To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The FREEMASON is a Weekly Newspaper , price ad . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important , interesting , and useful information relating to Freemasonry in every degree . Subscription , including postage :

United America , India , India , China , & c Kingdom , thc Continent , & c . Via Brindisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 d . Six „ 5 s . 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . Three „ zs . Sd . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s . 6 d . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable to

GEORGE KENNING , CHIEF OFFICE , LONDON , the latter crossed London and Joint Stock Bank . Advertisements and other business communications should be addressed to the Publisher . Communications on literary subjects and books for

review are to be forwarded to the Editor . Anonymous correspondence will be wholly disregarded , and the return of rejected MSS . cannot be guaranteed . Further inlormation will be supplied 0 * 0 application to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

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IMPORTANT NOTICE . COLONIAL and FOREIGN SUBSCRIBERS are informed that acknowledgments of remittances received are published in the first number of every month .

It is very necessary for our readers 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 .

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NOTICE . To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particularly requested that ALL communications for the FREEMASON , may be addressed to the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

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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 . ADVERTISEMENTS to ensure insertion in current week ' s issue should reach the Office , 198 , Fleet-street , by 12 o ' clock on Wednesdays .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

. ( AMES BLACKIE . —The matter referred to is more for thc Board of General Purposes than for the Freemason . BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . " Haijnal ; " " Keystone -, " " Masonic Eclectic -, " " El Cincel ; " " Hebrew Leader ; " " Risorgimemo -, "

"Night and Day ; " "Pictorial News ; " " Scottish Freemason ; " " Kaleiider fur Friemaurier ; " " Canadian Craftsman ; " " Almanack and Diary , I 8 S , " Moses and Sun ; " " Der Triangel" "The Archer" { Christmas number of "The Quiver" ) ; Christmas number "Sporting ar . e ' i Dramatic News ; " " Book of Episodes . "

Births ,Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is is . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . DENT . —On thc 10 th inst ., at Mayfield , Uppei Tooting , the wile of Stanley Dent , of a son . FAWCETT . —On the 41 . I 1 inst ,, at Newcastle-on-Tyne , thc wile of W . J . Fawcett , Surgeon Army Medical Department , of a daughter . RUSSELL . —On the oth inst ., at Ashow Rectory , near Kenilworth , the wife of thc Rev . Alex . H . Monckton Kusscll , of a daughter .

MARRIAGES . CAHTEII— J ONES . —On thc jth inst ., at Holy Trinity Church , Hampstead , by tlie Rev . H . S . Humphreys , uncle of the bride , Albert Carter , Esq ., Shortlands , Kent , to Edith , youngest daughter o [ the late Thomas Jones , Esq ., of Greville-place , Kilburn , and Saint Lucia , W . I .

DEATHS . Ciiitrs . —On the inlh inst ., at Burfield Lodge , Old Windsor , Berks , Henvy Thomas Curtis , Esq ., aged 78 years . DAVIES . —On thc oth inst ., at his resilience , 82 , Rye-lane , Peckham , after a long and painful illness , John Davies , in the 63 rd year of his age . Friends will kindly accept

this intimation . JACKSON . —On the 81 I 1 inst ., at Ililcrlun , Northumberland , thc Rev . C . Jackson , of Hucknall Torkard , Notts , aged 61 . NAYLJII . —On thc 2 nd inst ., at Western Villa , Sloncycroft , Liverpool , aged 61 , Wm . Frederick" Naylor , Lodge 261 , ( Harmonic ) , proprietor of the Vine Hotel , Great Charlotte-street , Liverpool .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , DECEMBER I *; , 1877 .

Bro. Findel's Letter.

BRO . FINDEL'S LETTER .

We print in another page a letter from Bro . Findel , which will , we fear , hardly give satisfaction to any readers of the Freemason , and will be deeply objected to by all Anglo-Saxon Freemasons . Bro . Findel , it seems , objects to oar article on a The Theistic Teaching of

Freemasonry , ' which appeared m our issue of ist December , and declares that it is—Popery ! We leave such a very unwise and unfair , in fact absurd remark to the appreciation of our many readers . For now , alas ! out comes the truth . Bro . Findel approves of the act of the Grand

Orient of France , which is unanimously reprobated by a million of Anglo-Saxon Masons , and seems very angry with us for objecting to so revolutionary an innovation , and like angry people is a little incoherent , and to say the truth , not a little unreasonable . One of his statements will

arouse our numerous readers . His argument , as regards our Old Charges , appears to be this * . If a man is an Atheist , he is not absolutely ineligible , but only if he is a "stupid" Atheist ; a gloss we would beg to observe , worthy of those astute gentlemen , concerning whom , as we

may knoy , Bro . Findel does not often speak in the most complimentary terms . To those who understand the English language such a remark will appear to be both unreasonable and childish , for by the epithet "stupid" our Charges convey a term of reproach , not a

palliating term for thc word Atheist . Paraphrastically these words would say — if any one is so stupid as to be an Atheist , he is not fit for the society of Freemasons , who reverently recognise and trust in T . G . A . O . T . U . j no one can really be so stupid as to be an

