscrupulous men , that they had the welfare of all at hea t . After the service the brethren returned to the Lecture Hall , where Provincial Grand Lodge was closed , after the Provincial Grand Master had expressed the thanks of the Lodge for the presence of the Deputy Grnud Master , and the very

admirable services of the Provincial Grand Secretary , the Provincial Directors of Ceremonies , and the other Officers for their excellent arrangements . Subsequently the brethren met in the Castle Hall , where luncheon was partaken of . Sir Hedworth Williamson presided , and was supported right and left by Bros , the Earl of Lathom ,

Canon Tristram , T . W . Tew , Dr . Bell , Sir Farrer Herschell , V . Williamson , J . Dodds , M . P ., E . H . Holmes , Colonel Dalgetti , H . Smith , Colonel Potter , C . B ., R . J . Lawson , J . W . Barnes , R . A . Luck , E . D . Davis , and G . Spain . The Loyal toasts having been given and heartily responded to , the Grand

Master proposed the M . W . the Earl of Carnarvon Pro Grand Master , the R . W . the Earl of Lathom Deputy Grand Master , and the Officers of Grand Lodge . He referred to the fact of brethren high in the Craft being appointed to fulfil important positions in Her

Majesty s Government—a matter which was satisfactory to them all , apart altogether from politics . The Earl of Lathom , who was loudly applauded , responded , and said it was a matter of satisfaction to him to have installed his friend Sir Hedworth Williamson as

Provincial Grand Master , although they would all have a feeling of sorrow at the death of the Marquess of Londonderry so soon after he was installed . Apart from the ceremony , he was pleased to be again enabled to visit their city and tho fine cathedral . Tho health of the R . W . Sir Hedworth Williamson , Bart ., Provincial Grand Master

having been given ancl acknowledged , and also those of the Deputy Provincial Grand Master and the Visitors , the proceedings terminated . During the Inncheon vocal music was supplied by Bros . Welsh , Walker , Whitehead , Leatham , Nutton , and Goodhead . — Newcastle Daily Journal .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

We" do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions of our Correspondents . All Letters must bear the name and address of the Writer , not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .

I BELIEVE , BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE .

To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Bro . Gould , in his History , quotes the above motto as the maxim of Tertullian . That Christian Father had a virtue of believing in the impossible , because it was impossible . Our Masonic writers , especially the hi gh degreers , are not only

determined to believe in the impossible , but , like the Bourbons , they never lenrn and never forgot . To quote all the absurdities promulgated by ^ that school wonld fill volumes— a few specimens will , however , satisfy my present pnrpose . 1 st . Brother J . H . Drnmtuond I . G . M . of Maine P . P . G . C . nf

JS .-L , & C , Arc , came out last year in a report showing that Masonic Grand Master * have existed from lima immemorial I , however , endeavoured , in a paper published in tho Masonic Truth , to convince him that the system of Masonic Grand Masters began in 1717 . Brother Drummond , though lie read my communication , never

replied , and I naturally thought that he had given up the fallacy , but in the last- issue of . the Token I find an article headed "Origin of Dispensations , " from the pen of Bro . Drnmmond , wherein , ° after referring to the Stuarts , especially James II ., ho goes on to say : — "Dnring all this time Freemasonry existed in a transition state

from Operative to Speculative , with a Grand Blaster at its head , aud with a government naturally based upon the comparative despotic government of the land . It then had no written code of laws , and its laws were very largel y tho usages of tho Craft . After 17 . 17 the

Institution was organised under the Grand Lodgo system . In 1720 . ... the old usages of the Craft were compiled in the form of General Regu l ations . " Now , I think that thero is very little doubt that Bro . D . is wrong about tho then exiatouco of a Grand Master , and about the then

Correspondence.

despotic government of the Masons ; but there can be no doubt that the nalliwell MS ., the Matthew Cooke MS ., and about fifty other Constitutions enumerated by Bro . Gould , are all pre-1717 documents , and each of them has a written code of laws . Yon see now that what Masons did not have in the time of the Stnarts , viz ., a Grand

Master and a despotic government , Bro . Drummond says they had , and what Maaon 3 did have , viz ., written codes of laws , Bro . Drummond says they had only nsages , but not a written code of laws . 2 nd . During the last eleven years Bro . MacCalla of Philadelphia repeated in his own and in other Masonio papers , on an average about

four or five times a year , his vagary that Daniel Coxe somehow was the father of Philadelphia Masonry in 1730 or 31 , that a Lodge , No . 79 , of English origin , met at the Hoop , in Water-street , Philadelphia , that Philadelphia was the mother of American Masonry , Ac , & o . Trne , almost every well-informed Mason outside of Penn .

