Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . EEPLY TO "AN APPEAL TO EEEEMASONS . " TO THE EDITOB 01 ? THE FREEEirASOXS JTAGAZI 5 E AND MASOSIC HIRItOIi . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —Ereemasonry has been subjected to many attacks , but it continues to flourish and spread . Ono of the most recent of these depreciatory

onslaughts is to be found in The Guardian of May 29 fch , 1861 , and it is a subject of the deepest regret that the most valuable church newspaper should have admitted so shallow an appeal into ifcs columns . Tho letter in question is as follows : —

" AN APPEAL TO EEEEMASONS . " Silt , —I shall he obliged if you ivill permit me to make an appeal to the Freemasons of England and Wales through the Guardian . The reason AA'hich induces me to make this request is , that on Whit-Monday the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of a neiv church at Itliyl was attended by the Masons of tho district ; and AA'hen the stone had been laid in due form , his Worship the Provincial Grand Master approached itattired in a costume

, reminding one of a picture in an old Bible of Aaron wifcli his breastplate and Urim and Thummim ; and , after H . W . P . G . M . had put a level on the stone , ivhich I am told he did in a very perfunctory manner , he scattered these ambiguous words amongst the dense croivd assembled— ' In the name of the great Geometrician of the Universe I pronounce that this stone has been properly laid . ' Masons tell me that Jews , Turks , infidels , and heretics are admitted

into their Graft , and , as I understand , these words are used to accommodate the fancies of this heterogeneous compound . Although I may have a prejudice in favour of the Church as the best society knoivn amongst men for the inculcation of principles of charity and religion , I do not presume to dictate to those who think Freemasonry is older than the Christian Church , and better too ; but I think I may fairly appeal to them , on such occasions as that of

laying the foundation of a Christian Church , not to obtrude themselves and use words ivhich I know afc lihyl shocked many . "I AA-ould beg also to remind the Freemasons in Wales of the fact , that their countrymen are superstitious and excitable ; that the ranks of Joe Smith have been strengthened far more by fanatics from Wales , in proportion to the population , than from England . And I ivould ask them Avhether it is not probable that still further familiarising the minds of ignorant men and women ivith such mysteries as those set forth by H . W . P . G . M . may not ave a bad elfeet on sucb minds ?

" TOWNSUEND MAINWARING , M . P . " Such a string of absurdities should , as far as the Craft is concerned , go unnoticed if ifc were not that thoy are so widely spread by The Guardian . Itis the latter circumstance , and that only , thafc makes a reply necessary . This reply must take the letter as it stands , and the first objection to be raised is , by what authority or right does Mr .

Townshend Mainwaring , M . P . for Denbi gh , make an appeal fco tho Freemasons of England and Wales ? Does he belong to us , or docs he believe that in England and Wales Freemasons only arc to be found ? From the style of his note ifc is evident he is nofc a member of the Craft , and for his special information ho is hero informed that Freemasonry exists in every habitable part of the globe . It has

penetrated where Christianity has barely been heard of , being known in India , China , Japan , amongst the wild Bed-Men of the West , the Mussulmen of the East , the Eussians in the North , and the Abyssinians in the South . AVhafc says Dr . Wolff , —when he was initiated in 18-1 ( 5 , he lamented ho had not been a Freemason earlier , because he would havo been treated more kindlin . Persia and the East . He

y was frequently asked if ho ivas a brother ? and being unable to say ho ivas , it brought him under the imputation of being a spy . Not all the boasted power of the Missionary , added to his humane errand , could do half as much for him as one little sign . That sign ivould have borne out Shakospear ' s

line"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin . " Then let Mr . Mainwaring appeal , if ho thinks ho will find redress , to tho whole habitable globe , and not single oufc the Freemasons of England and Wales as his audience . The reason for the if . P . ' s appeal is , that the foundation ot the new church at Bhyl ivas laid by the EW . the Prov . G . M ., Sir Watkin Williams AVynn , upon whose costume Mr . Mainwaring attempts to bo facetious ; and then this

erudite M . P . tells us that the Prov . G . M . applied a level ! to the stone , as he is informed . Did it ever occur to Mr . Mainwaring to inquire who were the artificers of our beautiful cathedrals ? They were the work of Freemasons , a guild of brothers composed of operative and speculative Masons , and the Master Mason was generally the person who laid the first stone at the

