To Our Readers.

TO OUR READERS .

The F REEMASON 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 , the Continent , & c . ViaBrindisi . Twelve Months ios . 6 d . 12 s . od . 17 s . 4 d . Six „ 5 « - 3 d . 6 s . 6 d . 8 s . 8 d . Three „ 2 s . 8 d . 3 s . 3 d . 4 s- od . Subscriptions may be paid for in stamps , but Post Office Orders or Cheques are preferred , the former payable

° 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 OT application to the Publisher , 198 , Fleet-street , London .

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IMPORTANT NOTICE . COLONIAL and F OREIGN 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 .

NOTICE . To prevent delay or miscarriage , it is particularly requested that ALL communications for the FREEMASON , may be addressed to the Office , ro 8 , Fleet-street , London .

TO ADVERTISERS . The FnEKMAsoN 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 , hy 12 o ' clock on "Wednesdays .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

Bro . Finders letter received—in our next . Reciprocal Good Wishes for Christmas . Freemasonry in Jamaica under consideration . EDWARB SCOTT . —We must have more particulars and references . BOOKS , & c , RECEIVED . "Angels and Men , " by Bro . Wellen Smith .

Births , Marriages And Deaths.

Births , Marriages and Deaths .

[ The charge is 2 S . 6 d . for announcements , not exceed ing four lines , under this heading . ]

BIRTHS . BuciiAN . —On the 17 th inst ., at the Manor House , Redbridge , Hants , the wife of Capt . H . Philip Buchan , Volunteer Engineers , of a daughter . COOPER . —On the 14 th inst ., at Onslow-gardens , the wife

of W . C . Cooper , of a son . NICHOLSON . —On the 9 th inst ., at Milverton , Leamington , the wife of the Rev . A . Nicholson , LL . D ., of a daughter . THOMSON . —On the 16 th inst ., at Newbank , Trinity-road , Edinburgh , Mrs . A . Thomson , of a son .

MARRIAGE . CLARKE—HUTCHINSON . —On the 19 th inst ., at St . Dunstan's , Fleet-street , by the Rev . W . F . Sims , Vicar of Christ Church , Lee , Edward Francis Channing , second son of James P . Clarke , Esq ., Headington , Oxford , to Mary Hermana , daughter of Thomas Hutchinson , Esq ., Leith , N . B .

DEATHS . Fox . —On the 1 st inst ., at Wood-vale , Lordship lane Forest-hill , T . L . Fox , of Her Majesty ' s Stationery Office , aged 53 . MVATT . —On the 14 th inst ., at Manor Farm , Uppci

Lewisham-road , Wm , Myatt , aged 47 . PETTY . —On the nth inst ., at Cadiz , of rapid consumption , Antonia Maria , the beloved eldest daughter of Geo . Petty , Esq ., merchant of that city , sincerely lamented by all who knew her , aged 24 years .

Contents.

CONTENTS .

A Christmas Greeting 555 The Progress of Time 555 Christmas 5 S Masonic Thoughts for Christmas 1 S 77 SS Peace on Earth Good Will to Man 557 Our St . John ' s 557 ' •Lc Monde Maconnique" ; " TheScottish Freemason" and "The Freemason" $ 57 The Installation Engraving 558 Communique 55 $ CORRESPONDENCE : —

The Grand Orient ol trance 55 » Past Master ' s jewels v ........ $$ 8 Apollo University Lodge 558 A Correction $ 58 Swedenborgian Rite 558 Lodge of Benevolence 5 $ 8 Obituary $$ 8 The Universality of Masonry and belief in God 559 saiu 33

wen * y The Masonic Hall in Dublin 55 ° Tolerance of Masonry 5 00 Knight Templar Notes So Address at the dedication of a Monument in America S 01 Truth Regnant S Look to the future $ 62 Fruits of Freemasonry 5 ° *

The Lodge 5 ° 3 Non-reading Masons $ 0 J A Lodge of Sorrow in America 5 ^ 3 The Grand Orient of France $ 64 Bro . D . MurrayJLyon Grand Secretary Grand Lodge of Scotland 564 POITRV .-

—Christmas $ 64 The Angel of Mercy ... $ 64 The Mason ' s Jewels $ 64 The Christmas Tree $ 64 The Grasp of Friendship ' s Hand J 64

Reviews 5 ° 5 A change of Suits 5 ° 5 An Accomodating Witness 56 $ What happened at a Christmas Gathering 5 66 Vaticaism in a New Rite 5 ° ) Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania 56 7 Good Thoughts 568

The Paris Exhibition of 1878 Jos Notes on Art 5 6 9 The Grand Orient of France 5 6 9 Provincial Grand Lodge of North Wales and Shropshire $ 70 REPORTS OP MASUNIC MEETINGS : — Craft Masonry 5 ) ° Royal Arch 574

marK masonry £ 74 Red Cross of Constantine 575 Concerning Ereemasonry and its Secrets 575 The Order of the Temple 576 Hannah Irwin Israel 57 ° What is Chivalry ? S 76 Masonic and General Tidings 577 Lodge Meetings for Next Week 578 Advertisements i . ii . Hi . ix . v . vi . vii . viii .

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TheFreemason, SATURDAY , DECEMBER 22 , 1877 .

