Freemasonry Considered In Its Relation To Society.

that it is repugnant to the reli gion he professes , he is not required to burthen his conscience with the guilt of a second ; and from the fact that so many men from the highest to the lowest , statesman and philosopher , men of business and clergymen

proceed from degree to degree , the inference , even to a person outside the Masonic pale , is obvious —there is nothing in the oath hostile to religion or to society . Mr . Kerr ' s argument against Freemasonry is based on the assumption that

his authorities are trustworth y , and that ; things described as Masonic are so . But when a writer attempts to sap the foundations of Freemasonry , using as one of his engines "Solomon in all his Glory" he leaves himself open to retort . What would he

say if it were said that the reli gion he professes is sanguinary , that it teaches the lawfulness and necessit y for persecution , and that the members of his church are banded together by horrid oaths to extirpate Popery , Prelacy & c & c . One

, , of his own church commenting on this teaching , that by Popery and Prelacy are meant Papists and Prelatists ! Or to leave the realm of fact for that of fiction ,

would he consider it fair to make an onslaught on his reli gious denomination by appealing . to the authority of " Old Mortality , " which is a far more reliable book than " Solomon in all his glory !" Would Mr . Kerr think it fair to quote

Manse Headdrigg with her profusion of vituperative epithets , and John Balfour of Bin-ley , with his practical application of the extirpation theory , asfairrepresentatives of the laity ; and the Reverends Gabriel KfittledrtimmleEphraim McBriarand

, , Habakkuk Mucklewrath as fair typical specimens of the clergy of his church ! The mission of Freemasonry is not to return railing for railing , but while it never seeks to interfere with any man ' s honest convictions , it is not to be deterred

from its onward march by the united efforts of the Pope in council , and the Rev . James Kerr , backed b y the Joint Reformed Presbyteries of Edinburgh and Glasgow , nor by all " The long-neck'd geese of the world that are ever hissing dispraise

, because their natures are little . " If Mr . Kerr , judging from his pamphlet , had the power of the keys , he would doubtless excommunicate the whole fraternity ; aud should he ever attempt an

amendment of the " Solemn League and Covenant , " he will doubtless g ive the Freemasons a permanent place for extirpation . There is an old proverb he would do well to profit by , " Ne sutor ultra crepidam , " and let Freemasonry alone . Other religious sectsboth orally and by

, writing , have condemned Freemasonry , and attempted to raise a crusade against it . Each sect finds some specious cause of complaint , the most general being the antagonism which is said to exist between Freemasonry and religion , as represented by

denominationalism , and the assumption that Freemasonry purports to be a relig ion itself . It is worthy of notice that all the demoninations that have attacked Freemasonry have not been sparing in their abuse of each other . Freemasonry knows nothing of the hair-splitting schisms which have brought reproach on Christianity . Content to be the humble handmaid of

religion , it opens its portals to every worthy man who worships him whom we reverently term the Great Architect of the Universe . When forms and creeds have plunged nations into war , when men under the sacred name of reli gion have anathematized each otherhated each other

, , and butchered each other , it is no small praise to Freemasonry , that with true Catholicity it has invited into a common brotherhood , men of widely divergent forms of faith . Instead of banning Freemasonry , how much better would religious teachers

be employed if they endeavoured to imitate it , at least to the extent of seeing how much they hold in common with their opponents . These periodical outbursts of bigotry will not harm Freemasonry —they rather

serve to place it in a more favourable light . Quaintly has the dreamer of Bedford , in his immortal allegory , pourtrayed the prototypes of these traducers in the persons of Ill-will and Prej udice , who are represented as casting dirt at a man clothed in a white garment . Bunyan says : " Those that threw dirt at him are such as hate his

well-doing ; but as you see , the dirt will not stick upon his clothes—so it shall be with him that liveth innocently in the world . " It is not without significance that when the most virulent attacks are made on the craft it flourishes to a proportionate extent . When the Marquis of Ripon threw down