Our Late Grand Master.

us forget the respect due to conscientious convictions on the one handj or to erase from our memories what we owe as Freemasons to our late distinguished chief , on the other . Those

of us who know Lord Ripon the best , and love him the most , are perfectly well aware that he always acts conscientiously , and therefore we feel that , though we may deplore the sacrifice he

has made , we are bound to give him the utmost credit for honesty of purpose and uprightness of intention . Many reasons combine , we venture to think , irrespective of the real

cause of Lord Ripon ' s resignation , to render that resignation to our Order a deeply regretted reality . Subsequently to the death of our good and favoured

old Grand Master , Lord Zetland , our Order had , as it were , gladly accepted with an unanimity seldom before witnessed and were peaceably labouring under the

most nourishing and effective regime of a most popular Grand Master . For Lord Ripon had been from the first , a most zealous Mason , and had been emphatically

always a working Mason . He had not sought the light of Masonry , as some do appare ntly for the prestige it may impart , or the honour it may confer , but he threw himself from the outset

amongst his brother Masons , was never so happy , as we have often heard him say , as when he found himself amongst them , and gained rapidly , alike by his earnestness and assiduity , the

character of a good workman , an eloquent speaker , and a true brother . In West Yorkshire , where his earliest Masonic work was done , he earned the golden opinions of all , not only by

that zeal for our Order , and his love for Freemasonry , and his appreciation of our principles which he evinced on all occasions , but by those many excellences of the mind and heart , which

won him so many sincere friends , which remarkably characterized his Mastership in the Lodge of Truth , Huddersfield , and rendered him ever so welcome a visitor , and so valued a brother ,

amongst the energetic lodges of West Yorkshire . When Lord Mexborough passed away , a well known Mason of the old school , and endowed , as many Yorkshire brethren well remember ,

with many genial qualities , there was but one wish in West Yorkshire , that his successor should be our distinguished brother , Lord De Grey , as he was then called . How he ruled

over that great province we need not recount to-day ; its acts best illustrate , we think , his active and beneficent sway ; but sure we are of this , that in no province of England , are the true

principles of Freemasonry better realized and developed , than in that flourishing and populous district , lately under the personal guidance of Lord Ripon , and his zealous Deputy , Bro . Bentley Shaw . From what we know of the brethren of

West Yorkshire , we feel certain that nothing will cause them greater grief or regret , than to be separated , as we fear the Church of Rome will compel them to be , from their loved and

honoured Provincial Grand Master . Many an earnest Freemason iri Yorkshire and elsewhere , will not be induced to think more kindly of a

religious body , which in an age of toleration and liberty requires such an act of self-abnegation , and ^ demands so painful a sacrifice . It is unneces-

Our Late Grand Master.

sary for us to dilate upon Lord Ripon s public services , for they have been many and conspicuous ; he has in fact , served the State as well as he has served Freemasonry , and the high title he now

enjoys , is alike a proof of the public appreciation , and of his sovereign ' s approval . When , as we said before , Lord Zetland resigned on account of failing health , and the Marquis of Ripon was

unanimously hailed as Grand Master , this admirable selection of Grand Lodge was greeted with the approbation of the entire Order , with a warmth and satisfaction seldom equalled and

never exceeded . And since that time , as year has followed year , under Lord Ripon ' s firm and temperate administration , everything has gone well with us . He himself has presided over

the deliberations of the great assembly of the Craft both with dignity and ability , and his rule of English Freemasonry has been marked from first to last by a firm maintenance of our

landmarks , and yet a scrupulous regard for the rights of Grand Lodge . He has most truly given to our contented and prosperous Craft the highest satisfaction as an impartial administrator of his

high office , and has offered to them , amid their present well-being , the happy prospect of many after years of peaceful progress , and unity , and concord . No cloud , so far , has dimmed our

horizon , to darken our pathway , or alarm us with forebodings of some coming gloom . Never has English Freemasonry witnessed before such a spectacle of universal tranquility and

contentment , of material prosperity , and of universal development . No one , moreover , who has perused the minutes of our Grand Lodge , or has taken part in its proceedings , but must have

been struck with the hig-h tone on all points of Masonic teaching , or duty , or toleration , which characterised so remarkably « always Lord Ripon ' s addresses and decisions , " ex cathedra . " His was

truly an impartial rule , calm , firm , equable , and consistent , upholding with dignified earnestness the prerogatives of the Grand Master , and yet never losing sight of for one moment the

unchanged ^ p rivileges of Grand Lodge , or the inalienable right of Freemasons , under the wise provisions of our Book of Constitutions . The government of our exalted brother was indeed a

purely constitutional government of Freemasonry , alike " de facto " and " de jure . " And yet to-day we have only sorrowfully to record the premature and unforeseen close of his

