Masonry Religious And Patriotic.

great result of all the deductions of religion aud philosophy ; and while it is your duty as men , it is also your duty as Masons , to recognize its force . Follow then in the path of virtue ; let your aspirations to heaven be grateful as the incense ; yonr love warm as its flame ; your charity diffusive

as its fragrance . Let your hearts be pure as the altar , and your conduct as acceptable as the offering , and thus you will become pillars of wisdom , strength and beauty , adorning and upholding the majestic edifice of Masonry—pillars

upon which it will continue to stand until that time when , amid the universal wreck , the dazzling brightness of the day and the deep blue of the empurpled nig ht shall

fade" When , like the baseless fabrio of a vision , Tbe cloud-oapped towers , the gorgeous palaces , The solemn temples , the great Globe itself , Tea , all whioh it inherits , shall dissolve , "

when those who can meet the test of the Great Grand Master of the Universe shall be clothed in the garments of immortality , and be permitted to enter that Lodge-where He for ever sitteth in the East . — Voice of Masonry .

The Songs Of Masonry.

THE SONGS OF MASONRY .

npHE songs formed in early times show a striking fea-_ L , ture in what may be called the domestic manners of the Masonic Institution . Nor has the custom of festive entertainments been yet abandoned . In the beginning of tbe eig hteenth century songd were deemed of so much

importance that they were added to the Books of Constitutions in Great Britain aud on tbe continent , a custom which was followed in America , where all onr early Monitors contain an abundant supply of lyrical poetry . In the Constitutions published in 1723 , we find the well-known

Entered Apprentice song , written by Matthew Birkhead , which still retains its popularity among Masons , and bas attained an elevation to which its intrinsic merits , as a lyrical composition , would hardly entitle it . Songs appear to have been incorporated into the ceremonies of the Order

at the revival of Masonry in 1717 . At that time , to use the language of the venerable Oliver , " Labour and refreshment relieved each other like two loving brothers , and the gravity of the former was rendered more engaging by the characteristic cheerfulness and jocund gaiety of the latter . "

In those days the word " refreshment" had a practical meaning , and the Lodge was often called from labour , that the brethren might indulge in innocent gaiety , of which the song formed . an essential part . This was called harmony , and the brethren who were blessed with talents for

vocal music were very often called upon " to contribute to the harmony of the Lodge . " Thus in the minute book of a Lodge at Lincoln , in the year 1732 , which is quoted b y Dr . Oliver , the records show that the Master usually " gave

an elegant charge ; also went through an examination , and the Lodge was closed with song and decent merriment . " In this custom of singing there was an established system . Each Officer was furnished with a song appropriate to his office , and each degree had a song for itself .

Thns in the first edition of the Book of Constitutions we have the "Master ' s Song , " which , says Dr . Anderson , the author , is " to be sung with a chorus , when the Master shall give leave—either one part only , or all together , as he pleases ; " the " Warden ' s Song , " which was "to be sung

and played at the Quarterly Communication ; " the " Fellow Craft Song , " which was to be sung and played at the grand feast ; and lastly , the "Entered 'Prentice ' s song , " which was " to be sung when all grave business is

over , and with the Master s leave . In the second edition the number was greatly increased , and songs wero appropriated to the Deputy Grand Master , the Secretary , the Teasurer , and other Officers .

For all this provisions were made in the Old Charges , so that there should be no confusion between the hours of

labour and refreshment : for while the brethren were forbidden to behave " ludicrousl y or jestingly while Lodge is engaged in what is serious or solemn , " they were permitted , when work was over , " to enjoy themselves with innocent mirth . "

The custom of singing songs peculiarly appropriated to the Craft at their Lodge meetings , when the grave business was over , was speedily introduced into France and Germany , in which countries a iarge number of Masonic songs

The Songs Of Masonry.

were written and adopted , to be sung by the German and French Masons at their "table Lodges , " which correspond to the " refreshment" of their English brethren . Tho lyrical literature of Masonry has in consequence of the custom assumed no inconsiderable magnitude , as an evi *

dence of which it may be stated that Kloss , in his Bibliography of Freemasonry , gives a catalogue—by no means a perfect one—of two hundred and thirteen Masonic song books , published between the years 1734 and 1737 , in the English , German , French , Danish , and Polish languages .

The Masons of the present day have not abandoned the usage of singing at their festive meetings after the Lodge is closed , but the old songs are passing into oblivion , and we seldom hear any of them , except sometimes the neverto-be-forgotten Apprentice song of Matthew Birkhead .

Modern taste and culture reject the rude but hearty stanzas of the old song-makers ; and the more artistic and pathetic productions of Mackay , Cooke , Morris , Dibdin , Wesley , and , other writers of that class are taking their place .

Some of these Bongs cannot be called Masonio , yet the covert allusions here and there of their authors , whether intentional or accidental , have caused them to be adopted by the Craft , and placed among their minstrelsy . Thus the well-known ballad of " Tubal Cain , " by Charles Mackay ,

always has an inspiring effect when sung at a Lodge banquet , because of the reference to this old worker in metals whom the Masons fondly consider as one of the mythical founders of their Order , although the song itself has in its words or its ideas no connection whatever with

Freemasonry . Burns' " Anld Lang Syne " is another production , not strictly Masonic , which has met with the universal favour of the Craft , because the warm fraternal

spirit it breathes is in every way Masonic , and hence it has almost become a rule of obligation that every festive party of Freemasons should close with the great Scotchman ' s invocation to part in love and kindness .

But Robert Burns has also supplied the Craft with several purely Masonic songs , and his farewell to the brethren of Tarbolton Lodge ,

beginning—Adieu 1 a heart-warm , fond adieu , Dear Brothers of the Mystic tie , is often sung with pathetic effect at the Table Lodges of the Order . As already observed , we have many productions of our

Masonic poets which are taking tho place of tho older and coarser songs of our predecessors , and it would be tedious to name all who have successfully invoked the Masonic muse . Masonic songs—that is to say Bongs whose themes are Masonic incidents , whose language refers to the

technical language of Freemasonry , and its spirit breathes its spirit and its teachings—are now a well-settled part of the literary curriculum of the Institution . At first they were all festive in character and often coarse in style , with little or no pretension to poetic excellence . Now they are

festive , but refined ; or sacred , aud used on occasions of public solemnity ; or mythical , and constituting a , part of the ceremonies of the different degrees . But they all have a character of poetic art which is far above the mediocrit y so emphatically condemned by Horace . —Masonic Selections .

" Too Much Familiarity Breeds Contempt."

" TOO MUCH FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT . "

NEVER was there a proverb that fitted into the peculiarities of the human mind more fully than the above . We are so constituted that monotony and sameness , to both the mental and physical , is a deadly foe . The mind , especially , is continually seeking after some new

thing . Like a caged animal , it ceaselessly roams around the barred circle of its environment , remanding new ideas , views , thoughts , scenary , association and investigation . What a greedy insatiable glutton the human mind is ?

How it gorges and digests . How voraciously it pounces upon the new and discards the old . How it abhors monotony and starves on sameness . Hence the birth of

the proverb which forms our heading . Let us see how this can apply to the ritualism of Freemasonry . In the firBt place , it must be remembered that moral teaching of any kind is like good plain bread and butter , never npalatableso long as the ^ appetite demands it _ Satiety