The Unobtrusiveness Of Freemasonry.

troversial spirit which has , m all ages , animated nearly every religious sect which the world has seen . There has not been , through all time , a more fruitful source of discord among men , in families or nations , than the obtrusiveness to which the spirit of sect has given rise . Freemasonry never offended any man by forcing itself upon his attention . Am . ancient charge to the

entered apprentice inculcated the lesson that he must not suffer his " zeal for the institution to lead him into an argument with those who , through ignorance , might ridicule it . " Freemasonry teaches its followers a better way , for instead of repelling , it attracts , by its very

unobtrusiveness , all men towards it . It might be thought that this characteristic , so distinctive of all intelligent Masons , would deprive the Order of much of its weight and importance as a social force . But this is far from being the case . In the present and in past ages , many of the most prominent individuals , and most actively influential men , have been Freemasons . We have nothing but the traditions and records of

the Craft to show that the celebrated architect , Inigo Jones , was ever Grand Master of England . Inigo Jones was co-partner with " rare Ben Jonson , " in furnishing King James ' s court with dramatic amusement , and it is very likely that Freemasonry frequently formed a topic of conversation between the architect and the poet . Jonson formed the " A polio

Club , " at the " Devil ' s Tavern , " London , whereat Inigo Jones , and William Shakspeare , were wont to meet him once in awhile—and it is a curious fact that for a hundred years or more , the " Devil's Tavern" was a resort of Freemasons , and that even the Grand Lodge of England held occasional festivals there .

The same may be said of that other celebrated architect , Sir Christopher " Wren , who for years was Deputy Grand Master of Masons , under the Earl of Eivers , and then Grand Master . He also presided over the meetings of St . Paul ' s Lodge , London , now known as the Lodge of Antiquity ; and prominent as he was among the Craft in England , and before the country for so many years , his published life scarcely mentions his connection with the Order .

The celebrated English j > bilosopher , John Locke , was also a Mason , and we have good reason to believe from the character of his writings , that he was a zealous labourer ; but this is a fact known only to Masons . During his visitations to the Bodleian Library , he by chance discovered an old manuscript purporting to be notes of an examination of a brother

Mason , before King Henry VI ., taken by the antiquarian , John Leyland , appointed to the task by the king . Mr . Locke was so much impressed with the revelations of Freemasonry it contained , that he wrote as follows to the Earl of Pembroke concerning it : — " I know not what effect the sight of this old

paper may have upon your lordship ; but for my own part I cannot deny that it has so much raised my curiosity as to induce me to enter myself into the fraternity , which I am determined to do ( if I may be admitted ) the next time I go to London , and that will be shortly . " Mr . Locke was evidently not aware that

a previous Earl of Pembroke had been Grand Master of the Order—and it is probable that the then Earl , Locke ' s friend , was also one of the Craft . In his subsequent writings , Locke makes no direct mention of his connection with Freemasonry , but its teaching

The Unobtrusiveness Of Freemasonry.

and influences are clearly impressed upon his works . His celebrated Letter , written in 1688 , " On Toleration , " is undoubtedly of Masonic parentage . So also was his Essay , written in 1695 , on " Reasonableness of Christianity , " the object of which was to determine what points of belief were common to all the Christian sectsin order to facilitate a lan of the

, p King ' s—William III . —for the reconciliation and union of them all—such an effort a Mason might well make in behalf of a cause , which has only in these latter days entered into the thought of tha churches themselves , but it is not yet found practicableowing to their being deficient in a spirit of

, fraternity , which is a prominent characteristic of Freemasonry . In the same year , 1695 , King William , himself was privately initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry , and approved of the election of Sir Christopher Wren as Grand Master . He is also

said to have presided over a lodge'at Hampton Court . Macaulay , in his history , which is in the main a history of King William ' s reign , says nothing on the subject . Freemasonry , in its unobtrusiveness , lay hidden behind the throne , but evidently was there as as a power . It were interesting to the Masonic student to investigate to what extent Freemasonry

influenced the events of that eventful period , and assisted in the development of constitutional liberty , in England . We might also refer to our own George Washington , who was a devoted Mason , in further illustration of our subject ; also to Benjamin Franklinwho

, , in less than one year after Henry Price had received his commission to establish Masonry in all North America , with other brethren , sent to Boston a petition to organise a lodge in Philadelphia . Their prayer was granted , and Franklin was appointed its Master . Never was there a more consistent Mason

during his whole career than Benjamin Franklin , and no brother ever more faithfully illustrated the unobtrusiveness of Freemasonry . —Masonic Monthly , Boston ( U . S . )

Military Idea Of The Status Of An Architect.

MILITARY IDEA OF THE STATUS OF AN ARCHITECT .

A correspondent of the Builder writes : —On the hoarding of the new buildings of the Foreign Office is a huge placard , evidentl y issued by some of the officials of the War Office . It is no quiz or hidden joke , but a genuine official red-tape document . It commences by stating ' , that " a few

young men of good character are wanted to serve in Her Majesty ' s Royal Engineers . " Then follows a list of trades , such as carpenters , bricklayers , blacksmiths , wheelers , coopers , & c . ; and the inquiring public are informed , that these young men , wanted to serve her Majesty , " sliould be able to

read and write . " Then follows this further announcement : — "Men of other trades are required , only in limited numbers , such as clerks , draughtsman , photographers , AitCHiTECTS , printers , collar and harness makers , shoemakers , and tailors ; " and , for the further encouragement of those of the respective trades of an architect , collar-maker , & c , there