Freemasonry And The London School Board.

FREEMASONRY AND THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD .

It is lobe regretted there should be so considerable a number of people who , in the ordinary concerns of . lifc , exhibit a large amount of sense , both common and uncommon , but upon whom the mere mention of the word "Freemasonry" appears to

exercise the same maddening influence thai the proverbial red rag exercises upon the bull . Everything may be going smoothly enough in the world ; there may be nothing to speak of in the way of wars or rumours of wars ; there may be no commercial crisis ;

nothing to disturb the course of trade , and , generally speaking , people may seem contented with their lot . Rut the moment a Freemason appears on the scene , and there is talk of something being done , or that has been done , by the Craft in connection

with , or in reference to , some public body , then the people we are referring to , and who , as we have said , are sane enough in the ordinary affairs of life , begin working themselves into a state of anger , and pour forth all kinds of anathemas upon the Craft ,

than which , according to their account , nothing more frightful or diabolical exists upon the face of the earth . There is , of course , no use in trying to argue with these people ; but they

are in a position to influence , to a certain extent , thc minds of those who know little or nothing about Freemasonry . Hence a feu words—by way of reply—to these anathemas may not be out of place .

The latest evidence of this insane hatred of everything Masonic which has come under our notice will be found in a letter

which appeared in the Tablet of thc 16 th instant , communicated b y a certain '' FRANCIS M . WYNDHAM , " and dated " St . Mary of of the Angels , Bayswater , London , October 11 , 18 97 . " The text of Mr . WYXDIIA . M ' philippic is the London School Board

Lodge , No . 2611 , which , as he very trul y says , "was ' consecrated ' in July , 18 9 6 . It seems that Mr . DiGGLE and 12 ( at least ) other members of the London School Hoard are brethren" of this lodge . He further informs the readers of the

Tablet that " the Masonic Brotherhood admits men of any and everv reli g ion , and itself professes ' the universal reli g ion , the religion of nature . ' This religion of the lodges recognises no o 000 dogma , and permits nothing that is distinctive of any particular

creed . What we have come to call Board School religion is in perfect harmony with the Masonic religion . " There is , of course , a certain grain of truth in these statements , but it is so distorted that the readers of our contemporary would be justified

in assuming that Freemasonry cares nothing whatever for reli g ion , but on the contrary sets itself firml y against religion of any sort or kind . Rut we presume that this Mr . WYNDHAM , who dates his letter from '' St . Mary of thc Angels , Bayswater , "

has at least some knowledge of the Society hc , in the statements wc have quoted and others that follow in thc subsequent paragraphs of his letter , so freely and so violently' condemns . If

so , h <; must be aware thai there arc many of the Anglican Catholic and Nonconformist clergy in our ranks , not a few of thc former beintr diirnitaries of the Anglican Catholic Church .

These , we venture ; to submit , as well as their Nonconformist brethren , have just such a knowledge of Christianity that we consider yve are justified in describing them not merely as Christians , but as ministers of the

Christian religion . Is it likely then that such men as these yvculd countenance , much less enrol themselves members of , a Society , whicii recognises " no reli g ious dogma , " and professes only " the universal religion , the religion of nature . " We

have cited the clerical members of our Order first , because they may be reasonably supposed to know something about the subject upon whicii Mr . WYNDHAM has elected to write . Rut in addition to the clergy of different denominations , there are the

thousands upon thousands of people who also know something about the religions they severall y profess , who respect reli gion generally , and who , il may be presumed , being sane men , would

not countenance a bod y which , if what Mr . WvN HI AM says be true , must be seriously bent on destroying every form of reli gion be it Christian or non-Christian .

