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Seci . 'i : d Kdition , Now Ready , j / 6 . A MASONIC MUSICAL SERVICE In the key of C . for A ., T ., T ., B . Opening and Closing Odes . Craft Ceremonies . Royal Arch Ceremony . Consecration Ceremony . Grace before and after Meat . COMPOSED BV DR . J . C . BAKER , NO . 241 . LONDON . —Geo . Kenning , 198 , Fleet-street ; and 1 , 2 , and 3 , Little Britain . „ R . Spencer , 26 , Great Queen-street . LIVERPOOL . —Geo . Kenning , 2 , Mor . ument-place . MANCHESTER . —E . Henry & Co ., 59 , Deansgate . DUBLIN . —C . Hedgelong , 26 , Graf ton-street . GLASGOW . —Geo . Kenning , 145 , Argyle-street .

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To W . M . 'S AND SECRETARIES . Bro . KNIGHT SMITH ( 1441 ) , PROFESSOR OF MUSIC , Begs to inform the Craft that he is prepared to assist the Ritual with Music for Consecration , Installation , or 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd degrees . For terms , address 6 , London-villas , Devonport-road , Shepherd's Bush , W .

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MADAME TUSSAUD'S EXHIBITION , BAKER STREET . Now added , PORTRAIT MODELS of the CZAR OF RUSSIA , SIR GARNET WOLSELEY , the Three Judges in the Tichborne Trial , Cockburn , Mellor , and Lush ; the Shah of Persia , Marshal MacMahon , M . Thiers , and the late Mr . Charles Dickens . Admission is . Children under ten , 6 d . Extra Rooms , fid . Open from ten a . m . to ten p . m .

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TheFreemason,SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER j , 1874 .

Resignation Of The Grand Master.

RESIGNATION OF THE GRAND MASTER .

Our many readers will share in the regret and astonishment with which Grand Lodge heard , on Wednesday evening , the announcement of the Marquess of Ripon ' s resignation of the Grand

Mastership . As our distinguished brother gives no other reason , in his letter to the Grand Secretary ; but that he " finds himself unable any longer to discharge the duties ot Grand Master , "

we can only record the event , adding to it the expression of our heartfelt sorrow at such a separation from our noble and excellent brother . No Grand Mastership has ever opened with

fairer promise of permanent well-being and successful administration , and we deeply deplore the loss of so able , and so high-minded a Master . We shall recur to the subject in our next . It

will be seen by the proceedings of the Grand Lodge ,, that , in accordance with the Book of Constitution , our royal brother the Prince of

Wales is to be requested , by a deputation of three of our most distinguished brothers , to act as Grand Master until the annual election .

The Secrecy Of Freemasonry.

THE SECRECY OF FREEMASONRY .

We said in a previous article , that , we should recur to the question of the " secrecy" of Freemasonry , as one of the great objections made against Freemasonry is , that it is a secret society .

We therefore think it well to return to the subject to-day , and would call the attention of our readers , to a very able letter in another part of

our impression , bearing on the same subject . That Freemasonry is and professes to be a secret society , isa fact which "nobody can deny . "

The Secrecy Of Freemasonry.

But " non constat , " that because we are a secret society , that therefore we are a bad society , or hurtful institution , or objectionable organ ization . In order to prove so sweeping an

assertionour opponents , who object to secrecy so much , and are fond of saying , " if there was any real good in Freemasonry it would not be kept secret , " must go on * to prove , that , all secrecy , and

all secret societies , " ipso facto , " by the very nature of the case , are utterly wrong—wrong that is alike objectively and subjectively , in the abstract and in the concrete . In the mouth of

our Roman Catholic opponents , such arguments come with a very bad grace indeed . What are we to say , of their own secret society the " Jesuit Order" ? On their own principles

it is radically bad , utterly wrong and indefensible . Those of us who have given any attention to the history of the Jesuits , know well that " secrecy" is the foundation on which their

whole organization depends . I leave out ofthe question the "Secreta Monita" to-day , but plenty of evidence is forthcoming , to prove that they have a secret proposition , a secret probation , a

secret reception , a secret obligation , and secret " counsels . " So much so is this the fact , that , as the Jesuits are also divided into classes or degrees , some writers have foolishly

endeavoured to prove them to be a Masonic Order . And what are we to say of the secrets of the confessional ? What of the secret conclave ? Many other points of secrecy might be brought

