Freemasonry And Christianity.

men , ages before the coming of Christ . Christianity —and other faiths—and Preemasonry differ in this respect . The first look beyond the grave to a settled hereafter . Preemasonry insists upon her sons Jiving such lives on earth as to render them good and useful members of society , hut does not teach what the

hereafter is to consist of . That she leaves to the religious faith of each . But every Preemason swears obedience to the Grand Lodge Constitutions ; and our religious belief , as Freemasons , is summed up in the first charge . Let us not remove our landmarks , neither change our princilesbut still be our motto , " Glory

p , to God in the hi g hest , peace on earth , and good will to all men . " Tours fraternally , ANTHONY ONEAL HAYE .

Masonry In France.

MASONRY IN FRANCE .

TO THE EDITOR OF THE I'REE-. tASOJJ ' S MAGAZI-TE AND ATASOXIO MlEKOTi . Dear Sir and Brother , —The correspondent who has given you information under the head of " Le Grand Orient de Prance " as to Masonry in Prance has very much misled you , particularly with regard to the Supreme Council ; but in setting this ri ght I

have no intention of casting any reflection on the Grand Orient , as I have the honour to be a member of both bodies since thirty years . The Grand Orient is not , so far as I am aware , the recognised Masonic body in the Grand Lodges of Great Britain . The Grand Lodge of England has no

representative either from the Grand Orient or the Supreme Council . I have often advocated the recognition ; but the answer I have been met with is that Prance is in schism , and that , therefore , neither can be recognised . If either be legitimate , this nonrecognition must be a great wrong to that one ; but

, as I believe , as a question of Masonic jurisprudence each is legitimate , and entitled to be recognised in its Craft capacity . The non-recognition is further impolitic ; and it is this studied contempt and

nonintercourse which has led the Supreme Council to try the question by not recognising our jurisdiction , and granting a warrant for Jersey , which was clone purel y on this ground . I have long been of opinion that our relations with foreign countries ought not to be left to the Board

of General Purposes , but that there ought to be a Foreign Committee of persons really conversant with Foreign Masonic affairs . After the unfavourable experience of the Colonial Committee , the members of the Foreign Committee ought not to be chosen by Grand Lodge , but named by the M . W . G . M . With

the constitution of Grand Lodge it is unreasonable to expect that qualified members should be chosen either for the Colonial or Foreign Boards ; but , on the contrary , members having sufficient influence in Grand Lodge to get themselves named , ignorant of the matters concernedand incompetent to deal with

, them . Thus the responsibility of the nominee members is nullified , whereas the responsibility of these two departments should be thrown wholly on the executive .

¦ Tour correspondent has misled you as to the character and constitution of the two French Masonic bodies . Each is a Craft Grand Lodge , and each is a Supreme Council . Each has recognised the

Masonry In France.

other as a Graft Grand Lodge * . but the Supreme Council does not recognise the recent assumption of the Grand Orient to constitute a Supreme Council The basis of the Grand Orient system in the high degrees is that it does nofc recognise 33 degrees , but abolished a number , reduced the whole to seven , the

highest being the ISfch , and altered the rituals . Each is co-ordinate as a Craft Grand Lodge , each working by different rituals , and when they have been in cooperation , both have sometimes had jurisdiction over the same lodges , a lodge working according to a single riteor according to both . No one acquainted

, with Masonic jurisprudence can doubt that a Craft Lodge working according to the Scotch rite , and giving its certificate under the Symbolic Grand Lodge of the Supreme Council , is as legitimate as any French Craft proceeding of the Grand Orient .

With regard to the greater proportion of lodges belonging to the Supreme Council , I do not accept your correspondent ' s statistics but the greater proportion of the Grand Orient arises from its having the police protection , or " tolerance " of the Government , the Supreme Council being under the ban of the Governmentand its lodges being threatened with

, suppression . Its lodges are , however , of good character , its governors are men of the highest standing ,, and its members include those who protest most fervently against the interference of the Government with the independence of Masonry . Tour correspondent has stated enough to show

that the fault of the unfortunate position of the Grand Orient is not owing to itself , but to acts of despotic tyranny of the French Government to which the Grand Orient has not willingly succumbed . Tour correspondent has omitted to state that the Grand Orientbesides the French ritenow

recog-, , nises the rites of Memphis and Misraim , and if the Supreme Council has allowed a lodge of the Scotch rite to be established by Frenchmen in Jersey , the Grand Orient has the branches of its 99 degrees established in London itself . There is reason to believe

that the matter has now gone so far that a Council of the thirty-third degree has been established in London . This state of affairs is greatly owing to the policy or impolicy pursued of late years by Grand Lodge authorities in regard to foreign matters . The recent decision as to Dutch lodges at the Cape is , to

say the least , anomalous . The secession of the Canadian lodges , now being followed by the other North American lodges , will not arrest the secession of our colonies , and the changes in the Book of Constitutions as to District Grand Lodges will precipitate disunion instead of arresting ifc . If I am not misinformed the

rite of Misraim is spreading in Australia . The able advisers of the M . W . G . M ., however successful they have been in matters of home policy , have certainly not been so abroad , and the future appears more threatening than the past . Without there being any evil intentions on their part , it follows , as

a matter of course , that contempt and neglect will be aggravated under the new arrangements . Under the theory of the old system , the Provincial Grand Officer iu a colony holds local rank , and not general rank . This has always been misunderstood . The Deputy Grand Master , or Warden , did not consider that his true position was not as the functionary of the province , but as the D . G . M . of England , or the