THE MASONIC JOURNAL.

THERE is published at Haverhill, Mass., a very neat little Masonic sheet, by Bro. Geo. W. Chase, which possesses much valuable and interesting matter. We have on many occasions quoted from its columns. It is published on the first and fifteenth of each month, at one dollar per annum.

Bro. Chase experiences some of the disappointments and vexations to which we are subject. In his last number is the following:

LOOK ON THIS. M. Emerson, of Portland, Me., refuses to take his Journal from the Postoffice-so the Postmaster says. He owes us for over two years. Is he a Mason?

AND THEN ON THIS. Bro. G. F. Sargent writes that he has removed from Bangor to Boston, and requests that his Journal may be sent according, as he "cannot afford to dispense with the interesting little sheet." Need we apply the square to see which of these has acted the most Masonic with us? "He that is unjust in little, will be unjust also in that which is much."

We have been subjected to similar treatment in many instances. But a few weeks ago a Brother subscribed for the present volume of THE ASHLAR. We sent him the September and October numbers. Soon after, they were returned sealed up, causing us to pay thirty cents postage. A letter from the Brother accompanied the package, saying that he had changed his mind, and concluded not to take the magazine. Numerous are the instances in which after taking three, four or five numbers of a volume, Brethren have coolly refused to take more, and have not offered to pay for those received. This is wholly wrong, and no Masonic publisher should be subjected to it. We cannot blame Bro. Chase for giving to the public the name of any man who does not deal with him on the square.

From the last number of the Masonic Journal we make the following selections:

ANTI-MASONIC GLEANINGS.-We repeat, that Freemasonry is hell's masterpiece. The spirit with which the true "Freemason is animated, is a lying spirit, its natural breath is slander and falsehood. The aliment upon which it lives is the venom of devils-and its final abode, as there is truth in heaven, shall be blackness of darkness.-Anti-Masonic Intelligencer, Hartford, Ct., N. D. Strong, Editor, 1831.

ANTI-MASONIC NOMINATIONS.

For President, William Wirt, of Maryland; Vice President, Amos Ellmaker, of Pennsylvania; for electors of President and Vice President in Connecticut, Calvin Barbour, Eli Ives, Isaac Thompson, Alan

son Hamlin, John Halbrook, Charles F. Sedgwick, Elisha Sterns, Richard Hubbard.-Anti-Masonic Intelligencer, 1832.

SECRET SOCIETIES.

The Odd Fellows, is a new secret society, got up by the Masons, in which they hope to preserve their principles and advantages, after Masonry is cloven down. All secret societies are dangerous to any government, whether it be Monarchical or Republican.-Anti-Masonic Almanac, 1830.

In the New England Anti-Masonic Almanac, of 1831, Masonry is represented thus:-Big fat fellow, on his apron is marked 1820, representing Masonry as it was; lank lean fellow, on his apron is 1831, Masonry as it is.

DIALOGUE JACHIN AND BOAZ.

Jachin. Give us thy hand, worthy brother. Thou art emblematical of our Institution; in another year it will personify the walking skeleton; year after its portly form loseth its flesh, and bereft of public favor, it pineth and wasteth away.

Boaz. Truly, Bro. Jachin, our Institution hath seen its best days; it is in vain that we strive to brave the storm. Our strength constantly decreases, our funds are expended and our credit gone; we gradually perish; there is no help for the widow's son.

now;

Jachin. Only preserve silence, secrecy, caution, and we may yet survive. Our Institution has lived so many centuries, it will not perish besides, do you not observe the excitement is rapidly subsiding? Boaz. Yes, brother; but Masonry is subsiding with it. This excitement is a fever fastened upon our system. I fear when it wholly subsides it will carry us all with it—farewell (with a grip.)

MORE REVELATIONS.

We understand, says the Batavia Times, that Solomon Southwick, in his sermon of three hours' length, delivered at the Leray "Show" on the 4th, stated most unequivocally, that Bonaparte was murdered by the Masons! and that Masonry was the sole cause of introducing sin into our world in the garden of Eden! This is a thumper. If the Masons have got to father all the sins that have been committed since the days of Adam and Eve, they will have a dreadful account to render at the last day.-American Masonic Record, Albany, 1828.

