Freemasonry & Israelitism.

to the superstitious notions and practices of the Anglo-Saxons , succeeded in converting Ethelbert ; and the Christian faith was at length formally adopted in the Heptarchy . The fruit produced , however , answered to

the corrupt- source whence it Avas derived . " As , " says Hume , " the Saxons received the doctrine through the corrupted channel of Rome , it carried along with it a great mixture of credulity and superstition ,

equally destructive to the understanding and to the morals : the reverence towards saints and relics seems to have almost supplanted the adoration- of the Supreme Being ; monastic observances were esteemed

more meritorious than the active virtues ; the knowledge of natural causes was neglected from the universal belief of miraculous interpositions and judgments ; bounty to the Church atoned for every

violence against society ; and the remorses for cruelty , murder , treachery , assassination , and the more robust vices , were appeased , not by amendment of life , but by penances , servility to the monks , and an abject

devotion . The Papacy gradually exalted itself above all human power , and its pretensions were generally submitted to by the southern kingdoms of Europe . But neither by the Anglo-Saxons nor by thc

Normansanother branch of this great Saxon family —was the supremacy of thc Pope acknowledged , without sundry and important limitations , though Rome struggled hard and long to bring them to submission . Such

was the superstitious attachment to the Papacy , however , that " pilgrimages to Rome , " as the historian remarks , "were represented as the most meritorious acts of devotion . Not only noblemen and ladies

of rank undertook this tedious journey , but kings themselves , abdicating their crowns , sought for a secure passport to heaven at the feet of the Roman Pontiff ; new relics , perpetually sent from that endless mint of

superstition , and magnified by Iyingmiraclcs , invented in convents , operated on the astonished minds of the multitude . " Pope Alexander , who hacl assisted thc Norman William to achievetheconquestof England , imagined

that he might prevail upon him to break the spiritual , as the civil , independence of the Anglo-Saxons ; but all his adroit schemes to bring tin ' s about failed . The arbitrary sway of the king retained the

church as well as thc laity in great subjection . No one might be acknowledged as Pope , unless thc king had himself previously received him ; and all ecclesiastical canons , in whatever synod voted , were required to

be laid before him , to be ratified by his authority . No Bull or Letter from Rome could be legally produced , until it had received the same sanction ; ancl none of his ministers or barons , whatever their offences .

could be subjected to spiritual censure , until he had himself given his sanction to their excommunication . The bold , ambitious , and unscrupulous Hildebrand ( Pope Gregor }' VII . ) , after deposing emperors and kings ,

and asserting his right of thc investiture of bishops , abbots , ancl other spiritual dignitaries , and extending his usurpations over almost the whole of Europe , resolved to try his strength with the king of England . But

he found more than his match , for William not only refused to do homage to Rome , but , as if in defiance , forbade thc Bishops to attend a General Council which the pontiff had summoned . The barons were not

less resolute in their opposition to the papacy than was the king . They extended and confirmed the civil and political rights of tlie people , by restricting the powers of thc clergy ; and their arrogant champion , Thomas a Beckett , was himself humbled ,

Freemasonry & Israelitism.

after a fierce conflict , being compelled to accept and sign the famous Constitutions of Clarendon , which had been voted in a general council of barons and prelates . These Constitutions provided , that no one

holding under the Crown should be excommunicated , or have his lands put under an interdict , without the king ' s consent ; that , appeals in spiritual causes should not be carried to Rome ; that , none should be

accused in spiritual courts , except by legal and reputable promoters and witnesses ; and that , ecclesiastics accused of any crime should be tried in civil courts . At length , however , the pusillanimous John , who had

seized the crown on the death of Richard the Lion-hearted , succumbed to the papacy . He did homage to the Pope ' s legate , with all the humiliating rites which the feudal law required of vassals before their liege

lord and superior ; and agreed to pay a tribute , for England and Ireland , of 1000 marks of silver a year . England thus became a fief of the church of Rome , and its king a vassal of the Holy See . Out of this

baseness of the usurper , however , came the great charter of English liberty . The barons , disgusted with John ' s submission to Rome , made common cause with the people , and the king was reduced to such extremities

that he was compelled to hold a conference at Runnymcde , where , after a debate of some days , Magna Charta , which secured important rights for every order of men in the kingdom was signed and sealed . Rome ,

of course , resisted ; thc charter was annulled by thc Pope , and revoked by the king . Thc people , however , would not submit to the papal yoke , and , after many severe and sanguinary struggles , they triumphed . Thc