sylvania laughs at Bro . MacCalla ' s notion . He , however , still continues periodically to repeat it , and seems determined to continue repeating it , I think , therefore , that he may be numbered among our distinguished American Masonic Tertullianites and Bourbonites . 3 rd . Bro . Bromwell P . G . M . of Illinois , who had evidently never

read either Steinbrenner ' s , Fiudel ' s , Lyon ' s , or Gonld ' s Works , happened somehow to get hold of Bro . Hughan ' s " Origin of the English Rite , " and was terribly shocked at Bro . Hughan ' s heresy that before 1717 Masons had bat one degree ; this brother is willing to admit that the high degrees are of modern manufacture , but the

threo first degrees are , he says , Ancient Masonry . Two of Brother Bromwell ' s articles upon the said subject have already appeared in the Voice of Masonry . I endeavoured to enlighten him . But what was the use ? From Bro . Bromwell ' s style of reasoning I doubt very much whether he will ever learn or ever forget . 4 th . Bro . Schnltz quotes from Mackey ' s Cyclopaedia , as follows : —

" It is only in Scotland that the Templars endured no persecution , long after the dissolution of the Order in every country iu Europe the Scotch Preceptories continued to exist , and the Knights lived undisturbed . One portion of the Scottish Knights Templars entered the army of Robert Bruce , and after the battle of Bannockburn were

mei-ged into the Royal Order of Scotland then established by him . " Another portion of the Scottish Templars united with the Knight Hospitallers of St . John . They lived amicably in the same houses , and continued to do so until the Reformation . At this time many embraced Protestantism . Some united with the Freemasons ,

and established ' The ancient Lodge at Stirling , ' where they conferred the Degrees of Knight of the Sepulchre , Knights of Malta , and Knights Templar . It is to this division that we are to trace the Masonic Templars of Scotland , & c . " Now , everyone who is familiar with Bro . Lyon ' s " History of

Freemasonry in Scotland knows there is no truth whatever about the Templars ancl Masons iu the above quotations , but yet there are tens of thousands of K . T . ' s and A . and A . Riters the world over , and especially in America , who still firmly believe that before 1717 Masons were Templars , and Templars were Masons .

5 th . In the International Masonic Review of Detroit ( No . 5 ) there is an advertisement of a History of the Memphis Rite ; written by Judge Burt , G . M . ad r-iteni of the said rite , whose published letter I sent you some three or four week ago , abont Dr . Darius . Wilson ; tho advertisement fills two pages : it contains letters of commendation

from high dignitaries , among others is the following : — "Mr . Mackey says , This history of the origin of Egyptian Masonry , that had its birthplace in the sunny lands of the East , near the garden of the world , —a country whose evidence of civiliza . tion and civil law , together with its monuments , pyramids , temples ,

and tombs , * * * the land where Moses the Law Giver , High Priest , King and Scribe of the Masonic fraternity of the Israelites was born , * * * abundantly the most correct and authentic , is briefly set forth in this volume , and is the best American translation I have seen , and should be read by every Mason . "

A . G . MACKEY 33 ° . Mackey has written a great deal of nonsense , and he may have written the above letter too , may be for a consideration , or some other person may have written it and fathered Mackey with it . But be that as it may , if the patron of the International Masonic Review

had not been out and out Tertullianites such ridiculous stuff would not have appeared under its covers as an advertisement . 6 th . Burt ' s letter I sent you has introduced Dr . Darius Wilson to your readers ere this as the Grand Something of the " Royal Masonic Rite " of 96 degrees ; ho also published a pamphlet , and

hero are some specimens of original Masonic history . He says" Moses , in consequence of his adoption by tho Royal family of Egypt , was permitted to receive every degree of the mysteries up to , and including , that of high priest , or Perfect Pontiff , to which corresponds the 88 th degree of the Royal Masonic Rite . Yon

remember that Moses in addressing the people—not the high priests mind you , but the people—regarding a certain word representing God , said to them , under no circumstances should they pronounce tho word aloud , with the head uncovered . " Intimating , I snppose , that the fashion of American Masters

wearing cocked hats while presiding , was a landmark derived from Moses . Again , "It will be seen from what has alread y been said , that all ancient Masonry might appropriately be termed Royal Masonry , because . ill the original authority for working any of the degrees came of

necessity through the Royal family . Hence , the organisation embraciug all tho high degrees of Egyptian Masonry is most appropriately termed the Eoyal Masonic Rite . Those who havo mounted the last round of the ladder of Egyptian Masonry havo convincing proof that Masonic degrees were worked under the King at Memphis in Egyp t ,

more than twenty-one hundred years before Christ , and even at that early date the Order was known as tho Ancient Masonic Kite . " Something over three thousand Masonic degrees have existed from time to time , that is , if we consider the sixty odd so-called Rites separate and distiucfc by themselves : but tho fact remains ,