Masonic Sayings And Doings Abroad.

teachings , to refute the deprecation dictated by ignorance , the false interpretations based on bad faith , the presumption of fanaticism , and thus vindicate the character of the greatest and noblest of all human institutions . Let us show to all , without reluctance , without timidity , what are its real aims and objects ; let us proclaim them not only within the precincts of our temple ,

but in the open market , urbi et orlii , let them be made known not to our adherents alone , but also to the profane world . There is nothing more sublime than a dogma which unites and joins all that is divided and " separated by the human passions ; which considers all mankind as an aggregate of brethren , which gathers by means ol love and charity , all tbat is disseminated by selfishness and the pursuit of personal interest .

Let us show to our detractors our works in all their purity , that they may fall in humility at the feet of the luminous Delta which enlightens by its rays the vaults of our temple . To those who point at us as " the enemies of throne and altar , " let ns prove , hy incontrovertible facts , that , far from imposing itself on the world by man ' s forceas throne and altar have done in past

, times , Freemasonry acts only by moral persuasion ; that it respects the views and opinions of all ; that it raises to her bosom the abandoned victim , Avho will find rest and peace in her , having resigned the vile passions of the profane world .

Tnose who are strangers to our Order should cease to assert that we are nothing but a benevolent association ; this is a bitter sarcasm which is most painful to our feelings , aiming , as it does , at the very groundwork of our edifice . AVe concede this reviling epithet to other societies which in narrow-mindedness and hypocrasyhave for their object a degrading

charity—culti-, , vating vice and discouraging honest labour . Our mission is very different indeed ; in vain we should aspire towards justness and perfection ; improperly we should call ourselves the true Sons of Light , if we were to confine our activity to merely throwing away the superfluity , —the surplus of the earthly goods with ivhich . the Great Architect of the Universe has blessed us .

The foundation stone of our Institution , let the world at large know , consists in that moral equality which alone can join and assimilate all customs , all characters , all opinions , and all creeds . With us the whole of the human species becomes naturalised and has but one country . Far from involving political and social equality , it only constitutes the common level on which Nature

has placed us all , from birth to death . The king on his throne , and the ploughman who , by the sweat of his brow , draws from the earth the nutriment on which he supports himself , are mado of the same material , and were cast in the same crucible ; both are born , both die ; and as they aro equal in the order of Nature , so they are in the moral order , having both been endowed by the Divine Creator , with that principle of good by the aid of which they can both raise themselves to tho very highest ideas of perfection and progress .

We heartily endorse the vieivs so eloquentl y enunciated by our esteemed brother , and hope that the humane undertakin g in which he and his felloiv-labourers liaise embarked with so much ardour and abnegation will be attended Avith the

success it so full y deserves . We have also much pleasure in informing our readers that the erection of a Masonic Hall in Alexandria for the use of lodges of various nationalities has been proposed , and promises to be successfully carried out .

The Pope And Freemasonry.

THE POPE AND FREEMASONRY .

We continue from our last the letters by the Eev . Bro . Milner , ivhich have appeared in our pages . That which Ave noiv quote is headed "Freemasonry ad Clerum . " Bro . Milner proceeds as follows : —

Finding that my Masonic letters have attracted some little attention , far beyond Avhat fheisr intrinsic merit deserved , and that your Masonic readers are more especially interested in th . em > X beg to furnish you ivith a further instalment ,

although I am not yet prepared to enter into the discussion promised in my last , viz ., Mr . King ^ s extraordinary assertion that Freemasons borrowed their symbols from the old Gnostics . Whether those ancient symbols which he has illustrated

ivere used by the Gnostics at all or not , I am by no means certain . My own present impression is that they had nothing ivhatever to do with those primitive heretics , but even if it turns ont that they had , the explanation is quite easy and

natural . They must in that case have borrowed them from the old mysteries , their founder having doubtless been initiated into the mysteries of Ceres , or Eleusis , or Bacchus , or more probably still into a Pythagorean Lodge , where the ivhole of the

symbols at present in use amongst Freemasons would be employed , with explanations very nearl y correct in most instances , for , as I have already

mentioned , P ythagoras had been initiated into a Jeivish lodge of Freemasons , and had been taug-ht by the prophet Ezekiel . After completing his travels , he returned to Samos , and thence emigrated to Crotona in Italy . " Here he met with

the most wonderful success . His public exhortations induced members to enrol themselves as members of the neiv societ y ivhich he sought to establish . This societ y AA as . a kind of reli gions brotherhood , the members of Avhich ivere bound

together by peculiar rites and observances . There AA ere various gradations [ degrees ] among the members , and no candidates were admitted -without passing through a period of probation , in which , their intellectual faculties and general character

ivere tested . Everything done and taught in the fraternit y ivas kept a profound secret from all Avithout its pale . It appears that the members had some private signs like Freemasons , by ivhich . they could recognise each other , even if they had

never met before , "—Smith ' s History of Greece-, p > 138 . It is not b y any means improbable that Pythagoras visited Britain , as stated in the oM