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To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of T HE FREEMASON being now at the rate of nearly Haifa-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

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NOTICE . c . On and after October 1 st , the Subscription to THE FREEMASON will be iar . per annum , post-free , payable in advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRTH . MACMULDROW . —On the 30 th ult ., at 9 , Geneva-roacl , Elm Park , Fairfield , near Liverpool , of a son , the wife of Bro . Macmuldrow , 201 ( Jordan Lodge ) , S . D . 1299 ( Pembroke Lodge ) , and C . A . S . Temple Chapter 1094 .

MARRIAGE . BOBUINS—GRIFFITHS . —On the 27 th September last , by special licence , in the Congregational Church , by the Rev . W . Thompson , Bro . John Henry Bobbins , youngest son of the late John Bobbins , Esq ., of lhe H . E I . C . Service , St . Helena , to Christina , second daughter of the late John Griffiths Esq ., of Salt River .

DEATH . JARVIS . —On the 25 th ult ., at 2 , Mount Pleasant , Liverpool , Bro . Matthew Jarvis , P . M . of the Everton Lodge , 823 .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

—?—AH communications for THE FREEMASON should be written legibly on one side of the paper only , _ and , if intended for insertion in the current number , must be received not later than 10 o'clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of every writer must be sent to us in confidence .

A . L . L . U . P . —We deem it advisable not to publish your letter respecting the Ark Mariners' degree—at any rate , for the present . CEDRIC—Not in England . S . S . —It is by no means uncommon . Hindoos are eligible for admission into the Order , and there arc several active Masons of that religion both in India and elsewhere . Several answers are postponed till our next .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , ^ NOVEMBER 12 , 1870 .

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THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for the early trains . The price of THE FREEMASON is Twopence pur week ; annual subscription , 10 s . ( payable in advance ) . AU communications , letters , & c , to be addressed to the EDITOR , a , -,, and j , Little Ilrilain , K . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him-Hut cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

The Ark Mariners' Degree.

THE ARK MARINERS ' DEGREE .

A CORRESPONDENT residing in Leicester , and whose communication will be found in another part of our columns , has intimated his belief that " any information relative to

the side degrees of Ark , Link ' , Chain , and Wrestle would just now be especially valuable , inasmuch as there is a prospect of their being worked under the authority of

the Mark Grand Lodge . " Now , in the first place , we candidlyavow our conviction that the said degrees are by no means essential to the Masonic system ; nay , we hold that

The Ark Mariners' Degree.

in point of fact , they traverse all the received traditions of the origin of the Craft . To demonstrate the force of this position , it is not necessary that we should

preach absolute belief in King Solomon s Grand Mastership , or insist upon , the truth of those many beautiful legends which are interwoven , like threads . of gold , in the

fabric of Freemasonry . The foundation of our Order is veiled in allegory , and its history is a triumph of symbolism ; but it must never be forgotten that our traditions

are consistent in their inception , and harmonious in their relations to each otherlike the needle to the magnet , they invariably lead us to one point , and that point is

the construction of the . Holy Temple at Jerusalem . The degrees of Craft Masonry in all nations are based upon this theory ; every Master of a lodge represents the wise

son of David , every Master Mason personifies the skilful Man of Tyre . Destroy this allegory , and you shatter the corner-stone of our sublime Fraternity ; remove the

eloquent pillars of Wisdom , Strength , and Beauty , and the edifice of Freemasonry will crumble into dust . So profoundly and , we may add , so sagely has this great truth

been recognized by the many workmen who have endeavoured , since the dawn of our Institution , to add side-chambers to

the building—so wisely have they operated , that none but an insignificant few have ever sought to ground the pretensions of the Order upon any other presumable basis .

In the Royal Arch Degree , the same allegory is only continued , not ignored , and by a conceivable chain of events we follow the fortunes of the royal line of David until

the restoration of the Temple under Zerubbabel . The teachings of the Ancient and Accepted Rite are also in unison with this theory , as we proved in arecentdissertation

on the degrees from the 4 to the 14 , all of which are unquestionably expansions ofthe primitive Hebrew tradition , though possibly , as some hold them to be , they are also

types of a later dispensation and heralds of a closer covenant . In the superior degrees of the same rite , we are led , it is true , into " fresh fields and pastures new ; " but there

is no anachronism involved in tracing their affinity with the preceding grades . The same may be said of the Red Cross degrees , which take up the mythical history of the

Order at the memorable period when Cliristianityfinally emerged from the gloom and horror of persecution into freedom and prosperity under the eagles of the Roman

empire . By the traditions of the Masonic Knights of the Holy Sepulchre , who ascribe their origin to St . Helena , the mother of Constantine the Great , the allegory is

finally allied with the rise and progress of the Knights Templar and the Knights of St . John , of Jerusalem at a subsequent period ; and it may not be amiss to state that the Baron Ilundc and other Masonic

revivalists of the eighteenth century , advanced and advocated these or similar views respecting the beauty and connection of our whole Masonic system , and the rela-

The Ark Mariners' Degree.

tive dependence of its several parts , more than one hundred and twenty years ago . Again , the Mark Degree is confessedly such a link in the symbolic chain that we need not further discuss its claims to be

considered an integral portion of Freemasonry ; but when we come to investigate the pretensions of the " Ark Mariners , " what do we find ? Imprimis , a reversal of

all our well-digested ideas of the Masonic allegory . Instead of taking the Temple of the Lord as the marvellous type of that

still more glorious mansion , the immortal soul of man—instead of its mysterious emblems and divine associations—we are to

accept the vessel of wood , in which Noah and his sons floated in safety over the roaring surges of the Flood . Yes , we are coolly invited to abandon all our

Solomonian traditions , all our Hebrew chronicles , and to place ourselves in the ark amid the howling waters , with the shrieks of dying criminals for music and the darkness of

unutterable woe for company . Now , we ask our readers , is this Freemasonry ? Are not the teachings of our Order utterly at variance with such

dreadful scenes ? Are not its principles and ceremonies commemorative of brighter events than those of ruin and destruction ? Take the Craft and the Mark—they remind us of

the rearing of that mighty temple which crowned the summit of the holy mount in days of old . Look at the Royal Arch—it

alludes to the building of a second house where the first formerly stood , a prototype of hope clearer than the rainbow , of a covenant that shall endure for ever .

Analyse the Christian degrees—they are figurative of blessings , and inculcate the virtues of faith , hope , and charity , by the

exercise of which we are enabled to present our hearts as living stones in that spiritual temple , not made with hands , eternal in the heavens . But the rites observed in the Ark

Mariners' Degree—grotesque , inconsequential , and disjointed as they are—have no place in the Masonic design ; they have no coherence with the Masonic system ; they

are neither useful nor ornamental ; in fact , to quote the poet , " They are neither man nor woman , they are neither ghost nor human , " " neither fish , flesh , fowl , nor good

red herring , " and arc only fit to be preserved in Pandemonium , or recorded in the archives of a lunatic asylum for the benefit of its imbecile patients . If , however , there

are some amongst the Masonic fraternity who desire a greater antiquity for Masonry than the epoch of Solomon ' s temple—if there are some so nautically inclined as to

sigh for a cruise in the Ark , and a " Heave , O ! heave over " with Noali and his sonsby all means let them enjoy their patriarchal predilections ; but , like other

harmess witlings , under proper restrictions . Let their bark be attached by a long rope to the landing-stage , so that when les pauvrcs

diablcs feel sea-sick they may be speedily hauled back to terra firma , and re-invigorated with a few draughts of pure , ancient Masonry . Will the Grand Master of Mark