forward , in the Romish system , which as it seems to us , render the position of our Roman Catholic assailants untenable , as , on their own arguments , secret societies of all kind are ipso

facto bad ! If our Roman Catholic opponents reply , we fall back on the decision of Roman councils , and of Papal rescripts , by which secret societies are condemned , our answer is * . granted ,

that you have a right to forbid your own laity joining secret societies , you can have no right to dictate to us . But before you even do so with your own " fideles , " before that you excom-

municate many of your most faithful sons , just i remember the good old adage , '' people who live i in glass houses , should not throw stones , " and t be consistent as regards all secret societies , which (

you denounce as wrong , qua secret societies . Assailants like Mr . Kerr , who base their ob- i jections against Freemasonry as a secret society , 1 must , we presume alike take up the position , i

that all secret societies are bad in themselves ! . Mr . Kerr quotes a scripture text to prove his i point , but we need hardly add , that , it is one of those violent and unworthy adaptations , which <

reflect little credit either on the moral honesty of £ the writer , or on the skill and truth of his i " exegesis . " "Come thou not into their s secret , " was never meant to be applied to <

the Masonic body . Thus then , we have to meet two classes of objections to secrecy as a charac- i teristic of an Order like ours , and we will take c them " seriatim . " The Roman Catholic , for- •* .

getful of the beam in his own eye , sees only the ^ mote that is in a Freemason ' s eye , and ignoring c the fact that secrecy is not unknown to his own e

reli gious body , condemns us on that very t ground ! But in order to do so , as between man 1 and man , and on moral grounds , he has in the j first place to demonstrate clearly , that all secrecy a

The Secrecy Of Freemasonry.

is objectionable , and all secret societies irredeemably bad . But unfortunatel y for him , not only can he not safely lay down such a premise , but the whole history of the Christian Reli gion

is against him , even on this very point . What was the Disci plina Arcani ? It is an undoubted fact , that , in the early history of Christianity , its religious teaching , and its most sacred rites

were sedulously guarded from the intrusion and presence of the profane , and practised and taught in secret ! If the mere fact of " secrecy" then be objectionable , the objection must forcibly apply

to the earliest developments of Christianity itself , but the truth is , such a proposition cannot be accepted as an " universal , " and the whole question of " secrecy" turns not upon secrecy

really at all , but upon the object for which secrecy is used and maintained . States have a right , and it is their bounden duty to object to , and " surveiller , " to use a French word , all secret

societies whose real aim and end they deem to be incompatible either with the liberty of the subject , or the safety of the public . States have often to interefere with secret political societies ,

which use the cloak of secrecy , either to hatch treasonable movements , or to promulgate seditious principles , in the body politic . And no sane person , above all no true Freemason , -

ever does or can approve of such societies , or aid them , or abet them , or take part in their proceedings , or be affiliated to them , because they are in themselves opposed to the true teaching of

the moral duty of all patriotic citizens , and because they are condemned by the laws of the country to which we belong , or where we for the moment reside . In their case secrecy

is bad , most bad , " per se , " and all such secret political associations , which seek to promote aims , or inculcate teaching , adverse to the peace and order and safety of society , or which are

i < condemned , either ' nominatim , ' or by the common law of the land , are to be shunned and to be disavowed by all honest men , and loyal citizens wherever they may be . But

Freemasonry , though a secret society , is not obnoxious , in England , to the laws of the State , on the contrary , is expressly excepted by the legislature from enactments bearing on secret societies . Our

! secrecy is therefore recognised by the law , and is admitted , by this very recognition , to be alike harmless and legal . What , then , can any one really say against Freemasonry on this score ?

: It is recognised by the State , is is excepted by name from the operation of an act directed against secret political societies , its non-political character is fully admitted and it is notorious

as before the world , that whatever its secrecy may cover , whatever its secret tenets may be , it is a society whose object and end are not hurtful , but

bene-1 ficial to society and to mankind . And then , as we know , in England , our Order is made up of of the highest and best in our land , in association with all classes of our fellow-countrymen .

When we remember that men of the most exalted position , the noblest birth , the best education , the most true moral worth , are happy

to avow themselves io be Freemasons , how idle , how worse than idle , how utterly childish is the objection , alike of our unreasoning Roman Catholic and Presby terian assailants that we are a secret