Ineligibility Of Bastards And The Maimed As Freemasons.

INELIGIBILITY OF BASTARDS AND THE MAIMED AS FREEMASONS .

BY CIPES . ( Concluded from page 135 . ) We will now take up " Leo ' s " remarks , and repeat , simply , that we feel sorry that he , so good and promising a Freemason , should have taken wrong ideas , and in answering him we mean no offence .

" Leo" expresses himself very strongly , making up in big words for the want of facts and arguments . The question , however , is one of fact . Are maimed mutilated , or deformed persons admissible as Freemasons , or are they not ? Are bastards admissible , or are they not 1 We must look to the Ancient Laws and Landmarks of our Order ; we need not care

much what " Leo , " or any other person , may think upon the subject . We have not to discuss the propriety of these laws and landmarks ; we have only to consider what they actually are . Sentiment and feeling must be thrown out of account ; we have only to inquire what is the state of the case . "Leo" gives us no evidence that deformed ,

maimed , or mutilated persons can be received into the Order , or that bastards cau be received , however excellent and honourable in character . He has nothing to say on either of these points , except to suggest considerations , which might be worthy of some attention if the laws of Freemasonry were now for the first time tobe considered , orif there were

a proposal and possibility of a revision of these laws . But the landmarks of Freemasonry are unchangeable , and " Leo " ought to know this . The whole system would be subvertel , if one of these landmarks were changed . It astonishes our brother " Leo " that a man bereft of an arm should be incapable of being

received as a Freemason , " even although lie be ot good moral character , " and he exclaims , " Just as if Freemasonry were made up of arms and legs !" It is a very pretty exclamation , but nothing at ; ill to the purpose . Every Freemason ought to know that the landmarks of the order requires perfection , physical aud moral , in so far as perfection is

attainable , and that anything plainly contrary to it is opposed to the very principles on which tlie Order is founded , and to its symbolical teachings . It is not that we wish to deal hardly with men who , in the providence of God , have been subjected to great calamities , or have been subject to infirmities from which mankind are generally free , but we wish to

maintain the ancient laws of our ancient and honourable fraternity , and those symbols which signify its great design , as well as its connection with the Jewish Jaw , from which its Jaws are derived . One of the glories of Freemasonry is its origin , and anything which obscures its connection with the old Jewish laws tends to deprive it of this ,

and to throw a cloud of uncertainty over its whole early history . With regard to ( he ineligibility of bastards as Freemasons , we repeat our statement , that they have been held ineligible from the very earliest periods , and the Landmarks and the General Regulations from the year 926 exclude them . "Leo "

says also that ho is afraid that we do not well know what the real Landmarks of " Freemasonry or Speculative Masonry' are . And he goes on— " I may , therefore , be allowed to state that these arc Brotherly Love , llelief , and Truth . " We know not whence "Leo" has derived his authority for this astounding assertion . We have the Landmarks of

the Order before us , aud we do not hnd in them the words , " Brotherly Love , Relief , and Truth , " nor any of these expressions . They are , indeed , the chief elements or principles of the Masonic Institution , but , as Landniirks of the Order , we defy "Leo" to point out where they are to be found . The Landmarks are all in accordance with them ,

but . they are not set forth as Landmarks . " Leo , " with great liberality , takes tlie bastard to his embrace ; but we may ask him , if we would be prepared to give equal rights in all things to bastards and legitimate children—if lie would for example , give up his inheritance to a bastard ? He quotes , as of supreme authority , and as if determining this

question , the words of our Saviour— " Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto yon , do ye even so to them ; " and that other " golden sentence , "— "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself . " On this he triumphantly ask ? " Is not the bastard , especially if lie be a good and true man himself , our neighbour ? " To which

wo answer—\ us * ; and if there is any good in our power to do him , we own ourselves bound to do it , aye , and even whether he be a good and true man or not . But what is this to tlie purpose ? His position is a different one from that of a man born in lawful wedlock , and . with all our

feelings of compassion and kindness towards him , we cannot overlook this difference . The words of our Saviour are of as full authority with us as they can bo with " Leo ; " but we cannot forget , what he seems to have forgotten , that for admission into the Order of Freemasonry it ia not requisite

