-
Articles/Ads
Article A MENACE. ← Page 3 of 3 Article A MENACE. Page 3 of 3 Article OUR NON-ACCEPTANCE OF THE MASTER'S CHAIR. Page 1 of 1 Article MEMORANDUM AS REGARDS THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE. Page 1 of 2 Article MEMORANDUM AS REGARDS THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Menace.
formula recording the closing which prevailed for many years . The lodge appeared at once to take root , for before the warrant arrived meetings were held fortnightly , and at that of February v 5 th , there were proposed , balloted for , entered , and passed two brethren into the First and Second Degrees . It is of interest to note that among the papers Slade calledevidentl
of the late Bro . , the lodge was — y from some authority he had seen—the Holy Trinity , No . j j ^ , and Bro . Stebbing remarks on this " nor can the designation be discarded from certain considerations that may present themselves , as many of the prayers and invocations in use at the time were specially of a Christian character . " C . J . P .
KENNING'S CYCLOPAEDIA . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Will you kindly let us know in your next issue the date on which we can expect the Cyclopaedia ? We had hoped to have it in our hands a month ago ,
and looking forward to a great treat in the perusal , are naturally disappointed . Fraternally yours , AN IRISH SUBSCRIBER . £ Not only our Irish correspondent hut a very large number of our readers will no doubt be much pleased to learn that the book is at last ready . No time will be lost in despatching copies to the original subscribers . —ED . ]
HOW THE WHOLE OF THE CANDIDATES FOR THE CHARITIES MAY BE PROVIDED FOR . To the Editor ofthe "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Here , my brethren , is a problem , the solution of which is as plain as ABC , and only wants moral honesty and fortitude on the part of the members to see
the wrong and condemn it , to recognise the right and pursue it to the end . " To consider the charities first and support them . " This is Masonry ; here rests the solution of the problem . A case has recently come under my notice where £ 230 has been spent on the publican and £ 4 on the charities . I ask , is not this a sad state of things ? cj times as much
to support a traffic that is ruining the trade and commerce of the country ( upon which the fabulous sum of "a million sterling per day " is spent in the United Kingdom ) * , and yet we recognise Masonry as based upon the purest principles of piety and virtue . I ask , is it not time that the brethren , actuated by honourable and religious motives , should seek to reform this
terrible abuse , by which so many hundreds of thousands of the funds of the lodges are prostituted to purposes as opposed to the sublime principles of Masonry as darkness to light . ' Brothers you are in wealthy circumstances to-day , tomorrow you may lose , your appointment , however lucrative , through indiscretion or enemies , your bank may
break , your business fail , your life may be prematurely taken , and your widow , fatherless children , or orphans may be left on a cold world . Are not these natural questions and serious ones ? A case apropos is before the charities now . The brother whose health is his capital , and who moves in a humble sphere , will plainly see that he stands on
the edge of the precipice close to penury , and it behoves him to be provident . I would say to him—seek to know the amount last year spent on refreshmi-nts and on the charities—you know not what day may make your wife a widow . Will the publican whose interests you may have been upholding in preference to the charities feed your fatherless children ?
Of course my letter will be looked upon with disfavour by one class , but I feel assured the honest brother who looks to the interests of the charities will appreciate my motive , and I feel I am' discharging a conscientious duty to God , the Craft , the charities , and by this protest , which . I do with as much affection as earnestness . Well , says a good brother , what would Bro . Darley have
us do ? Let the brethren decide to meet every legitimate case , which may be done with the greatest ease , and by that means they will establish a precedent to meet their own cases should misfortune overtake them or theirs . I feel perfectly satisfied that the Secretaries of the charities will be only too pleased to put their heads
together and ascertain the amount necessary . The Grand Lodge Register will show lodges and the number in each , and it will be an easy matter for them to divide the amount needed , sending a return to every lodge . It then rests with the lodges to vote the amount required for the charities from the surplus lodge funds . I need not say a word more , seeing the case is so
simple 5 it is not one of taxing the pocket of any one , but of limiting the refreshments to the requirements of the charities . I have been , looking over the list of subscribers and donors , and in the name of God and Providence I shall not appeal in vain to the brethren not to throw away the funds of their lodges on bacchanalianism , their own personal ruin ,
and in reckless indifference to the interests of their families , whilst the mest munificer . t sumsare flowing so spontaneously rom her Most Gracious Majtsty , His Royal Highness the Grand Master , and a numerous retinue of illustrious and benevolent personages and brethren . Surely , whilst God is thus helping us we ought to help ourselves .
