To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , including postage :

United America , India , India , China , S-c . Kingdom , the Continent , & c . Via Brindisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 d . Six „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . Three „ 2 s . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable

to GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London and Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and other business communications

should be addressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books for review are to be forwarded to the Editor . Anonymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and the return of rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further information will be supplied on application to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

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IMPORTANT NOTICE . COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

It is very necessary for our readers to advise us of all money orders they remit , more especially those from the United States of America and India ; otherwise we cannot tell where to credit them .

REMITTANCES RECEIVED . £ s A Atkins , W ., Melbourne P . O . O . 1 4 o Baxter , F ., New South Wales „ o 13 o Cummings , W ., New Zealand ... „ 700

Cunningham , J ., Gibraltar South ... „ o 12 o Dickinson , S ., Jamaica „ 160 Evans , A ., The Cape , „ o 13 o Francis , A ., India „ o 17 4 Haynes , T ., Gibraltar „ 170

Jones , G ., New York „ 160 Lord James , America ... ... ... „ o 13 a Manning , John , San Francisco ... „ 0130

Norris , G ,, Canada ... ... ... ,, o 13 o Richardson , F ., do ... „ o 13 o Stringfcllow , J ., Queensland ... ... „ 100 Wright , J ., Ontario ,. o 18 o

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Scottish Freemason ; " •' Australian Freemason ;" " Liberal Freemason ; " Monde Mar-onnique ; " "New York Dispatch ; " Bulletin du Grand Orient de France ; " " Broad Arrow . "

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . BOVCE . —On the 25 th ult ., at Hackney , the wife of Tho s Boyce , of a son . DARLING . —On the 21 st ult ., at Bangalore , the wife of Lieut . C . H . Darling , Royal Engineers , of a daughter . DONOUGIIUORE . —On the 2 ; th ult ., at 3 , Seymour-st .,

Portman-square , the Countess of Donoughmore , of a daughter . GORDON . —On the 25 th ult ., at Grosvenor . road , Highbury New Park , N ., the wife of A . Gordon , of a daughter . PICKERINU . —On the 21 st ult ., at 14 , Rackham-strcet , North Kensington , the wife of Edward Pickering , of a daughter ( Emily Clara ) .

DEATHS . ATKIMSON . —On the 19 th ult ., at 4 , Cambridge-stieet , Liverpool , five months old , Edwin Burgess , son of Bro . John Atkinson , Secretary Lodge 1609 . HUIBARD . —On thc 24 th ult ., at Lyndhurst Lodge , Whitehorse lane , South Norwood , William Hubbard , aged 60 years .

MACRAE . —On the 23 rd inst ., at Ruthven , Burton-on-Trent , Edith Anne , the wife of K . Macrae , daughter of A . Payne , of Ettingshall , Wolverhampton . MOORE . —On the 17 th ult ., at 3 , Queen-street , Lancaster , Percy St . Aubyn Daniel Moore , aged seven years , only

son of Bro . Dr . J . D . Moore , P . G . S . B ., of England . MOTT . —On the 24 th inst ., Janies Mott , aged 49 . RAMSEY . —On the 20 th inst ., of bronchitis , William Ramsey , C . E ., fourth son of the late Joseph Ramsey , of V ' arm-on-Tees . Friends will please accept this intimation .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , DECEMBER J , 1877 .

Our Grand Lodge And The Grand Orient Of France.

OUR GRAND LODGE AND THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .

By the agenda paper it will be seen that th is subject will be alluded to at the next Quarterly Communication from the chair . We rejoice that this is so , and feel strongly that the course proposed is the best under the circumstances that can be adopted . We are quite persuaded , that when the matter is brought before our

Grand Lodge , it will be discussed with that gravity and fairness , that true Masonic spirit , which always distinguish Grand Lodge , and which not only are demanded by the pressing importance of the special circumstances of the case , but by the larger claims even , and unchanging responsibilities of , Cosmopolitan Freemasonry .

The Theistic Position Of Freemasonry.

THE THEISTIC POSITION OF FREEMASONRY .

Our contemporary , the Hull Packet , invites us to explain ourselves on this head , and we gladly respond to the invitation . The remarks of the Hull Packet are based upon an article in the Freemans' Journal , which we have not seen , and therefore we are dealing with "text and

content" on faith , assuming that « ur contemporary , which we doubt not , has quoted the Freemans Journal correctly . We leave out a great many meaningless and unrighteous invectives against the Order , which we ascribe to " invincible ignorance , " and take the main point

of accusation , that the God of the l-Yeemason is " not the God of the Christian religion , " and that while admitting Freemasons do recognise a " Supreme Being , " the " Supreme Architect , " it is a very " vague and shadowy profession , in which a Freemason is asked to assert his belief in the

" Divine Existence . Now , first of all , we beg to say , that as Freemasons , we are always taught to treat the name of God with the greatest reverence , and we deplore tbe irreverent manner in which that Sacred Name is invoked , amid discussions which are useless , and controversies

which are dangerous often to faith and morals . But in reply to so sweeping a charge we beg to say that never was a greater mistake eve made by any writer on the subject . Freemasons are taught to look up and to trust in an ever-present God , Most High , Personal , Living , Creating ,

