Social And Sanitary Reform.

will , no doubt , be an arduous task ; yet it must be done . Reason , right , justice and humanity must all assist witli their power and experience to stem this death torrent , which is sweeping down the waves of time some of the best parts of tho nation ' s wealth , namely the sons aud daughters of labour . Who can wonder at the larse amount of crime

that is found committed in those cities and towns where all sanitary laws have been neglected ? Is it possible for the children who have been trained under these debasing cii'cumstances to become as a rule good citizens and virtuous members of the community ? Man , from his birth to his

grave is , to a vast extent , the creature of external and physical influences , over which he has small power . His constitution , his mental capabilities and his moral susceptibilities are implanted in his nature at his birth ; therefore should not society use every means to instruct , improve and

elevate the character of every child of humanity ? To neglect to do so , is to abandon the high position which every member of the community should take in tbe social security of the country in which he lives . Education of all our faculties should be the first consideration , and to

acquire in infancy the knowledge useful to ourselves and others in maturity . It is not limited to book learningthe learning of a useful art or trade ; the attainment by practice of habits of industry and application ; the

mastering of a recreation or accomplishment favourable to health , innocent amusement or general convenience ; all these are alike educational acquirements , valuable , as tending to augment individual and social happiness .

The great end of education is to place within the reach of infancy the results of experience , to increase individual power , to augment the good and lessen the evil incident to humanity . A person

commencing his career without previous culture is shorn of his fair proportions . His term of existence is abridged , and he enters upon the race of life at every disadvantage . Hence arises the obligation imposed upon the parents , the ties of nature bind them to the maintenance of their

otrspmng , bnt they are not less bound to piwide them with the sources of knowledge . Without these they only give them existence , which may be an affliction , unaccompanied with the means to sustain it . They are placed on the stage

of life , where their moral and physical powers are stunted or not developed , and lameness , blindness , or other infirmities would hardl y subject them to greater privations in the enjoyments and competitions of the world .

Society as well as individuals suffer by the omission . Education is the best branch of social policy , inasmuch as it destroys the chief seeds of crime , want and ignorance . Dr . Paley has forcibly remarked , that to send an uneducated child into the world is little better than to turn a mad dojr

or a wild beast into the streets . Children so unfortunatel y situated have not equal chances of happiness ; they are mostly miserable , and often vicious , from the Avant of training in habits of industry having not been cultivated . It is well known that our religion , morals , language ,

politics , and manners arc mostly derived from the parental type . HOAV careful then fathers and mothers ought to be io set their children good copies . They ought to know they are soAving the seed of good or evil to unknoAvn

generations . Their Avords , precepts , and actions ; their examples as masters , citizens , and parents will , to a great extent , help to form the character of those by Avhom they are surrounded As heads of families each is the founder

and governor of one of the federalic states of which the body politic is composed , and it depends on their primary training and rule Avhether they shall be the authors of neAv sources of disorder and misery , or joy and benefit to the community . Government is directly interested in the

happiness of the nation . Internal discontent , national poverty , and civil tumult endanger its security , and impair the resources by Avhich it is supported . Whatever tends to make the people moral , happy , and at mutual peace also strengthens the power of the executive

government . It has recently been asserted , that the State , as such , has nothing to do with the moral sentiments and religious convictions of those Avhoso best interests are in its charge ; that their physical Avell-being should be its sole

concernment ; as if a living soul , a moral nature , an intellectual being Avere no part of the constitution of man . Such an opinion is not more opposed to the common sense of mankind than to the deductions of reason , and is at variance , too , with the convictions of the wisest and best men in every age . The moral and intellectual improvement of the people is not only one of the functions of the

Social And Sanitary Reform.

crovernment , but it niA olves the very fundamental idea of it . It is Avith these views of the responsibility belonging to every statesman , no mattor of Avhat party or sect he may belong to , that her Majesty ' s ministers have presented to the nation those measures which they doom absolutely

demanded to raise the character , improve the habits , and protect the health of the poor and needy . Here then is an opportunity for all to strive and work together to ensure the passing of such laws as will redeem many thousands of our fellow creatures from despondency , disease and premature death .

Templar Masonry.

TEMPLAR MASONRY .

BY BRO . WALTER SPENCER , F . R . G . S ., Sec .

I REGARD the above heading as a misnomer , but use it as a significant corollary of my present theme . I proceed to make a feAv general remarks , before formulating the postulates which I am desirous to establish , concerning the " true historical aspect of the R . and M . Order of the Temple . "

Readers of Mr . Leckie * will have noted the conclusion of that author , to the effect that a greater aggregate of testimony has been forthcoming in evidence of the trnth of Avitchcraft than of any other fact in history , and they will remember that this statement is adduced to shew the

worthlessness of human evidence . A greater than he has said , however , " there is nothing neAv under the sun , " and at the present day , the study of animal magnetism , biology ,

mesmerism , clairvoyance and psychic force , is pointing Avith plausibility to the proof that accusations of Avitchcraft had , in a measure which we are not yet able to define , foundation in fact .

I have upon this and other grounds , the hardihood to differ from Mr . Leckie as to the aggregate value of human evidence ; and maintain that every tradition or legend must in some Avay be connected Avith , if not based upon , some original truth . To bring that truth to light , and not to

demolish both rubbish and truth together , should be the sacred task of tho historian . I flatter myself the age AVO live in , though equally strong in adhesion to first principles , no longer sympathises with the iconoclast Avho could smite into fragments Avorks of Art that had

helped to develope a sense of beauty or purity in millions of souls . We Avould not shatter the idols of history , but reverently store them with a view to classification or stud y of their structure , and to utilisation of Avhatever they can teach .

Not on this principle has acted a recent school of Masonic historians . Bro . Findel , Avhose intelligent sketch of the modern ramifications of Masonry cannot be too highly esteemed , rejects many classes of evidence as to its antiquity and demolishes our idols , to show that Ave are but the outcome of an old German eruild .

lhis may flatter his patriotism , but cannot fail to shock that of Englishmen , especially of those Avho believe in regular succession through an English channel from the Dionysiacs and their predecessors . There have been Avriters who assumed that Freemasonry

originated in a secret perpetuation of the mysteries of the Templars , after the dispersion of the latter . But when its symbolism is attentiA'ely considered in system as in moral application , Ave find tho best of evidence—internal evidence—of its higher antiquity . Had it arisen

subsequently to the Christian Era , its symbolism would have been strongly influenced , perhaps entirely moulded by leaders , Christian in one sense or another . Concurrent evidence from historical analogies is so strong , that I assert without fear of contradiction , its symbols Avould have been

" the Lamb of God , " " the Dove of Peace , " & c , & c , as with the Ttmplars and other orders or societies . That it has not altogether escaped the Christian element appears by the Saint Johns and the four crowned martyrs of our ancient Charges , Avhich do fit Avell into the system , and

which contravene our main principle , "Universality . " What are our most striking symbols ? The Sun , the Moon , the Flaming Star !—If these do not assert their own institution in an epoch Avhen they Avere the current embodiments of

great physical and moral truths , to Avhat can Ave ascribe them ? They are unwarranted by any Patristic adaptation ! That there Avas some connection betAveen Freemasons and the Templars during and on the return from the Crusades ,