Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

PAGE MASONIC HISTORIANS , NO , I . —Bro . Findel ... i ' F REEMASONRY AND PAPACY ... ,, i O RIGINAL CORRESPONDENCEThe Powers of a Grand Master 2 A Query 2

Royal Arch Masonry ... ., 3 RED CROSS OF ROUE AND CONSTANTINE — Inauguration of St . Andrew ' s Conclave , No . 15 3 OPENING OF A NEW MARK MASTERS' LODGE AT STOWMARKET 3 THE

CRAFTMetropolitan and Provincial 4 I NSTRUCTIONMetropolitan 5 ROYAL ARCH - ^ Metropolitan and Provincial 5 MARK

MASONRYMetropolitan and Provincial , 5 BIRTHS , MARRIAGES , AND DEATHS 6 THE NEW YEAR 6 and 7 AT HOME AND ABROAD 7 MULTUM IN PARVO 7 REVIEWS —•

The Freemason's Calendar for 1870 8 DISTRICT GRAND CHAPTER OF ROYAI . ARCH MASONS I . M BENGAL ... ... 8 DISTRICT GRAND LODGE OF BOMBAY 8 ROYAL . MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS ... 0

ANNIVERSARY OF ST . J ' S LODGE , GLASGOW 9 ADVICE TO TRAVELLERS ON THE CONTINENT ... 9 ANCIENT AND M ODERN MYSTERIES 10 THE ROSICRUCIAN : A TALE OF COLOGNE IO and n MASONIC M EETINGS FOR NEXT WEEK ... ... n

Masonic Historians.—No. I.

MASONIC HISTORIANS . —No . I .

Bro . FINDEL . BY WILLIAM J AMES HUGHAN . ALTHOUGH many thousands of volumes

have been published on Freemasonryseveral of which have been termed Histories of the Craft—it is a fact that to write

a really impartial and universal work on the Order has not been practicable until the last few years , when the Rev . Dr . George Oliver , Dr . E . Rebold , and J . G . Findel , with commendable zeal and patience

collected the scattered records , documents , and traditions of the Order and presented them to the Masonic public in a most readable and interesting form . The Brotherhood are much indebted to Bro . J .

Fletcher Brennan ( Editor of the wellknown Magazine , "The American Freemason ) , " and Bro . D . Murray Lyon , ( the historian of " Mother Lodge , Kilwinning , " & c ) , for faithful translations of the two

last-named works into most excellent English . It has , however , been reserved for Bro . Findel , of Leipzig , to approach the nearest to perfection as a Masonic historian , and

we congratulate the Craft most thoroughly on the completion of so exhaustive and laborious an undertaking as the second German , English , and French editions of the " History of Freemasonry , " by that learned

Mason . Of course we do not consider Bro . Findel ' s History to be perfect in every respect , for with all the improvements of the second edition , under Bro . Lyons' most

efficient supervision , several departments arc still defective , while other divisions of the subject have not the prominence given them that . their importance requires . These drawbacks are but the necessary

consequence of attending the examination of so extensive an inquiry , and the wonder is not that there are some errors , but that so few objections can possibly be brought against either the view or the accuracy of

the historian , We feel persuaded that no one versed in Masonic literature , could rise from the perusal of Bro . Findel ' s large and interesting volume without confirming our verdict , and acknowledging the work

Masonic Historians.—No. I.

to be the best , the fullest , and most accurate History of Freemasonry extant . The plan of the work is on a gigantic scale , as the author attempts nothing less than to chronicle the progress and vicissitudes of

Freemasonry throughout the universe , from the earliest times to the present day . Hence to review it as its merits and general excellence deserve , would be like re-writing

it . We cannot , though , refrain from glancing at a few , out of the many divisions of the subject so skilfully treated by our friend Bro . Findel , and seek to induce our readers to become as familiar with his

History as we are , by procuring copies for themselves . The preface by Bro . Lyon first attracts our attention , and pleases us amazingly . Within four pages this accomplished author states the grounds upon which Bro . Findel is entitled to the first

rank as a Masonic Historian , and as the writer of the preface also revised the work , and moreover is familiar with Masonic bibliography , he is well entitled to give an opinion . After alluding to the apocryphal

character of many of the so-called Histories of the Craft , published during the last century , ( "which are so thoroughly saturated with superstition as to render them valueless for the purposes to which historical

records are usually applied , " ) and stating that the digestion of the facts so patiently accumulated by diligent searchers after truth " by a mind not less distinguished for its enthusiasm for Freemasonry , than for its

love of truth , its keeness of perception , and its judical impartiality , has in this instance led to the production of a volume in every respect worthy of recognition as the History

of Freemasonry par excellence . " Bro . Lyon observes that in saying this much it is far from his intention to " depreciate the labours of those brethren who

have-successfully traced the history of particular sections of the Craft universal . We admire their works , and honour them for their labours , and while endorsing this sentiment , the author will be the first to acknowledge the value of their contributions as auxiliaries

to thc development of the grand design , the completion of which it is our privilege thus imperfectly to herald . " Through an unconquerable disposition to eliminate from Freemasonry all that

docs not pertain to the three Craft degrees , Bro . Findel has been at considerable pains to trace the source whence have sprung what are known as thc "high degrees , " but which in reality are entirely different

Orders , whose chief claim for identification with Freemasonry lies in their having made lodge membership a sine qua non to reception in the Chapter , Conclave or Consistory , but we must leave the capital preface in

order to take a hasty view of the work itself , and premise that the author thoroughly accepts , what is now being generally admitted , viz .: —the operative origin of the Society . So that " originating from the

Fraternity of operative Masons , the Craft has borrowed its emblems and symbols from the building corporations , to impart to its members moral truths , and the rules

of the Royal Art . Speculative Masonry embraces all things fit to build up man in wisdom , strength and beauty . " ( To l > e continued ) .