Perservmg , and Saving , the moral Governor of mankind , the future Judge of living and dead . They are bid to implore His aid in all their lawful underakings ings , His presence in all their peaceful assemblies , His protection , His approval , and His blessing

in all their passage through this sublunary scene . And not only this , but His Inspired Word is the distinguishing ornament of every lodge . Without it no Anglo-Saxon lodge is perfect or can work at all , and they are bid emphatically to seriously contemplate the " Volume of the

Sacred Law , " and to consider it as the " unerring standard of truth and justice , " and " re gulate their lives by the Divine precepts it contains . " It is true that Freemasonry does not go further than this , nor can it go , inasmuch as it receives into its great brotherhood all who are

not Atheists or libertines , all who accept fully the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man . But as far as it does go , its views are perfectly clear , correct , and orthodox . It does not enter into the question of Christian controversy , or the

conflicting beliefs ot any body of religionists , because were it to do so , its very foundation would be undermined , and its cosmopolitan character destroyed . Freemasonry , whether rightly or wrongly , seeks to make a great union

all over the world , for the purpose of humanitarian sympathy , relief , and good will , in which all who recognize a common Heavenly Father , a Divine Ruler of the world and of man . can harmoniously take part . And who amid the conflicting creeds of Christendom , and the di-

The Theistic Position Of Freemasonry.

verging religions of mankind , can venture dogmatically to say that Freemasonry is wrong ? But the Freeman ' s Journal , which is a Roman Catholic journal , speaks according to its own Ultra montane belief , and if it is to say anything , it has the right to make the best of a case , even if that

case be , in our opinion , " a bad bargain . For let us go back a little ! The whole Roman Catholic opposition is based on the Bull of Pope Clement XII , of 1738 . That Bull is so peculiar a Bull , ( not an Irish Bull at all ) , that we beg to call the attention of our esteemed confrere

the Editor to it . The grounds of condemnation of that Bull are distinctly said to be the meeting of persons , " cujuscumque religionis et sectashomines . " And what is the punishment to follow ? Handing over the Freemasons to the Inquisition and the secular arm , the demolition of the

house in which the lodge was held , and the fine and punishment of the proprietor . On this Bull all the subsequent Bulls of Benedict , Leo , Pius VII ., and the allocution of Pius IX . are built up , and we invite the worthy editor of the Freeman ' s Journal honestly

to meet these facts of the case , and to tell us if they consort with his or our our common notion of legality , justice , reli g ious liberty , and conscientious conviction . It is this very peculiarity of Freemasonry which so appears to irritate many of our esteemed Roman Catholic

fellow citizens and ardent religionists of various denominations , but there is nothing in it really to disquiet the conscience of the most sensitive , or to alarm the oithodoxy ofthe most orthodox . Freemasonry is simply a religious , moral , peaceful sodality , which avoiding controversies , and

deprecating sectarian animosities , seeks to advance in the world the glory of God and the welfare of man . If it is wrong in being so world-wide and so universal in scope , it surely is on the right side , and takes a manly course in avoiding any of those limitations of thought ,.

which the progress of Christianity seems to have thrown upon conflicting bodies of Christians themselves . It bases all its religious avowals on the Divinest of all prayers . Further than that it does not dogmatize , more than that , it does not profess to teach ; and until that sublime

form of words is proved to be erroneous , or insufficient , Freemasonry may well be pardoned if it rests its language of prayer and its utterance of goodwill , on the safest and best of all teaching . But while Freemasonry is thus liberal and tolerant , it openly

raises its voice against atheistical formuire or nihilistic subtleties . And therefore , while it condemns the french Grand Orient , and upholds the recent resolution of the Irish Grand Lodge , it openly declares its loyal adherence in a spirit of the truest toleration , to its own distinct Theistic teaching . Without expressing any opinion

or passing any condemnation on those who prefer a limited , and even Christian view of Freemasonry to the wider circle of Craft teaching , English Freemasonry once more repeats its adherence to the principles promulgated at the Union in 1813 , which are , as we all know , Cospolitan , as opposed to merely national , universal , as opposed to merely sectional .

The Grand Orient Of Rome

THE GRAND ORIENT OF ROME

We greatly rejoice to be able to give to the Craft the gratifying assurance , on the authority of our excellent and distinguished Bio . J . C . Parkinson , that the Grand Orient of Rome has not adopted the most mischevious and most un-Masonic position of the Grand Orient of France .

We are privileged to make use of his own words , than which none more satisfactory can be given , and to which we beg to call special attention , not only as an answer to our own question some time back , but as in reality a close to the

discus-~ : — ' -. -. . tl r ni . n .. M nnf have sion in our pages : — "I should not have the slightest hesitation in pledging myself , that the Grand Orient of Rome has not made any such lapse from true Masonic princip les , as we are deploring in the case of the Grand Orient

of France . I received the most positive assurance on this head from Signor Tamajo , the D . G . M ., when I was in Rom- * * , last year , and besides , the symbolism and ritual are like our own , such as to render such a negation absolutely 100-