Country Lodge Accommodation.

in many small towns buy a site and erect a temple amply sufficing for the Masonic requirements of the neighbourhood for , at any rate , several generations ; and although out of the reach of the Lodge itself , such a sum might be available for a good investment by Prov . Grand Lodges , and the portion of the purchase money subscribed by the Lodge itself would be a guarantee for the regularity of the annual payment . Work would also be thus found

for Prov . Grand Superintendents of Works . I myself am member of a Lodge which suffers from all the disadvantages enumerated above , and many others . There is also a Chapter whose meetings are held under the same depressing shadow . If this communication answer the end only of drawing additional attention to this crying evil , I am sure you will be indulgent enough to pardon its somewhat hasty composition and excuse its intrusion on your columns . Yours faithfully and fraternally , 22 nd January , 1859 . J . 0 . E ,

Universality Of Freemasonry.

UNIVERSALITY OF FREEMASONRY .

TO THE EDITOR 0 E THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE AND MASONIC MIMlOn . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —It is a positive pleasure , after some of the letters which have appeared respecting Freemasonry and Christianity , to read the letter of the "Prov . Grand Chaplain , " written as it is in the language and spirit of a gentleman and a Mason . It is the more to be regretted that the Chaplain appears to be somewhat misinformed on some points

connected with the controversy , as well as on some others ; and I shall therefore crave a few lines of your valuable space , in order to put these points fairly before him , trusting to do so in the same spirit he has himself shown , It must be recollected , in the first place , that my first letter was a reply to a letter of " Sit Lux . " This correspondent had disputed the claims of Freemasonry to universality on various grounds . It might almost appear to those who read the "Prov . G . Chaplain ' s" letteras if principal answer

, my to these grounds had been that I had not read Bishop Pearson ' s work on the creed . _ I certainly mentioned this fact , but in quite an incidental manner ; my main argument being as to the necessaril y Christian character of Freemasonry—an inquiry how such an assertion could be reconciled to the answer in our lectures to the question , What is Freemasonry ?—an inquiry of

which as yet no notice has been taken . I had occasion also to refer to an accusation of sectarianism , and of an attempt to bring the Articles of the Church of Englandinto Lodge—this the "Prov . G . Chaplain" calls ridiculous . I am not , however , responsible for the ridicule . If the Chaplain will turn to vol . i ., for 1858 , p . 548 , he mil find in the second paragraph these words , " And according to the belief of our Protestant brethren since the Reformation , our doctrines are commensurate with those contained in the Book of

Common Prayer used in the Anglican Church , etc . " The intention of this passage must evidently be that Freemasonry is Christian by its agreement with the doctrines contained in the Book of Common Prayer . I also had occasion to notice the union of 1813 , and certain alterations then made in the lectures , and for this I am blamed , because I limit Freemasonry to the last fifty years . May I for one moment meet this reproach by asking where was the Christianity of Freemasonry at the building of the second temple—