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To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of THE FREEMASON being now at the rate of nearly Half-a-million per annum , it offers peculiar facilities to all who advertise . It is well known that the Fraternity of Freemasons is a large and constantly increasing body , mainly composed of the influential and educated classes of society ; and as The Freemason is now the accepted organ of the Brotherhood in the United Kingdom , and also enjoys an extensive sale in the colonies Mid foraign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 2 , 3 , & 4 , LITTLE BRITAIN , LONDON , E . C .

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NOTICE . 0 The Subscription to THE FREEMASON is now 10 s . per annum , post-free , payable in advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d .

Births, Marriages, And Deaths.

Births , Marriages , and Deaths .

BIRTH . WYMAN . —On the 15 th inst ., at Hertford , the wife of Bro . C . P . Wyman , I . G . and O ., 403 , 449 , of a son . DEATH . HALL . —On the 14 th inst ., at 16 , Norfolk-cresent , Hyde Park , aged 75 , R . W . Bro . John Henry Hall , F . R . S . of Lincoln ' s Inn , Prov . G . M . for Cambridge .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

« All communications for Tm FREEMASON should be written legibly on one side of the paper only , and , if intended for insertion in the current aumber , must be received not later than 10 o ' clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of verj writer must be sent to us in confidence . ENQUIRER —An index for 1 S 70 will be issued with the last number of the year .

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , DECEMBEB 24 , 1870 . THE FREEMASON is published on Saturday Mornings in time for tke early trains . The price of THE FKEE . MASO . V is Twopence per week ; annual subscription , 10 s . ( payable in advance ) . All communications , letters , & c , to be addressed to the EDITOH , » , 3 , and 4 ; , Little Britain , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him-Wut cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage tamps .

" On Earth Peace, Goodwill Toward Men."

" ON EARTH PEACE , GOODWILL TOWARD MEN . "

" On earth peace , goodwill toward men . " Such were the words of the Divine message announced to the shepherds more than eighteen centuries ago , and sucji are still ,

nominally at least , the precepts of that gr . eat religious system whose foundation was heralded by angelic rejoicings . But notwithstanding the teachings of sages ,

notwithstanding the experience acquired through countless cycles of time , man ' s nature remains unchanged , and the blessings of peace arc seemingly as little valued

as ever . At a time when Christian communities in every land are celebrating the nativity of the Founder of their Faith , two great Christian nations are engaged in a

death-struggle , and the very horizon of Christendom is dark with blood and tears . What terrible principle of evil is abroad

thus to render nugatory all the efforts of good men to promote peace and prosperity among the nations 1 How is it that our boasted civilisation produces such bitter

" On Earth Peace, Goodwill Toward Men."

fruits , and that the wisdom and science which we so loudly vaunt cannot stifle the rage of ambition or the cruel lust for war ? On the one hand , there is France—a

country which , with all its faults , has ever held on high the lamp of progress and freedom—on the other hand , we have Germany , transformed from a nation of

dreamy philosophers into a nation of soldiers ; and both these mighty peoples ignore all their traditions of greatness in the arts that adorn and dignify life for the

accursed glory of warfare and strife . Is this in consonance—we will not say , merely with the doctrines of Christianity as enunciated so plainly and Divinely by the

angelic host in days of old—but , to take a lower ground , is it in unison with any of the teachings promulgated by advanced thinkers and statesmen for many years

past ? Must all our hopes of creating a happy brotherhood amongst the children of men be considered but as Dead Sea fruitbeautiful as theories , but utterly hollow in

practice ? Must we really settle down to the conviction that Schiller is right when he says that the earth is glorious , and that man is the Abaddon amidst the gladsome

harmony that should otherwise prevail ? Surely this is not so ; surely the mystery of bloodshed will pass away , and the world will recover its pristine beauty and glow

with unwonted delight in the presence of a truer and nobler inspiration . It cannot be that man shall for ever be delivered over to the ineffable bondage of hatred and fear . It

cannot be that man shall for ever suffer the cruel tortures , the rending pangs inflicted by the fiend of war . It cannot be that kings and ministers shall for ever have the power—as

we fear they too often have the will—to plunge their fellow-creatures into the depths of unutterable horror and despair . The words of England's greatest living poet

cannot be all a dream : the "parliament of man , the federation of the world , " are as yet the unborn children of Time , but let us hope that the Future bears them in her

breast ; and if Freemasonry can only permeate the earth with its precepts , we shall yet see the poetic vision realised in the supremacy of Reason and the mastery of

Thought . Viewed in this aspect by reflecting minds , Freemasonry is at once a beacon and a landmark ; it not only serves to deter us from the gross materialism of

battle-fields , but it is a landmark for all ages , a boundary of Wisdom from Folly , of Truth from Falsehood . No amount of sophistry can persuade an intelligent Mason

that the horrid scenes now being enacted in unhappy France are part of the destiny of the human race—say rather that they are

evidences of perverted powers and dishonoured talents . The gigantic might wielded by the Von Moltkes and

Bismarcks cf our age is darkened with shadows from the Plutonian shores—the terror of death clings to it and trails its

glories in the dust . Better far the reputation of an honest man than the frail and bloody pomp of a conqueror ; better far

" On Earth Peace, Goodwill Toward Men."

the triumph of one invention for the comfort of life than all the laurels of the Csesars . At this season of the year , when the peoples of Europe bow down to

worship the Holy One of Israel—at this season of the year , when all the civilised world record the close of a recognised period of time—may we not profitably consider these

subjects , and lament that man is still so blind to his dearest and best interests ? Now , we claim for Freemasonry a high place in the Pantheon of Intellect ; we

claim for it a mission which is as yet but partially interpreted and understood—one which the majority of us as yet see darkly , but which our children and our children ' s

children will be able to perfect and to consummate . We claim for Freemasony a high place in the world's regard , because it is the representative of peace ; and we contend that its mission is identified with the

cause of truth , honour , and civilisation . It has been well said by an acknowledged teacher of man , that "Before us is the boundless Time which we—even we—have

to conquer , to create . " Let us each , therefore , thoroughly understand our position as soldiers in the army of progress ; let us each labour within the sphere of our

influence for the victory of our chosen principles . Without work—positive work—no great structure has ever been reared , and , unfortunately , Freemasons are somewhat

inclined to be Sybarites in their ideas of duty . We must not expect our path to be strewn with rose leaves , or our steps to be supported by applauding crowds . Ours

is the silent toil , whose usefulness is best shotvn in tlie happy results which it achieves . Ours is a philosophy , whose roots extend into the inmost soul ; whose

branches bear as fruits the divinest conceptions of the human intellect . Its outward and visible signs are exhibited in the vulgar form of material charity ; but its

hidden grace—its essential beauty—is the spirit of fraternity which pervades and harmonises and glorifies the whole . Within the circle of this spirit , war cannot exist

within the radius of its influence fierceness and malice are as nought . But let us ask the question in simple earnestness , are we all striving to cultivate and foster this idea

of brotherhood ? Are we all endeavouring to make our lodges temples of unity and friendship ? Are we all showing to the outer world that garb of innocence and

purity which should ever distinguish our lives as men and Masons ? If not , how can we reason effectually with the men of

Belial , whose hands are steeped in blood and fraud , and whose path is desolation and dismay ?

Much as we may regret—and we all mourn it most sincerely—the terrible havoc and the atrocity of the present European war , we must not be oblivious of the fact

that a great principle is now being asserted , and its fate must be decided by the issue of the struggle . So far , the proof is clear that retribution has fallen upon the agressor ; let us now hope that the victor will