Ineligibility Of Bastards And The Maimed As Freemasons.

that a man should be a Christian . It is necessary , indeed , that he should believe in the existence of God , and in the doctrine of a future state ; but Jews are , therefore , freely admitted into the Order , and there could be no objection to the admission of a Mahommedan . Men who are not Christians are members of the Grand Lodges both of England and

Scotland . We present this to consideration only as showing the weakness of "Leo ' s" argument , although we ourselves fully acknowledge the authority of the words he has quoted , aud desire to live according to them . But we cannot , even in this qualified sense , agree with him when he says , — " It is an entirely mistaken and spurious view of

Freemasonry which would lock out any honest bastarda remnant of old Jewish legation and selfish pride . " We say nothing as to selfish pride , which has been evidently stuck in to give force to the sentence ; but when " Leo" condemns Jewish legalism , he shows himself ignorant of the origin and very first principles of Freemasonry , and he •seems to forget

that the Jewish law was unquestionably the law of that God whom all Freemasons agree to honour . The laws of ancient Freemasonry must be upheld in their entirety . Why do you uphold the practice of passing a shoe to one another ? Why do you swear in a Jew with his hat on ? Why do you leave out the name of Christ in the initiation of a Jew ?

It is surely reasonable that if you conform iu so far to the custom of the Jews , from whom we derive Freemasonry , you must conform to the more important laws which formed part of the Jewish system . Moreover , to admit the bastard , is to admit the product of immorality , to which Freemasonry is utterly opposed ; and we must remember the rule

hud down by that authority which all Freemasons acknowledge , that the sins of the fathers shall be visited upon tlie children unto the third and fourth generation . The Jewish law , derived from the same authority , also forbade the admission of the bastard to the tenth generation into the temple . Against suchfactsas these , theseiitimentalismsof Leo are vain .

We are not anxious to pluck laurels from the brow of a brother who merits them , but we think it is only fair that when a brother speaks for the whole of Scotland , he should do so on some authority , and that it is somewhat presumptions in any one to assume to do so without . We also venture to say that Bro . D . M . Lyon is not an office-bearer of the

Grand Lodge of Scotland , not having been installed into oflice since his last nomination . Further , we add , that there are thousands of Freemasons iu Scotland who never heard of Bro . D . M . Lyon . The roll ofthe Grand Lodge of Scotland contained a little more than a year ago , the names of nearly one thousand members , nearly all of whom were

present on the hist evening when Bro . White Melville sat on the throne as Grand Master Mason of Scotland , and had Bro . 1 ) . M . Lyou stood up iu the midst of them to speak , which he did not do , we are very sure he would not have been known to more than twenty of those present . So much for his claim to come forward as the representative of

the Freemasons of Scotland . The late Bro . Dr . Oliver has been acknowledged by all freemasons throughout the world as the greatest authority on the subject of Freemasonry , and in conversation , about six years ago , he said : — " A bastard , even although he may have been initiated , cannot continue to act as a Freemason , nor

receive the benefits or enjoy the privileges of the Order , " and saying this , he referred to a copy of the landmarks then at his hand . This opinion is also to be found expressed in some of his published works .

" Leo" says "The pretended ancient landmarks , " as he ( Cipes ) reads them , " are , I consider , both a lie and an imposition . " What , we ask , is the meaning of these pleasant words ? He cannot be so unbrothei-ly as to bring this charge against us ? If he means that the ' •Landmarks " are of no value or

authority among Freemasons , he ought to take some other way of saying so , and he would have a position to maintain , the maintenance of which would nut be easy . " Leo " states and would make the world believe , that Lodges in Scotland , and also the Grand Lodge of Scotland , recognise the regularity of initiation of maimed men as Members of the Order . Notliinn- of

the kind lias come up before tlie Grand Lodge of Scollai d ; and , in the ease which ho refers to , the Grand Secretary , simply iu answer to a question , replied , that it was a matter for the Lodge to dispose of . The opinion of the Grand Secretary is not a decision of Grand Lodge . As a fact of quite a different opinion prevailing among Scottish

Freemasons , in a Lodge ( where one evening there was a small attendance ) , a man was initiated minus the hand , and thc very next meeting ofthe Lodge , when the facts became known to the other members of the Lodge , they were so angry that they seriously

contemplated expelling those present who took part in the irregular proceedings , and it was only after they had expressed themselves sorry for what they had done they forgave them . Facts are curious things to dispose cf " Leo " will find . And this Lodge is within a cable , too , of "Leo ' s" residence .

