Hindus As Freemasons.

sequently cannot feel bound by it . If he be instructed in the symbols , & c , he neither sees nor believes in their typical references ; for , as a Hindu , he cannot do so . But when we come to theR . A . degree , which of course he can take if initiated

into Masonry , how totally unfit does he appear ! He believes not in the Eternal Jehovah ; he believes not in King , Priest , and Prophet , nor in that bright Morning Star whose rising brings peace and salvation to the whole of the human

race . The only thing that is at all within the compass of his ideas is the last word . This he imperfectly does understand . To confer Masonry then on a Hindu appears to

me a farce ; he does not understand our Order nor its meaning ; he cannot join in our social meetings , nor can he connect himself as a brother in any way ( beyond the lodge room ) with a single member of the Fraternity ; and I know of no

single instance where Masonry can be said to have bettered or been of advantage to such persons . They are not as yet far enough advanced in civilization , nor sufficiently divested to bigotry , super , stition , and idolatry , to be fit for the high honour

of Masonry . Let any Mason ask himself the simple question - ' Can an idolater be a proper person for Masonry ?' And are Hindus idolaters or not ?

You cannot obligate them properly , except on their sacred code , to admit which in your lodge is to admit the law of idolaters into a lodge of Christians and Jews , and of others who at any rate believe in the Old Testament as God's law .

The Hindu believes in nothing that is common with us ; he has no respect or reverence for our God or the prophets , consequently—for God's law as a Mason respects it . That law is ever open in our lodges ; it renders

the lodge " just . * ' A Hindoo who does not believe in it would therefore be in a lodge which to him is not "just , " and so is not bound as the rest of the brethren are : in short there is nothingbinding on a Hindu Mason , and we all know that no man should be initiated into our Order unless

he can be most solemnly bound , and unless every brother has the utmost confidence in the candidate's respect for religion , and in his ability to keep inviolate our mysteries , and that he implicitly believes in the Moral law . Can this be said of a

Hindu ? I know of many highly educated Hin . dus , men who are thorough gentlemen , and who I consider Avould make really good Masons , but

Hindus As Freemasons.

for those disqualifications ; and these disqualifications are most important , and cannot be overcome . No true Mason can believe an idolator a fit person to be made a Mason , and a Hindu's belief is

totally opposed to the tenets and principles of Freemasonry . The very fact of a belief in the transmigration of souls is , in my opinion , ipse facto a cause of his ineligibility .

What can those who agree to their admission , urge that shall render such disqualifications nugatory ? There are other reasons that may be advanced with reference to their strict regard to fidelity , but

these I will not enter upon . All that I say is ,, that in my opinion Hindus are altogether ineligible for Freemasonry . —G .

The Grand Masonic Allegory.

THE GRAND MASONIC ALLEGORY .

An Address delivered to the ' Brethren of ihe Victoria , Lodge ., ( No . 1026 ) , Hong Kong . By JBRO . HENRY MUMMY , Dist CM ., China . ( Continued from Page 148 ) For four hundred and seventy years the allegory

of Masonic profession rested here . Throughout the whole of that time did darkness , impenetrable as the grave , shroud the sublime , though merely emblematic , comfort which the ineffable secrets of the Order of the Holy Royal Arch communicate

¦ to such Masons as attain to the knowledge of whathad been originally designed to bo the greatest reward bestowed upon the Craftsmen , whose labours , and talents contributed to the erection of the first

temple , built in honour of the true and living God Most High . The memory of the long night which brooded over these precious secrets , and of the deprivation which , in consequence of the misdeeds of a few of their number , befel our ancient

brethren who first worked at Jerusalem , and their descendants , for near five hundred years , is perpetuated by that wise regulation of the Supreme Grand Chapter , which enacts that no Master Mason can be exalted until twelve months shall ,

have elapsed from , the day upon which he was raised . With what deep sorrow , brethren , must not he that most things understood , and he that found the stones and wood , have mourned , when overtaken by the last dread summons , that they should be compelled to leave their cherished Craft , which they had moulded into lasting shape ,