The Grand Officers , the Provincial Grand Officers , the clergy , and all who wish to reform the abuses and uphold the prestige and high character of Masonry , will not fail , I am sure to use their influence to discountenance a ruinous vice , to lay the axe at the root of improvidence and promote the eit rcise of that heaven-born charity which blesses him that gives as well as him that receives , and has the approbation of heaven and earth .
A Menace.
Brethren , the adoption of the course I commend to you will help to relieve your anxiety about us in your last hours , and your reflection shall be sweet of having left the world better than you found it . For the honour of the Most High , for the good of those
excellent institutions , and the interest of those most near and dear to you , be united , be guardedagainst the enemies of your homes and the Craft , persevere in that which you know to be right , and may God reward you . Yours fraternally , - W . DARLEY .
Our Non-Acceptance Of The Master's Chair.
OUR NON-ACCEPTANCE OF THE MASTER'S CHAIR .
BY BRO . HUBERT . Chaine d'Uivon for February , Page 33 . There are duties sometimes painful to fulfil , but which we are bound nevertheless to perform . Such is the case
with regard to myself , and in which the unanimous reelection to the office of W . M . in the Lodge Temple des Amis de l'Honneur Francais has placed me . As such I had to sign the following declaration "To vow to obey the Masonic Constitution , and the Laws and General Regulations of the Order , " this without
restricor reserve . As , the declaration signed , the office accepted , I had to watch over its observance without restriction and reserve . J 5 ut I was one who did not wish to accept "jVceu . IX , " fearing that this was a restriction of the fertile principles large in morality and toleration , taught and practised in all time by all Mas . inic bodies , and without which there is
no Masonry . I am quite aware that the best assurances are given on this subject , I am quite aware , and I like to believe that it is true , that such will remain true , that the modification introduced into Article 1 of the Masonic Constitutions of the Grand Orie . it of France does not change anything of the ancient condition of affairs , that the adoption of " Vceu
IX . " has not had for the object to drive God out of the lodges , and will never remove from the head of documents and official letters emanating from the Grand Orient of France— " A la Gl . du Gr . Arch , de l'Univers . But so formal an affirmation does not result from the new Article 1 of our Constitution—for one can easily derive from the words whicli form the said Article an
altogether different sense to that I have just explained . It might suffice that the event might produce a president who is not Bro . St . Jean , who , if it was possible that he could be eternal at that post would re-assure and tranquillize all consciences . But there is no necessity for a new " vceu , " coming from the initiative of a Mason to complete the change which has taken place for some
years in trance , in the conception of the Masonic Theory . One cannct deny , in fact , that the breach is open , and that there only needs one step to fall entirely into " negation , " and should we not have been there already , had it not been for the amendment proposed by Bro . St . Jean , and happily supported by the W . M . of the Lodge of
Reconnaissance , Bro . Cauzard—and thanks also to the intervention above , all voted by the Couvent of 1872 ? It is necessary to see and accept the facts , such as they are . Therefore , this situation leaves something to desire . It would be , perhaps , imprudent to engage oneself without having guarantees . It is not that I doubt the sentiments of those who form our " Conseil de l ' ordre . " I
know them all ; I esteem them all ; and many are my best friends among those charged with the interpretation and direction at this very hour in our Masonry of the Grand Orient . They are there to-day ? Who can assure me of to morrow ? ? ? There would then remain nothing but Article 1 of the Constitution of which as I have said we
can explain the text , without any violence to it , differently from the way in which the present admir . istration explains it . A commission has been named to place our rituals in accord with the letter and the spirit of the modified Constitution . I hope that the Masons honoured with that labour of revision , will honour themselves by bringing into the new text of our rituals that which can
reassure all consciences and hinder the Grand Orient from falling into the " ruck " of a sect . Such are the considerations which have induced me not to accept the Master ' s chair , and to take up a position of waiting . When the hour to definitely pronounce
has arrived , when I have seen what our new rituals teach and maintain , nothing will hinder me in the position I ought to take up , in order to remain abtolutely in the respect of my own liberty of conscience , and of the idea what I form of Freemasonry . HUBERT .
