To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

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Important Notice.

IMPORTANT NOTICE .

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Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

BOOKS , tec , RECEIVED . "The Australian Freemason , " " The Masonic Newspaper , " " I listo y of Hamilton Chapter , Rochester , N . Y ., " ' The Masonic Eclectic , '' " Masonic Advocate , " " Shccrnrss Times , " " Proceedings of District Grand Lodge ol Bengal , " " Heport of Masonic Orphan Boys' School ,

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Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 s . 6 d . for announcements not exceeding Four Lints under this heading . !

BIRTHS . BnACKoiuni . E . —On the 2 nd inst ., at Morton House , Victoria Docks , London , the wife of Thomas McCamphill Bracegirdle , of a daughter . C 1101 . MEi . fcv . —On the 14 th inst ., at Brandsby Hall , Eatingwold , Yorkshire , the wife of T . C . Cholmeley , of a son . M AXWELL . —On the 6 th inst ., at Althorp-road , Upper-Tooting , Surrey , the wife of Captain Robert Maxwell , of a son .

MARRIAGE . WIIISII—CiiiRi in ; ii . —On the 15 th ult ., at Basti , C . W . Whish , Bengal Civil Service , to Adeline , daughter if E . J . Churcher .

DEATHS . BIBKISSIIAW . —On the 18 th ult ., at Dhond , the Deccan , India , Junii Frederick Birkinshaw , P . W . D ., ton of the late John C . Birkinshaw , C . E ., Uidefurd , Devon , aged 31 . Etc-i . K-s . — On the 12 th inst ., at Darwen Bank , Torquay , Tlum . as Ecclet , J . P ., late 1 f the Kims , Lower Darwen , Lancashire-, aeni 7 - .

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THE FREEMASON . SATURDAY , APRIL 19 , 1879 .

Freemasonry At Home.

FREEMASONRY AT HOME .

If it be true , as we have endeavoured to point out in two preceding articles , that Freemasonry in what it does do , and what it does not do above all , has ever human happiness as its aim , and human well-being as its end , surely , we should be disposed to think , it must be highly

appreciated among men . And yet , strange to say , for it is a paradox per se , this friendly , useful , and beneficent fraternity , for it is all this and even more than this , has had countless attacks to meet , and numerous and bitter foes to contend with . It has been assailed by ridicule and by obloquy ,

it has been menaced by spiritual excommunications and temporal condemnation ; it has been for a time silenced , suppressed , and supposed to be extinguished under some unwise Governments in various parts of the world , and ; even at this hour , the opinions of the outer world seem

curiously intermingled , whether of admiration or detraction , approval or disapproval , sympathy or sarcasm , respect or ridicule . Why is this ? What has Freemasonry done to disentitle it to fair play and equitable treatment , to the consideration of the tolerant and the approbation of the just ? The

truth is , and we will say it all at once , and once for all , the divided state of public opinion is due to the perseverance of malignant calumny , originally set on foot by the Jesuits and tho Ultramontane party in the Church of Rome . It is

more than possible , indeed , we think , and on no li ght evidence , that the Jesuits , with their worldly acumen , sought at one time to make use of the secret organization of Freemasonry to further their own political or religious views . According to the strict ideas of some Roman Catholic

writers there have not been a few '' heretics " even amongst the Jesuits themselves , and it is just possible that towards the end of the last century , for instance , when all society and all authority weie decomposed and decomposing , that astute and secret sodality may have thought

that they could turn Freemasonry to their own aims and their cwn benefit . But if so , this endeavour did not last long , and the earliest condemnation of Freemasonry , in 173 S , procured by the Jesuits , probably represents their official , and latest , and deliberate views on the subject .

Hence , their great object always has been to confound Freemasonry with revolution , and to repiesent FYeemasonry as a destructive secret political society . In the earliest Bull of Clement , indeed , another ground is taken , namely , the pernicious fact that Roman Catholics and

