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NOTICE .

Many complaints having been received of the difficulty experienced in procuring thc Freemason in thc West-end , thc publisher begs to append the following list , being a selected few of the appointed agents : — Black , H . J ., 47 , Great Quecn-strcct .

Jordan , G . W ., 169 , Strand . Kirby and Endean , 190 , Oxford-street . Nash and Tcuten , Savilc Place , Conduit-street . Phillips , D ., 67 , Great Portland-street . Utting , Wm ., 2 , Palsgrave-placc , Strand , And at W . II . Smith and Son ' s bookstalls .

To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The Freemason is a sixteen page weekly newspaper , price 2 d . It is published every Friday morning , and contains the most important and useful information relating to Freemasonry in eveiy degree Annual subscription in the United Kingdom , Post free , 10 / . Brethren in foreign parts , wishing to have this newspaper sent them regularly from the office of publication , should , in sending their remittances , add te , thc 2 d . per week the postage on 20 Z .

n : wspapcrs . Thc Freemason may be procured through any newsagent in thc United Kingdom by giving ( if needed ) the publisher ' s address , 198 , Fleet-st . All communications , correspondence , reports , & c , must be addressed to thc Editor . Advertisements , change in address , complaints of difficulties in procuring Freemason , & c , to thc Publisher , 198 , Flect-st ., London , E . C .

To Advertisers.

TO ADVERTISERS .

The Freemason has a large circulation in all parts of he Globe , its advantages as an advertising medium can herefore scarcely be overrated . For terms , position , & c , apply to GEOIIGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-st .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in thc Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 12 o ' clock on Wednesday morning . Careful attention will be paid to all MSS . entrusted to the Editor , but he cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by stamp directed covers .

FOUNDERS . —Is there such a thing known in Freemasonry as a founder or founders of alodge?—ENQUIRER . [ There is no provision for any such person or persons in the Book of Constitutions . But Masonic custom , which is a law to our lodges in many tilings , permits and encourages the 1 reservation of a name or names in our lodge records as the founder or the founders of thc lodge . The founders , properly speaking , arc thc names recited in the warrant . ]

ERRATA . — "Minutes and their confirmation" ( p . 362 col . 3 ) , fines 6 and 7 , for " a true qualification or description of the proper degree " read— " a term qualifying or descriptive of the proper day . " Line 31 , for " cause of " read "course as . " The following stand over : — " An absent W . M ., " Bro . George Burgess , The P . G . S , Hants , J . Smith .

Birhts, Marriages And Deaths.

Birhts , Marriages and Deaths .

MARRIAGE . COPE—BROCK . —On August 12 th , at the church of St . John the Evangelist , Isle of Guernsey , by thc father of the bride , assisted by thc Rev . Dallas O . I larington , B . A ., and the Rev . H . Castle Floud , B . A ., vicar of All Saints ' , Alton , Hants , the Rev . Alfred Davies Cope , M . A ., Wadham College , Oxford , Headmaster of the Andover Grammar School , to Marion Olivia ( Minnie ) , daughter of thc Rev . T . Brock , M . A ., vicar of St . John ' s .

DEATH . WIIITAKF . H . —On the 12 th inst ., Rebecca Ann Charnock , wife of Bro . Frederick Whitaker , P . M ., P . P . J . G . D , West York , of St . John ' s Halifax , aged 38 .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , AUG . 21 , 1875 .

Irish Masonic Orphan Boys' School.

IRISH MASONIC ORPHAN BOYS ' SCHOOL .