Masonic administration of the Grand Master ' s office , and the abrupt termination of so much good promise and such admitted efficiency Despite much regret , both on personal and

public grounds , that such a step should have been deemed needful , and that such a sacrifice should be required , we yet feel bound to record in the pages of The Freemason alike our fraternal

grief , and our fraternal gratitude . For the memories of Lord Ripon ' s Grand Mastership and of our exalted brother personally , will long linger , we do not hesitate to say , among the

happiest traditions of our Order . We shall recall in years to come , what an example he set to all Freemasons amongst us , old or young , by his

zeal and love for Freemasonry , and , though , alas he now has left our Order , apparently under the claims of imperious proscription , yet amid obloquies very many , and assailants not a few ,

Our Late Grand Master.

even too , amid the childish and shameless persecution of the Church of Rome , some ot us may gladly recollect , that , Freemasonry has had

in our generation no truer advocate , no warmer admirer , and no more zealous friend , than our distinguished brother and late Grand Master , the Marquis of Ripon .

Mr. Kerr's Attack Upon Freemasonry.

MR . KERR'S ATTACK UPON FREEMASONRY .

We have before us Mr . Kerr ' s pamphlet "The Principles and Practices of Secret Societies opposed to Scripture and to Reason , " by the Rev . Tames Kerr , of Greenock , which we sec has

reached a second edition . We have perused it carefully and we must say at the outset that we have never read before so confused and illogical a compilation . As an attack upon Freemasonry

it is absolutely puerile and harmless , contains nothing new as regards his complaints of our Order , is simply a "hash" of worthless authorities and may safely be left to the bntterman and the

trunkmaker , though it is ushered into the world with the "imprimatur" and approval of the " United Reformed Synods of Edinburgh and Glasgow . " As Mr . Kerr is so fond of quoting

texts of Scripture , we would respectfully remind him of one which talks about " blind leaders of the blind , ' For as the pamphlet has received the special thanks of the United Synod , we can

only suppose they have little other profitable work to attend to , or they must be very hard up for something to talk about . A large part of the pamphlet consists of an attack on the Good

Templars , on the Orangemen , and on ihe High Grades , or what are termed the Christian Degrees , so those portions of the pamphlet we leave unnoticed , to be answered in due season

by those wham they concern , and simply confine ourselves to the defence of paie Freemasonry as we hold it and understand it . One little amusing fact we may notice ere we pass on ,

which is this , that Mr . Kerr ' s attack on the Orange lodges is based mainly on this , that these infatuated men , " proh pudor , " actually

recognize , and profess to uphold the " prelatic " Church ] of England . This little touch of a modern Reformed Presbyterian ' s nature is quite delicious . Mr . Kerr makes a violent assault on

Freemasonry , which commences at page 18 , and ends at page 36 , and quotes from two professed authorities , the one being ' ¦ ' The Light of Masonry , " published at Dayton , Ohio , U . S ., the

other "The Master Mason , & c , by Thomas Wilson , a Deserter from the Banners of Freemasonry , " published , we are sorry to see , by Page and Gray . Saltmarket , Glasgow . " Mackey ' s

Lexicon , ' Mr . Kerr tells us , has also been consulted , as well as " a number of other works , " and " no substantial difference could be detected . " And here we must beg to be

permitted to remark , that , Mr . Kerr seems to have both a strange idea of the meaning of words , and of the intense importance of veracity in such statements as these , especially when made

by a professed minister of religion . Mackey especially tells us at page 650 af his invaluable Lexicon , " Much of the ritual is esoteric , and not being permitted to be committed to writing is communicated only by oral instruction . "