1907路1
Appi'ndix.
[99
to be brief in his own remarks, in 'order to have the IDOl'e 拢pace at his disposal for conveying to his reade:'s as many as possible of the gems of Masonic literature, which come to him,
He has this to' say about----;PSEUDO-MASONRY,
While no new subjects of importance have appeared upon the Masonic horizon during the past ye-ar, there has probably been more public discussion of certain so-called Fref'masonry during the last few months than ever before: consequent upon the struggle in li'rance between the authorities of Church and State, and the pertinacity with which the members of the Grand Orient of France, and of its Subordinate Bodies, cling to the name of Masonry, despite their repudiation of its essential characteristics. It would be no credit to Freemasonq were 路the statesmen who are persecuting ministers of religion and effacing all reference to the Deity from the coins of their realm, members of the Craft. That they claim to be' so there is no doubt. That their enemies-both in the clerical press of France and in the French newspapers of C:mada-call them Freemasons, is perfectly true, But neither the one nor the other of these claims constitute these men members of the Ol'der. There can not possibly be any Freemasonry without Masonic Light, and there can be no Masonic Light, where, as in France, the first great Light of Masonry-the Volume of the. Sacred Law-has been banished from the Lodges, and with it all necessity for a belief in the existence of the Great Architp.ct of tlH' Universe. There is then but darkness visible, unillumined by any light from above. Lodges of men calling themselves Freemasons have doubtless afforded conveni<mt meeting places for the "stupid atheists" who bring discredit upon the Masonic name by their vain contentions, but legitimate Freemasonry has neithe,' part nOl' parcel with them, either in their work or in their Ritual and their teachings.
In his review of Arkansas, in speaking of the approval of the decisions of the, Grand -Master, he thus aptly remarks: One of the exceptions, however, shows the. danger 'of going into extremes in the matter of making an~ enforcing prohibitive laws unknown to the Fathers of Masonry. The Grand Mastel' decided that the action of a Brother in keeping books for a wholesale and retail liquor and cigar company as an auxiliary employment, doing' much of the work at home and having no interest in the business and nothing to do with the sales, was not violating the edicts forbidding Masons to engage in the business of selling intoxicating liquors. The majority of the Committee that passed on the decisions uphel(J the Grand Mastel', bnt Grand Lodge adopted the minority report. It would be interesting to know the fate of the Masons, if any there were who assisted to build or furnish the establishment whose books the Brother kept, or who grew the grain from which the'liquor was distllled ..
We do not understand why the Proceedings of Missouri did not re'ach our good Brother Cham1?ers, but we do understand that this is the reason why they were not reviewed. We'll have to send out a "tracer" and fin4 out where the trouble lies. ' M. W. BI~O. GEORGE 0 .. STANTON, Montreal, Grand Master, R. W. BRO. '\YILL H. WHYTE, Montreal, Grand Secretary,