Original Correspondence.

fee to which " An Indian P . M . " alludes is quite fair in such a case . The members pay a subscription which is supposed to cover all expenses ( alas ! frequently too little ! , and if non-members are permitted to partake gratis whenever they choose to stay for the Fourth Degree it is manifestly unfair to the members . This brings me to the point where I think " An Indian P . M . " at fault , when he

says he finds it is the practice in this country to make the visiting brother , who though he be a foreigner , pay for what he eats and drinks . If not invited such may be the case as mentioned above , and quite right too , but fcr an invited visitor to pay is , I feel sure , very rarely the case , unless through the blundering of a Steward . The treatment

which " An Indian P . M . " received on the two occasions named was very shabby , let us also hope rare , but his suggestion as to the alteration of the toast of " The Visiting Brethren" to that of "The Brethren who don't belong to our Lodge " would never do , being too comprehensive , and more like the Tyler ' s toast than any other . I should feel " distressed" were I a visitor under such

circumstances . I should like to make a few remarks on the letter from " Zaphon " ( in your number of the 12 th inst . ) , who as a young Mason has , I think , hit the nail on the head , and forcibly shewn how Masonry may be prostituted to gluttony , and how charity may consequently suffer . "Zaphon " seems to have benefitted by his experience , as his

remarks on charity and temperance shewing a " dinner lodge " or " champagne banquet lodge " may no doubt be very wise , but it is nothing better than a select club of men who have taken their Masonic degrees . I have visited such lodges , but never yet found the working either carefully or solemnly performed . An undue haste and want of decorum characterised the proceedings , which have certainly been conducted peacefully and concluded

harmoniously enough , but the real business of the evening had yet to come . Surely you , sir , can bear out " Zaphon " in most of the well deserved satire on the Masonry he has seen , and exhort your readers to uphold that which tends to elevate the Order , and to censure all that causes " that most excellent virtue " to be forgotten in late hours , dissipation , and extravagance , Yours fraternally , E . K .

A Little Friendly Gossip On Some Of The Topics Of The Day.

A LITTLE FRIENDLY GOSSIP ON SOME OF THE TOPICS OF THE DAY .

BY PH 1 I . ANTHR 0 P 0 S . ( Written Especiilty for the . " Freemason . " ) No . 2—EIIUCATION . —Continued . We have to deal to-day with the Denominational view , both what it is , and how it treats , and would treat , the educational question .

The Denominational view is , then , simply this , put into a few clear words , stripped of periphrase and paraphrase , divested of exaggeration and extravagance of thought and language . A feature of the duty ol the Christian commonwealththe Church—is to educate the lambs of the flock . And by education is not merely to be understood the technical

instruction or the intellectual culture of the young alone , but the developement of the moral intelligence , the training of the undying portion of mortality for the higher truths and the noblest ends , for eternity as well as for time , for God as well as for man . Hence a religious instruction is also necessary as well as secular , because secular instruction by itself is partial , incomplete , unsound , inasmuch as

it only affects and educes , educates one portion of the complex being man , namely the intellectual , and leaves the sentimental , the psychological , the moral feeling untouched and untaught . In order to render this religious teaching effectual and complete , suited to the wants and destiny of man , mortal and immortal , at the same time , the Bible must form the basis

of all true religious instruction , and then upon this good and sure foundation is raised a superstructure o ! catechetical and doctrinal teaching in respect of the abstract truths of religion , the practical duties of personal piety , tlie concurrent creeds of the Church , and the exposition oi the claims and articles of the Denomination . The great majority of schools in England is denominational , the Church

of England holding about seven-tenths of the education of the people in Viet hands , and until tbe creation of the School Boards , in which all distinctive doctrinal teaching is absolutely forbidden , there was a difficulty to contend with , as regards the consicentious scruples of the parents of those who were not Anglicans . But that case was met by what is called the " conscience clause , " a formula of religious

liberty and religious conviction which practically has always , except by the fanatic and wrongheaded , been gladly conceded and honestly upheld . We speak with an experience of over a quarter of a century , and we can say this , that though it was openly averred and deliberately practised long belore it was officially formulated , in a large school , with which we are

most familiar , it never was once invoked , and all Nonconformist and Church children peaceably learnt and carefully repeated the words of the Church Catechism . The denominational system with a conscience clause is that which is now carried on by different bodies of religionists in this country side by side with the Board School system . Ot course , with such views and on such principles as I

hare above stated , very concisely of course , the school Board " regime " could not bc acceptable to those who prefer the denominational system , and it may appear to them , as it does appear to them seemingly , on these grounds subjectively an irreligious system , and if they like to use a hard word , as people too often hastily do in such matters , a " godless system . " Subjectively it may so appear to them , but as I doubt whether it is

A Little Friendly Gossip On Some Of The Topics Of The Day.

