Hints About And To Brother Rob Morris.

inconsistent in Masonry with the duties he owed to God , " & c , while knowing full well that the ritual was inoon sistent with the candidate ' s religious belief ; or , in other words , that the W . M . had a rig ht to promise what he

knew to be false . Well , thank God that some Christians do not believe in Bro . Morris ' s doctrine ; for instance , in 1851 I sent Moore ' s " Trestle Board " to the Rev . Brother Carver , who was then the representative of the Grand

Lodge of Massachusetts in the Grand Lodge of England , and , by appointment , I saw him on the following day , when this Rev . Brother emphatically pronounced certain parts thereof as un-Masonic , and ho even wrote to Moore . Yes

he wrote more than once , but Moore paid no attention to his letters . Again , Bro . W . P . Mellen , in 1855 , wrote four papers , in the Acacia , on the Jewish question ; no one undertook to answer him . Yes , even Rob Morris had not

the courage to attack Bro . Mellen s arguments . Still again , in 1875 , the Rev . Bro . Charles Griswold , then Grand Master of Minnesota , wrote to me , that the sectarian parts in the ritual ought to be expunged ; and last , the present

Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts also admitted that I was right . Now , the arguments of our American luminaries for justifying deception rested mainl y on what they called " ancient landmarks " and " venerable

traditions ; so 1 was induced to examine their pretensions of " ancient landmarks , " & c , and found that tbe traditions were modern inventions of some zealots , for the purpose of turning the Masonic Lodge into a conversion trap . I

admit , therefore , what Bro . Morris states , that if 1 had not been provoked by the humbuggery of the American Masonic ritual I should probably never have questioned the Masonic traditions . But our Bro . Morris continues his

statement with what is not quite true , be says : " Had the Boston people inherited his hatred of Jesus , and inserted a lot of Talmudic traditions , Bro . Norton had

been perhaps an LL . D ., " & c , & c . . Now that is all bosh , for he does not know what I should have done in such a case . There are some more such unfounded statements in Bro . Morris ' s writings ; for instance , he describes me as a very ferocious individual when sitting at my desk with my pen in my hand ; the

truth is , be never saw me sitting at my desk , nor when I had a pen in my hand . And in the Ciucinnatti Masonic Revieto he intimates that I called Lord Montaerue an

impostor . But I can assure my readers that I never wrote , said , or even suspected , that Lord Montague was an impostor .

Bro . Morris throws out threatening hints about what he knows of the " synagogue , " " its creeds , " and " a hundred treatises , " " twelve treatises , " " modern Judaism , " & c , which he intimates he could blow sk y high iu a minute . Assuming that Bro . Morris could do all this , all that

I have to say is : whenever a Jew attempts to convert Bro . Morris to the synagogue and its creeds , he will be perfectly justified in doing his best to bring the synagogue and its crveds into contempt . But the last pathetic appeal of Bro . Morris is the most amusing . He says : —

Bro . Jacob Norton , you have removed our Solomon , and our Hirams ; . all we deemed traditions and landmarks ! What is left ? "

Bro . Morris ' s ascribing to me the distinction of removing his Solomon and his Hirams is simply on a par with many other things he has written . The fact is , three years before I began to write for the Masonic press , Brother

Steinbrenner published his " Origin of Masonry , " and three years before Steinbrenner ' s book appeared , Brother Findel ( in 1360 ) published his History of Freemasonry ; and both of these eminent Masonic writers disproved tho antiquity

of Speculative Masonry , including the Grand Mastershi p of Solomon and Co . Nay more , as loug ago as 1853 , Bro . Henry Fauci il , P . G . D . of the Grand Lodgo of •England , told rue ; hat our Freemasonry was not ancient .

DalchVs Ahiman iriezon of 18 * 22 shows how little he then believed iu Masonic traditions , and I have reason to oelieve that our intelligent German brethren , Bro . Dalcho ' s Countrymen , began to disbelieve in the veracity of Masonic ititstorians even oefore Dalcho died . In 1818 Hallain

wrote , "The curious subject of Freemasonry has unfortunatel y been one treated by panegyrists or calumniators , both equally mendacious ; " and later ou Mr , Hr . liiweli

administered to Masons a similar rebuke for then- credulity bonce our Masonic German searchers on the one hand , and our non-Masonic English rebukers on the other , act' — 'Jv produced a ferment even among our apathetic and credulous English Masons Thus in IS 70 a fight began between

Hints About And To Brother Rob Morris.

Brothers Hughan and Buchan about "the 1717 Theory . " la 1873 Bro . D . M . Lyon ' s trul y great woik appeared , which proved beyond doubt that " Speculative Masonry , " with its three degrees , was unknown in Scotland before

1723 , and it is needless to argue that neither Bro . Hnghan nor Bro . Gould nowbHuve in the Solomonic origin of Masonry . Such being th i case , I am certainly not entitled to either praise or blamo tor having deprived Bro . Morris

of his Solomon and his riirams , and if Bro . Morris is at all injured by ray dei •¦ olishing some other so-called Masonic traditions , ho ha ^ to blame for it tbe stupidity or Jesuitism of the Grand Luiire of Massachusetts of 1852 .