Anglo-Saxonsinstinctivelyhated despotism , whether secular or ecclesiastical , and could not be long held in its fetters , by king or

pontiff . But neither emperors , popes , nor kings , who have clothed themselves with despotic power , are easily deprived of it , or induced to circumscribe its exercise . To

yield ever so little is felt to be incompatible with the foundation on which it rests , and they hold it with a tenacity like that with which they cling to life . The papacy was not wholly beaten , though greatly

discomfited , for a time , by thc sturdy resistance of the English barons and people . The great charter was often violated by kings and nobles , and thc papacy was not behindhand in its encroachments , livery now and

then , however , kings , nobles , and popes were checked in their wilfulness . " Though often violated , " says Hume , " this famous charter was still claimed by nobility and people , and rather acquired than lost

authority from the frequent assaults on it , in several ages , by regal ancl arbitrarypower . " Sometimes it was king and pope against the people ; sometimes it was the

pope against king and people ; and sometimes barons and people against pope and king . Occasionally the conflict was long and fierce ; tlie victory sometimes inclining to this side , and sometimes to that .

I ill * Provincial Grand Lodge of Norfolk will be held at the Town Hall , King ' s Lynn , on Saturday , the 25 th inst . Thc Prince of Wales has signified his intention of being present liRKAKVAST . —EVPS ' S COCOA . —GRATEl'l " , AND COM ¦ ¦ ' ¦¦¦ *' . — " Uy a lliurotiuh knowledge of the

nalurnl laws which j-ovcrn tlie operations of digestion and nutrition , and by a careful applicatian ofthe line properlies of well-selected cocoa , Mr . Kpps has provided our breakfast tables with : i delicately-flavoured beverage which nv . iv save us m . niv heavy doctors' bills . *'—Civil

Sen-ice t , ' a : c ! te . Made simply with Moiling Water or Milk . Kadi packet is labelled - "J : S KITS . " *; Co ., Huivxvopatliie Chemists , London . " Also , makers of Kpps ' s Milky Cocoa ( Cocoa and Condensed Milk ) .---[ Advt . l

The Philosophy Of Freemasonry.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF FREEMASONRY .

CHAPTER SECOND .

ASSOCIATION . Freemasonry is an Association for the propagation of morals and learning , both of which purposes seem to be overlooked . It

is not a class association , but embraces all ranks of society , from the king on the throne to the artisan in the workshop . It differs in one respect : it does not accept

the known murderer , thief , or beggar on the dunghill . It assumes that all initiates are men of good character and of fair education , but it strangely overlooks the

necessity of having its members retain their fair fame and improve their intellects . We , unfortunately , have had murderers in our midst ; we are not unfamiliar in these days

with thieves and swindlers , and a crying evil is the increase of Masonic beggarsthat is , those who make a profession of it , and live upon the brethren , and who must

be considered apart from other brethren , who , from accidents of fortune , are unwillingly compelled to seek assistance at the

hands of the members of the Order . In this respect , all societies of standing have a charitable fund for thc relief of indigent

members ; but it has been for Freemasonry to find its funds principally a prey to the unworthy . This is a disease for which easily a remedy could be found , and deserves attention at the hands of the

Brotherhood . Among thc ancients , the mysteries of Elcusis and the Egyptian mysteries required

no exalted rank to recommend the initiate for reception . The chiefs looked to internal qualifications , not to external . They had learned that monarchies had their ebb ,

as well as their flow , riches could take to themselves wings , and , as a philosopher aptly said , they called no man happy till he died . They said with Theognis :

" For riches neither do I wish nor pray * my lot To live on little , and to know of evil naught . " Thc riches of thc mind they alone looked after . A father might leave his son riches ,

who would squander them in riot and debauchery ; but the father could not impart to thc child those talents by which the riches had been acquired . The

immortals bestowed the mind upon man ; the man of wisdom was , therefore , not a child of the earth , but of heaven , and became , after death , a demigod . The Romish Church ,

which has borrowed so much from the ancient mythology , has also borrowed this freedom from class selection of priests , and have , in place of thc demigods , produced a

calendar of saints . It is not to be wondered at , thc influence of the priesthood , either in the daysof Egypt , Greece , or Rome , ancient and modern , when wc know it comprised

the acutest intellects of the age . Wars have little lasting influence upon man , and among the eternal lessons of history , wc

find that they leave little that is permanent upon the face of the earth itself , and their traces arc speedily eradicated by thc flow-