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NOTICE . The Subscription to T HE FREEMASON is now ios . per annum , post-free , payable m advance . Vol . I ., bound in cloth 4 s . 6 d . Vol . II ., ditto 7 s . 6 d . Vol . s III ., IV ., V . and VI . ' each 15 s . od . Reading Cases to hold 52 . lumbers ... 2 s . 6 d . Ditto ditto 4 do . ... is . 6 d . United States of America . THE FREEMASON is delivered free in any part of the United States for t 2 s . per annum , payable in advance . The Freemason is published on Saturday Mornings in time for thc early trains . The price of thc Freemason is Twopence per week ; annual ¦ uliscription , ios . ( parable in advance . ) All communications , letters , & c , to be addressed to thc Editor , | <) S , 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 .

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NOTICE . All Communications , Advertisements , & c , intended for insertion in the Number of the following Saturday , must reach the Office not later than 6 o ' clock on Wednesday evening .

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% \ 0 m ti flonxspnbenis . REMITTANCES RF . CEIVED . R . W . Imlath , Freemasons' Hall , Demerara , 24 s . All Nations Lodge , Clunes , Victoria , 9 s . A . C . Thompson , Charleston , New Zealand , P . O . order , 20 s . The following stand over , and will appear next week : — Repoits of Lodges 1021 , 129 , 3 and Chapter 1293 .

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No-v Ready . THE NEW MARK TRACING BOARD , 36 m . by 23 m . Price 42 s . To be had at Bro . Kcnning ' s Masonic Depots , Little Britain and Fleet-street , London .

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Price 3 / - , post-free 3 / 1 . THE RED CROSS SONG , Words by Bro . 11 . W . Little . Music by Bro . II . Parker . Ci * FICE '—198 , FLEET-STREET .

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Second Edition , Now Ready , 1 / 6 . A MASONIC MUSICAL SERVICE . In the key of C . for A ., T „ T ., 13 . Opening and Closing Odes . Craft Ceremonies . Royal Arch Ceremony . Consecration Ceremony . Grace before and after Meat . COMPOSED BY DR . J . C . BAKER , NO . 241 . LOHDON . —Geo . Kenning , 198 , Fleet-street ; and 2 , 3 , and 4 , Little Britain . „ R . Spencer , 26 , Great Q ueen-street . LIVERPOOL . —Geo . Kenning , 2 , Monument-place . MANCHESTER . —E . Henry & Co ., 59 , Deansgate . DUNLIN . —C . Hedgelong , 26 , Grafton-street . GLASGOW . —Geo . Kenning , 145 , Argyle-street .

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Now Ready Post Free 1 / 7 . THE MARK ' MASONS' SONG , Dedicated by permission to the Right Hon . the Earl Percy , M . P ., 30 , Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons for Northumberland Most Worshipful Grand Mark Master Mason of England . Words by Bro . T . Burdett Yeoman , Original Mark Lodge No . 1 ., composed by Bro . Henry Parker , Original Mark LodgcNo . 1 . Office , 198 , Fleet-street .

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SECOND EDITION . —NOW READY . Price One Shilling , Post-free , Revised and Enlarged . Freemasonry in Relation to Civil Authority and the Family Circle , BY BRO . CHALMERS I . PATON . ( Past Master , No . 393 , England . ) 'pHIS work is a perfect handbook of the ¦ **** - principles of Freemasonry , founded on the Ancient Charges and Symbols , and will be found to be eminently practical and useful in the vindication and support of the Order . Office , 198 , Fleet-street .

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MADAME TUSSAUD'S EXHIBITION BAKER STREET . N w added , PORTRAIT MODELS of the SHAH of PERSIA , Marshal MacMahon , M . Thiers , and the late Charles Dickens . The original autograph and testimonial written and presented 'by the Shah to Messrs . Tussaud , July 3 , 1873 , isj ' exhibited . J Admission is . ^ iChildren under ten , 6 d . Extra Rooms , 6 d . Open from tea a . m . to ten p .

The History Of Freemasonry,

THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY ,

FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY . Drawn from the best sources and the most recent investigations .

BY J . G . FINDEL , Second Edition , Revised , and Preface written by Bro . D . MURRAY LYON .

One vol ., 800 pages Svo ., with an Index . Cloth gilt . Price , ios . 6 d . " This book is a strictly historical one , from which all is excluded that is not based upon ascertained or probable fact . "—Builder . " Of its value to Freemasons , as a detailed history of their Brotherhood , it is not possible to speak too hig hly . " —

Public Opinion . " Thc author seems to have fairly exhausted the subject . "—Thc Athenaeum . "The edition we are now considering is a second English edition , which had thc great advantage of Bro . D . M . Lyon ' s able superintendence aud editorship in its English dress . There can be no doubt but , that so far , Bro .