really so , at any rate rightly objectively , I will dwell a little longer on this point . Admitting , if you will , that tlu Church or the religious body has a boiia-lide moral right to educate the young of its flock , and that on the principles of religious liberty and the sanctity of the conscience such free course of action should bc sanctioned and protected by the State , yet it

does not follow , as some seem to think , that the State has not a right also to see that none of its subjects grow up in ignorance , to provide , if it so deems well , a remunerative or even gratuitous course of instruction also for all who will accept it . Nay , in our opinion , the State may go farther and say , " 1 stand in loco parentis to the ' wastrel , ' the orphan , the destitute . I am bound to

provide that none within my influence advance to maturity untaught and ignorant , and therefore I will compel all within the school age and under the half-time system in the great circles of labour to go to school . " Who can deny the abstract and concrete right of the state to say so ? It is in vain to appeal , as some do , to the parental

authority . The parental authority is good and most sacred as far as it goes , but are . there no cases where the State might interfere even with that , ar . d where it does interfere i v -n now ? If a parent cruelly neglects a child , or injures a child , or forgets the first duty of a parent towards a child , we know that there arc wise provisions of our legislature by

which the local , or municipal , or general authority of the State , as the case may be , steps in to coerce , to compel the recalcitrant parent to do his duty , and punishes him for disobedience to the law . So if the parent absolutely neglects the education of a child , lets him run in riot and rags , and live in idleness and vice in the streets , lakes no Yieed either of his

intellectual or moral improvement , the State has a distinct right , for the safety of the State itself , for the welfare of society , and for the good both of the parent and the child , to step in and say , "That child ought to go somewhere to school , and shall go to school . " Hence it is in vain for the objector to anything that tends to ameliorate and elevate to appeal to this supposed invasion ot parental tights , the

argument rests on a complete fallacy altogether , inasmuch as the State nowhere proposes to interfere with the high and solemn economy of parental authority , but only proposes to intervene where the welfare of the child is concerned , where the safety of the State is impaired , to correct an abuse , not to attack a privilege , to remedy a wrong , not to challenge a right .

In fact , let us conceive what a State would be , composed of purely ignorant people , which , if the parental-right upholder is correct , must be the case if the State does wrong , wlien the parent is drunken or degraded , ignorant or selfish , weak or wicked , in stepping in and firmly declaring "that pox , neglected , ill-used child shall be sent to school . "

Neither can any one safely appeal to the denominational right in respect of education . Though the Church , as anybody of Christians , or , as some claim , any section of " religionists , " has a moral tight to educate , it has not an exclusive right , inasmuch as the State which gives the laws and enforces them , which governs , and directs , and controls the social wants ar . d the political existence of the

people has a right to say , " salus populi suprema lex , " and we lay it down that no child in the commonwealth shall grow up in ignorance . " If on denominational and religious grounds the right be not so direct as it is according to the denominational view , in the church or religious body , it is an absolute , though again not an exclusive right , arising from the

actual authority ol the state itself , whether as representing the ruler , as supreme in the State , or the ruled who delegate to others the duty of legislating for the entire community . And here let me speak plainly . Just as I hold that there is a moral rig ht in the church or denomination to educate its young , absolute but not exclusive , so I

contend that the same law of duty and authority applies equally to the State . Any State that says , " I will alone educate , 1 forbid all religious bodies to found schools , appoint schoolmasters , instruct children , I will alone andertakc this duty , " any such Slate so acting does so , 1 venture to believe , in direct defiance of the individual conscience , assail the first principles of religious liberty ,

pave the way for the most deplorable of all conflicts as between the laws of a State and the conscience of the man , and despotically takes away from religion , above all , its noblest mission and its most conscientious duties . In such a case the " religionist" has a cause of deep complaint , and has a sacred right of audience . For in such a dilemma every principle of individual , of pais

rental , of denominational , of ^ conscientious right violatec , as the fiercest of all struggles is initiated , and no State which so forgets the fundamental principles of all public peace , property , right , and safety , can long maintain such a prohibition , inasmuch as in the passage of rime , conscience when truly complaining , when really iniurvvl . nluHivc . sooner nr Litersomehow or other . ETets the

better of the dogmata of politicians and the decrees of legislators . The objection that the State cannot teach religion is perfectly tiue , inasmuch as the State has clearly no spiritual authority , and we do not exactly understand why any ol us should expect the St .-tc to teach religion . Bnt in England the State leaves the matter of abstract and

positive religious teaching to the locality as regards the Board Schools , only stating that as all classes are taxed to keep on these common schools they cannot allow distinctive doctrines to be taught in them . No doubt if such were the only system in operation all religionists would have a right to complain . But such a position of affairs is happily counterbalanced by the full play and entire liberty of denominational schools , covered by a conscience clause ,

A Little Friendly Gossip On Some Of The Topics Of The Day.

and I confess that , in my humble opinion , the grievance is infinitesimal ; it is , in fact , making a " mountain out of a molehill . " But I will continue my considerations and lucubrations on this most interesting subject in another paper .