Memorandum As Regards The Present Position Of The Grand Orient Of France.
MEMORANDUM AS REGARDS THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .
1 . In order to ascertain what is the exact bearing of the recent change in the Constitutions of the French Grand Orient , it is necessary to advert to the precedent and coicomitant facts which have been attendant upon it .
2 . bo far back as 1865 , Bro . Massol , the founder of the " Morale lndependante , " and a politician of extreme views , proposed in the French Grand Orient the almost identical resolution which has recently been carried . This resolution was then rejected by 170 to 40 . This a point to be noted .
The " Morale lndependante , " as he propounded it , consists merely in ignoring the need and utility of all reli gion qua a ' Religio " to man , in disavowing alike Revelation and a Personal God . It throws us back on an "individual perception of morality- " on nihilhism in life , on total annihilation in death . With such views
Memorandum As Regards The Present Position Of The Grand Orient Of France.
as these he commenced a crusade , and which dates even from before 1865 , against the existing French Masonic formularies , which militated entirely with such peculiar teaching . But as he was a man of shrewdness , he founel it necessary , to use his own words , to take " one step at a time , " and " not to attempt to do all at once . " He accordingly agitated , and succeeded in his
agitation , for the final removal of the Bible from the lodges , which he declared had " nothing to do with Freemasonry , " though the opposition to the Bible dates actually from an earlier period . 3 . But such was the position of French Freemasonry until September , 1877 , refusing to have the Bible in the ledge , though , at the same time , it avowed " Belief in
God and the immortality of the soul" in the constitutions . 4 . In September , 1877 , the removal of these words from the Constitutions was carried in the French Grand Orient by 138 votes to 76 , and a vague phrase was substituted , such expression of Universal Masonic Belief , in these words : — " Elle a pour principes la liberte absolue dc conscience et la solidarite humaine . Elle n ' exclut personne
pour ses croyances . " It must strike every one that such a change is both very grave and very great in every respect , and has been effected , to use the words of the Monde Maconnique , because the Grand Orient is coupable de vouloir ouvrir la portes de la Maconnerie , aux savants et philosophes qu ne reconnaissent pas I ' existence de Dieu . "
5 . This impetus to the movement for change , ( suspended for some years ) seems to ha ve been given by the initiation of Professor Littri ? , when the ritual had to be modified , and much of it left out , to meet his scruples in respect of admitting the acknowledgment of T . G . A . O . T . U . This act was protested against at the time by many French Masons . 6 . Thus it will be noted how the successive steps taken
by the Grand Orient of France are apparently portions of a programme , all culminating in one great result . The Bible has been removed , acknowledgment of T . G . A . O . T . U . has been suppressed , and a commission is sitting to modify the ritual , and bring it in accordance with this recent and regrettable change . What such modification must portend is only too patent . The "Vceu " for the removal
of the ascription " , A la gloire du Grand Architecte de l'Univers , " has been " pour le moment" withdrawn , though there is little doubt , but that Bro . Massol's proposals will eventually be carried out , as he said , " by patience and in time , " and that though that formula is not yet gone , it is destined in turn to disappear from French Freemasonry .
