Light Comes From The East.

Georgetown had the same leading members , who retained possession of the jewels , which were handed from one organization to another , as if from some cause the charter had lapsed each time , and a neAv one was obtained by the same brethren , with a different number . ( To be continued . )

An Address. Delivered By The District Grand Master Of Turkey.

AN ADDRESS . DELIVERED BY THE DISTRICT GRAND MASTER OF TURKEY .

Brethren , I desire to avail myself of tho present meeting of the District Grand Lodge to offer you a few remarks , and I , therefore , beg your kind indulgence whilst I address you on the subject of tlie peculiar position which we occupy in this country as Freemasons , and the character which we should sustain in it . Here , we are all in the "East , " and each one of us is liable

to be questioned on the principles and objects of our beloved institution . Many grave and deeply erroneous impressions exist here regarding it . Some persons suppose that we desire to inculcate a new Religion ; others imagine that Ave form a political society of a secret and dangerous character ; and there are again others , T regret to add , who declare that we are all so many Atheists , Avithout any religions faith whatever . The object of my remarksthereforeischieflyto endeavour

, , , , to define our true position , and to remove , by their publicity , so ignorant and so erroneous a supposition . Beyond the precincts of the lodges , we certainly represent many of the various faiths and creeds of the world , and the varied nationalities which unfortunately separate , rather than unite , men together ; whilst , within them , these are all forgotten , and we meet here only as so many brothers , with no feelings of superiority either in matter of faith and of nationality ;

animated only by a sentiment of lcve for each other , and by a common desire to seek the promotion of the happiness and welfare of all . Perhaps it is to this liberality and the total absence of all religious and political discussions , that we may ascribe the aspersions afore-mentioned . Every craftsman who understands the real purposes and uses of Freemasonry—who rightly appreciates the nature and value of those intimate relations which it tends to establish between its members—who cherishes , and seeks to render more deep and

abiding , that true friendship and tender affection by which all Freemasons should ever be united , must derive from any occasion like the present , when all are alike animated by mutual confidence , esteem and affoction , a real happiness , marred by none of ttiose feelings and passions which are too often agitated in the outer world by religious and political passions , and which should find no place in the heart when upon its altar burns the genuine fire of Masonic Brotherhood . This fact , alone , fully

shows the benefits which we derive from not allowing auy such questions to be discussed in our lodges . It is greatly to be desired that the real principles and objects of our beloved institution should be better understood here , especially amongst our friends of the Mussulman community , in which a prejudice exists against it to a certain extent , the result , of course , of ignorance and of the absence , also , of all means of procuring positive and reliable information .

Freemasonry , as wo all know , originated in the East , and I am confident will be more appreciated in its native land when it is more properly understood and knoivn , as it fully merits . It is a sad misfortune for us all that there are many excellent , and , on most other subjects , well informed persons , who really do believe that to be a Freemason is to be an Atheist , or , at least a Materialist . How great a calumny this is , you are all aware . No one who is an Atheist , or who admits that he is

one , can ever be permitted to enter within the portal of a lodge , Avhere the All-seeing Eye of the Creator of all men penetrates the heart of evesy one . Always deeply impressed wiih this fact , our great principle is the Paternity of God and the Fraternity of all mankind . AVe leave it , however , to each brother to follow tho dictates of his own conscience and the particular faith of his forefathers without seeking to control or convert him to any other . Freemasonry thus occupies a " neutral ground , " on which we may all meet together , as so many brethren , without any cause to apprehend offence being given

An Address. Delivered By The District Grand Master Of Turkey.

to any one ' s faith , whatever it may be , so long as it fully recognises the Creator of all things . AVe , nevertheless , feel a profound interest in the spiritual as well as the temporal welfare of each one of our brethren , yet without doing more than to remind him , at each one of our meetings , of his duties to a common Creator nnd to his brethren . On the subject of Religion , I may here add that a man may be compared to the stateltree of the forest . His reliious

y g convictions , like its roots , are often deeply seated . At an early period both may be caused to take almost any desired form or shape ; whilst at a later one , the effort becomes so dangerous as even to jeopardise the existence of both . Thus , what is true in vegetable life is somewhat equally so with regard to the religious ideas of mankind . There are , however , some men who , unfortunately , seem to have no fixed religious convictions at all .

These , certainly , make A'ery bad Freemasons . AVe are apt to condemn others for not believing as we believe . In our unfairness , we take it upon ourselves to judge and pronounce sentence upon others . AVe are even unwilling to accord to them that liberality and indulgence which we claim for ourselves . AVhilst our own religious faith has been the fruit of our earliest education—that of our childhoodand for which we are scarcel

, y responsible—we deny this to others whose faith differs from our own . As wa grow up to the age of maturity , these early conceptions have become strengthened in our minds by education and by all the associations of every-day life . In tact , like the roots of a tree , they become too deeply seated to be easily removed from their native soil , and too often , when unsettled by new ones , the mind is apt to receive none other , or , at least ,

not with the same strength of conviction . This is , I believe , too often the real cause of Atheism . Compulsion certainly never brings sincere conviction , which can only result from research and instruction . AVhat great errors have been committed on this point , during the varied periods of man ' s history ; and how cruelly has mankind suffered by a violation of this self-evident fact ! A great change in this respect is , however , now coming over the minds of men of education and reflectionRoliious

. g as well as civil liberty is making great progress throughout the civilized woild . Men are becoming year after yearmore tolerant towards each other in matters of religious convictions , —greatly to the advancement of real civilization and real happiness . This principle of tolerance is now , and always has been , one of the great principles of our time-honoured Institution . To it , I fully believe , is due , in a great measure , the perpetuation of our

Order , whilst so many other institutions , which have been less wise , have ceased to exist . We only maintain as an obligation from which there can be no deviation , that all men are the children of our common Parent , the Omniscient and Almighty Creator , who uses no force or violence to compel onr religious convictions , but leaves each individual free to hold those which he deems correctand thus renders every one responsible onl

, y to Aim . It is this innate sense of responsibility to the Divine Creator that elevates Man above the brute creation , where purely animal instincts and pasoions lead to no thought of a future existence . If , therefore , we call ourselves brethren , it is because we all recognise the Paternity of a common Father and Creator ; and to deny this would be to deny that we are brethren .

AAHiatover differences of opinion on matters of religious faith disturb the harmony which should exist among mankind in goueral , we , here in the East especially , should never permit them to influence us in our intercourse as Freemasons . Free and sincere on this point , each one is left to construct the edifice of his own moral and religious character . Let us , therefore , continue to act on this liberal and charitable principle , which is so commendable everywhereand showbour lethat

, , y examp , notwithstanding the varied character of our individual convictions , we are all bound together by the sacred ties of Fraternity , and no one should think the less of another because he differs with him . Let each individual , moreover , endeavour to remove the erroneous and highly injurious impression of our being Atheists , or that we are desirous of introducing a new religionba conscientious discharge of our religious duties

, y , whatever those may be , at all times deeply grateful to the kind Providence which has , for so many centuries , protected and prospered onr Institution , whilst so many others have ceased to exist . This alone demands of us an increasing devotion to Him whom we call , in our peculiar language , The Great Architect of the Universe , and a more vigilant watchfulness over our lives ,