Contents..

CONTENTS ..

LEADERS 281 United Grand Lodge 2 S 2 Grand Mark Lodge 383 Consecration of the Lodge of King Solomon No . 202 Q 281 ; Historv of the Royal Masonic Institution

for __ oys { Continue , !} 2 S 6 C ORRESPONDENCEA Temperance . Mark Lodge 2 R 9 Quid Pro Quo 38 9 Notes and Queries 289 Resuscitation of the Mark Lodge , No . 4 , M . M . M 28 9 Provincial-Irand Lodge of Staffordshire ... 28 9 Australia 200

Presentation to Bro . O . Davis , P . M ., Preccptor 1642 291 The Pope ' s Encyclical Letter— " Dc Secta Massonum " IContinucl ) 291 Masonic Funeral 291

REPORTS OF MASONIC MEETINCISCraft Masonry 292 Instruction 293 Royal Arch 293 Mark Masonry 293 Obituary : 293 Masonic and General Tidings 294 The Theatres 294 Lodge Meetings for Next Week ... Page 3 Cover .

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AT thc Quarterly Communication , before a full Grand Lodge , our very much respected Bro . thc Earl of CARNARVON , Pro Grand Master , delivered a most able address in respect of the recent Papal Encyclical . It was very warmly received by the brethren present , and we recommend its careful perusal and consideration alike by the members of our Order , as well by

those many and infatuated persons who eagerly swallow the Bulls and Allocutions of Rome . We have to thank our most distinguished brother for a very seasonable Allocution , alike distinct and impressive . The unanimous resolution of Grand Lodge seems to us alike timely , needful , and sensible .

Ir * « AT the recent Ouarterly Communication Bro . THOMAS I , P . G . D ., was nominated President of the Board of General Purposes , vice Sir J B . MONCKTON resigned . Wc lose in Sir J B . MONCKTON a very excellent Chairman , and we feel sure wc shall have a very good one in Bro . FENN .

HIS knowledge of precedents is unequalled we believe in our Order , and from his business habjts , Masonic acquirements , and great experience , we augur well in every respect of the-sclcction made by his Royal I Ugliness thc GRAND MASTER for thc important interests of the Craft and of Grand Lodge .

THE Annual Report of thc Boys' School in anticipation of thc Anniversary Festival for 1884 is just out , and a very suggestive and remarkable one it is , For the General Fund , £ 14 , 082 12 s . 8 d . have been received , and there have been expended / 13 . 050 105 ., including " Special F . xpcnditure , " / 078 3 s ,

on Building Account , and £ 1000 transferred to "Sustentation Account . " , £ 14 , 514 have been raised for the Building Fund , so that thus far the prosperity of our Boys' School is great . We trust that under the Presidency of our valued Bro . the LORD MAYOR , the Boys' School Festival will be another marked success .

# * SOME little confusion has arisen about the various Papal Bulls against Freemasonry , that it seems well to point out clearly in the Freemason to-day what arc really and truly the facts of the case . In 1738 CLEMENT " XII . ( not CLEMENT XIV ., as is sometimes hastily said ) , issued the first

Bull against Freemasonry , April 28 th of that year . This is the foundation of all the subsequent Bulls and Allocutions , and deserves attention on that account , as well as for other reasons to which we now propose to advert . That Bull condemns the " Liberi Muratori seu Francs Macons " everywhere . It begins , as some will remember , ' * In eminent ! speculA , " & c , and with

an allusion to the old scripture mystical words , " Watchman , what of the night ? " This Bull condemns Freemasons because , as the POPE has heard , "they are widely spread and daily increasing ,, these " societ ' ates , coelus , conventus , collectiones , aggregationes , and conventicula , " in which " men of every religion and sect of men , with a sort of affected form . of natural

religion , associate themselves , and band themselves together by obligations with the use of the holy Bible : These meetings are held in secret , and must have something of nefarious about them , because they hate the light . " We wonder if the infallable head of the Roman Catholic Church had ever heard of- the Jesuits and their secret chapters , and tlieir 4 th Grade . It

will thus be seen that CLEMENT XII . condemned Freemasons and Freemasonry on special grounds , ordering them all everywhere to be handed over to the secular arm and the Inquisition . He made no complaint of irreverence , infidelity , or socialism . On the 14 th of January , 1739 , Cardinal FIRRAO had this Bull printed and set up in Rome with a

proclamation importing that death and confiscation ol goods awaited all Freemasons , " without hope of grace , " and that all lending their houses or inviting Freemasons to assemble should be punished and the houses pulled down . A fine of 1000 crowns of gold is mentioned , and the punishment of the galleys threatened , -and large rewards offered to informers . In 1751 BENEDICT XIV . reaffirmed the Bull of CLEMENT , incor-