The able antagonist of Freemasonry , the Bishop of Orleans in his "Etude de la Francomaconnerie , " points out that French Freemasonry , according to his view "Deiste , " cannot stop there , and must become "Atheiste" and by a singular perversity , the French Grand Orient , apparently bent on accomplishing his unfriendly prophecy , has by the course it has thought proper to pursue , played into the
hands of the Ultramontane party in France , which has always sought unjustly to identify Freemasonry with revolution and irreligion , socialism and godlessness . 7 . If such has been one object of the change avowedly so , namely , the admission of those who do not believe in God , and if such has been the method by which it has been brought about , it is needful novv ' to consider , how
such an alteration is defended . Bro . Desmons , ( who is said to be a Protestant minister at Paris , ) as the reporter of . the commision , advocates the change , on the ground of " absolute toleration . " This argument stripped of all periphrasis appears to be this : — " Freemasonry is an humanitarian association , and separate from and above all religious institutions . 7
herefore , in the interests of pure and absolute toleration , we can no more admit the claim of Theism , than we can of Christianity , Judaism , Mohammedanism to dominate Freemasonry . We can have no dogmatic teaching of any kind . Freemasonry accepts all creeds , and as an acknowledgement of T . G . A . O . T . U . becomes , so to say , a lest and a stumbling block to the ' libre penseur , ' the ' positiviste , '
the ' Morale lndependante , ' it infringes the law of absolute toleration , and we cannot admit any longer in our Constitutions an acknowledgment of belief in God . Freemasonry has no moral right to exclude even the ' athcos , ' the philosopher , the ' savan' living without God in the world . " It is impossible to read Bro . Desmon's report , able as it is , without being deeply struck by the
scholastic subtlety and special pleading which characterise it , from first to last , and without also asking ourselves this question , " Does the writer positively believe in the hypertolerant views he propounds , which , if carried to a legitimate conclusion , must end in entire anarchy of religious credence , a positive negation of all belief among men ? " 8 . It is but fair to observe here , that it is not the mere
protrusion of " Belief in God" from the Constitutions which the English Grand Lodge can object to , but it is the apparently and deliberate negation of T . G . A . O . T . U ., which is henceforth to characterize French Freemasonry . We have , as it is well known , no acknowledgment of T . G . A . O . T . U . formally in the actual Book of Constitutions , but bound up with that wise code of laws are our
" Ancient Charges , " which may be said not improperly to represent the " Lex Inscripta , " the common law of Freemasonry . Had the Grand Orient simply removed a profession of faith from a code of legislation , there would noc have been any valid cause for complaint , but it has not done so , but it has simply suppressed the declaration altogether , and proposed to modify its ritual in accordance with such suppression .
9 . Two points therefore necessarily come in here for consideration , ( 1 ) What is henceforth the authoritative teaching of French Freemasonry ? and ( 2 ) how does that contrast with its earlier declarations ? What the expression " la solidaritd humaine" really means , it is somewhat difficult to say . The "International Society , " in some of its manifestoes . talks of " la solidarite des nations , " and the phrase "la solidarite humaine" appears to have , so
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Menace.
formula recording the closing which prevailed for many years . The lodge appeared at once to take root , for before the warrant arrived meetings were held fortnightly , and at that of February v 5 th , there were proposed , balloted for , entered , and passed two brethren into the First and Second Degrees . It is of interest to note that among the papers Slade calledevidentl
of the late Bro . , the lodge was — y from some authority he had seen—the Holy Trinity , No . j j ^ , and Bro . Stebbing remarks on this " nor can the designation be discarded from certain considerations that may present themselves , as many of the prayers and invocations in use at the time were specially of a Christian character . " C . J . P .
KENNING'S CYCLOPAEDIA . To the Editor of the " Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Will you kindly let us know in your next issue the date on which we can expect the Cyclopaedia ? We had hoped to have it in our hands a month ago ,
and looking forward to a great treat in the perusal , are naturally disappointed . Fraternally yours , AN IRISH SUBSCRIBER . £ Not only our Irish correspondent hut a very large number of our readers will no doubt be much pleased to learn that the book is at last ready . No time will be lost in despatching copies to the original subscribers . —ED . ]
HOW THE WHOLE OF THE CANDIDATES FOR THE CHARITIES MAY BE PROVIDED FOR . To the Editor ofthe "Freemason . " Dear Sir and Brother , Here , my brethren , is a problem , the solution of which is as plain as ABC , and only wants moral honesty and fortitude on the part of the members to see
the wrong and condemn it , to recognise the right and pursue it to the end . " To consider the charities first and support them . " This is Masonry ; here rests the solution of the problem . A case has recently come under my notice where £ 230 has been spent on the publican and £ 4 on the charities . I ask , is not this a sad state of things ? cj times as much
to support a traffic that is ruining the trade and commerce of the country ( upon which the fabulous sum of "a million sterling per day " is spent in the United Kingdom ) * , and yet we recognise Masonry as based upon the purest principles of piety and virtue . I ask , is it not time that the brethren , actuated by honourable and religious motives , should seek to reform this
terrible abuse , by which so many hundreds of thousands of the funds of the lodges are prostituted to purposes as opposed to the sublime principles of Masonry as darkness to light . ' Brothers you are in wealthy circumstances to-day , tomorrow you may lose , your appointment , however lucrative , through indiscretion or enemies , your bank may
break , your business fail , your life may be prematurely taken , and your widow , fatherless children , or orphans may be left on a cold world . Are not these natural questions and serious ones ? A case apropos is before the charities now . The brother whose health is his capital , and who moves in a humble sphere , will plainly see that he stands on
the edge of the precipice close to penury , and it behoves him to be provident . I would say to him—seek to know the amount last year spent on refreshmi-nts and on the charities—you know not what day may make your wife a widow . Will the publican whose interests you may have been upholding in preference to the charities feed your fatherless children ?