The point which it seems impossible for men of the class or sectto which Mr . WvxiHlAM belongs to understand , is that it is impossible lo establish a society which shall furnish a neutral ground

Freemasonry And The London School Board.

on which men of different reli g ious faiths may meet together and learn to know and respect each other without engaging in reli g ious or political controversy . Freemasonry is certainl y not " Christ / cw , KK-Christian , and , finally , a «/ "z-Christian , " because it sanctions the admission of non-Christians into the ranks of its

members , any more than it is anti-republican because there are considerable numbers there who prefer the monarchical form of government , or anti-monarchical , because a very numerous section of its members is republican . The fact is , we stand aloof

from party politics and sectarian reli g ion in our lodges ; we respect all men , whatever their reli g ion ; but there is nothing in what yve say or do in our lodges , yvhich is in the sli g htest degree opposed , or intended to be opposed , to the Christian or any

other form of reli g ion , certainly , nothing yvhich yvill ever do harm to true reli g ion , in yvhatever form it may present itself . What other sections of the Craft—in France and elseyvhere—may say or do , is no concern of ours . We are responsible for our oyvn interpretation of Freemasonry , not for that of other people .

A Rare Discovery.

A RARE DISCOVERY .

Our readers will learn with pleasure that a discovery of considerable interest to antiquaries and Masons has been made in the belongings of the Lodge of Emulation , No . 21 . It consists of a set of metal emblems such as yvere employed long before

the present tracing boards came into use , yvhich was probably about 100 years ago . These emblems were laid on the floor of the lodges during instructions , and consist of the various signs no \ . v embodied in the tracing boards . They have existed among

the lodge furniture for many years , and yvere turned over at each annual audit without any suspicion as to their value and interest until the present W . M . ( Bro . H . L . TRUMAN , Grand Steward ) determined to submit them to some Masonic experts .

He was advised to shoyv them to Bro . SADLER , Grand T yler , who immediately recognised their antiquity , and produced a similar set ( but apparently not so ancient ) , yvhich is the property of Grand Lodge , and yvhich until now had been considered

unique . At the meeting of thc lodge on Monday , the 18 th instant , it was resolved , on the motion of the W . M ., to present the whole

set of emblems to Grand Lodge to be placed in the Museum , and we are informed that as soon as the Secretary of the lodge returns from the country they yvill be formall y presented .

Grand Lodge Decisions.

GRAND LODGE DECISIONS .

I most heartily welcome the appearance of this little digest of Grand Lodge reports for the last 25 years compiled by Bro . Rev . J . T . Lawrence , D . J . GtW . of Madras , and Editor of the Indian Masonic Review ; and tender him my congratulations on his having brought out a work so much needed . I trust it may have the large sale it richly deserves . The idea is no new one , and it is to be wished that the compilation had

been undertaken and revised by the Board of General Purposes , as was done in Canada , when in 1875 , Bro . Otto Klolz at the instance of the Board of General Purposes , compiled a Dig ; st of the Resolutions of the Grand Lodge of Canada , a work with which doubtless Bro . Lawrence is familiar . Had this been the case , however , we should not , I fear , have ha * d the benefit of Bro . Lawrence ' s manly and outspoken comments , which form one of the most valuable portions of his work .

Having thus expressed a general approval of his labours Bro . Lawrence will pardon a friendly expression of differences of opinion that must necessarily arise in criticising a work of this nature . To his remark in the Preface that some nnnual of ready reference should exist , no one can demur ; though it is not easy to agree with his view that we may now consider substantially correct the statement as to the B . C .

made to every Worshipful Master at his installation—not as Bro . Lawrence says , " to every newly-made Mason , " " that there can arise no question in Masonry which a reference to that book will not solve . " It is to be wished that this was so , but even if the more usual wording " there is hardly a question that can arise in your lodge " b : adopted , the statement is , unfortunately , very far from being strictly accurate .

And rightly so , too . Behind the actual wording of the Statute Law there is the large body of the nn written Law of Misonry , which contains the principles upon which all decisions should be based , and of which the Book of Constitutions is only partially declaratory . It is the fjrgetfulness of this fact , and the attempts to construe the book

as a complete written code , which it never was intended to be , that has led of late years to some extraordinary difficulties and discrepincies of rulings at first sight apparently irreconcilable . Neither is it easy to agree with the opinion our brother expresses that "The decisions of Grand Lodge previous to i 860 are not valuable , save to