Notes On American Freemasonry.

the rig ht way and consider respectability of character of greater importance than numerical strength . Some of the Lodges in the old States * mig ht in this respect follow the example of their youngest sister with great advantage .

ILLINOIS . The Grand Master , M . W . Bro . Jerome R . Gobin , after a beautiful exordium , informed the Grand Lodge of the dispensations issued to form new Lodges , some thirty-six ; and that in

conformity to the instructions of the Grand Lodge he divided the State into twelve districts , and apointed a District Deputy Grand Master in each . "In a jurisdiction as large as this , with nearly six hundred Lodges , and over tAventy-five thousand Masons ,

and the number increasing every year , some system must bo adopted to relieve the Grand Master of the great burden imposed upon him ; and I know of no plan that will accomplish this better than that of appointing District Deputies .

The correspondence alone of the Grand Master , nearly equals that of the Governor of the State . " He then recommends that the districting of the State and the appointment of Deputies be made a permanent part o . f " our organization . " It also

appears from the address that in this immense jurisdiction they have been without a Grand Lodge Hall . The Grand Master says : "" The members of the Grand Lodge have been at the mercy of others long enough , and have been compelled to

meet in places wholly unsuited for a Lodge meeting , where the Grand Lodge could not be opened in due form , nor order preserved when it was opened . Brethren , it is high time we had a hall of our own—one worthy of the Craft of this Grand Jurisdiction . "

Among the resolutions adopted are the following : — " Eesolved , That the Grand Lodge of Illinois hereby recognize the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia , and extends to her the fraternal grasp of

friendship . "Resolved , That Bro . John Schofield be and is hereby appointed the Representative of the Grand Lodge of Illinois near the Grand Lodge of Nova Scotia , and that the proper commission be

issued . " It appears that the representation iu the Grand Lodge of this State is " unwieldly . " The delegation

Notes On American Freemasonry.

" if fully represented , would reach nearly , if not quite , eighteen hundred brothers—a number so great that no hall in the State Avould comfortably seat them . " A resolution was adopted appointin g a committee of five to devise a plan " whereby

the representation to the Grand Lodge of Illinois from the subordinate Lodges be reduced to a number convenient , and yet sufficiently numerous , to carefully and deliberately discharge the duties appertaining to annual sessions . " The total number of members , 30 , 229 ; Initiated , 3 , 971 .

Masonic Jottings.—No. 45.

MASONIC JOTTINGS . —No . 45 .

BY A PAST PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTEB . AN ASSERTION . If an assertion which lately appeared in the pages of our periodical , and is made by a member

of the Craft ( for the last three years one of its most frequent contributors ) could be established , it Avould folloAv ( hat , from time immemorial , English , Masonry has not been a true Freemasonry , the small part excepted , brought into it since 1738 by the JeAV , the Mahommedan , the Parsee , and the Natural Theist .

THE FIRST LUSTRE . Does there exist evidence to show that , during the First Lustre , the Religion of the Freemasonry of the Revival Avas not altogether the same as the Religion of the Freemasonry its predecessor ?

SPIRIT 01 ? THE AGE . The Spirit of the Age obtained from the authors of the Old Lectures , first , the original Charges of 1723 ; next , the amended charges of 1738 . FIRST MODERN LODGES OP GERMANY ,

In the first Modern Lodges of Germany , the Freemasonry was the Freemasonry of the Revival , and the Religion seems to have been an exclusive ^ intolerant Christianity . FREEMASONRY OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF FRANCE ,

ENGLISH FREEMASONRY . Bro . E . R . L ., —there is a notable distinction between the Freemasonry of the Grand Orient of France and English Freemasonry . The Freemasonry of the Grand Orient of France is a

universal Freemasonry only , of which the Religion . may be said to be natural Religion , ; whilst English Freemasonry is a particular Freemasonry , and a universal Freemasonry also ; its Religion , as a