To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

I he Freemason is a sixteen-page 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 . Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free-, 10 / -

NEW POSTAL KATES . Owing to a reduction in the Postal Rates , the publisher is now enabled to send the " Freemason " to the following parts abroad for One Year for Twelve Shillings ( payable in advance ) : —Africa , Australia , Bombay , Canada , Cape of

Good Hope , Ceylon , China , Constantinople , Demerara , France , Germany , Gibraltar , Jamaica , Malta , Newfoundland , New South Wales , New Zealand , Suez , Trinidad , United States of America , & c . P . O . O . ' s to be made payable at the chief office , London .

CPLONIAL AND FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS arc informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first numoer of every month . NOTICE . —It is very necessary for our friends 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 .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of the Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can therefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , & c , apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

NOW READY . Reading Covers , to take 32 numbers of the " Free mason , " price 2 / 6 , may be had at the office , IIJS , Fleet street .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Communications , Advertisements , eV'C , intended for insertion in the Number of the fe-lowing Saturday , must reach the Office not later thsr 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . The following stand over : —Re-ports of l . oilge of

Friendship , Great Yarmouth ; Metropolitan Lodge of Instruction , 1507 ; Chaucer Lodge-, 15 . 10 ; l . angtlioriie Lodge , No . 1421 ; Neptune Lodge , 22 ; Percy Lodge of Instruction ; Chapter of Prosperity , I luddersfield , 290 ; Philip ' s Rose Croix Chapter , Lancaster ; Consecration e > f a Lodge at Upper Norwood ; Consecration of a Chapter at Barrow .

BOOKS RECEIVED . An address at Keokuk Town , U . S ., by Bro . T . G . Parvin ; " Songs of the Rock , " . by Bro . John Wright , Glasgow . " The Colonist , " II Precursore ' , " " La Chaine ile l'Union , " " Hand and Heart . " A " Master Mason ' s" communication cannot be printed without his name , in confidence .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing four lilies , under Ibis heading . ] BIRTH . DOL ' CLAS , Mrs . Arotas A ., at Quecu-street , Mayfair , Feb 1 7 , twins—son and daughter .

DEATHS . FAiiM .-irci . il . —Feb . 27 , at No . 351 , Clapham-road , Wm Farnfie ' . d , in his 79 th year . BROOKE , Mr . George W ., Secretary of the London , Chat ham , and Dover Railway , at Sydenham , aged 47 , Feb . 21

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , MAR . 4 , 1876 .

Our Royal Grand Master India.

OUR ROYAL GRAND MASTER INDIA .

H . R . H . the Prince of Wales is still , we believe , in Nepaul , and will soon bo moving homewards . He was re-elected , as our readers will gladlv see , Grand Master for the ensuing year , amid much cheering on Wednesday night .

The Installation Of H.R.H. Prince Leopold As Prov. G. Master Of Oxfordshire.

THE INSTALLATION OF H . R . H . PRINCE LEOPOLD AS PROV . G . MASTER OF OXFORDSHIRE .

The account of this very interesting event will have deep interest for our entire Order . Everything seems to have gone off , to use a common expression , most admirably , without a hitch , or jarring note , and to have reflected the greatest

credit on those who had the arrangement of the proceedings from first to last . H . R . H . Prince Leopold was warmly welcomed by the proverbial loyalty and zeal of Oxford Freemasons , and we augur , alike from his own simple and effective

The Installation Of H.R.H. Prince Leopold As Prov. G. Master Of Oxfordshire.

words , and the pleasant proceedings of the entire day , much of future , prosperity for the Province of Oxfordshire . H . R . H . is now W . M . of two of our most distinguished lodges , the Apollo University and the Antiquity , and we congratulate both lodges warmly on the circumstance ,

as we feel sure of this , that anything which leads to and perpetuates a living connection with our Royal Family and Freemasonry is deeply to be desiderated , and earnestly to be encouraged . While in some lands Freemasonry is exposed just now to anathema and slander , here in peaceful loyal

England , we may say Great Britain , those who would have any cause and reason , a priori , to stem a disloyal and political sodality , come forward and proclaim their brotherhood , knowing well as they do , and as our august Head has so well said , that lovalty and charity ever

have been , and ever will be , watchwords for our great Masonic army . We are glad to note that the interesting proceedings of the installation under the always genial auspices of our admirable D . G . Master , and in the presence of some of the most distinguished of our Craft , were very

fitly closed by a presentation to an old and worthy Freemason , Bro . R . J . Spiers , late D . G . M . of Oxfordshire . We congratulate Bro . Spiers warmly alike on the occasion , and the result , long to be remembered by him , and all who took part in it , and we think that such an act of kindlv fraternal feelinc reflects great credit on

the donors and on Bro . Spiers . Our Royal brother performed his part in this little episode , as he did throughout with all of dignity , urbanity , and personal sympathy , and we feel sure that into no better hands could the rule of so distinguished a province as Oxfordshire have been more wisel y

or seasonably committed . We congratulate our brethren in Oxford and the Province on the most successful issue of those memorable proceedings to which we alluded in our last impression . We trust , as we feel assured , that no better day ' s work for English Freemasonry has been done for

a very long time , and one equally important and promising for the future as the present . All Freemasons will rejoice at this happy tendency to bind still closer the amicable relations and friendl y intercourse which ever has existed , and we pray ever may exist between the House of Brunswick and Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry .

