Ad00807

To ADVERTISERS . THE Circulation of THE F REEMASON being how at the rate of nearly Ilalf-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 and foreign parts , its advantages as an advertising medium can scarcely be overrated . For terms apply to GEORGE KENNING , 198 , FLEET STREET , LONDON , E . C .

Ar00800

NOTICE . 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 . Vol . III ., ditto 15 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 numbers ... 2 s . 6 d . United States of America . THE FREEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for 12 s . per annum , payable in advance .

Answers To Correspondents.

Answers to Correspondents .

All communications for TUB FREEMASON should be written legibly on one s . ide of the paper only , and , if intended tor insertion in the current number , must be received not later than 10 o ' clock a . m . on Thursdays , unless in very special cases . The name and address of every writer must be sent to us in confidence . BRO . JAMES H . IT . HOWARD thanks Bro . J . Norton for his reply to his question , and says he is inclined to believe his conclusion correct .

Notice To Subscribers.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS .

—?—The Office of'THE FREEMASON is now transferred to 198 , FLEET STREET ,

E . C . All communications for the Editor or Publisher should therefore be forwarded to that address .

Ad00808

TheFreemason, SATURDAY , J 29 , 1871 .

Ar00803

THK FRKBMASON IS published on Saturday Mornings in lime for t he early trains . The price of TUB FREEMASON is Twopence per wesk ; annual subscription , xos . ( payable in advance ) . All ' comnunications , letters , & c , to be addressed to tlie EDITOR 198 , Fleet-street , E . C . The Editor will pay careful attention to all MSS . entrusted to him but cannot undertake to return them unless accompanied by postage stamps .

The Ancient And Accepted Rite.

The ANCIENT and ACCEPTED RITE .

[ FOURTH ARTICLE . ] WE have now to consider the teachings and symbolism of the 27 , or " Knight Commander of the Temple . " And here it may

be observed that , while the Masonic Knights Templar adopt the theory that the old Order was perpetuated through the medium of Freemasonry , the ritual of the

Twenty-seventh Degree refers its preservation to the Teutonic Knights , and the Teutonic cross is borne upon the aprons and sashes of the grade . The members

The Ancient And Accepted Rite.

might also be called " Knights of the Round Table , " as they are seated at a circular table in the centre of the chapter . The ceremony of reception is very solemn

—a dirge being chanted in the ante-room during the candidate ' s introduction , and the refrain of which is the truism— " We all must die , we all must die . " The history of

the rise and progress of the Teutonic Order is recited to the neophyte , and the address concludes with these words : " A Knight Commander of the * Temple should have

five excellent qualities , which are represented by the five lights that form the symbolic cross upon our table—Humility , Temperance , Chastity , Generosity , and

Honour . " The 28 , or "Knight of the Sun , " also called " Prince Adept , " is the most philosophical degree of the series . The Master represents Adam : the Warden

is styled Brother Truth . The other officers take the names of the Cherubim , and are designated , collectively , " The Seven Malakoth , " or Angels . Each of these officers

has a banner of a colour peculiar to his rank , and adopts a hieroglyphic or sign of the sun , moon , or planets . The degree is said to teach pure Deism , and it certainly

appears to bear but little resemblance to the Christian grades which precede and follow it . For example , the whole of the emblems used in Freemasonry are explained

in a mystical sense to the Knights of the Sun . The blazing star is the image of a true Mason perfecting himself in the ways of truth , that he may become like a blazing

star which shineth equally during the thickest darkness . The triangle , or Delta is the mysterious figure of the Eternalthe letter G , which is placed in the centre .

signifies God ; and in this Ineffable Name all the Divine attributes are found . This letter being placed in the centre of the triangle , reminds us that every faithful

brother must carefully preserve it in his heart . Among the aphorisms of the degree are the following : " Faith has in all ages been the lever whereby to move the world . "

"Nature is the primary , consistent , and certain revelation or unveiling of God . " " Analogy is the last word of science , and the first of faith . " "The absolute unity is

the supreme and last reason of things . " " The work of God is the book of God , and in what He writes we ought to see the expression of His thought , and , consequently ,

of His being . " Life is a warfare , in which one must prove himself a man , to ascend in rank ; force is not given , it must be seized . " The " holy and mysterious

pentagram " is thus elucidated . The pentagram is the sign of the microcosm , or universethe sign of intellectual omnipotence and autocracy . It represents what is called in

the Kabbala microprosopos , being in some sort a human figure , with the four limbs , and a point representing the head . It is the Universe contained within the Deity .

It is a sign ancient as history , and more than history ; and the complete ' understanding of it is the key of the two worlds . It is the absolute philosophy and natural

The Ancient And Accepted Rite.

science . All the mysteries of magism , all the symbols of the Gnosis , all the Kabbalistic keys of prophecy are summed up in the sign of the pentagram , the greatest and

most potent of all signs . The white dove and black raven represent the two principles of Zoroaster and Manes , good and evil , light and darkness , also the fourth and

fifth sephiroth of the Kabbala—the mercy or benignity , and the justice or severity , of the Divine Being . " "Man is what the Deity meant he should be—imperfect , feeble ,

fallible , liable to err , and sensitive to pain , but capable of improvement and progression ; and of a heroism that can smile at agony , be content with destitution , preserve

an equal mind under the lash of injustice , and without unmanly fear await the approach of death , and count the pulses of his life . The man who can do

this has attained the equilibrium of faith and reason , and may claim to be called Magus , Prince , Adept , and Knight of the Sun . " From these extracts our

readers will perceive that the twenty-eighth degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite inculcates peculiar doctrines , and is more

deeply impregnated with the spirit of mysticism than any of the degrees of the Rite . It sounds to us like a voice from

afar—an echo from ante-mundane time—so vague and dream-like are its utterances . All our previous conceptions of right and truth and wisdom must be offered on the

altar of the sun , and we are taught to cast off like worn-out garments all prejudices , superstitions , and errors . The next degree is derived from the Crusades , and is termed

" Knight of St . Andrew . " The first apartment represents the court of the Sultan Saladin , and is fitted up in true Oriental splendour . The officers personify the

Sultan , his brother and nephew , also the Princes of Aleppo and Damascus , with the Emir of Emessa . The knights all wear the Turkish costume . Saladin enquires of the Grand Master if it be true that in this

Order of Knighthood a strange equality exists so that a knight , though poor , may sit in the presence of a monarch . The Grand Master replies that the Sultan has

not been misinformed , inasmuch as the name of knight , and gentle blood , entitle the possessor to place himself in the same rank with sovereigns of the first degree ,

except as regards kingly authority and dominion . The principal object of the degree , however , is to preach toleration , and in this respect it is thoroughly in accord

with the precepts of ancient Freemasonry . It proclaims that " Masonry is the universal morality which is suitable to the inhabitants of every clime—to the man of every creed . '

It holds that each man is absolutely sovereign as to his own belief , and that belief is a matter absolutely foreign to all who do not entertain the same belief ; and that if

there were any right of persecution at all , it would in all cases be a mutual right , because one party has the same right as another to sit as judge in his own case , and God is the only magistrate that can right-