A Good Mason.

A GOOD MASON .

ONE Brother remarked to another , in our hearing the other day , that a third person , to us unknown , was " a good Mason . " We did not ponder the remark at tho time , but afterwards it occurred to us , What did our Brother mean ? What is " a good Mason ?" Is " a good Mason " one who is present at his Lodge meetings regularly and punctually , never failing to obey a summons or notice

to attend , unless for a good Masonic reason ? Is he one who shows that he is ever ready to counsel his Lodge by being present at each communication so as to make it possible for him to render service ? In onr view the importance of this duty can scarcely be overestimated . "Absent in body , but present inspirit" does not amount to anything in Masonry . It is all very well to say , " I wish the Lodge

snecess , " " I hope it is growing , " and all that sort or thing , but if a Brother habitually fails to attend the meetings of his Lodge , or worse still , dimits therefrom and remains unaffiliated , no matter how much prosperity he wishes Masonry , it will owe whatever lack of success it has , in part directly to his neglect . It is too trne that the majority of Lodge members are , at every Lodge communication " conspicuous

by their absence . This is an old complaint in another connection , at least as old as Tacitus , who was the first one , so far as the records of language show , to use this expression . We have no hesitation , therefore , in saying that " a good Mason , " whatever else he is , is a regular attendant at his Lodge—that such au attendance is a necessary ingredient of goodness in Masonry . But it is not the only

ingredient . " A good Mason" regularly and promptly pays his dues to the Lodge . This financial quality is the sinepua MOW of " a good Mason . " There is the highest authority for this duty , for our first Great Light directs us to " render to all thoir dues . " Money is as necessary to a Lodge as it is to an individual—it cannot live without

it . There are only two " ways in which a Lodge can legitimately make money—one is by making Masons , and the other is by collecting dues from its members . To accomplish the latter , the members must each be possessed of a willing mind and a liberal hand . Masonry does not go to law for its dues—the most that it does is to suspend for non-payment of dues , and it never does this where the

Brother is unable to pay . Brotherly Love forbids it . Poverty may prevent a man from becoming a Mason , but it never causes him to be cast out of Masonry—on the contrary , a Mason in distress is the ward of the Craft . " A good Mason " pays his dues as long as he is able , in order to enable his Lodge to pay its debts , and dispense needed charity to the distressed .

But a regular and punctual attendance at the Lodge , and tbe prompt payment of dues , although Masonic virtues of a high order , will not alone constitute " a good Mason . " There are material parts of both the letter and the spirit of the law tbat yet remain to be fulfilled . The spirit of Masonry is the spirit of Brotherly Love . " Love is the fulfilling of the law . " It is not too much to say that the main

purpose of tbe Masonio Fraternity is to evoke and continually exhibit in action this divine principle of Brotherly Love . It is that which draws us together ; which unites us into one baud or society of friends and brothers ; which enkindles our hearts , and opens onr hands in charity ; which creates that unmatched social feeling which

ever distinguishes Freemasons . The " good Mason " is a good lover of his brethren , a good lover of humankind , tender-hearted , openhanded , and unselfish in the largest degree . He loves both Masonry and Freemasons . He is a good man , and par excellence " a good Mason . "

There are other qualities that distinguish " a good Mason , " which , if minor , should not be overlooked in a general view of the subject . " A good Mason" takes , reads , and promptly pays for a good Masonic newspaper . He loves knowledge , and is a continual seeker after " more Light . " He likes to read the news of the Craft , to know what is said and done in the world of Masonry . In this age of the

printing press , when " that angel , knowledge , " is abroad in the land , the Freemason who does not have this " angel" for a regular visitant at his home , has only himself to blame . What operative Mason would think of erecting a material arch without inserting in it a keystone ? And analogously , what Freemason should think of living an enlightened Masonic life , more especially in the Masonic jurisdiction

of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania , without the stated presence , aid and assistance of the Keystone ? Its purpose is to instruct and entertain , to diffuse lawful knowledge throughout the entire circle of its readers , to be a supplemental light in Masonry , and by every thought , word and work to add to tha number of " good Masons . "

Having thus recalled to mind the constituted elements of " a good Mason , " Ictus build every one of them into the temple of onr lives , for they constitute the life of the bnilding . Freemasonry is a shadow without them . Brotherly Love , Relief , and Truth are the living stones of the fabric , and failing to exemplify these , we fail to be * good Masons . " —Keystone .

Corner Stones.

CORNER STONES .

