Freemasonry In Peru.

was to restore thc Sacred Volume to its place on the altars and in the ritual . In our issue of the 13 th August , 1 S 0 S , we had an article on the subject , in the concluding paragraph of which wc pointed out that our Grand Lodge would be under the necessity

of waiting until a return on the part of the Grand Lodge of Peru " to thc fundamental princip les of Freemasonry has become officially known to it , before it will bc in a position to take any step towards annulling its resolution

of non-intercourse with Peru . " This information has , happily , reached the Grand Master , who , in his communication of the Ist instant stated that "having satisfied himself that the Most Worship ful Grand Master of Peru " had , in accordance

with certain resolutions previousl y adopted by his Grand Lodge , " issued a decree abrogating the decree of June 17 th , 1 ^ 97 , " and " ordered the restoration of ( he Volume of the Sacred Law to its place upon the altar and in the ritual , " it was his Royal

Hi g bness ' s opinion that recognition should bc extended to the said G . Lodge and the lodges under its obedience , and he requested that the sense of Grand Lodge should be taken upon certain resolutions embod y ing this opinion ,

and , as a matter of course , nullif ying the resolutions passed on the 1 st June , 189 8 . This was at once done , and for the future , so long as the Grand Lodge of Peru continues " to respect those ancient landmarks and practice pure Masonry , " it , and all

its lodges , will be " entitled to recognition by English Masons as true and lawful Masonic lodges or bodies . " This re-establishment of intercourse between the Peruvian and English lodges and brethren cannot be otherwise than gratifying to the Craft in

both countries , and our one regret in referring to it is that the act of a former G . Master of Peru and the faction that supported him , should have brought about a temporary cessation of those friendly , though unofficial , relations heretofore existing between the members of the two Grand Lodges .

Freemasonry As An Ethical Religion.

FREEMASONRY AS AN ETHICAL RELIGION .

LECTURE BY DR . WASHINGTON SULLIVAN . ' ¦ There will be a new church founded on moral science , the church of man to come ; " Emerson Fssay on Worship . " Rd ' g ' on is morality rccrgnised as a Divine command . Morality is the foundation "—Immanuel Kant , Critique ofthe Practical reason . On Sunday last a large and fashionable audience assembled at . Steinway Hal ) , Porlmar .-square , to hear an Address on Freemasonry , by Dr . Washington Sullivan , President of the Ethical Religion Society , which

metis weekly at that place . The Hon . Treasurer ot the Society is Bro . George Briggs , C . C , P . M ., V . 7 .., and many Past Masters and members of tbe (' raft were present The subject and the well-known eloquence of ihe lecturer both contrived lo fill the large and luxuriously filled Steinway Hall , Portman-square , and a more elaborate accommodation for an intellectual Sunday forenoon could not be conceived . An excellent choir was in attendance and rendered the hymns and anthems with great

effect . Dr . W ASHINGTON S ILI . IVAN , in opening the Service , said : The first reading to which 1 will ask your attention is from a Masonic address delivered by a late President of the Court of Cassation of France , and who , himself an illustrious lawyer , explains what is the true nature of Freemasonry . It reads , taking a free translation , as follows .- " While generashow but the and

tions come and go ; while the ages us nothing oppressor the oppressed , tyrants and slaves ; how beautiful ; how consoling for humanity to witness an association of men bound only by the ties of virtue and united in the bonds of friendship and Brotherhood . Of all moral phenomena , a Society such as this is the most moving and the most imposing . It is the most illustrious monument which men have ever erected to virtue and

the most sublime spectacle which earth can show the Heavens . It is of all the gifts of Heaven the most rare as it is the most beneficent . Yes ! if the regeneration of morals is possible it is in Masonry , which alone can work the wonder . What extraordinary influence would it exercise if only all Masons lived up to the sublimity of their ideals . I have said , and I believe it . that the true Mason is the custodian of morality . This high

eulogy embraces all others . Only the moral man has a right to claim it , and he is the only statesman fit to rule his fellow men . The art of government may , indeed , work differently according to circumstances , but the time can never come when man can dispense with morality . By their morals the ancient peoples wcre enabled to accomplish what they did . Morals are at this day the column upon which reposes the presiige of Empires . Given morality ,

one mig lt dispense with laws , but without morals the wisest legislation is fruitless . " Such are the elhics of a French Freemason . I would further quote to you a passage which puts the position of Freemasonry in an admirable light . In iS 6 <) there was issued a statement of the aims and objects of the Portuguese Freemasons , and making a small allowance for the vivacity of . our foreign brethren , which sometimes

seems to jar a little on our more measured and sober manner of expression , and more moderate and more careful limits of thought , is to te commended and accepted by us . " Freemasonry is a great assneiation of men who have made it their task to live in perfect equality , intimate !*/ united by the bonds of mutual confidence , mutual esteem , and friendship , under the name of brothers—the sweetest and truest appellation they could attribute to themselves , and to stimulate each other to the

Freemasonry As An Ethical Religion.

practice of benevolence and morality . Freemasonry is great in the eyes of Ihe generous , good , and honest—it is nothing to the narrow minded , the wicked , and the faithless . It is sublime ; it is everything to the wise and virtuous ; it is nothing to the ambitious , the covetous , the false . It is great lo the sensible man ; the sincere and the generous who is conscious of the infirmities of man , and who feels the obligation of healing them .