Atheist" Atheos , ' —no one ought to be so stupid , and if he is so stupid he ought not to be a Freemason . There is 110 other construction possible of such simple words , and any other interpretation would land us in a fertile region of non-natural evasion and Jesuitical subtlety ,

wholly unworthy our honest and plainspeaking , right-minded Craft . Knowing as we do the high ability , the zeal and energy , and the Masonic sympathy of Bro . Findel , we deeply regret to see his name appended to such a letter , and much less to read the observations he has thought fit to send us . But we should

not be doing our duty as honest journalists and English Masons if we did not at once say to him kindly , and firmly—that his views if carried to logical conclusions must end in the destruction of true Freemasonry . Indeed , this hasty and unwise tampering with ancient landmnrks and sacred truths seems to us most

perverse and unjustifiable , and we protest once again against that cruel agitation and that revolutionary change of the Orient' of France , which has convulsed Cosmopolitan Freemasonry , and may result in the most deplorable consequences . In England , as in Ireland , and Scotland , and

America , and Canada , we mean to stand firmly " super vias antiqoas " and will continue to exclude as we actually shall reject all Atheists , ail those who , whether " stupid " or otherwise , cannot , with us , conscientiously acknowledge and believe in T . G . A . O . T . U .

Freemasonry In Ireland

FREEMASONRY IN IRELAND

We rejoice to be able to call the attention of our bretnren to the re-opening and the re . dedication of the Masonic Hall , Dublin , which took place on Wednesday , the 5 th inst ., under the distinguished presidency of the Grand Master , the Duke of Abercorn , and a brilliant gathering ol Grand

Oflicers , and W . Masters , Past Masters , and brethren of the Irish lodges . The entire ceremony seems to have passed over with great eclat , and happy success , and to have given great satisfaction to all who were privileged to

take part in it . In our Christmas number ( Dec . 22 nd ) will appear a detailed and architectural account of the restored hall , all too long for our crowded weekly columns , unfortunately . We beg to congratulate our Irish brethren on this

Freemasonry In Ireland

great advance in Masonic arrangements and .-esthetic decoration . We refer our readers to the description of the Hall in the Christmas Freemason , which we trust will interest them , as it has interested us , and we rejoice to think that so much has been accomplished in a right

direction and so well . We trust that under their most excellent Grand Master , the Irish Craft , as we doubt not , will continue to progress in brotherly union , zeal , and good will , and that despite the ' special difficulties of their situation in Ireland , we may have to report from time to

time how well and happily the good old Craft weathers every gale and conquers every foe . There is , however , one point to which we feel bound to allude . Animated as we are , and ever have been , with the best and truest feelings towards our Irish brethren , we wish that we

could give more reports from Ireland , week b y week , and that ail difficulties were smoothed away , by authoiity , which stand in the way of our receiving proper Masonic information . The present Irish Masonic system of discouraging all Masonic reports , works most prejudicially

for our Irish Brethren . Reports of the Grand Lodge proceedings appear in Ultramontane papers , in journals deliberately hostile to the Irish Grand Lodge , but the Freemason , always friendly , is debarred from detailing what non-Masonic and inimical newspapers openly

publish . Even as regards the last resolution at the Irish Grand Lodge , we were indebted to private hands for a copy of the official circular , and we venture to think that such a course of procedure is neither very wise , nor , to say the truth , very Masonic . We speik in all of good will and

good feeling to our worthy brethren in Ireland . We repeat that we are only too happy to report their meetings and their proceedings , and we can only trust that in the future , by a wise and Masonic change in this respect , we may receive , and we may be permitted to report , the " sayings and doings " of the Irish Craft .

What Is Toleration?

WHAT IS TOLERATION ?

It appears to ns , from a good many addresses which we read , both religious and secular , aud from many speeches which we hear , that the true meaning of this word is hardly understood by us as it should be , and that it has either a

double or a non-natural significance for many at the present hour . As philanthropic ancl largehearted Mascns , it seems to be our bounden duty to clear away any doubts or dimness which time and circumstances have concurred to

accumulate round a word so frequently used , and yet as it seems to us so little really understood , What then is Toleration ? To answer this question , we must go back a little and invoke alike the patience and attention of our readers . There is a limited view of toleration which we think

wc may at once dismiss to thc limbo of forgotten fallacies , and effete superstitions . It is this , you hear people often loudly talking about toleration , and saying , " we are most tolerant , Sir , " only , however , ere long to realize , lhat what they mean by toleration is " endurance" of certain

opinions simply because either they cannot help themselves , or because they think it better " quietanon movere . " But endurance is not toleration . Endurance is a factitious feeling , so to say , as regards any teaching either in respect of the psychology of man , or the " Tn Ka / on , "

or the " To slgalhon , " of earthly striving and aspirations . But Toleration is a principle , living and real , which is intended to dominate the intellectual , and the metaphysical perceptions of our race ! It is one thing to endure , to submit to views and dogmata which we cannot help

being propounded , or could not well interfere with , and quite another thing on a great broad princip le of teaching and action , to concede to another , ( of course within certain needful limits ) , the " liberty of prophesying , " the rig ht of individual conviction , the sanctity of private judgement .

And this is what we call Toleration—true Toleration—thab gracious and genial dogma which lies at the foundation of all Masonic profession , ana accompanies it always in practice , is in fact its abstract avowal , and its concrete performance . Let us see , then , how such a princip le as this acis and works in the world , of which we are now