Mark Masonry.

P . G . C , F . Ryman Hall , J . M . Dormor . A . Rowley , H . G . W . Drink , water , T . Lncas , J . A . Aenek , C . A . B <> con , and 0 . Phillips ; Bro . W . R . Bowden presiding at the organ . At the olpso of tho installation the newly-installed Master appointed and invested his Officers ns follows :-Bros . Ryman Hall I . P . M ., J . J . ITnghes S . W ., A . Rowlev

J . W ., A . Wheeler M . O ., H . O . Crane S . O ., Drinkwater J . O , Lucas Treasurer , C . A . Bacon Secretary , Dr . Edwa d Home Registrar of Marks , J . A . Acock S . D ., W . R . Bowden J . D ., Charles Phillips D . C ,

R . H . Hodgson Organist , G . H . Osmond and John Seary Steward- ! . George Norwood Tyler . The brethren dined together in tho ban . quetting room of the Lodge after the above proceedings , nnder the genial sway of the newly-appointed W . M .

The Provincial Grand Mark Lodge of East Anglia will bo hold , by command of the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master , in tho Library of Colchester Castlo , under the banner of the Constantine Lodgo , No . 145 , on Monday next , 27 th instant . Tho use of the Library having been

kindly lent for the occasion by Bro . James Round , M . P ., Provincial Grand Lodge will be opened at half-past two , and a banquet will be served at the George Hotel , at five o ' clock , tickets for which , including wine and dessert , are fixed at 10 s 6 d each .

Symbols.

SYMBOLS .

FROM THE VOICE OP MASONRY . THE TABERNACLE . — About fifty days after the children of Israel left their bondage in the land of Egypt , Moses was , by divine command , led up to the summit of Mount Sinai to receive the law , which embodied the building of a tabernacle for worship , according to a plan

given him by the Almighty . —( Exodus xxv . 8 , 0 . ) Tbe relation of the tabernacle ' s position to the points of the compass is not definitely stated in the original command , but the inference is strong that it was situated due east and west , as seen by the command for the bnildino- of the

different sides . —( Exodus xxvii . 9-1 B . ) Masonic symbolisms teach that it was so situated that it might " receive the first rays of the rising sun , and to commemorate that

ml g"ty eagfc wind by which their miraculous deliverance was effected . " It was the pattern of the temple subsequently built by Solomon , in which all the apartments of the tabernacle were faithfully preserved .

The symbolisms of Masonry speak of the apartments as representing " the three great elementary divisions of fcho universe—the land , the sea , and the air . " Whether these symbols are drawn from biblical authority , or are the offspring of the writer ' s fancy , are matters for others to

settle ; but it is safe to say that the symbolisms of theso matters were well understood by the people to whom they were given . Paul , in his writings , represent the human body as a temple , hence it may not be amiss , in using his representation , to so consider it . The outer court of both

temple and tabernacle was used by the people , the first or larger one of the temple or tabernacle was for the common priests , whilst the innermost court , or holy of holies , was only for tbe annual visits of the high priests . The uses of the different apartments are good representations of the

uses of the different elements of the human system . The body is the seat of all the ordinary passions , which properly used , are in exact accordance with duty and the divine command . Improperly used they are the causes of all sin , bringing us under the necessity of sorrow and

repentance . The mind , or the second element , is the designer of all the plans to meet the necessities or the exigencies of the body ; it is therefore the administrator of the laws that govern the body . The innocent and most important element of man , the sonl , is that part which

holds , in its highest relation , communion with God , as the high priest did in presenting his annual offering to tho Most High . Panl presents , in 2 Corinthians v . 1 , a beautiful figure of the tabernacle in its relation to the human system at the

time of death , representing it after dissolution as having a "house not made with hands , eternal in the heavens . " The tabernacle being made of canvas of very fine and beautiful texture was so erected that upon each movement of Israel from place to place it was dissolved , or taken clown ,

and erected again in another place . It is , therefore , a representation of the temporary dwelling of man upon the earth , and of his probationary state . It being only the preparatory place of worship , pending the time of the building of the permanent temple , indicates that human

Symbols.

life is only the condition preparatory for a more permanent dwelling in the grand temple on high . This being true , the real temple , man's b- > dy , with all its high functions should be kept in a sfcnt « of purity as great as that of the temple and tabernacle , in order that when the time of our

earthly dissolution comes we may have an entrance into the eternal tabernacle . The outer courts being designed for the uses of men , the holy of holies was peculiarly consecrated to the worship of God ; so , while man is allowed the uses of body and

mind , the spiritual or soul nature should be dedicated to God . It is unnecessary , in this place , to speak of all the symbolisms of the tabernacle , as they moro properly belong to another branch of Masonry . Both the tabernacle and

temple symbolize also the protectorate of God in his dealings with man , wherein he watches over tho general affairs of man and necessarily demands from him an implicit faith .

The ex' > tence of the tabernacle and its origin is a matter of much importance . Bible readers generally have understood that its peculiar construction was by divine command , but the Egyptologists have shown us , " that the very idea came from the banks of the Nile ; " that the Israelites

were indebted to the religions of Egypt for the breast plate of the high priest—the Urim and Thummin . Here then are two well defined theories . First , that all matters concerning the tabernacle , and the Israelitish form of worship , were by the express plan of tbe divine mind . Second , that

all these were merely borrowed from Egypt , and incorporated by Moses in the law because he " was learned in all the wisdom of Egypt . " Now they were either one or the other distinctively , or they were a blending of tbe

two . The Bible being true they were by divine command , for God could not borrow from a heathen to establish a divine religion . If they were merely borrowed then the divine writing cannot be true .

May there not be such a thing as the establishment of those forms of tabernacle and worship somewhere in great antiqnity and their subsequent incorporation into the Egyptian religion , and therefore may they not be divine in their very incipiency , and * then by divine command

committed to a written religion by the hand of Moses . In the absence of direct history it may be hard to trace this theory , but thero is sufficient presumptive evidence to make it plausible , at least . It must first , then , be accepted as a fact that Adam had some form of a religion , but that form

is not given us in Bible history , nor is ifc stated through what line of his descendants it was perpetuated . Passing over a vast period of time , we meet the event when Abraham ,

after his return from the battle with the five kings , met Melch-isedec . wbo " was tbe priest of the Most High God " ( Gen . xiv . 18 ) , and who conferred his blessing upon the worthy patriarch . "

Previous to this time there seems to have beeu no regularly organised form of religion observed by Abraham , and thero seems to have been no form commanded until the time when God was about to establish his covenant with

him , when he commanded a sacrifice ( Gen . xv . 8 , 9 ) , and when he confirms the covenant ( Gen . xvii . ) Egypt was at that time a well organised people ( Gen . xii . ) , while Abraham and his people were a nomadic tribe ; but Melchisedec was the King of Salem , Jerusalem

( Gen . xiv . 18 ) , the land afterwards promised to Abraham . His being a priest indicates a form of religion . Being from the Most High God indicates a divine religion . Conferring the blessing upou Abraham indicates , with the divine command of a sacrifice , the conference of a form of

religion . The covenant of God embraces the rite of circumcision ( Gen . xvii . ) Now , is it probable that God would thus have established so important a covenant without accompanying it with some form of worship ? It may be possible that Melchisedec was observing the

ancient form of divine worship which was now conferred upon the Hebrew patriarch , but here we lose sight of Melchisedec . May ifc not be that the true religion of God

was at that time observed in the whole land among the organised governments , Egypt included , and that subsequently becoming corrupted it drifted into idolatry ?

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