We have to thank Bro . J . H . Neilson for the seventh annual report of this valuable little institution , which we have read with all interest . We are glad to note , as in its kindred and sister charity , a prosperous balance sheet . The whole

receipts for the year amounted to s £ 2 , $ 2 i 4 s . 5 d ., which is made up in the following manner : — Balance from last account , £$ 67 6 s . j ; d .: donations , ac ? 556 os . od . j annual subscriptions from brethren , i £ 6 oo 10 s . 6 d . ; and from lodges , £ \ oi is . od .: collections ,, ^ 4 19 s . 6 d . : bequest

Irish Masonic Orphan Boys' School.

from Lord Kingston , 4 ^ 500 os . od . ; dividends on stock , . gejiepi 18 s . od . ; in all 5 ^ 2 , 322 4 s . 5 d . Tlie expenditure is as follows : —Maintenance , education , and clothing of pupils , e ^ Sio os . od . ; outfits and extra clothing , £ § 10 13 s . pd . ; expences , s € iog os . <; d . •invested , S £ QQ 4 . 10 s . od .

balance in bank , s 8 zg 6 16 s . 6 d . The institution has ^ 7 , 789 12 s . id . of invested capital . There are now twenty-one elected orphans , all under the care of Bro . the Rev . S . S . Skeen , at Adelaide Hall , Merrien , and one , George Macartney , who , for special reasons , is educated and taken care of

elsewhere . The boys have passed an examination before some very able examiners , the Rev . Professor Haughton , F . T . C . D . ; Rev . S . S . Gray , F . T . C . D . ; Hugh Holmes , George V . Hart , and the Rev . B . Gibson , who have all reported most favourably of the education which tlie boys have

been receiving , and of their attainments in the several branches of study in which they were examined . The committee are strongly of opinion , in which we heartily concur , that despite this satisfactory state of things financially , such a position does not after all in any way

represent the amount which might be expected would have been subscribed by the Order in Ireland , prosperous as it is , to carry on this good work . Like the committee , however , we trust " that in time , " we hope also like them , " not far distant , " this posture of affairs may be

remedied , and that all Irish Freemasons will unite in one effort to render assistance to the orphans of their deceased brethren , and make the Irish Masonic Orphan Boys' School a credit to the Order . We also have the same pleasant anticipation , and

feel sure that future enlarged usefulness and increased means of doing good await the managers of this needful and excellent institution . We thank Bro . Neilson for calling our attention to the subject .

Sermons Against Freemasonry.

SERMONS AGAINST FREEMASONRY .

By a statement published in another column it will be seen that , not content with denouncing and excommunicating Freemasons , some foolish persons are preaching against Freemasonry . We have heard of this recently in America , and even in Great Britain , though we cannot fancy a

greater waste of a preacher ' s time , and a more deplorable infliction on a suffering congregation . Still , such is the energy of fanaticism when once it is roused , that it will lose no opportunity of imparting its own burning ideas and suggestions to others . We do not deny that preachers may , in the

exercise of the liberty of the pulpit and of the ministry , dilate upon such a subject—we concede fully the right abstractedly ; practically , the exercise of it , as an act either of duty or wisdom , is more than doubtful . A true preacher has many more important matters to address his

congregation upon , and we are inclined to think that he must be either a very weak or a very perverse person who wastes his golden season of pulpit ministration b y denouncing our harmless , loyal , and religious order . It seems that a Father Lafont , at Calcutta , has been drawing

large congregations b y denouncing the Freemasons . But as he could not tell his audience anything new , it did not , to use a slang phrase of the day , " rub in well . " Our readers will be glad to know , on the authority of the editor of the " Masonic Herald " of Calcutta , that the kind

father ' s attempt was , in fact , a "fiasco . " This is what he says : — " Father E . Lafont , of Calcutta , desirous of gaining popularity among his flock , has thought proper to attack Freemasonry , and so much had he to say about it , that he had set aside three Sundays to prove that Freemasonry

is ' eminently un-Chnstian and impious . Ihe preacher candidly acknowledged at the commencement of his tirade that he knew something of Freemasonry , but not everything , and the little that he knew he picked up from a spurious ritual . Father Lafont has evidently received his inspiration from " The Irish

