Freemasonry And Its Mission.

continental countries its watchwords have become revol tionary watchwords against tyrrany in Church or State , against sacerdotal , or monarchical , or aristocratic oppressions . The Papacy has anathematised it as bitterly as though it were a

rival Church , and has even gone so far as to refuse the sacrament to its adepts , as conspirators against the paramount authority of the Altar . In other continental countries , where the Revolution is still in the agressive stage , Liberty , Equality ,

and Fraternity have sought a refuge in the Lodges of the Order , and have likened themselves to the first Christian martyrs who sought a refuge from persecution in the catacombs . After all , Freemasonry is as little to be blamed

for its occasional revolutionary tendencies , as the Church of England for the socialism which some ingenious English Tories and Clergymen , in unconscious emulation of some foreign Republicans not unsuccessfully tried to engraft upon it a few

years ago . And if the spread of Freemasonry , like more powerful and sacred influences , has not yet (' made war impossible , Lord Carnarvon no doubt has good reason for believing that it has at least mitigated its miseries , and alleviated its calamities . "

Notes On American Freemasonry.

NOTES ON AMERICAN FREEMASONRY .

( Continued from page 425 . ) MASSACHUSETTS . From the Grand Master ' s Report we learn : — that one year ago , last July , the debt of the

Grand Lodge was about 4-35 , 312 dols . At the present time it is about 375 , 000 dols ,, showing a reduction in eighteen months of about 60 , 000 dols . The floating debt at the present time is about 115 , 000 dols ., as follows : —10 , 600 dols . due in

1870-71 ; 40 , 000 dols . in February next ; and 65 , 000 dols . on temporary notes given at four months . The current expenses of the Grand Lodge for thy past year have been reduced to the lowest

possible amount ( about 6 , 000 dols . ) being but little more than one-half of some former years . The Grand Master says : — "The most rigid economy has been exercised on all occasions . " It will be seen from the foregoing statement , that a very large amount of the floating debt of

the Grand Lodge still remains unliquidated . was very confident in the expectation , when I last addressed you on the subject , that I should at the present communication to be able to announce to you that this most embarrassing part of our debt had been at least so far removed as to leave

no cause of uneasiness , and that the only incumbrance upon our finances was the amount secured by mortgage upon the property , which would be amply protected by the income from rents and other sources . In this I am pained to say , I have been

greatly disappointed . " But this condition ought not , and cannot , be allowed to continue . The debt must be paid , and ' that without further delay . With little Jess than twenty thousand members , and one hundr ed and '

seventy-six Lodges in the jurisdiction , it is wholly inexcusable that the credit of the Grand Lodgeshould be held in such jeopardy . To a body like this , composed , as it mostly is , of active business men , the sum required to meet all its immediate

demands is insignificant . For the payment of this debt , the faith ofthe Grand Lodge stands pledged upon its records , by an unanimous vote , and this pledge must be redeemed , or its business character irretrievably dishonoured . The prompt payment ofthe paltry sum required by a commutation of the Capitation Tax , or the contribution of 5 dols . by

each individual member , whose name is borne upon our rolls , would immediately relieve the government of the Grand Lodge from the mortifying embrrrassments under which they have been struggling for the last two years . Is it just ; is ifc

generous ; is it honourable ; that this struggle should continue ? I do not ask for individual contributions , but I do ask , in the name of the Grand Lodge , in vindication of its past honourable history , and in behalf of its endangered reputation for

integrity , that the Lodges and the brethren all , throughout the commonwealth , loving and knowing it as I know they do , will unitedly , and of one accord , put their hands to the work , and relieve it of its pressing necessities and pending danger .

" The overshadowing importance of our financial , embarrassment meets us at every point , and oppresses the administration of affairs of the Grand Lodge . It would be wise to dissever the financial and purely Masonic duties of the Grand

Lodge , to place them in separate official departments , so that one should not interfere with the . other .