From A Lodge Of The Saints John.

The connection of the Saints John with our society naturally leads us to another phase of the subject—the Christian character of the Institution . Our Hebrew brethren , and occasionally those who are classed as Gentiles , express their disapproval of any reference to Christianity in the rites and . lectures of the Symbolic Degree ; they urge that the society proclaims its creed to be non-sectarianone to which all men can subscribeand

there-, , fore any symbols , doctrines or illustrations which do not conform strictly to this announcement are innovations , un-Masonic , aud ought to be discarded . The anti-Masonic fanatics wax eloquent upon this theme ; they charge the Fraternity with being an anti-Christian organization because we do not preach the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity , and in the next breath belie their own statements by quoting from our lectures references to Christianity to

prove that 1 < reemasonry is a religion , For the weepings , wailings and gnashings of teeth of these chronic fault-finders the Craft cares nothing , and my purpose is simply to reach the objecting Masons . Originally Freemasonry was a purely Christian Society * and the tolerance which now characterizes its doctrines and polity is a comparatively modern innovation itself . The Operative Order , from which our Speculative science is derived , was engaged exclusively in the erection of those magnificent

churches and cathedrals which now embellish the European cities , and with religious observances in their lodges it is not difficult to perceive how intensely Christian such an organization would become . The numerous manuscripts existing in England , and which were to the Ancient Craft what the Monitor is to us , afford us all the evidence needed to establish the ori ginal creed of the Fraternity . In the King ' s Library , British Museum , there is a MS . copy of Masonic Constitutions , known as the Halliwell , of the supposed date of 1390 , fz-om which the following is an extract :

That whoso wol conne thy ' s Craft and com to astate , He must love wel GOD , and holy church algate . Pray we now to GOD almight , And to his moder Mary bright .

The next oldest MS . is known as the Matthew Cooke , and is in ihe British Museum , 23 , 198 . Hughan attributes its composition to about 1490 , and in it we read : " Ancl it is to be known that who that coveteth for to come to the state of the aforesaid art , it behooveth him first principally to God and Holy Church ancl all the Saints . " In point of antiquity the next MS . is the Lansdoionealso in the British

, Museum , and supposed to have been written in 1560 , which begins : " The might of the Father of the Heavens , the wisdome of the Glorious Sou and the goodness of the Holy Ghost—three persons ancl one God—be with us now and ever . Amen . " And in the latter part of the document in defining the duty of a Mason , it says : " The first charge is that you shall be true to God and Holy Churchand to use noe error or heresie . " Some twenty other MSS .

, , with dates ranging from 1490 to the Revival in 1717 , might be quoted , but as their language is most identical with the Lansdowne , the statement of that fact is sufficient to illustrate thenniversall y Christian character of the Society during that period .