And now , my good Bro . Morris , I will ] ust give a little wholesome advice , viz ., if you cannot defend your traditions by historic proofs , then case to repeat them . R member that "Jack tbe Giant Killer" may be a

suitable book for a child to re- d , and if it enjoy the story all right . But should you set iously recommend the same book to a man who is endo ved with a grain of common sense , he will at least laug ' n at your folly . A hundred

years ago Freemasons were in ere children , and a Masonic Jack the Giant Killer story sni ted their age ; then you could have made Masons believe a * , thing and everything ; then the story of the John Locke I S ., the Malcolm Charter , and

any number of other cock and bull stories were received by Masons without question or doubt . But now , with the works of Findel , Stembreuner , Lyon . Hnghan , and Gould before us , it is no more nossiblefor vou . oranv other man .

to restore the former faith in Masonic traditions than it is possible to revive the old belief in witchcraft , or in heathen mythology . BOSTON , U . S ., 3 rd May 1887 .

Notice Of Meetings.

NOTICE OF MEETINGS .

— : o : — LODGE OF ST . PETER , No . 1204 THE installation of this Lodgo was held at the Masonic Hall , Maldon , on Thursday , 9 th instant , when Bro . W . De Cenn

S . W . was installed as W . M . for the ensuing year , the ceremouy being performed by Bro . Edmund Govvers P . M . P . P . G . O . The Officers for the year were invested as under : —Bros . C . S . Blyth I . P . M ., 0 . Ker S . W ., A . Barritt J . W ., Rev . E . R . Horwood P . M .

P . P . G . O . Chaplam , H . J . Sansom P . M . P . P . G . D . Treasurer , F . Geo . Green P . M . P . P . G . S . W . Secretary , F . Bird P . M . P . P . G . P . Organist , W . Gower S . D ., C . Dibben J . D ., W . Cloyer I . G ., J . Sadler and J . Hridson Stewards , G . Hnxtable Tyler . Bro , G . wers was re-elected to represent the Lodge upon the Essex Provincial Charity Committee ,

and a hearty vote of thanks was passed to him for the able <* ay in which he hud conducted the installation ceremony . The brethren subsequently dined together at the Bine Boar Hotel ; a sumptuous repast being served by Mrs . Hickford , the hostess . On the removal of the cloth , the nsunl Masonic toas s were duly honoured . In

proposing the health or the M . VV . G . M . the W . M . alluded to the great meeting of Freeniasous which was to be held in the Albert Hall , on the following Monday , under the presidency of His Royal Highness , when an address of congratulation to the Queen on her jubilee was to be agreed upon , and which , the W . M . remarked , would be a

memorable one to all who were fortunate enough to be present . The toast of the Visitors was responded to by Bro . E . Hennemeyer P . M . 51 P . P . G . S . W ., A . G . Maskeil W . M . 276 , aud S . H . Eliis P . M . 1977- In returning thanks for the toasfc of the Chaplain , the Rev . E . R . Horwood P . M . P . P . G . C . ( Vicar of All Saints , Maldon ) , said he bad

oc-enpied that position now for some years , and was very gratified to fulfil the duties which the ofEce imposed upon him . The outside world were wont to associate Freemasonry with mere eating and drinking . Of coaivo this wa : t because they were not aware of tho inner working of the Order : he was one of those

who considered that these social gatherings after the Lodge business , if used in moderation , were productive of much good . Men differing in creed , politics , and class , were thereby brought together ; the rough portions of tbe > r nature were rubbed off , and neighbourly and friendly filings were awakuned between thorn . It

was not good for a man to shut himself within himself , to get into ot'o groove , as is were , for then his mind became contracted , and he had no sympathies ontsido his own little circle or clique . The patron - aint of their Lodge was St . Peter , whose viitnes he trn 3 ted they would nil imitate , while the emblem emblazoned on their banner—a

cock standing on a rock—aucukl remind them , the former co be watchful , and ibe latter to be steady and tirm in principle , so tbtt when they should be summoned from tni ? sublunary ab' de bey might , ascend to the Grand Lodge abo ^ e , wh .-re the world ' s Great

Architect lives aod reign 3 for ever . The Charities was propos d by Bro . Arthnur Burnt t , who remarking tbat Charity wag at . tie ro ^ tof true Freemasonry , expressed a hopo that tLe three noble Chiviines connected with th ? Order would bo supported bv all Mnsoas to the best , of fcbeir abiiit 7 . Brother Edaiand

Gowers P . M . P . u . O ., whobe natni was connected with tho toast , took the- opportunity to mot tion that the candidature for the Boys' School > f the son of a l- "u < 3 member of their Ludtje was proceeding satisfactorily . In support of that vet •_ > : lr-: ; sr * -: ng case h ^ was , s many of them were aware , feeing on Tuesday nest to the Annual Festival