Findel's work is the most complete work on Freemasonry which has yet appeared , and that he deserves the greatest credit for his careful and accurate treatment of all evidence ou the subject , and for his honest desire after truth . Bro . Findel gives up in the view he has so clearly and consistently put forth our early Masonic history , the older theory of the Roman Colleges , & c , and limits the origin

of Freemasonry to about the twelfth century , and as then arising from the operative Masons , and specially the " Sleinmeitzcn" and " Bauhutten" of Germany . Bro . Findel gives us a good deal of evidence on this head , and one thing is clear from his work , that the German Freemasons were , at a very early period , organized into lodges with a Master over them , and with outward regulations and

inner ceremonies peculiar to the Craft . Bru . I-indcI rejects all the views which have been from time to time put forward of a Templar or a Rosicrucian origin . Whether or no Bro , Findel ' s theory of the date of the rise of Freemasonry be correct , matters very little : wedo not ourselves profess to accept it ; but this we can fairly say of Bro Findel's work , it is marked from first to last hy the most remarkable

tokenof industry , ability , and care , of patient research , and of skilful criticism . We know of no work which so clearly sets bsforeus our amount of knowledge up to the present time on the great question of Masonic Archaeology , and there can be little doubt that what Preston ' s work is to English Free masonry , Findel ' s work is to cosmopolitan Freemasonry . Indeed no student in Masonry can now dispense with it , and it

is a perfect storehouse both of Masonic evidence and Masonic illustrations . We earnestly recommend all the lodges in this country to obtain a copy for the lodge library before the work is bought up for America ; and we believe that no Mason will rise from the perusal of its pages without a higher idea both of the historical truth and intrinsic value of Freemasonry , and of fraternal regard and recognition to the latest and not the least well-informed or effective of our

Masonic historians . The present century has produced no such equal , in authority and usefulness , to the great work of our Bro . Findel , and we wish him and it , in all of fraternal sympathy and kindly intent , many earnest readers , and more grateful students . "—77 te Masonic Magazine . " This volume is the history of Masonry par excellence Every interested person may regard it , therefore , as the " present text-book on thc subject . "—Manchester Guardian Bro . GEORGE KENNING , 108 , FLEET STREET , LONDON , E . C .

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In the Press , will shortly be Published . Price 5 s ., Svo , handsomely bound . THE LIFE OF CONSTANTINE . Written in Greek , by EUSEDIUS PAMI ' ILUS , ( Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine ) . Done into English from that edition , set forth by VALESIUS , and printed in Paris in the year 16 59 . Preface by Bros . R . Wentworth Little , Treas . Gen ., and the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford , Past Grand Chaplain . With Engravings of Constantine ; the Duke of Sussex , P . G . Sov . ; Lord Rancliffe , P . G . Sov . ; Earl Bective , M . P ., M . I . G . Sov . ; Sir Frederick Martin Williams , Bart ., M . P ., G . V ., & c , & c . London : GEORGE KENNING , 198 , Fleet-street .

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NOW READY . REFLECTED RAYS OF LIGHT UPON FREEMASONRY : OR , The Freemasons' Pocket Compendium Ifilh an Emblematical Frontispiece . A Hand-Book of thc Principles of Freemasonry , aud Pocket Vade Mccum and Guide to the various Ceremonies connected with Craft Masonry , so far as the same are allowed to he communicable , in accordance with the principles of the Order . Price Ont Shilling , Post-free for Thirteen Stumps . old . by liro . GEO , KEX . VINO , 19 S , Fleet-street , London , E . C

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NOW READY , Price 2 S . 6 d . ; Post Free , 2 S . 8 d . Second Edition , Revised and Enlarged A FULL COLOURED ILLUSTRATED BOOK . OF MASONIC CLOTHING AND JEWELS , From Master Mason to the 30 th Degree " * ( inclusive ) . JOffice , 198 , Fleet-street ., ' OFFICE , 198 , FLEET-STREET . ; J ,

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The Freemason , SATURDAY , J ANUARY 31 , 1874 .

Excommunication Of Freemasons.

EXCOMMUNICATION OF FREEMASONS .

In a London contemporary of Thursday last appears the following telegram : — " Brussels , Thursday . | The Archbishop of Malines , Primate of Belgium , has issued a pastoral , in which he

excommunicates all Freemasons in the kingdom , however exalted may be their position . " This short announcement is pregnant , no doubt , with serious reflections , though

happily not likely to be attended by any serious consequences . Religious and devout as are the Belgian people , and devoted to the Roman Catholic Church , there is a spirit of fairness and

justice very observable in their public arrangements , as well as in their private sentiments . The Constitution of Belgium guarantees freedom of conscience to all religious

communities , so long as they do not violate the laws of the State , and in such cases , we believe , the Belgian Government supplements the payment of denominational clergymen and ministers , by a

proportional grant . There is nothing , then , in the Belgian Constistitution , or in the feelings and sympathies of the Belgian people , to foster intolerance or

encourage persecution . Indeed , in Flanders , amid that Flemish people , with the souvenirs of Alva , and in the country of Horn and Egmont , it would be

impossible , we feel persuaded , to excite or renew a similar spirit of religious intolerance . Why ' then are the Freemasons assailed ? What have they done that they deserve that these vials of

Archiepiscopal wrath should be poured on their humble and devoted heads . The answer is , simply nothing , but it suits the Romish Church everywhere , at this moment , to

represent the Freemasons as . forming part of a great secret and political society of rampant Carbonari , and infidel illumines , whose great end is the overthrow of all

constituted authority and especially the destruction of the Roman Catholic Church . A more mistaken view never was propounded , or a greater error committed by those astute men , who as a

general rule direct the proceedings of the Roman " Curia . " To say nothing of the indecency of an Archbishop of the Church , whose mission is and

ought to be a mission of peace and benevolence , fulminating a sentence of excommunication , without trial and without hearing , of our harmless brethren in Belgium , and thus holding them

up to the religious animosity of all other Roman Catholics , we venture to think that in doing so , the Archbishop is transgressing the laws of the country , and acting , at any rate , in

direct defiance to the well-known leading principles of the _ Belgian Constitution . The excommunication of the Archbishop is an act evidently in itself " ultra vires , " and a proceeding of

which the Belgian law knows nothing . It is not the sentence of a competent Court —of an authorised jurisdiction . The Roman Catholic Church may say , we will not allow