Freemasonry is neither a conspiracy nor a party affair . It neither serves ambition nor deceit . It is order and truth in all things ; it hates all vices ; it loves every virtue ; it is the Godly Voice which calleth upon us to live and help each other . It is tranquillity in storms , a beacon in shipwreck , consolation in misfortune ; it is in a word , the true union of nations , Freemasonry is august ; it is everything to those who comprehend it ; it is

nothing to those whose heart and soul are dead . Freemasonry is an institution which allows no doubt , no contest as to its principles . It is the purest and simplest of all institutions . Its principles are such as to agree with that reason so liberally bestowed on us by the G . A . O . T . U . Freemasonry is neither a religious sect nor a political party . It embraces ,

however , all parties and sects , in order to unite its disciples in one common Brotherhood . Freemasonry is the touchstone for every truth ; is the torch of reason serving to distinguish good from evil , truth from falsehood , courage from cowardice , and generosity from selfishness . It teaches us to overcome the obstacles which ignorance , finaticism , and prejudice oppose to it . "

After the rendering of an Anthem , wh ' ch was given in most finished style , Dr . WASHINGTON SULLIVAN opened his lecture . He said : It may appear , at the first sight , somewhat strange that the subject of Freemasonry should figure as one of the items in the list of addresses of an Ethical Society . In the popular bsiief Masonry is an association of a purely secular

character , allied with extreme freedom in the handling of political and nli gious matters , and , therefore , under the ban of the oldest of the Christian Churches . In the next place , it is said that it is an institution cradled and nurtured in secresy , that it imposes upon t ! s members the obligations ot * silence , which preclude the profane from knowing anything definite about the Croft . What , then , could 1 have to say worth hearing on so mysterious

an insiitution ? These reasons are prima facie plausible ; but not fatal to the undertaking on the part of the uninitiated of such a task as I have assumed this morning . In fict , 1 believe I have discovered an unexceptionable justification of my somewhat hazardous procedure in the fact that , so far as Masonry discloses its hidden treasures to the world , it reveals itself in a shape well known and well loved by us—in the shape that is of

an E'hical Church , with all the marks of Unity , Catholicity , and Apostolicity upon it—which are calculated lo conciliate the respect and the admiratio 1 of mankind . In the somewhat copious literature of the Craft which is available to the profane—I use the word in its technical sense to designate those who stand without the gates of the Temple—we discover that the mystic Society of Freemasonry is built on no other foundation than

that designated by Emerson in the famous Essay as the basis of the chu . ch of men which is to be , that is , the unshakeable basis of morality . In Oliver ' s " Signs and Symbols of Freemasonry Explained , " a book published in the early part of tnis century , we read on the title-page , " Wnat is M isonry ? " and the reply is : " A beautiful system of morality , veiled in allegory , and illustrated by symbols . "

There are two kinds of symbolism . There is that which is the outward expression of the Everlasting , the bodying forth in transitory forms of the imperishable Existence , and that symbolism is good and holy to our eyes . The worlds are full of it . The worlds are it , for they are to the awakened spirit but the Time-vestuie of the Eternal Glory of the Heavens , beauty of the earth , fires of ths sky , dust of th ** : s iii—it is all one—an emblem—transitory , and ii * you only knew the truth , uireal — of that which is for ever .

"The sun , the moon , the star , the seas , the hills , and the plans , Are not these , O soul , the vision of One who reigns ? " Is not the vision He ? Though He be not that which he seem ; ? Dreams are true while they last , and do we not live in dreams ? And the ear of man cannot hear , and the eye of man cannot see , But if we could see and hear—' . his vision , were it not He ? "

This symbolism is true ; and this is the symbolism of Masonry which confesses with Tennyson that if only eyes could sje and ears cojlJ h ; ar , this vision of the earth and sea and sky , this wandering spot in the infinite space called the world , would show itself for what it is . The glory of the One would break through it and transfigure it . But there is another symbolism ; that which erects signs to shadow forth the imperfect ideal of

the Supreme Reality which the untutored mind of the ages past his conceived . Leaving the vision of the poet , the revelation in the worlds and in nature , men have listened lo false voices of teachers and creeds—false only because but partially instructed in past rudimentary times . These teachings have been set forth in dogmas of churches and illustrated in , their ritual and ceremonial , and the evil result of their work has been the disruption of

the human kind , the breaking up of the human brotherhood . Even Protestant England is suffering for its ' prentice work to-day . Men are so foolish as to think their poor thoughts about the All , worth dividing their words upon , and worse than that , they insist on going back to the fifth and sixth centuries for the truth which is be i ng revealed Ihrough this generation as much as through any that preceded Ah ! foolish to look backwards for li

it . men , are ye ght instead of watching the signs of the times in the living present ! Therefore , shall the Craft of Freemasons be preferred before ye , because they know how to discern symbol from symbol , and to learn their lesson from the age which now is instead of striving to resuscitate the Past which is dead and gone . The Symbolism which issues in dogmas is stagnation and Death ; the

Symbolism which issues in Poetry , in Art , in words and forms of beauty , is instinct with life , and such is Freemasonry , rightly understood— "a beautiful system of Morality , veiled in allegory , and illustrated by symbals . " litfore we enter on a further explanation of this description , which supplies us with a key to the true secret of Masonry , an audience like the present , in which the uninitiated largely predominate , will expect a few words on the

genesis ol the historic institution which we are discussing this morning , fhe Craft is proverbially a united body ; but there is one subject on which the brotherhood docs agree to differ , and that is , the question of its pedigree . There is ,, indeed , a general consensus of opinion that Masonry is of a very ancient lineage , but beyond that we do not find any substantial agreement amongst its historians and expositors . Some would take it back to the Mosaic era , and represent Moses himself as a Grand Master , Joshua his