Ecclesiastical Record " for April , published under the sanction of Cardinal Cullen , which contains an attack on Freemasonry ; for he quotes the very words of the "Irish Record , " that there are no less than eight millions of Freemasons in the world , of which number only five hundred thousand are active members ; while the truth is that there arc about one million of active members , and

Sermons Against Freemasonry.

about as many more unaffiliated . Father Lafont has certainly failed . It was too comprehensive for him to have grappled with . Apart from a legal or moral view of the question , logically and historically , the failure has been signal . This we expected at the beginning when we read his

first sermon—Ex pede Herculem—and the end has verified that expectation . Better if he had not entered the arena than to have entered it to expose his weakness rather than exhibit his strength ; since he has proved no point and effected no purpose . His ' labour of love ' has

indeed been ' love s labour lost . ' " Let us all rejoice . If these reverend assailants of Freemasonry want to preach against our Order let them borrow the old sermon in the British Museum , " Freemasonry , the Way to Hell , " as we are quite sure they can say nothing new or

better , and the fanaticism of the past may , perhaps , be somewhat more reasoning , it cannot be less logical or offensive , than the blatant vulgarity of the intolerant of various so-called religious bodies in respect of Freemasonry at the present hour . But such attacks do Freemasonry no harm ; they only recoil on its maligners .

"The Union Review."

"THE UNION REVIEW . "

The ' Union Review ' is an Anglican Ritualistic Magazine , has reached its 73 rd number , and is published by John H . Batty , 2 , Bedfordstreet , Strand , also the publisher of the "Church Herald , " from which we quoted last week . This review contains in its Augustnumberan articleon

Freemasonry , like its contemporary the " Church Herald , " highly incriminative and utterly unjust . The article professes to review a work originally published in Germany , anonymously it is said , in 1873 , but now translated into English , and issued by Burns , Oates , and Co ., Roman

Catholic booksellers , this year . The original work was termed " The SecretWarfare of Freemasonry against Church and State , " and as it was unknown to us previously , we shall , when we have duly perused it , take the liberty of calling our readers' attention to it again . The principal

charges brought by the writer in the " Union Review " against Freemasonry are as follows , serious enough if seriously made . 1 st . That its secrecy and alleged secret obligations are proofs of concealed evil of some kind , and the writer actually brings the well known Louis Blanc

to strengthen his own argument . Happy and holy alliance ! One would have thought , prima facie , that the writer had heard of " unnatural coalitions , " but no , the good man is most impressive with his new and strange ally . It would

be amusing , were it not saddening to the thoughtful mind , to observe how greedily Ultramontane and ritualistic writers , to-day , universally catch at any " straws " to prop up a desperate cause , and make use of allies of whom Cardinal

Wiseman would have been ashamed , and whom no true son of the Church of England would own . We say nothing against Bro . Louis Blanc , as his views are his own , but it is too ridiculous for a ritualistic controversialist to quote him on a subject of which , to speak frankly , he knows

but very little . Bro . Caubet has already shewn that his views of Freemasonry are altogether erroneous and unreliable . Bro . Louis Blanc will , however , be astonished , we feel sure , to find himself in such peculiar company . The second charge is indifference to Christian Truth , which

charge is founded on Anderson ' s Constitutions , and on the speeches of one or two German brethren , H . C . F . Krause and Dr . Herz . Tlie argument is absolutely beneath notice , just as the statement hardly deserves a moment ' s consideration . It is too ridiculous . The third

charge is that of discrediting the principles of Christianity by the careful avoidance of all Christian symbols . This charge is supported by the fervid oration of a Hebrew brother at Frankfort-on-the-Maine . But we in Eng land know that a class of writers , with Oliver at their

head , has always existed , and always will exist , which finds Christian teaching in many symbols , and Christian doctrines in many portions oj our oral ritual . The two views of the Universal School and the Christian School of Freemasonry are both clearly within its comprehensive and tolerant limits , and they will long so remain , as