Reviews.

Reviews .

" Loge Francaise et Ecossaise de la Clemente Amitie . Fete aiinivcrsaire de la Reception de Frere Littre ' . " Paris 18 7 6 . By the fraternal courtesy of the W . M . of " La Clemente Amitie " we have received the interesting account of it , "fete de famille , " held on the 9 th of July , when about 800 Freemasons apparently assembled to do honour to the

anniversary of Frere Littre ' , an eminent French litterateur and scientist ( to use a new word ) , into Freemasonry , at an advanceii period of his life , about 12 months ago . The assembly may fairly be considered a good repre . sentative gathering of French Freemasons , as it included many able writers , senators , deputies , the distinguished Frere St . Jean , Caubet , and a large number of the

leading French Freemasons . Bro . Littre was not able to be present , through illness , but sent his address , and Bros . Wyrobuoff and Jules Ferry delivered two orations , the latter improvised for the occasion , and all the addresses were warmly received , and drew down the vigorous ap . plause of the audience . We have perused them to-day , and we wish honestly and manfully to point out the

impression produced on our mind by these animated exposi tions of a system of teaching which seems just now to dominate many minds in France as well as Freemasonry in that ci untry . VVe confess that the impression left upon us by tluir " paroles brulantes , " especially of Bro . Ferry , is alike somewhat painful and depressing . We should not he honest if we did not say what we really think . We

should uot be true to Freemasonry and to ourselves if we did not humbly but earnestly seek to speak thetruth , to avow what we sincerely hold without partiality and without fl ittcry , without fear and without hesitation . There is a great tendency iu the world just now to say rather whac will please others than what we ourselves believe , " ex animo , " but Freemasons , of all men

in the world , whose whole system is based equally upon a love of truth and a love of toleration , ought always , in our humble opinion , though , of course , moderately , temperately , and with proper consideration for others , to " say what they mean , " and , above all , to " mean what they say . " Far be from us that despicable cowardice , that characteristic of little minds and of grovelling ideas , which , biassed either by desire of public

applause , or alarmed by fear of popular disapproval , ever conceals the faith it professes , or the opinion it holds , and tries to accommodate itself to each passing chimera , or each ephemeral delusion . The great defect of the public teaching ofthe hour is its want of heaitfelt sincerity , that tendency to exalt a so-called erroneous and vulgar public opinion for that which truth would avow , honour uphold , and freedom oi thought and conscience proclaim to mankind .

VVe said this at the outset that we have perused the official account of the proceedings and professions of memorable fete with somewhat of depression and pain . We repeat the statement . From an English point of view many of our able brethren in France , alike in Freemasonry and out of it , seem to us to be losing their way in the dreary marshes , so to speak , and the misty fogs of a hopeless rationalism

of a deceptive positivism , of a melancholy " morale inde-| iendente . " Sorry we arc to say so , but wc must say so if we are to speak at all . VVe have read over Bro . Littre and Bro . Ferry ' s addresses , and we see at once where such intellectual brethren are tending , we may observe that Bro . Wyrobcuff mainly directed his remarks to the educational controversy in France , though he too is | evidently

in accord with the philosophical tenets of his eloquent confreres . Amid a beauty of word-painting , amid a flow of eloquence , amid much that is very true , and more that is most touching , amid a clearness of expression which is most attractive , a charm of language which is most

effective , ! we yet cannot shut our eyes to the inevitable conclusion that the result at which they arrive is practical negativism , the denial of all supernaturalism , and the assertion of a pure humanitarianism without a Divine revelation , and without , as far as we see , any other belief than that in an " Anima mundi . "

We are not willing in the slightest degree to appear even to exaggerate or misconstrue the words and theories of such able - brethren , but wc cannot understand them otherwise but as boldly asserting the utter independence of man in respect of his need of all those religious hopes and doctrines , and consolations , and promises , that present grace and future blessedness , which have so emancipated ,

so ennobled and consoled the generations which have come and gone , and which nevertheless believed in the one true Triune God , eternal , living , and unchanging . We do not deny that the excesses of Ultramontanism may have led , as we see in France , to this state of scientific opposition , of moral shrinking back , of intellectual nihilism —we do not . lfor instance , fail to appreciate the fact that

such teaching as pretentious miracles and pseuao app >"' tions , Marie Alacoque , and a rampant dogmatism , may probably have sapped the positive belief 01 thousands , and that such a state of affairs and irritation may , and will result in a depreciation and ridicule ot an dogmatic declarations , and of all credence in supernatura l

truths . Such is the inevitable consequence of untrutn , ^ hyper-mysticism , of the " fraus pia , " of the lying miracle , of the false prophet , in this world of ours , always pron rather to mock than to credit , to reject than to a" *? ' - We do not , however , wish to rest too much on this point , as the Ultramontanes may fairly say , " Well , contends a