Priority Of The Lodge Of Glasgow St. John.

credit , and I must congratulate you on having rendered a considerable service to Masonry . It was not Bro . Buchan ' s fault that he was imposed upon hy a fraudulent translation of a charter , which must , so far as its application to Craft Masonry is concerned , prove to be a forgery . If ifc be a genuine charter , it

can have nothing to do with Freemasonry . The moment Bro . Buehan , prompted by the criticisms in your magazine , discovered the fact by his own investigation , h © published it . Now , much more good is done by disposing of these impositions than harm can be done to Masonry

by getting rid of false claims to antiquity . Our real claims to antiquity are of very small importance in comparison with the vital truth of the genuine prineijiles of Freemasonry . In fact , we know in England , for instance , that our first date in Masonry is the unionwhen new formulas were

consecratedtime-, , honoured customs were abolished , and recent innovations were adopted as integral features of the system . If we go back a century , we shall get to the same state of affairs ; and so in the unrecorded past we may look for mutations , till at last the ancient evidences now remaining be found to be new

creamay tions of their clay , and yet there may be a continuity of history uniting Masonry in its present state to the remotest antiquity . Therefore we need have little fear or regard for antiquity in comparison with the real landmarks .

The immutable truthfulness of virtue possesses in itself the characteristics of antiquity , and therefore we can afford a holocaust of records ; but when these records are forgeries , of such a class that they are reflections on the intelligence of Masons ancl impositions on the world at large , it is a serviceable act to

annihilate them , and this Bro . Buehan has done for the Scotch translation of the charter . He likewise vindicates the Grand Lodge of Scotland , for he says that venerable body decidedly refused to acknowledge the old charter as being grauted by Malcolm Canmore . The Court of Session can doubtless be as fully vindicated .

An ordinary Mason cannot be expected to distinguish between Malcolm III . ancl IV . ; they are all one to him , ancl so they are to most scholars . The mischief committed is to represent as facts attested hy Masonry—the science of a supposed learned body —what can under no circumstances he facts , because

they are opposed to all history . The brethren asserting these things are exposed to ridicule , and many a man of intelligence is deterred from joining a body which can countenance such gross ignorance . Others after initiation , finding imposture countenanced and unbranded , leave a society which has belied their

reputations . Such are the bitter fruits of falsehood . What Bro . Buehan has next to do is to have the Latin charter examined hy some competent chartologist or palaeographer as to its external evidence ; but the internal evidence will most likely settle the

question . The present is a suitable time for appealing to the learned committee , which presides over the pockethook , ancl which has peculiar notions of chronology , history , and geography , to sacrifice only the first line or lie of its annals .

Priority Of The Lodge Of Glasgow St. John.

" St . Alban formed the first Grand Lodge in Britain , A . D . 2 S 7 . " There is not only no evidence that St . Albau was ever guilty of anything of tbe kind , but not the least reason to believe it , or that St . Alban had anything to do with Masonry or Masons . Other figments may follow by instalments .

If something is wanted to fill up , then insert : "Eomaus landed in Britain , and introduced the system of trade corporations aud guilds . " " Guilds formed by Anglo-Saxons , & c . " Scotland may also offer up a small sacrifice ; nay , if she prefer it she may add to her annals . She may

strike out" Freemasonry known to have existed in Scotland at the time of building the abbeys of Kelso , Melrose , and Kilwinning , 1128-36 . " If preferred , she may enlarge her annals by theaddition of the particle not .

" Freemasonry known not to have existed , " & c . Lying , fraud , and forgery are catching diseases ,, and the epidemic of them becomes more fatal in its course , and therefore the last of the three Masoniccountries , Ireland , has the worst attack . " Masonry supposed to have been introduced into

Ireland for the first time by Heber and Heremen , sons of Milesius , B . C . 1264 , " or say 3 , 132 years ago , 1 , 551 years before the benighted English , and 2 , 39 2 before the boastful Scots !

Such things would have done very well in writing under Jeffrey of Monmouth , they were current myths in Milton ' s time , and would have raised little comment in the beginning of the last century ; but this is not the day in which they should be seen in print . Xours fraternallv , E . X .

South Hackney District.

SOUTH HACKNEY DISTRICT .

TO THE EDITOB OF THE FREEMASONS MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIRROR . Dear Sir and Brother , —I have consulted the Calendar with the view of finding a lodge working in , or near , this populous district ( South Hackney ) , but unsuccessfully . I have recently removed from the country , and am desirous of joining a lodge meeting

at a convenient distance from my residence . It appears strange that there should be no such facility ; and it has occurred to me that if the question was mooted in your columns some movement might be made to supply the deficiency , in which case I shall be happy to join ( andif requiredtake office ) in any

, , lodge for which a warrant may be applied . Xours fraternally , VETEY . Victoria Park , March 9 th , 1 S 6 S .

Ir is a fact , which will not be questioned by anyone con versant with tbe subject , that the morality of the Church is identical with that of Masonry . It cannot be otherwise because both are derived from the same source , " The "Word of God , in which we have eternal life . "