Of course my letter will be looked upon with disfavour by one class , but I feel assured the honest brother who looks to the interests of the charities will appreciate my motive , and I feel I am' discharging a conscientious duty to God , the Craft , the charities , and by this protest , which . I do with as much affection as earnestness . Well , says a good brother , what would Bro . Darley have
us do ? Let the brethren decide to meet every legitimate case , which may be done with the greatest ease , and by that means they will establish a precedent to meet their own cases should misfortune overtake them or theirs . I feel perfectly satisfied that the Secretaries of the charities will be only too pleased to put their heads
together and ascertain the amount necessary . The Grand Lodge Register will show lodges and the number in each , and it will be an easy matter for them to divide the amount needed , sending a return to every lodge . It then rests with the lodges to vote the amount required for the charities from the surplus lodge funds . I need not say a word more , seeing the case is so
simple 5 it is not one of taxing the pocket of any one , but of limiting the refreshments to the requirements of the charities . I have been , looking over the list of subscribers and donors , and in the name of God and Providence I shall not appeal in vain to the brethren not to throw away the funds of their lodges on bacchanalianism , their own personal ruin ,
and in reckless indifference to the interests of their families , whilst the mest munificer . t sumsare flowing so spontaneously rom her Most Gracious Majtsty , His Royal Highness the Grand Master , and a numerous retinue of illustrious and benevolent personages and brethren . Surely , whilst God is thus helping us we ought to help ourselves .
The Grand Officers , the Provincial Grand Officers , the clergy , and all who wish to reform the abuses and uphold the prestige and high character of Masonry , will not fail , I am sure to use their influence to discountenance a ruinous vice , to lay the axe at the root of improvidence and promote the eit rcise of that heaven-born charity which blesses him that gives as well as him that receives , and has the approbation of heaven and earth .
A Menace.
Brethren , the adoption of the course I commend to you will help to relieve your anxiety about us in your last hours , and your reflection shall be sweet of having left the world better than you found it . For the honour of the Most High , for the good of those
excellent institutions , and the interest of those most near and dear to you , be united , be guardedagainst the enemies of your homes and the Craft , persevere in that which you know to be right , and may God reward you . Yours fraternally , - W . DARLEY .
Our Non-Acceptance Of The Master's Chair.
OUR NON-ACCEPTANCE OF THE MASTER'S CHAIR .
