The Relation Of Theism To Freemasonry.

THE RELATION OF THEISM TO FREEMASONRY .

An Address at the Public Installation of the Officers of Batavia Lodge , No . 109 , and Baiavia Chapter , No . 112 , at Batavia , 0 ., From the "Masonic Review . " T ADIES and Gentlemen of Batavia ; Brethren ancl Companions of the Mystic Tie , — - J" In addressing so large ancl intelligent an audience on this Masonic festival

occasion , you will naturally expect that my theme will be a Masonic one . At the same time it is very proper that I should choose one that will not only be intelligible to , but of interest and importance to this large body of ladies and gentlemen , numbering , of course , a considerable share of non-Masons . I have therefore selected as a theme which , I hope , will interest both those who are Masons ancl those who are not , the subject of the Relation of Theism , or the Belief in

God , to Freemasonry . This is a subject of present interest to Freemasons in all parts of the world . In the lodges of England , Wales , Scotland , Ireland , North and South America , Australia , China , and India , Egypt , Greece , Italy , Germany , Sweden , Holland , Spain , and Franceeverywhere where Masonry has spread—and I don't know of a civilised nation in the whole world in which it has not spread—there is being discussed these questions :

Is there any connection between Theism and Freemasonry ? Can a Masonic Lodge rightfully demand that no one shall be admitted who does not believe in God ? Does the principle of entire freedom of conscience , which Masonry has always stood up for , require that no belief whatever be demanded ? and that the Atheist , provided he be a moral man , in other respects , should be as eligible to membership as a Theist ? It-may be a strange thing for Masons who do not read Masonic journals to

you be told that such questions as these are being discussed all over the world . You have always been accustomed to the demand that a Mason must believe in God ; you have always considered it interwoven with the very texture of the system ; you can't conceive how any one could question the proposition that a man to be a Mason must believe in God .

Nevertheless it is true , as * I say to you : the question most discussed at present in all the Masonic journals in the world—ancl I receive them , published in six different languages from ah parts of the world—is the question whether there be any necessary connection between Theism and Freemasonry . This question has been agitated for two years past , and was started in France . It is a very unfortunate fact that in Roman Catholic countries Freemasonry is entirely interdicted to the members

of that church by its authorities . The Popes have time and again fulminated their anathemas against Freemasonry for the last 100 years , since Gregory XVI put it under the ban . The result is that in these Roman Catholic countries , where there are but few Protestants , the Masonic Order has got to some extent into the hands of sceptics , whose opposition to Rome does not lead them to form Protestant chinchesbut into opposition to aU reliionThese ticswho

, g . scep , hate Rome , ancl regard it as the essence of all tyranny , instead of forming societies for themselves , have very largely come into the Masonic Order , and finding themselves strong , and even forming , I fear , the majority of the Masons in France , are now actually engaged in a conspiracy to pervert the whole order , ancl turn Masonic Lodges into cabals for the discussion and propagation of infidel opinions—mere Posittvist debating clubs .

French Masonry has two governing bodies : one is the Grand Orient of France ; the other the Supreme Council . The Grand Orient has the most of the symbolic wages or blue lodges , as we call them , under its control . But it also claims control over the high grades . The Supreme Council claims jurisdiction over the Scottish