Protestants meet together—horrible act!—but the uniform tenor of all subsequent Roman Catholic anathemata and allocutions , and Bulls and Briefs , has been to confound Freemasonry with Fenianism , and the Carbonari , and other secret political societies , or rather to put them all , as we

say , "in a lump together on one level . In Great Britain , America , and the Canadas , and Germany , Sweden , Denmark , and Holland , any such charge was quite unfounded , as many Roman Catholics know and admitthough we are obliged in fairness to confess that

in Germany latterly some unwise individual utterances have been heard , proclaiming , with much egotism , that Freemasonry was simply an opposition to Roman Catholicism—a very great mistake in every respect . Still the old slander has been handed on , and it has even grown in

younger and unskilful hands , until Freemasons are accused of all revolutions , of king-murder , of violence , turbulence , anarchy ; of being the hidden cause cf all the national tumults of past years or to-day . Anything more ridiculous or more false as a matter of history never has been promulgated on fallible or even infallible

authority . With the" Illuminati , " for instance , with whom Freemasons have been often , and still are , confounded by Roman Catholic authorities , they have had nothing whatever to do in any measure . The Illuminati were founded by Wcisnaupt , a Roman Catholic and a Jesuit , on the system of Freemasonry , it is true , he being a Freemason , though not when , it is curious to

Freemasonry At Home.

note , he founded his Order , and it is more than doubtful whether in what he did he was not following the ' dicta " of countless leading Jesuit teachers , by whom revolution and king killing , and disobedience to rational laws , and anarchicinl and anti-social principles , have been openly

expressed and carefully manipulated . Thus the prejudice , such as it is , lingering against Freemasonry in the world , rests , as such prejudices mostly do , on open or anonymous slander , and may well at once be dismissed for ever by the thoughtful , the studious , and the equitable . If

any one asks of us to-day " what is Freemasonry , and what does it do r " we reply at once " Si quccris circumspicc . " Tlv ^ re is no human society in Great Britain which , with limited numbers and not very wealthy members , is doing

as much as Freemasonry does do for genuine charity , for the mitigation of the sorrows , the woes , the trials of humanity , for lightening the burdens of this earthly pilgrimage , in reverence for God and in love for man . And here we slop to-day .

Masonic Literature.

MASONIC LITERATURE .

Often as we use these words , and often as wc have used them in the Freemason , we never touch upon the subject without some misgiving and much reluctance , and the reason is obvious . Our worthy brethren , excellent in many ways and capacities , zealous , earnest , undaunted , and

untiring , do not yet quite see , for some reason or other , the need , utility , and advantage of Masonic literature—in itself and by itself—whether for themselves in particular , or Freemasonry in general . True it is that there is Masonic literature , and we will add " and Masonic literature , " and ,

that , despite apathy and forgetfulness , " caterers " are still to be fouud to ' supply a " pabulum " for the Masonic mind , regularly , carefully , and effectively . But yet , alas ! what is the record and result of most Masonic literary ventures , but this—loss , failure , breaking down ? In both

hemispheres the cry is " still they come , ' and above all , " still they fail . " Goodly argosies , well freighted too , founder in the great ocean of Masonic indifference , and are heard of no more . Pale ghosts of departed " weeklies " and " serials "

seem to haunt us still , reminding us that they have been once amongst us in the " body , " but are now " disembodied " with a vengeance . And why is this , we repeat once more ? We fear there is but one answer—our Masonic public wants " educating , " not , indeed , in the vulgar necessities cf the three " R . ' s , " but as to the high

importance and value , and light imparted by " Masonic literature . " As a rule , we fear , the less profound artistic and resthetic level of Masonic literature is preferred , which deals with the " menu" and the " songs , " which sets up elaborate "summonses" and deftl y decorated invitations as the " summum bonum "

of Masonic literary taste and power . If a few of the old "stock books" are sought for anil read , that is all , and , despite the changes of time , the advance of criticism , and the discoveries of archaeology , wc fear the majority of our Order remain perpetually indifferent to the lucubrations of the Masonic antiquarian , or the pages of the

Masonic histori an . Of course wc are not insensible to the pre valence of the old Masonic hostility to all publications , and though we admit , promptly , that there may be over publication , we have yet to learn why Freemasonry , so rich in its legends and its traditions , its quaint customs , and its remarkable symbolism , is to be without a literature at all , and to be alone in the world ,

so to say , without any exposition either of it esoteric tokens or its esoteric formulae . We trust sincerely that better days are yet in store for Masonic literature , and that the many thousand works , not all of course of the same value , which have been issued by Masonic writers since J / 3 . 3 > may be more studied by the " coining

Freemasons' than they have been , we apprehend , by their worthy predecessors . Our publisher has lately issued two literary efforts which call for the thanks of Masonic students , and the support or intelligent and reading Masons , and deserve a place in all lodge libraries , be these many or be these few . The one is a catalogue of Masonic books , which will be excessivel y useful to Masonic col-