BY BRO . HUBERT . Chaine d'Uivon for February , Page 33 . There are duties sometimes painful to fulfil , but which we are bound nevertheless to perform . Such is the case
with regard to myself , and in which the unanimous reelection to the office of W . M . in the Lodge Temple des Amis de l'Honneur Francais has placed me . As such I had to sign the following declaration "To vow to obey the Masonic Constitution , and the Laws and General Regulations of the Order , " this without
restricor reserve . As , the declaration signed , the office accepted , I had to watch over its observance without restriction and reserve . J 5 ut I was one who did not wish to accept "jVceu . IX , " fearing that this was a restriction of the fertile principles large in morality and toleration , taught and practised in all time by all Mas . inic bodies , and without which there is
no Masonry . I am quite aware that the best assurances are given on this subject , I am quite aware , and I like to believe that it is true , that such will remain true , that the modification introduced into Article 1 of the Masonic Constitutions of the Grand Orie . it of France does not change anything of the ancient condition of affairs , that the adoption of " Vceu
IX . " has not had for the object to drive God out of the lodges , and will never remove from the head of documents and official letters emanating from the Grand Orient of France— " A la Gl . du Gr . Arch , de l'Univers . But so formal an affirmation does not result from the new Article 1 of our Constitution—for one can easily derive from the words whicli form the said Article an
altogether different sense to that I have just explained . It might suffice that the event might produce a president who is not Bro . St . Jean , who , if it was possible that he could be eternal at that post would re-assure and tranquillize all consciences . But there is no necessity for a new " vceu , " coming from the initiative of a Mason to complete the change which has taken place for some
years in trance , in the conception of the Masonic Theory . One cannct deny , in fact , that the breach is open , and that there only needs one step to fall entirely into " negation , " and should we not have been there already , had it not been for the amendment proposed by Bro . St . Jean , and happily supported by the W . M . of the Lodge of
Reconnaissance , Bro . Cauzard—and thanks also to the intervention above , all voted by the Couvent of 1872 ? It is necessary to see and accept the facts , such as they are . Therefore , this situation leaves something to desire . It would be , perhaps , imprudent to engage oneself without having guarantees . It is not that I doubt the sentiments of those who form our " Conseil de l ' ordre . " I
know them all ; I esteem them all ; and many are my best friends among those charged with the interpretation and direction at this very hour in our Masonry of the Grand Orient . They are there to-day ? Who can assure me of to morrow ? ? ? There would then remain nothing but Article 1 of the Constitution of which as I have said we
can explain the text , without any violence to it , differently from the way in which the present admir . istration explains it . A commission has been named to place our rituals in accord with the letter and the spirit of the modified Constitution . I hope that the Masons honoured with that labour of revision , will honour themselves by bringing into the new text of our rituals that which can
reassure all consciences and hinder the Grand Orient from falling into the " ruck " of a sect . Such are the considerations which have induced me not to accept the Master ' s chair , and to take up a position of waiting . When the hour to definitely pronounce
has arrived , when I have seen what our new rituals teach and maintain , nothing will hinder me in the position I ought to take up , in order to remain abtolutely in the respect of my own liberty of conscience , and of the idea what I form of Freemasonry . HUBERT .
Memorandum As Regards The Present Position Of The Grand Orient Of France.
MEMORANDUM AS REGARDS THE PRESENT POSITION OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE .
1 . In order to ascertain what is the exact bearing of the recent change in the Constitutions of the French Grand Orient , it is necessary to advert to the precedent and coicomitant facts which have been attendant upon it .
2 . bo far back as 1865 , Bro . Massol , the founder of the " Morale lndependante , " and a politician of extreme views , proposed in the French Grand Orient the almost identical resolution which has recently been carried . This resolution was then rejected by 170 to 40 . This a point to be noted .
The " Morale lndependante , " as he propounded it , consists merely in ignoring the need and utility of all reli gion qua a ' Religio " to man , in disavowing alike Revelation and a Personal God . It throws us back on an "individual perception of morality- " on nihilhism in life , on total annihilation in death . With such views
Memorandum As Regards The Present Position Of The Grand Orient Of France.