Ineligibility Of Bastards And The Maimed As Freemasons.

We conclude this matter by saying—The person who desires to be made a Freemason , muct be a man , no woman or eunuch ; free-born , no bastard ; neither a slave nor tbe son of a bondwoman ; a believer in God and a future existence ; of moral conduct , capable of reading and writing ; not blind , deaf , dumb , deformed , or dismembered , but hale and sound inhisphysicalconformation , having his rig ht limbs as a man ought to have . CIPES .

Obituary.

Obituary .

BRO . WM . ALLATSON . IT is with deep regret that we have to announce the death of Bro . Wm . Allatson , of No . 68 , Old Bailey , who departed this life , on the 29 th ult ., aged 67 years . The deceased brother , in the year 1851 became a joining member of the Lion and

Lamb , No . 192 , ( from the Lodge of Hope ) , of which lodge he was a " Past Warden , " and continued a subscribing member up to the time of his death . Bro . Allatson was much respected by

the members of the Lion and Lamb , and more especially by the older members , who have had the pleasure of his acquaintance during the last 18 years .

The Level And The Square.

THE LEVEL AND THE SQUARE .

BY BUO . ROB . MORRIS , K . T . We meetupou the Level and we part upon the Square—What words of precious meaning those words

Masonic are ! Come let us contemplate them—they are worthy of our thought—AVith the highest and the lowest , aud the rarest they are fraught .

We meet upon the Level , though from every station conic—The Monarch from the palace and the poor man from his home ; For the oue must leave his diadem outside the Masous' door , And the other finds his true respect upon the Checkered Floor .

Wc part upon the square , for the world must have its due ; We mingle with its multitude—a cold unfriendl y crew ; But the influence of our gatherings in memory is green , Aud we long , upon the Level , to renew the happy scene .

There ' s a world where all are equal—we are hurrying towards it fast—We shall meet upon the Level there , when the gate * of death are passed ; We shall stand before the Orient , and Master will be there , To try tlie blocks we offer by his own unerring Square .

We shall meet upon the Level there , but never thence depart ; There ' s a Mansion— 'tis all ready for each zealous , faithful heart : — There ' s a Mansion and a welcome , and a multitude is there , Who have met upon the Level , and been tried upon the Square .

Let us meet upon the Level , then , while labouring patient here—Let us meet and let us labour , tho' the labour seem severe : Already in the western sky the signs bid us prepare , To gather up our working tools and part unou the Square .

Hands around , ye faithful . Masons ! form the bright fraternal chain , We part upon the S quare below to meet in Heaven again ;—Oh , what words of precious meaning the words Masonic are—WE MEET UPON THE LEVEL AND WE PART UPON THE SQUARE .

BREAKFAST . —EPPS ' COCOA . —Grateful and Comforting . -The very agreeable character of this preparation has rendered it a general favourite . Tlio Civil Service Gazette remarks : — ' - The singular succc *« which Mr . Kpps attained by his homoeopathic preparation of cocoa has never been surpassed by any experimentalist . Hy a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which govern the operations

of digestion and nutrition , and by a careful application ofthe tine propcitus of well-selected cocoa , Mr . Kpps lias provided our breakfast tables with a delicately flavoured beverage u'liicli may save us many heavy doctor's bills . " Made simply with boiling water or milk . Sold by the Trade only , in 4 ; lb ., i lb , and 1 lb . tin-lined packets , labelled J AM its l- ' i'i'S & Co ., Jlouueoisalbic Chemists . Loudon . —Auvr .