Masonic Notes And Queries.

Freemasonry from the beginning down to A . D . 1813 ; hut he thinks that since then a man can become a true Mason , even if he is not a Christian . " "The second eminent brother ( my correspondent writes ) , member of the German Society , Leipsig , says Bro . White gravely enunciates the startling

doctrine that Freemasonry is Christianity . Then , after intimating that he is himself a Christian , he proceeds—hut if Freemasonry is Christianity , he can no longer expect to meet brethren who are Unitarians , Musselmen , Hindoos , Jews , Chinese , & c , in the lodgea circumstance at variance with what he has

, been taught . Again , to say that Christianity is the original of Freemasonry , is to proclaim the Order sectarian , and not universal , limiting its members only to Christians . Again , in his opinion , the very discussion of a presumed Christian orig in of Freemasonry is against all Masonic teaching and lawand

, has arisen within these few years amongst brethren whose zeal for the cause of the Cross makes them intolerant to the claims of frail humanity . It is the height of arrogance to assume such an origin of our Order . " The foregoing extracts are followed by a string of

questions ; hut" non nostrum tantas componere lites . " My correspondent not long ago greatly distinguished himself in the schools . He has intelligence and learning amply sufficient for the formation of an opinion without an old man's aid . In the columns of the Freemasons' Magazine there areif he will only

, take the trouble to search , all the materials that he Avants for the clue exercise of his logic in the matter . There are all the requisite premises . He has only to put them in order and draw the conclusions , and he will have a series of syllogisms affording the knowlege he so much desires . —C . P . COOPEE .

OKDEB 03 ? THE GAETEK . In the corrected edition of " Ashmole ' s History of the Garter , " published in 1715 , the names of Lord Hastings and the Earl of Avzanches are not mentioned among the knights elected during the reign of Henry the Sixth . During the reign of Edward the

Fourth , "William Lord Hastings was elected . "Was there a Lord Hastings in the time of Henry the Sixth ? If so , how came the favourite of Edward the Fourth by the title ? Who was the Earl of Avzanches ? Perhaps Bro . Harris will propound these matters to the Athenceum . —ANTHONY ONEAD

HATE . CEEISTIAN 0 EIGHT OE MASONRY . Dear Bro . " F . L . P ., " it is in Bro . Hughan ' s first "Analysis of Ancient and Modern Freemasonry " that you will find the passage respecting the

Christian ori gin of Masonry . That zealous Mason there gives examples of the Christian character of the Craft from which , he says , the Grand Lodgeof England and all the other Grand Lodges have been derived : and he states that he holds the opinion that Masonrv is of a Christian origin . —C . P . COOPER .

7 F one defrauds yon unci exults thereat , lie is the most to be pitied of human beings . He 1 ms done himself a far deeper injury than he has done you . It is him and not you , whom God regards with mingled displeasure and compassion , and His judgment should be your Ian-. Among all the benedictions of the Holy Mount there is not one for this man .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The 'Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents , GEAND ORIENT OF FEANCE .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FIIHEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIJIHOR . Dear Sir and Brother , —Tour correspondent who is supplying you with his experiences in France should have paused before he went further . He thinks because the subject is new to hirn that any small amount of information he gets hold of must be right , Avhen he has got hold of a subject beyond his

grasp . He is not obliged to know all about the subject , and there are not so many in France who do . The history of the embittered quarrels between the Grand Orient and Supreme Council is to be found chiefly in pamphlets rarely accessible , the account iu books beiug mostly on the Grand Orient side . These

squabbles Avere often equally disgraceful to both sides , for they were embittered by political rancour . One simple solution is this . The Grand Orient during the Empire Avas Bouapartist ; at the Eestoration it was put under Bourbon officials ; after the devolution of . July , it became Liberal ; and under the

Second Empire , as all know , Bouapartist again . It very naturally happened that many of the Bouapartist Masonic dignitariea of the Imperial Grand Orientjoined the Supreme Council after the Eestoration ; and after the Revolution of July the Supreme Council consisted of Bonapartists and Legitimists of high

rank and social standing . It is not easy under any circumstances for a stranger to discriminate in a contest of this nature , in Avhich the real issues are not always those put forward , but as has more than once happened dependent on personal considerations . Tour correspondent has fallen into the hands of

old and embittered partisans of the Grand Orient , or he could not have made the statements he has . His faith must have been ready , when he tells us that the lodges of the Supreme Council are the notorious hotbeds of infidelity , all belief in God being considered as " retrograde " there . It is , unfortunately for him ,

a notorious fact that it is in the fold of the G-rand Orient that this predilection has been manifested ; and it is Avell known that on the establishment of the new Constitutions a sharp fight was made for the suppression of the name of the " G . A . 0 . T . U ., " aud that it is only by the absolute power of the majority

that the formula A . JN . D . G . A . D . L . U . figures on every Masonic document , and not by any means with the goodwill of a large body of the officials and members of the lodges , as the published proceedings of the Conseil de l'Ordre will show him . Tour correspondent mustindeedhave fallen into

, , strange hands , or he would have known that the Supreme Council is not now under the ban of the Grand Orient , nor has it been for some months , but that an entente cordiale has been established between the two bodies , as in former times . Thus all the in-A ectives of your correspondent are thrown away .

On looking at the Bulletin du Grand Orient de-France your correspondent will see that the two bodies exchanged complimentary invitations at their respective Solstitial Fetes of the "Winter St . John . Iu consequence of this , on the 2 Sth December last , at the solemn sitting of the Grand Orient of France ,