IT is almost au impossibility to ascertain at what date this custom of laying corner stones was first introduced . After considerable research , we shall endeavour to give , as near as we can find out , the origin . There can be very little donbt that the original idea or form emanated from the Eleusinian and Bacchic mysteries , over three thousand years before Christ . We learn from Festus that i he

Estnmans had forms concerning the ceremonies observed at i lie founding of cities , altars , temples , walls , and gates . Plutarch tells as that Romulus before he laid the foundation of Rome , sent for men from Etruria , who informed him in all the punctilios of ceremony which he was to observe . According to Dionysins , they began with offering a sacrifice . They then dug a ditch , in which they threw the

Corner Stones.

first fruits of all things that served for human nourishment ; at the same time they consulted the gods to know if their offering would be acceptable , and asked if their enterprise would be success , ful , and if they approved of the day chosen to do the work . They then chalked out the boundary ( exactly as we do at the pre . sent day ) by a score of white earth , which they called Terra vura

While they were forming this boundary , they stopped at certain in . tervals , and placed within the excavation the first fruits , corn and oil , and the symbols of the religious belief at that period . In these sacrifices they invoked , beside the gods of the country , the gods to whose protection the new temple or city was recommended . In those days it was done secretly , because it was necessary that the

titular gods should be unknown to the vulgar . ( We do it more openly , but our form is nevertheless a sacrifice ) . Among the Romans , when they were to ( bnild a temple , the Aruspioes were employed to choose the place as onr architect does ) , and the time when they shonld begin work . This place was purified with great care , and was encircled with garlands and fillets ( we have seen flowers on a oorner

stone in this country and in Europe ) . Fow notice : Ihen he touched the corner stone that leas to be first laid in the foundations , which was bound with a fillet , when the people , animated with enthusiastic zeal , threw it in with some pieces of money or metal , which had never passed through the furnace . ( We do the | same thing , only the money has passed through the mint ) .

When the edifice was finished there was also a consecration of it with grand ceremonies . Myth . vol . 1 . p . 297 . When the fruits of the earth were the only food of men , care was taken to reserve a certain portion for the gods . Sometimes water was poured over the heads of the victims , sometimes honey , sometimes oil } but generall y they were sprinkled with wine , and then the wood of the fig tree ,

the myrtle , the vine was burnt upon the altar . There was no erecting of any altar , temple , or wall , without the use of corn , and more particularly barley , as it was the first sort of corn used by the Greeks after their diet of acorns was given np . In the dedication of Mason ' s halls the corn , wine , and oil are poured upon the Lodge , the processions three times around the foundation and the hall when

finished , the three lights , striking tbe stone thrice , & c , are in conformity to the customs of the Eleusinian Bacchic mysteries . We think , however , that the real origin of the laying of the cornet stcne was from India , that cradle of civilisation—some of their majestic temples prove this . The Temple of Elora is considered the most curious . No one can regard without astonishment a whole

mountain of porphyry , covering nearly six miles of superficial measure , ment , converted into a mysterious succession of halls , chambers , anti . chambers , vestibules , courts , saloons , & c . In the midst of these apartments is the great Temple of Elora , a single apartment of five hundred feet in circumference , hollowed out of the solid granite . Its galleries are supported by sculptured pillars ; its walla are

polished , into which are cut thirty-three niches , extending from floor to dome , in which are thirty-three gigantic statues of Hindoo divinities . During some convulsion of nature these statues were par . tially removed , and underneath them , and some columns of gigantic size , about forty feet in diameter , were found some curious coins and symbols , and grain of a character which seemed to have passed

through some process for preservation . Discoveries of the same character have been made at different periods in India . We think , therefore , that the custom is far ahead of the Egyptians , or Greeks , or Romans . We do know for certain that 715 B . C . the ( collegia fabrorum ) or Roman constructors , always performed this ceremony . We leave our readers to decide

for their own part on the explanation we have endeavoured to make bnt bearing in mind whatever metals , coins , or articles of whatever description were placed by the ancients under their corner stones , they were purely symbolic of the religion of the age , and we do not think intended for the use of posterity ; for the construction of their temples was , like their religion , intended to last for ever . —New York Ttisvatch .

At the meeting of the North London Chapter of Inv provement , held 17 th . August , at the Canonbury Tavern , St . Mary ' s-road , N ., Comps . Edmonds filled the chair of Z ., Gregory H ., Sparrow J ., John Evans Sheffield S . E ., Fennell S . N . The ceremony of exaltation was rehearsed , after which the Chapter was closed nntil Thursday evening , the 24 th inst .

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