The New Vade Mecum ( invented and manufactured by Charles II . Vincent , optician , of 23 , Windsorstreet , Liverpool ) consists of a telescope well adapted for tourists , & c , to which is added an excellent microscope ol great power and first-class definition , quite equal to others

sold at ten times the price . Wonderful as it may seem , the price of this ingenious combination is only 3 s . 6 d ., and Mr . Vincent sends it ( carriage free ) anywhere , with printed directions , upon receipt of post-office order or stamps to the amount of 3 s . iod . —[ Auvt . ]

Freemasonry And Papacy.

FREEMASONRY AND PAPACY .

"The Church is even greater than Heaven itself . "—Pope Pius IX . Rivarol said of the great Mirabeau , that he was capable of doing " anything for money , even a good action . " The Papacy is incapable of doing a good action even for money . It , for it is only an

indefinite it , sets truth at defiance , ignores its own written histoiy , and is the best novelist the world has produced . Its natural proclivities are to the bad ; its best results , failures . In extermination , where it has the power , it is unequalled ; it turns the fairest spots of earth , into wildernesses ; its

favourite plants are thistles ; its best food , tares ; its noblest utterances , curses . It hates whatever is noble and good ; it assimilates readiest with the base and evil . It dethrones truth , and raises up the idol of falsehood . It has now , in a manner , renounced God , and became Jehovah unto itself : It

is greater than Heaven itself !! Freemasonry is the pioneer of truth in dark places ; the light of civilization in barbaric lands . Her watchword is charity , and her hope is in God . She vaunteth not herself , but humbly attempts to remove our earthly vices by precept and example .

She sheds a halo of glory around her children , and she points out to them the true paths of science and virtue . She is of the Light—therefore is she hated of the Papacy . In the old heathen days , the Romans had three supreme deities—Jove who ruled the skies ,

Neptune the seas , and Pluto the infernal regions . There was , moreover , a host of other gods and goddesses , who found a local habitation in the Pantheon . The Papacy stepped in , kicked out the old gods , and in their steads raised the Calendar of Saints , who , in their lives do not appear to have

been more reputable beings than Hercules and Company . Venus gave place to the Virgin Mary . The Pontifix Maximus , the Pope of Ancient Rome , never thought to dethrone Jove . Ouramiableandwise Papa Pio Nono , however , has resolved to put an end to Jehovah . He resolves that he shall be

acknowledged to be greater than God himself . The great trinity of deities is now to be the Pope , thc Devil , and God . Verily this is a wondrous age . The Papacy we may look upon , according to human reason , as being in its last stage of dotage , " Sans everything . " Sense has left it . It is but a

wreck of the past , a ruined mind in a ruined body ; a church sitting uneasily upon the points of bayonets , amid the wreck of the former mistress of the world ; a worn-out lion , impotent to strike , but yet mumbling forth curses from between its toothless jaws . The will is still strong to destroy , but the eye is dim

and the claws are broken . Heavily it draws its breath , and thc end is not far off . With its expiring breath it denounces Freemasonry , curses its devotees who attend Masonic balls ; even on one occasion refused Masonic Charity !! Freemasonry is daily growing in strength and

stature ; her children arc found in every land , and in every land find a welcome and a home . Founded on truth , the waves of error but beat upon rocks to fall back broken on the sea of sin . The great and noble are leaving Rome , and the great and noble are joining Freemasonry . Papacy is the stagnant pool from which arise

poisonous exhalation , deadly to life , and producing a desert out of a garden of roses . Freemasonry is the broad flowing river upon whose banks rise the goodly towns , and whose waters bear rich argosies to other nations . The one worships the Creature , and the other the Creator .

A little bird whispers from Rome that if the dogma of the Papal infallibility is carried , Pius has a fresh thunderbolt forged for our unfortunate Masonic heads . The light is to be quenched on our altars , and the water to dry up in our cisterns .

The sooner we melt our jewels into monstrances , and convert our scarves into stoics the better . Yet there may be some Papistic careless individual among us who echoes the sentiment of this writer , " Diabolus curat ? " Very much so . A . O . H .

THE BLOOD PURIFIER . —Old Dr . Jacob Townsend's Sarsaparilla . Other Medical Testimony . —In speaking of the " Blood Purifier , " old Dr . Jacob Townsend ' s Sarsaparilla , G . C . Kcrnott , M . D ., L . S . A . Lond ., says : "I strongly recommend it in cutaneous diseases and all impurities of the blood . " March 24 , 1869 . —In a letter to the proprietors ,, June 6 , 1869 , Dr . Irvine , of Irvine ' s-town ,

says : " I have been in the habit of ordering your Sarsaparilla for my patients with the best results . Send me six quarts and six mammoth bottles . "—For all skin diseases , for purifying the system of mercurial poisons , and building up the broken constitution it is the only safe and certain remedy . In bottles 2 s . 6 d ., 4 s ., 4 s . 6 d ., 7 s . 6 d ., lis .

Sold by all Druggists . Pills and Ointment each in boxes , is . ijd ., 2 s . gd ., 4 s . 6 d . Testimonials also from the Hon . the Dean of Lismore ; General William Gilbert , of thc Indian Army ; ordered also by Apothecaries' Hall , London . Caution—Get thc red and blue wrappers , with the old Doctor ' s head in the centre , No other genuine , — [ Advt . l