A Christmas Greeting.

A CHRISTMAS GREETING .

With this Christmas season of 1877 , Publisher and Editor wish to greet all their many kind readers , contributors and friends . They have to express to them once again their deep sense and heartfelt appreciation of a sympathy which has never faltered , and of a good-will which

has never grown cold . Never at any time in its interesting and successful career has the Freemason been so cheered with the voice of popular approval and the prestige of Masonic confidence as in the last twelve eventful months , and it is with no ordinary emotions of thankful

congratulation that as Christmas once more draws near , Publisher and Editor beg to offer their genuine Masonic Christmas greeting to their numerous and increasing patrons . May this festive genial Season be to all for whom the Freemason is published and to whom it appeals

in Masonic loyalty and " entente cordiale , " an unmixed epoch of home happiness and of family union . May all of good , of peace , of contentment , of harmony , welcome its approach , and witness its departure . If time as it passes brings some souvenirs of missing friends , if

Christmas as it hails us seems to point to vacant chairs , at the goodly board ; if voices hushed , appear to mingle with the sounds we raise , and shades dear and spiritual appear to linger wistfully with us all still , yet our Christmas rejoicing season seems once more to bid us all "God

speed" on our journey of life . As we write to-day the Christmas holiday is summoning all classes to come together for a few brief moments of pleasant intercourse and merry gathering . Age is once more to look benignly on the follies of youth , and youth is to cheer the incipent winter of old age . As poor Stanislas , the last King of

Poland , once said at a similar season , about 100 years ago , as the great Lord Malmesbury records , " e ' est si doiix . ' de se tromper quelquefois , "—it is so sweet to deceive ourselves , sometimes . So let us midst the hearty welcome which Christmas brings , and the innocent rejoicing of friends and families , let us , we say

A Christmas Greeting.

try to forget for a few short moments the care ; which worry us and the anxieties which deprers us . If life is made up for us all of what , the Bishop of Lincoln properly calls " trivialities , " if " les petites miseres de la vie humaine , " the little miseries of human life—often

greatly affect us all altke , let us welcome Christmas as a happy annual reminder , that not only for all these things there is an end , but that even now we may well forget them one and all amid that happiness of the heart , and sympathetic union which the family gathering offers ,

which the meeting of friends and relatives and children supplies . In how many happy homes of England on Christmas Day will the sanctities of family life receive a fresh vitality and blessing , as for once during the twelve months , all assemble round the old "hearth stone" or

congregate under the dear paternal roof . The laughter of the innocent and the young , tht pleasant associations of early life , the rejoicing activity of the gay and the goutless , will give strength to the resolutions of maturity , and quicken the aspirations of old age . Many are

the families whose grandfathers and grandmothers live again in the smiles and winning ways of their grandchildren , whose parents smile approvingly on the promises of goodness and grace in their children , and where all can find sympathy , and not a few

encouragement , from the unbought merriment of the true , the tender , and the trusting . Hail then , oh , Christmastide , which wouldst renew for many of our toiling race the pleasantest dreams and memories and

companionships of time ! May all of true happiness and simple pleasure attend all our kind readers and friends in their Christmas holidays , and we trust that they will deign to receive to-day . once more in all the genuineness of outspoken sincerity , the heartfelt wish from these humble

pages of the Freemason , that theirs may be indeed a very happy Christmas to them and theirs .

The Progress Of Time.

THE PROGRESS OF TIME .

Tt is an old , — very old , saying , perhaps among the oldest , " Tempus fugit , " but it has not yet lost one jot of its reality . As year succeeds to year in the long calendar of time as the young year grows old and the old year bids us farewell , we feel , if we feel anything at all , how evanescent

are Jits fairest gifts , how short-lived its fondest dreams . Life and time come and go , for us all , day by day , year by year , and we are so busy , so reckless , and so indifferent , that we hardly note their arrival or heed their departure . We look back to day , perhaps through the dim vista of a

long avenue of years . How strange it seems to us to recall and remember the years , the scenes , the friends of " long ago . We who are now old and hurrying down the decline of life , were once hale and strong , and active , and for us youth had its gay flowers , its soft songsand its happy

heartsease . But we have seen life gradually leave us and slipping from beneath our feet , and here we are looking on to-day in fading hours to the inevitable and the eventual ! For us no day dreams are longer possible ; for us no anticipations are any further probable . We have outlived life and trust , and fancy and fondness , and zeal and

strength } and Time , if it lays its hand gently upon us , yet tells us unmistakeably that ere long it must recall from us its gifts and its graces , its joy and its sorrows , yes , its smiles and its tears . For us the present is leaving us , the future stands out before us , if like a bank of cloud on the horizon at sea , yet clear and certain , definite and distinct . The true Freemason needs

no such teaching , however , it is the moral symbolism of all our lodge lore , if only we will but attend to it . But as profession and practice are two very different things we think it well to rub up the memories of our good brethren . We enter the lodge as we do life , and

we encounter shocks and trials , and illumination and enlightenment , as onward we go . further we progress . We take our degrees all * . , in the school of Masonry , and in the academe of life , we are full of trust and vigour and vitality of body and mind . We make us fast friends , we form us pleasant companionships ,