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porating it with his own , which begins " Providus Romanoium , " & c . Hence the slight confusion which has occurred . He repeats CLEMENT ' S complaints , and , curiously enough , declares that the Freemasons are like the old Roman Collegia or Helerke , formerly condemned , "The Collegia Illicita , " condemned by the laws of the

XII . Tables . Pope LEO repeats the condemnation of CLEMENT and BENEDICT . In 1821 Pope Purs VII . issued a fresh Bull against the Freemasons and Carbonari , and other Italian secret societies , and this is the first lime the Freemasons are accused of irreligion and disloyalty and

revolutionary practices . It is pretty certain that MASTAI FERRETTI , after PIUS IX ., was in his young liberal days a member of the Carbonari , or Madre Natura , or the Decisi , or one of those secret organizations which " Giovcni Italia" then much affected . He was not a Freemason . Pius IX .

subsequently issued . a Bull against the Freemasons and all secret societies , just as LEO XIII . has recently done . How far such attacks and allocutions will have any effect , Time alone can show . In our humble opinion they nre alike childish , impotent , and worse than useless in that they only serve to belray thc weakness of the Papal power , and

the strength of its alleged universal opponents . 1 he evident unfairness of mixing up Anglo-Saxon Freemasons , —nolably a religious and loyal body of men , with Emperors and Kings and Princes al their heads , —has so struck some Roman Catholic commentators , that they recommend us kindly lo read

" between thc lines , " and to consider ourselves only " atheists and revolt * , tionists by inadvertence . " This is surely a very suggestive "gloss , " and exhibits in striking measure the utter usclessncss and meaninglcssncss of the last actual Bull , and thc " invincible ignorance " of its framers , issuers , and signataries . #

« » THERE can be no doubt that a good deal may " bo fairly said , from tho Roman Catholic side of the question , as to thc present position and practice of Freemasonry in some foreign jurisdictions . The mournful weakness of thc Grand Orients of France and Belgium have allowed the violent party to

gain thc upper hand , and there can be but small question that the outcome" of thc present attitude against thc Roman Catholic Church , and wc may add religion in general , is as bad as bad can be . In fact Freemasons seem inclined to parody and profess the worst teachings of the French Revolution . If you arc to judge by their literature , their speeches ,

their festivals , there is a constant struggle against all religious bodies , against "Clericalism" as they say . It is gravely to be feared that the introduction of thc " Independent Morality " and thc peculiar " Fads of Positivism" have so gained ground in French Freemasonry specially that as other jurisdictions like Holland seems inclined to imitate

weakly their acts , wc may- behold more and more . an entire departure from the old reverential landmarks of once universal Freemasonry . Wc cannot profess to complain of thc Allocutions of Roman Catholic authorities in countries where the very initiation into Freemasonry and its subsequent profession sccni to be marked by abject

infidelity , atheism , and profane irreverence of every kind . That some such state of things exists we know , and we have heard of most lamentable episodes in the lodges of France and of Belgium , driving respectable Freemasons out of the Order , and rendering current Freemasonry nothing but a secret , irreligious , political , ' revolutionary association . But what we

complain of in the Roman Catholic authorities is this . They apply the same test to all Freemasons , whereas they know that Anglo-Saxon Freemasonry is perfectly pure from any such errors , vagaries , or irreverence , perfectly innocuous and perfectly eliminated from any such charges truly . To-day modern Roman Catnolics are applying the dicta of CLEMENT and BENEDICT ,

which condemned Freemasons on one ground , to the early Allocutions of Pius and LEO , which condemn Freemasons on totally opposite and different grounds . And yet they make no difference and no exception , and all theso public edicts and acts arc , as far as Anglo-Saxon Freemasons are concerned , issued with utter , ignorance , unfairness , and intolerance . It is , however , an unsavoury subject , and here we leave it to-day in peaceful silence .

# * # WE hope the French Freemasons and the French Grand Orient will take Bro . DUHAMEL ' S warning words in good part , and lay them to heart . No sounder or more seasonable advice was ever given ; no ' truer words were ever spoken . Not only are they marked by " sense and clearness "; but we feel

assured that unless they are attended to , their prophetic announcement will ere long be completely fulfilled . It would be the " irony of fate " if the " whirligig of time " brought about this " strange conceit , " that the French Republican Government was compelled " nolens volens " to shut up the French Masonic lodges , because they were incompatible with the safety of the State and the welfare of society . To suppose for one moment that any .