The "Penny Post" And Freemasonry.

THE "PENNY POST" AND FREEMASONRY .

Our respected contemporary , the " Penny Post" a very useful and valuable Church of England Juvenile Periodical , has thought well to state its objections to our Order . "Our objection to the organization lies in the fact that the Freemasons set up a bond of union independent

of , and superior to that of baptism . When heathens and Christians combine the latter must lose cast by v the combination . " Now begging our good contemporary ' spardon , the opinion here expressed is both unfounded , and not a little absurd . Freemasonry sets up no bond of union

independent of , and superior to that of Baptism . Freemasonry is in no sense a Church , and imposes no terms of union on its initiates , it accepts all within its pale , except the atheist and immoral , without any question of individual belief , or of personal persuasion . No one

need become a Freemason , and as it is a perfectly voluntary act on the part of the initiate , we do not see that it can fairly be alleged against Freemasonry , that in any way it imposes a test , or sets up a bond of union . That Freemasonry constitutes a bond of union by its

organization , its teaching , and its normal active life , is a very different thing , but such " bond of union " is not set tip against " baptism , " nor is it meant to be a rallying point against any religious body whatever . In fact , the objection of the "Penny Post" is Mr . Kerr ' s objection

over again , that Freemasonry " forms a spurious bond of union , differing from that of the Church . " It is odd , as has been before observed , to find the high church "Penny Post , " and good presbyterian Mr . Kerr reformed , though he be

rowing in the same boat , but such is in itself an amusing commentary on the open opposition , and the latent hostility towards Freemasonry . As has been said , the Church , ( whatever you like to call the Church , for the " Penny Post" would

The "Penny Post" And Freemasonry.

call one , Mr . Kerr the other ) has not , qua the Church , anything to do with Freemasonry , neither has Freemasonry qua Freemasonry anything to do with the Church . Freemasonry is altogether extern to the church , and a most mistaken policy it is which ever brings anv

religious body , much less the Church of England , so tolerant per se , into collision with a reverent , loyal , peaceful , friendly , cultured Order like ours . For Freemasonry is in no way antagonistic to , or a rival of the Church , even what the writer in the " Penny Post" considers the

Church , and it never in any way se ^ ks to usurp its undoubted functions , or affocts to lay dow a either dogmata of faith , or limits of individual thought . While friendly to all reli gious bodies , it is hostile to none , but owing to its own broad basis , it sometimes seems to imoinge on this or

that ardent denominational view , though as we believe , altogether erroneously on the part of our assailants and objectors . As regards Christians losing caste by combining with heathens , we do not know what the writer means , _ as he clearly , as Mr . Gladstone would

say , is attaching an undue force to some words , and an uncritical meaning to others . There is no caste in Christianity , and how , because we Freemasons , if we act together for works of common humanitarian necessity , and seek to do good , we lose caste , is beyond one ' s

comprehension altogether . What the writer means to say , we fancy , is this , that if Christians and heathens combine for any purpose it becomes " infra dig " for Christians to do so . But is this true ? is it really so ? We do not see it , and we do not believe it , and not

seeing it , and not believing it , especially in 11 country like India , for instance , we beg to say , that this possible combination constitutes in our humble opinion , a great element of the truth and work of Freemasonry , to say nothing of its success . Has the writer duly studied the

parable of the Good Samaritan 5 That as we understand it , teaches a kindlier lore . But the truth is , all such objections are really based on the tpaching of an ultramontane school of thought and action , and are alien from thorough English spirit and tendencies . We leave them here to

day , as perfectly unfounded and . innocuous to us , and we should not have noticed them at all , but for the great respectability of the source from which they emanate . The " Penny Post" is a capital littleperiodical , doing a deal of goodin its own way , but it should not write upon Freemasonry .

The Religious Teaching Of Freemasonry.

THE RELIGIOUS TEACHING OF FREEMASONRY .

There seems to be a good deal of misconception existing as regards the religious teaching of Freemasonry . Some brethren seem to look on our wonted formularies , our exoteric symbolism and esoteric lore as a skilfully designed adaptation to a special form of deistical

teaching and avowal . Nothing can be more erroneous , no view can be more thoroughly unreal . Freemasonry nowhere affects to claim the character of a religious " Didaskalos , " Freemasonry nowhere assumes the status of a " Religio . " It favours no theories

it asserts no dogmata , it leans to no party , it declines all conflicts of thought and of opinion . Some have called it deistical ; it is not so . Some have declared it to be pantheistic ; it is nothing of the kind . Some contend abroad that it is too religious , others declare openly that it

is opposed to all religion . Some have even boldly asserted that Freemasonry is antagonistic to the Christian Church because it will not identify itself distinctly , with any religious denomination , though it is friendly to all , and because it ignores all theological discussions . Every

one of these statements is equally mistaken and mischievous . For Freemasonry knows nothing " perse " of such controversies or such contentions , it prefers to ignore them altogether , to pass by them , believing that nothing has so

much hindered the advance of true religion in the world , as many of the disputes of relig ionists themselves , and that nothing is so hurtful or so unworthy , so hostile to the best interests of society and of humanity , nay , religion , as that