as these he commenced a crusade , and which dates even from before 1865 , against the existing French Masonic formularies , which militated entirely with such peculiar teaching . But as he was a man of shrewdness , he founel it necessary , to use his own words , to take " one step at a time , " and " not to attempt to do all at once . " He accordingly agitated , and succeeded in his
agitation , for the final removal of the Bible from the lodges , which he declared had " nothing to do with Freemasonry , " though the opposition to the Bible dates actually from an earlier period . 3 . But such was the position of French Freemasonry until September , 1877 , refusing to have the Bible in the ledge , though , at the same time , it avowed " Belief in
God and the immortality of the soul" in the constitutions . 4 . In September , 1877 , the removal of these words from the Constitutions was carried in the French Grand Orient by 138 votes to 76 , and a vague phrase was substituted , such expression of Universal Masonic Belief , in these words : — " Elle a pour principes la liberte absolue dc conscience et la solidarite humaine . Elle n ' exclut personne
pour ses croyances . " It must strike every one that such a change is both very grave and very great in every respect , and has been effected , to use the words of the Monde Maconnique , because the Grand Orient is coupable de vouloir ouvrir la portes de la Maconnerie , aux savants et philosophes qu ne reconnaissent pas I ' existence de Dieu . "
5 . This impetus to the movement for change , ( suspended for some years ) seems to ha ve been given by the initiation of Professor Littri ? , when the ritual had to be modified , and much of it left out , to meet his scruples in respect of admitting the acknowledgment of T . G . A . O . T . U . This act was protested against at the time by many French Masons . 6 . Thus it will be noted how the successive steps taken
by the Grand Orient of France are apparently portions of a programme , all culminating in one great result . The Bible has been removed , acknowledgment of T . G . A . O . T . U . has been suppressed , and a commission is sitting to modify the ritual , and bring it in accordance with this recent and regrettable change . What such modification must portend is only too patent . The "Vceu " for the removal
of the ascription " , A la gloire du Grand Architecte de l'Univers , " has been " pour le moment" withdrawn , though there is little doubt , but that Bro . Massol's proposals will eventually be carried out , as he said , " by patience and in time , " and that though that formula is not yet gone , it is destined in turn to disappear from French Freemasonry .
The able antagonist of Freemasonry , the Bishop of Orleans in his "Etude de la Francomaconnerie , " points out that French Freemasonry , according to his view "Deiste , " cannot stop there , and must become "Atheiste" and by a singular perversity , the French Grand Orient , apparently bent on accomplishing his unfriendly prophecy , has by the course it has thought proper to pursue , played into the
hands of the Ultramontane party in France , which has always sought unjustly to identify Freemasonry with revolution and irreligion , socialism and godlessness . 7 . If such has been one object of the change avowedly so , namely , the admission of those who do not believe in God , and if such has been the method by which it has been brought about , it is needful novv ' to consider , how
such an alteration is defended . Bro . Desmons , ( who is said to be a Protestant minister at Paris , ) as the reporter of . the commision , advocates the change , on the ground of " absolute toleration . " This argument stripped of all periphrasis appears to be this : — " Freemasonry is an humanitarian association , and separate from and above all religious institutions . 7
herefore , in the interests of pure and absolute toleration , we can no more admit the claim of Theism , than we can of Christianity , Judaism , Mohammedanism to dominate Freemasonry . We can have no dogmatic teaching of any kind . Freemasonry accepts all creeds , and as an acknowledgement of T . G . A . O . T . U . becomes , so to say , a lest and a stumbling block to the ' libre penseur , ' the ' positiviste , '
the ' Morale lndependante , ' it infringes the law of absolute toleration , and we cannot admit any longer in our Constitutions an acknowledgment of belief in God . Freemasonry has no moral right to exclude even the ' athcos , ' the philosopher , the ' savan' living without God in the world . " It is impossible to read Bro . Desmon's report , able as it is , without being deeply struck by the
scholastic subtlety and special pleading which characterise it , from first to last , and without also asking ourselves this question , " Does the writer positively believe in the hypertolerant views he propounds , which , if carried to a legitimate conclusion , must end in entire anarchy of religious credence , a positive negation of all belief among men ? " 8 . It is but fair to observe here , that it is not the mere
protrusion of " Belief in God" from the Constitutions which the English Grand Lodge can object to , but it is the apparently and deliberate negation of T . G . A . O . T . U ., which is henceforth to characterize French Freemasonry . We have , as it is well known , no acknowledgment of T . G . A . O . T . U . formally in the actual Book of Constitutions , but bound up with that wise code of laws are our
" Ancient Charges , " which may be said not improperly to represent the " Lex Inscripta , " the common law of Freemasonry . Had the Grand Orient simply removed a profession of faith from a code of legislation , there would noc have been any valid cause for complaint , but it has not done so , but it has simply suppressed the declaration altogether , and proposed to modify its ritual in accordance with such suppression .
9 . Two points therefore necessarily come in here for consideration , ( 1 ) What is henceforth the authoritative teaching of French Freemasonry ? and ( 2 ) how does that contrast with its earlier declarations ? What the expression " la solidaritd humaine" really means , it is somewhat difficult to say . The "International Society , " in some of its manifestoes . talks of " la solidarite des nations , " and the phrase "la solidarite humaine" appears to have , so