Recollections Of The Lodge Of Freemasons At Thornhill.

be;—and the following sentence m the Charges to Prentices embraced in the same MS . clearly shows the Roman Catholic faith to have been that of the Craftsmen to whom the Mason oath Avas administered prior to the Reformation -. — . .

that you sail be a trevv man to God and the Holy Church , and that you use no heresie nor error , to your understanding , or discredit man ' s teaching . » . . So help me God , and the Holy Dame . ' " [ Again , in an extract from a formula of Masonic

tests , which the learned and venerable Bro . Dr . Oliver supposes to have been in use during the Grand Mastership of Bishop Chichely , in the time of Henry VI ., we find the question "Are you a

Mason ! " put " in the name of the king and Holy Church . " And , alluding to the Christian elements impregnating the " Craft Lectures " in the early part of the eighteenth century , a writer

m this magazine of July 18 th , 1863 , instances the recognition by Grand Lodge of England ( 1732 ) of an amplification of the Andersonian system of lectures , " essentially Christian , recognizing the Trinity , the institution of our Sunday , and the

ecclesiastical symbolism attached to the numbers three , five , and seven . " But to return to the matter of prayer ; in our own day the example of the highest Masonic authority in Scotland , as shown in its published Transactions , sometimes

coincides vv itla the Christian usage of presenting our supplications to God in the name of the Redeemer . Speaking from personal observation , the prayers of the Grand Lodge of Scotland do not seem to be framed upon any fixed principle ;

for while at one time these are of a thoroughly Christian character—at another , they practically ignore Christianity . —D . M . L . ]

The Doctrines Of Jesuitism.

THE DOCTRINES OF JESUITISM .

We continue to publish the instructions upon which the members of the Society of Jesus have been acting for the last three hundred years , with greater or less intermission , in glaring opposition to the principles enunciated by him who died on

Golgotha . Manifold observations and various objections have reached us from some quarters , with reference to these Monita . The propriety of publishing and commenting on the " tenets of a religious sect , " in an organ specially devoted to

the interests of Masonry , has been questioned . To this Ave may reply that the real interests of our Society cannot be promoted and maintained better

than by exposing the machinations of its inveterate antagonists , not against our OAVU Fraternity alone , but against the peace , order , and security of Christian society at large . Our adversaries have long since departed from the use of weapons

admissible in legitimate warfare ; slander , calumny , and denigration have ever been their favourite resources on which they fell back Avhenever the ground was wanting under their feet . Nay , asrecently as last March , they have again exhumed

from their arsenal their traditional weapons of poison , arson , and assassination , and once more neaped up those piles to which they had not dared to resort since their suspension by Pope Clement XIV . By laying open the tricks and infamies of

that "dangerous sect" upon prima facie evidence , by " convicting that wicked servant out of his own mouth , " we have thought of furnishing our readers with the most efficient handle and the most striking instrument in their endeavours to render our antagonists innocuous to our cause and to that of humanity .

On the other hand , some expressions used in our impression of last week have been strangely misinterpreted by some of our brethren of the Roman Catholic persuasion . It is alleged that by speaking " disrespectfully " of the head of their

Church and " reviling" the doings of his legitimate and acknowledged organs , Ave have " embarked in . unfair polemics against their creed , and thus infringed the principle of equality maintained by the Craft in its position Avith respect to all religious

tenets and beliefs . " . Doubtless , equality of all . men , irrespective of creed , is one of the corner stones of the edifice of Masonry ; but should this principle debar us from opposing our enemies and contradicting our revilers , whenever and wherever

Ave find them ? We are at a loss to imagine how the interpellanfc can possibly be in earnest in his objections to our mode of dealing Avith the Pope as the protector and safeguard of the Order of Jesuits . Far be it from us to speak disrespectfully of any

honest belief or its ministers ; but if the acknowledged organs of such belief attempt to " strike and lacerate by a condemnatory sentence as Avith a sword" our Order , which had never done the least injury to them , it becomes our undoubted

duty to employ all legitimate means in self-defence . Avf grobcn Klotz ein grober Keil ( on a rough timber a rough hatchet ) , says Gbthe ; and , forsooth , what modes of defence are there to whichless exception could be taken by any thinking