The Anti-Masonic Vicar.

THE ANTI-MASONIC VICAR .

" Turn your attention to that magnificent structure , the Temple of Jerusalem Observe , no clay substance , no brick , was used ; lest any inferior material should give vise to base ideas . Every part and particle of that grand dwelling of HIM . whose existence is SECRET , was perfect of its kind . Its commonest fragments were matter of attentive survey . Even the stones were quarried in the country of Judiea . And everv measure was taken to steep the mind in that , serenity .

calmness , and Intensity of devotion which arc essential to the true worship of the Af . MtoiiTY . The stones , too , were levelled and squared before they were brought to the place , and the waste was left behind , that all might be fully prepared and cleanly wrought . So . in like manner , should all Freemasons level and square their hearts , purging them of every impurity , in order to arrive at that glorious state of mental and spiritual perfection , of which the Temple and its composition was beautifully symbolical . " - Lebanon , by JOEI . NASH .

" I HAVE sent for you , although I know my summons must be inconvenient , because I choose you to be present at an interview which has been forced on me by a deputation from the Freemasons : they aim at persuading me to allow them to assemble in my church . A likely matter indeed ! a very likely matter . ' " So spake , with flushed cheek and quivering lip , my wellintentioned but nervous incumbent , one memorable Saturday in the

month of August . " Very well , sir , " Avas my reply : " you may depend on my heeding and recollecting the sentiments of each party . " " AA ould to heaven ! "—this was aside— " that these Mason people

had chosen some other day than Saturday for their conference . Neither sermon written ! The Lending Library accounts all in confusion ; Mrs . Watkinson's sick baby to baptise ; and tvvo funerals in the afternoon to a certainty ! "

" They must be cut short—yes , very , very short . ' " ejaculated the vicar , decisively and emphatically . "AVhat ! the sermons . '" cried I . reverting at once to the topic uppermost in my own mind ; " oh , very well . Your views , sir , are mine . They shall be shortened to a certainty . "

"You are dreaming , " remarked my superior , pettishly . I allude to the speeches , the oratorical displays , the verbiage of these mystics . " "Ah ! " precisely so , " was my dutiful reply . "You , sir , and no other , hold the check-string ; the length of the interview must depend on your pleasure . Masons ! "—this was another aside— I

wish they Avere all walled up in the Pyramids . Six : and no tidings ! It will be midnight before I shall have completed my preparations for to-morrow . " " I am not narrow-minded , " resumed Mr . Gresham , fidgeting fretfully in his chair ; "far from it ; my vieAVs are liberal and

enlarged ; I never by any chance indulge in a harsh surmise touching any one of my fellow-creatures . But these Mason people alarm me . They have a secret ; there is some extraordinary bond , stringent and Avell understood , by which they support each other . I look upon them as little better than conspirators , "—then , after a brief pause— "infact , they ARE conspirators ! "

" You really think so 1 " said I , for the first time feeling an interest in the subject . " I do , seriously and solemnly , " said the vicar , Avith an air of the most earnest and portentous gravity . Rat-tat-tat ! Rap , rap !

" The deputation , sir , " said the butler , bowing five middle-aged gentlemen into the study . For a set of " conspirators " they were the oddest-looking people imaginable . There they stood , a knot of portly , frank-featured , cheerful men , upon whom the cares of life apparently sat lightly , Avho greeted their pastor with a smile , and seemed in high good

humour Avith themselves and all around them . Nor , while I curiously scanned their look and bearing , could I , for the life of me . imagine a reason why men so happily circumstanced should take it into their heads to turn jdottevs . The foremost of the group I kneAV to be a man of Avealth . He had " a stake , " and no small one , in the permanent prosperity of his country . His next neighbour was a wine

merchant , Avith a large and well-established connection , and blest with a rising and most promising family—AA hat had he to " conspire " about ? The party a little in the background was a Dissenter of irreproachable character and tenets strict even to sternness . Moreover , on no subject did he dilate , publicly as Avell as privately , with greater earn . estn . ess and unction , than , on the incalculable evils

arising from Avar , and the duty oi eA ery Christian state , at any sacrifice , to avoid it . AVhat ! he ' a conspirator ! " Fronting the vicar Avas the banker of our little community . And to him I fancied nothing would be less agreeable than " a run " upon his small but flourishing firm in Quay-street . And yet " runs" severe—repeated —exhausting " runs , " would inevitably result from any

widelyspread and successful conspiracy . The banker ' s supporter was a little , mirthful-eyed man—a bachelor—AVIIO held a light and eligible appointment under Government , and looked as if he had never knoAvn a care in all his life . He perplexed me more than all the rest . He , of all created beings , a conspirator ! Marvellous ! The spokesman of the party began his story . He said , in substance ,

that a neAV lodge being about to be opened Avithin a mile and-a-half of Fairstream , it was the Avish of the brethren ( the more firmly to engraft on the noble tree this neAV Masonic scion ) to go in procession to church , and there listen to a sermon from a clerical brother . In this arrangement he , in the name of the Lodge , represented by the parties then in his presence , most respectfully requested the

vicar ' s concurrence . That reverend personage , with a most distant and forbidding air , replied that he could sanctioh no such proceedings . Perplexed by this response , which Avas equally unpalatable and unexpected , the deputation , Avith deference , demanded my

incumbent's reasons for refusal . " They are many and various , " replied he ; " but resolve themselves mainly into these FOUR . First : There is nothing church about you !" The deputation stared . " I repeat , that of Freemasons as a body the Church knows nothing . You admit into your f elloAVship men of all creeds . Your