BURNS, being in church, one Sunday, and having some difficulty in procuring a seat, a young lady who perceived him, kindly made room for him in her own pew. The sermon was on the penalties pronounced in the Scriptures upon sinners, and the preacher quoted several passages to enforce his point, to which the lady seemed particularly attentive and somewhat agitated. Burns, on perceiving this, wrote with a pencil on the leaf of a Bible the following lines:

"Fair maid, you need not take the hint,

Nor idle text pursue;

'T was only sinners that he meant-
Not angels such as you."

A FOOLISH ATTACK ON MASONRY.

RECENTLY, the New York Independent, a religious paper, published the following:

"MASONIC MUMMERIES.-It is pitiable to see the mummeries of Masonry revived upon public occasions. The moral dignity of the late commemoration at Plymouth was marred by this child's play. After the solemnity of prayer, and an address by Gov. Banks worthy of the occasion, a Masonic pow-wow was held over the stone, and then it was regarded as duly laid. The Masonic Order is a secret organization. It may or may not be politically dangerous. It may or may not be a moral and benevolent institution. It is a secret society. Good men and respectable men may unite with it; for any man is at liberty to do a foolish thing upon his personal responsibility. But committees acting in behalf of the public upon occasions of common interest, have no right to bring any such secret order into a position of honor and prominence. They have no right to commit the public to the sanction of a secret clique or faction. And such mummeries are always in bad taste at a public celebration."

A correspondent of the Review thus answers it:

Can it be that such sentiments will be tolerated in the columns of a journal, side by side with the loving, cheering and catholic utterances of a large-hearted and genial writer? A future infidel, of the Paine stamp, need turn no further back than to this Christian Doctor of Divinity, for expressions coarse and ribald, should he desire them, in assaulting what he may deem the mummeries' of any system of religion he may not believe or desire to understand. Make a personal application of the Doctor's attempts at reasoning: Dr. Thompson professes to be a Christian, to have been regenerated. Whether this be true or not, is known only to God, and possibly to himself. We do not know. He may or may not be a Christian. Therefore (to pursue the Doctor's logic) the presumption in the minds of those not familiar with the secret, must be, that the Doctor is a hypocrite, and the solemn and impressive ceremonials of Christianity in which he officiates are 'mummeries.'

"Out upon such sophistries. They are the promptings of that leaven of depravity remaining in some good men, and it would seem especially in this Reverend editor. It must certainly require a large amount of self-righteousness and complacency for one who proclaims himself a teacher of good will to man,' to characterize the members of a society

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which embraces, and has embraced, not only a very large proportion of the good men and respectable men' of our land, but thousands eminent for intelligence, patriotism and piety-perhaps more ministers of the Gospel than the sect to which this 'moral dignitary' belongs can as practicing mummeries,' defined by Webster to be 'contemptible amusements, buffoonery, farcical show, hypocritical disguises and parade to delude vulgar minds!" How would this Reverend and alarmed Doctor be doubly shocked, and with what pious horror would he hold up his sacred hands, were an unregenerate man to stigmatize the rites and ceremonies of Christianity as mummeries,' yet to many good men and respectable men' they may appear so. But even respectable' sinners award to those who appear to be genuine professors of religion, sincerity and honesty in the observance of their rites, and have too many impulses of the gentleman, to insult them by characterizing their practices as 'mummeries,' simply because their meanings are not understood or their significance felt. But what is there, I pray this Reverend critic, in the Masonic ceremonial in laying corner stones, which should mar the moral dignity' of the occasion to which he refers, or which should call forth his ire and exercise his powers of abuse and detraction in such a tirade of petty malignity against Secret Societies.' If there is anything in this rite, undignified, irreverent, or what would justly entitle it to be stigmatized as 'child's play' or 'Pow-wow,' the Doctor has been the first to make the discovery. No unprejudiced man, be he saint or sinner, I am certain, upon reading or witnessing this impressive and appropriate ceremonial, will agree with this Reverend Pharisee in his denunciations of it.

"I write, not to defend Masonry from this puny and contemptible attack. It has withstood the potent and long-continued assaults of Popes and Councils and clerical bigots, throughout its entire history; and by the blessing of Divine Providence, has gathered unto itself power and grandeur and energy and might,' amidst the fall of empires and the ruins of false systems. It has existed where all things else of human origin have perished-the tempest of persecution has not injured it-through centuries of changes it has stood, changeless and serene.' But I write as an humble member of the religious sect, in which this 'rigidly righteous' Editor claims to be a minister' appointed of God,' to protest against the unchristian spirit and unholy sentiments of the article which I have quoted-to deprecate the influence thereof-to object to its evil example, which, if followed by those who do not dis