N . E . corner of the building . Amongst the Master Masons of antiquity are many names renowned in ecclesiastical history , such as Wykeham , Waynflefce , Chicheley , Sir Eeginald Bray , Cardinal Wolsey , and scores of others who were all churchmen and Freemasons . Before the Eeformation fche Freemasons were under the peculiar protection of the holy father the Pope , and Bulls without end were

promulgated in their favour . They first fell under tho disp leasure of theHoly See in 1738 , when Clement XII . issued a Bull , and decrees , against them , all of which are still in force . It may be information to tell Mr . Mainwaring why such a Bull was promulgated . Masonry had been revived in England in 1717 , and was spreading widelv , when it came

to the knowledge of the Eomish priesthood that the Bible ivas ever laid open in every lodge . That the brethren were taught to regard it as " the unerring record of His wisdom and the revelation of His divine will . " Hence the jealousy of tho Eomish Church ; aud so . with the ultra-hyperaltifcudhiai'ian party in our church , who believe the closer they ape Eome ' s peculiarities the more sanctified they become .

It is nofc our province to offer one word in defence of Sir W . W . Wynn ; he is too good a Mason to need such aid . The breastplate of Urim and Thummim , although Mr . Mainwaring uses it as a scoff , is more allied ivith Freemasonry than he imagines . How , it is not necessary to inform him . Ho professes to bo scandalised at the form of words used by the Prov . G . M . In this that E . W . Bro . had no choice ,

for it is a formula existent before the present language of our beautiful liturgy was offered in the native tongue . In this Freemasons aro consistent , which cannot be always said of your very high churchmen , who , in many instances , such as Mariolatry , the Via Crucis , and many other fancies , is a mere Eomaniser without the honesty of avowing his

purpose . AVhafc the JIT . P . has been told is true . Freemasonry receives into its ranks men of every creed and country , but ib nowhere teaches a man , so received , to abjure one tittle of that creed . Ifcs boast is that it never interferes with any one ' s religious belief , further than to inquire if he acknowlogcs a Supreme Being . If Freemasonry was the bugbear Mr . Mainwaring would have the world believedoes bethink

, it likely thafc we could number in our fraternity such brethren as the Bishops of Salisbury and Montreal , both good Churchmen , without being of the Union school , and dozens moreof tho clergy who could bo named ? Does ifc nofc also strike Mr . Mainwaring , thafc to bo a member of thafc house whero J civs , infidels , and heretics —there are no Turks initatprcsent •—mock and scoff at the Church ; where Dissenters ,

Anabaptists , Quakers , Shakers , Unitarians , all have their fling at our Church in turn , is much more prejudicial to tho interests of true religion than a reverent appeal to fche Grand Geometrician of the Universe ? If so , let him not presume to dictate to us out of the fulness of his ignorance , but rather try to cure the evil with those with whom ho is connected , than , with us , where his word is as idle " wind and fury , signifying nothing . "

As to the assertion of Freemasonry in any way contributing to Mormonism in AVales , "Tbe force of folly can no further go . " Who arc tho Freemasons o ( ' Wales ? Are they not men of some little standing in the social scale ? Are they the neglected poor ? The Freemasons of AVales can take careof themselves ; butthoraiiksfromwhichthcMoi-monsarerecruited are those

for whom the Church cares bufc little . They como from tho Ebenezers and Little Bethels ivhich so numerously show their heads in the parishes where fche tithes are impropriated by landlords , appropriated by clerical corporations , anel where to lie a AVelsh parson is afc once to be little better than a curate . Why docs Mormonism spread ? _ Ask your vicar or rector . Docs lie speak to the people iu their native tongue ? AVill ho allow them to sing a AVelsh h ymn at the " -rave ? No . Then what aro the results ? They will "o to the