The Anti-Masonic Vicar.

principles and intentions may be pure and praiseAVorthy : and such I trust they are . But the Church is not privy to them . The Church is in ignorance respecting them . The Church does not recognise them . And therefore , as a ministering servant of the Church , I must decline offering you any countenance or support . " The banker here submitted to the vicar that in works of charity

—in supporting an infirmary , a dispensary , a clothing club , a stranger's friend society—identity of creed w . as not essential . Men of different shades of religious belief could harmoniously and advantageously combine in carrying out a beneA'olent project . And one of the leading principles of Freemasonry was aotiA ^ o and untiring and widely-spread benevolence . Could success crown any charitable project , any scheme of philanthropy , any plan for

succouring the suffering and the necessitous ( the operation of ichich teas to be e-rtended , and- not partial ) , if no assistance Avas accepted save from those Avho held one and the same religious creed . ' " Charity , " he contended . " knew no creed . No shackles , forged by human opinions , could or ought to trammel her . He Avas no friend to his species who would seek to impose them . " The vicar shook his head repeatedly in token of vehement dissent from these observations , and proceeded : —

" . Next I object to you because you are friendly to processions ; and I am given to understand purpose advancing to church in long and elaborate array . All processions , all emblems , all symbols . I abominate . Such accessories are , in the sanctuary , absolutely indecent ; I will not call them unholy ; I term them doAvnright profane . AVhat has a thinking being—particularly Avhen proceeding

for the purposes ot Avorship to the temple of his Creator—what has he to do with processions . ' They are , one and all , abominations . " The little placeman here briskly stepped forward and said that " in that Book , Avith Avhich he AATIS sure the vicar Avas better acquainted than any one of them , processions were repeatedly mentioned , and never condemned . They occur in all parts of the

sacred volume , and m a very early portion of it . A procession of no ordinary description folloAved Jacob ' s remains when , Avith filial loA e , Joseph brought them out of Egypt into Canaan . A procession , long and elaborately arranged , attended the removal of the ark from its temporary sojourn in the house of Obed-Edom . A procession , glorious and imposing , preceded the dedication of Solomon ' s temple . A procession "

" Pray , said the vicar , sharply , " do you mean to contend that any one of these processions Avas at all the counterpart of a Masonic procession ?" ' I do not ; I disclaim all such irreverent intention , " returned the other , gravely ; " my object Avas simply to shoAV that by the VERY HIGHEST authority which man can produce processions are not

forbidden . Usage sanctions their adoption among ourselves . They form a part of our most august ceremonies . AVhen the peers present an address to the S 0 A ereign on his escape from the hands of an assassin , on the birth of an heir to the throne , on the marriage of one of the royal family , they repair to the royal presence in procession . At the coronation of the sovereign one of the most

important features in the pageant is a gorgeous and lengthened procession . That procession , let me remind you . sir , Avends its Avay to the house of God , and for the purposes of Avorship . It enters the abbey . There divine service is performed , in the course of Avhich the sovereign receives the crOAvn and takes an oath to the people . These points are pressed on you as pertinent to the subject . Surely , after considering them , you Avill hold us blameless

if , as Masons , Ave wish to go up to the house of God in company , ' in other words , in procession . '' " " Plausible , but holloAV , " Avas the vicar ' s comment . Then , after a pause , " You have failed to convince me . I object to you strongly on the score of your processions , and I object to you still more decidedly on the score of your secret . You are a secret society ; are held together by a stringent oath : IIOAV I hold that wherever there is mystery there is iniquity ! "

• ' A harsh conclusion , indeed . " exclaimed Mr . AValford , the Avine merchant , Avho IIOAV took part in the discussion ; " you cannot be serious in maintaining it . AVhen you assert secrecy to be criminal you have forgotten its universal agency . It has escaped you IIOAV argely it perA-ades both public and private life . In every department its operation is traceable . The naval commander sails from .

his country ' s shores under sealed orders . He has private papers Avhich contain his instructions . These ho is to open in a certain latitude and longitude . Meamvhile their import is secret' to him and to those Avho seiwe under him . But he accepts his trust unhesitatingly . The ' secrecy ' in AA'hich his orders are veiled does not indispose him toAvards their fulfilment , make him suspicious of

their origin , doubtful ot their necessity , or render their faithful performance one Avhit less obligatory upon his part . His duty is to obey . Take another instance : The Cabinet Council which deliberates on the interests of this great country , and advises the sovereign in matters of policy , is sAvorn to secrecy . No member of it is allowed , Avithout distinct permission from the reigning prince ,

to divulge one syllable of Avhat passes at its sittings . It is a- SECRET conclave . But no one questions , on that account , the legality or propriety of its decisions . In private life secrecy obtains . In a commercial partnership there are secrets—the secrets of the firm . To them each co-partner is privy ; but is solemnly bound not to disclose them . In a family there are secrets . In most households

there are facts Avhich the heads of that household do not divulge to their servants , children , and dependents . Prudence enjoins secrecy . So that , in public and in private life , in affairs of state and in affairs of commerce , secrecy more or less prevails . AVh y , then , should it be objected to the Freemason , that in his order there is a secret which is essential to the existence of the fraternity , and which he is bound to hold sacred ? "

" Ha ! ha ! ha ! An adroit evasion of a very aAvkAvard accusation , " cried the vicar , with an enjoyable chuckle . "Who is the general of your order ? There must be Jesuits amongst ye . No arguments from Stonyhurst could be more jesuiticall y pointed . " And again the vicar laughed heartily .