Masonry V. Agnosticism.*

In vitally rebuking and combating all error so gross as Agnostcism ' s sodden , desperate presumptousness , in which the worldly , reckless or professed religionist merely , immersed , may be amusing one ' s self , let us not be delinquent ! With firm hand on the volume of God ' s Golden Rule and Law , at the altar of Masonic love and loyalty , we point to and renew the obligation indispensable and

bond , both of belief in the Lord and hope of resurrection in bod y through Faith in and intercession by an atoning Saviour . ( To be concluded . )

Proceedings Of A Captive Lodge.

PROCEEDINGS OF A CAPTIVE LODGE .

BY BRO . ROBERT EREKE GOULD . AMONGST the Military Lodges formerly existing under the rule of the " Ancient" or " Atholl" Grand Lodge , we find at the number 183 a lodge duly constituted in the Royal Artillery , A . D . 1773 , and another in the

9 th or East Norfolk Regiment of Foot in the year 1803 . It being the practice of the " Ancients " not to re-number their Lodges , but to fill up vacancies by re-granting former warrants , the Lodge of Freemasons established in Captain Webdell ' s Company of the Royal Artillery in 1773 , becoming defunct in 1787 , Warrant No . 183 was passed on to some brethren of the 9 th Regiment in 1803 . An earlier lodge had , indeed , been established in this latter corps . The 9 th

Regiment , on its return from Gibraltar in 1749 , was stationed in Ireland until 1755 , and in the year 1754 was granted a warrant ( No . 246 ) by the Grand Lodge of Ireland . The Irish Lodge appears , however , to have died out about 1770 . In 1803 the regiment was quartered at Plymouth , when application was made for a warrant of constitution from the Grand Lodge of England " according to the old institutions . " No . 183 was accordingly assigned to the

regiment , and the lodge duly " installed " on 19 th February , 1803 . On tlm 10 th November , 1805 , the 1 st Battalion , 9 th Regiment , embarked at the Cove of Cork , in three transports , in the expectation of taking part in the war on the Continent . Two out of the three transports were , however , driven by contrary winds to the Downs , whilst the third , the Ariadne , having the headquarters on boardwas wrecked on the coast of Francenear Calais

, , , when the staff officers and 262 soldiers were made prisoners of war . The other two transports sailed on their appointed course , but the decisive victory gained at Austerlitz , on the 2 nd of December , by Napoleon , over the combined Austrian and Russian armies , was followed by results which occasioned the return of the British troops without being engaged in any operations of importance .

Though the archives of the lodge appear to have gone down with the Ariadne , a sufficient number of its members " weathered the storm , " and seem to have lost no time , after their involuntary descent upon French soil , in resuming their Masonic labours . The minute book of the Lodge is thus headed : " Lodge No . 183 , England , Installed in the Ninth Regiment , at Plymouth Dock , 5803 . Proceedings of the Lodge , commencing 30 th January , 1806—5806 . N . B . —The former Books Lost by Shipwreck on 16 Dec , 1805 . " It may be conveniently stated , that the extracts which I shall proceed to give from the minutes of No , 183 are , as nearly as possible , transcripts , in all