Grand Lodge.

GRAND LODGE .

LONDON , SATURDAY , DECEMBER 10 , 1864 .

The Quarterly Communication was held on Wednesday , under the able presidency of the Deputy Grand Master—the Grand Master , we regret to state , being absent from indisposition . The first business was the nomination of the

Grand Master for re-election for the ensuing year , which was received with loud applause . A variety of important business was then transacted , upon which we shall feel it our duty to make some remarks ,, but which we are compelled by the urgency of other engagements to postpone until next week .

Freemasonry In France.

FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE .

In the Journal des Initios for December the protestation of Bro . Rebold against the omission of the name of God in the Constitution of the Paris lodges , which we published in our last issue , is reproduced and fully endorsed ; but Bro . Aug .

Croutte , who comments upon that paper , strongly objects to Bro . Bebold ' s opinions as to the origin of French Masonry , and the obligations devolving upon it as a bequest from the Grand Lodge of London . " Should we be subjected to the laws

and rules of the English Masonry , " he writes , " we should be like the latter—that is , -we should be devoid of all that characterises Freernasonrv , an ancient and universal institution , which is the moral light of the world ; because it teaches and

practices the natural law , natural reli gion , which is written by God himself , in characters of life , in the great book of physical , intellectual , and moral nature . It is from this natural law that we

derive our instruction and mission . The English Masonry , having always remained in arrear of this grand and holy task , has only just transmitted to us in its forms of organisation , which we have thoroughly transformed by improving them . The

English Masonry adheres to the Bible , which lies open upon the altar of every Master ; it is exclusive , aristocratic to all intents ancl purposes . The English Masons are nothing else but a society of convivial liberals ( libercmtx cssentiellement bons

viveurs ); each of their meetings is followed up by a more or less sumptuous banquet , vastly different from our plain and spiritualistic acjapes . Once more , French Masonry owes its ori gin to natural law only , and by no means to the Freemasons of England . "

The Past Of Freemasonry.

THE PAST OF FREEMASONRY .

The following address on the Past of Freemasonry , with a short account of the Caledonian Lodge , was delivered at the centenary meeting of the above lodge , Nov . 15 , 1864 , by Bro . Joshua Nunn , I . P . M . : — In the presence of so many distinguished Masons , and so many highly esteemed brethrenit is something

, like presumption on my part to attempt to address you on the Past of Freemasonry , linked as it is with the world's history , blending through all the ramifications of past ages , and singling out the bright spots of bygone times as each separate generation has marked its progress to our own in this century .

Recent investigations have shown the great importance of Ereemasonry iu an archaeological point of view , and also in elucidating the continuous history of the fraternity , inasmuch as the marks used by the ancient Craftsmen have all some hidden symbolical referenceand are to be found amidst the ruins of

, every important edifice on the face of the globe . By actual inspection we are therefore enabled to trace the connecting links of Masonry in structures erected by our ancient brethren for a period looking back nearly forty centuries .

Thus we seek to uplift the veil that throws the pall of its dark shadow on the past , and to admit a ray of light , w hich , though faintly visible to the outer - world , to us serves to illuminate the gloom left by past ages , and which enables us to discover some of those broken links and scattered fragments which , when re-united , will constitute the perfect chain of true Masonic history .

The origin of our fraternity is covered with darkness , and its history is , to a great extent , obscure ; yet we can with confidence say it is the most ancientsociety in the world ; and we are equally certain that its principles are based on pure morality ; that its ethics are the ethics of Christianity , its doctrines the

doctrines of patriotism and brotherly love , and its sentiments the sentiments of exalted benevolence . Upon these points there can be no doubt , all that is good , and kind , and charitable it encourages ; all thatis vicious , cruel , and oppressive it reprobates . Ereemasonry in principle is undoubtedly coeval with the Creationbut in its

; organisation as a peculiar institution , as it now exists , we trace it no further back than the building of King Solomon ' s Temple . It has , however , in its origin been closely connected with the ancient mysteries ; and the philosophers and ' sages in the earliest ages , by the dim light of nature , traced the first great doctrines of Masonry in unity with the supremacy of the Deity and-the immortality of the soul .

The building of that magnificent Temple at Jerusalem by King Solomon established Freemasonry as a peculiar institution ; and after the completion of the Holy Temple the workmen dispersed to the several great nations of the earth . And in an ancient manuscript ( well known to some of our most learned

brethren ) that was discovered by Locke in the Bodleian Library , and said to be in the handwriting of Kinry Henry the Sixth , who was himself a Mason , it is expressly said "that Pythagoras brought Masonry from Egypt and Syria into Greece , and from thence in process of time it passed to this country . " It is supposed that in the year 43 after Christ