The Mark Degree.

the passion for new degrees is becoming more and more furious . It would therefore be better to avoid any possibility of any new jurisdiction springing up , and provide accordingly in anticipation of the introduction of these degrees . There need be no difficulty about the Babylonish Pass

as the S . G . R . A . C . of Scotland is the supreme head in Scotland , and the degree is Avorked permissu superiorum in Ireland . There are also a few Templar Encampments who have a timeimmemorial right to confer this degree—the Albert , at Rochdale ; the Royal Kent ,

Newcastle •and the York Conclave of Redemption , at Hull — but we do not think there would be any difficulty in uniting these bodies . Lancashire possesses at present a Grand Conclave of the Red Cross Order , over which many brethren of great Masonic attainments and local fame have

presided . Of course , in all these . arrangements the proper precedence of the various degrees would have to be studied , and abrother applying for , say the Red Cross of Babylon , would have to be in possession of all the others . Each separate degree could be ruled over by its own council ,

and the Grand Mark Master could , or rather should , be , ex-qfficio , Grand President of each ; thus placing the degrees in the same position to the G . M . Lodge , as is held by the G . R . A . C . of England with reference to the United Grand Lodge . If this idea be carried out , the Supreme

Governing Bodies m this country will be the United Grand Lodge and Chapter , the Grand Lodge of Mark Masters and the minor degrees , the Masonic Red Crossof Constantine , the Grand Conclave of the Templars , and the S . G . C . 33 A . and A . Rite .

By conventions pending between these Bodies ( if not already entered into ) a certain amount of harmonious working will be obtained , and should , unfortunately , an unworthy brother be suspended from one body , he will be also suspended from those others to which he belongs ; ahvays , of

course , with the privilege of appeal , which we would suggest should be to a Supreme Court formed simply for purposes of this sort , and consisting of the Grand Master of each Body , and two members . This would form the longwished-for and long-wanted " Council of Rites . "

Our ideas are necessarily hastily put together and crude * but we think , perhaps egotistically , that if some experienced brothenvill winnow away the chaff , something will be left behind which may in the future bring forth fruit ; and although the United Grand Lodge cannot acknowledge

the Mark Degree , as a degree , still they may be glad , for the object of harmony , to recognise the G . L . of M . M . as a Governing Body possessing a considerable amount of influence at home and abroad . The spirit of discontent is , we are sorry to say , actively employed in stirring up

dissentions , and several secessions of more or less importance may be expected . Therefore , each Masonic Body should at once endeavour to realise that strength which lies in union , and remember , Tua res agitur , paries quum proximus ardct .

FAITH LODGE OF INSTRUCTION . — The above Lodge of Instruction is held every Tuesday evening at 8 o'clock , in the spacious and commodious rooms at Bro . Fisher ' s Restaurant , Metropolitan District Railway Station , Victoria , S . IV . Ceremonies and

lectures worked every Tuesday , except the fourth Tuesday in the month , when the ceremonies alone are rehearsed . The DOMATIC CHAPTER OK INSTRUCTION is also held in the above rooms every Friday evening , at 8 o'clock , from October until April inclusive .

NEGLECT OF MUSHROOMS . —HOW is it that mushrooms should be used so timidly , and left to rot by thousands in field and forest , when , with a rise in the price of flour , or of meat , they might and ought to give dinners for numberless cottagers , whose children could gather these " vegetable bcel-steaks " with case and with profit ? Is there not the common mushroom , and the fairy ring

mushroom or Scotch bonnet , the blewitt and the o-angemilk mushroom , the morel—and might there not be the truffle , had we less pride in borrowing from our neighbours , and more ingenuity in utilising the loan ? How is it that France is ahead of us in prizing these fungi as deli .-acies , and Italy very far ahead , so that / 4 . 000 worth

yea ly are sold in the market-place of Rome ? AVe pride ourselves on our roast beef ; let us not have to blush for the scantiness and dcarness of our vegetable accompaniments . M . Roques has called mushrooms " the manna of the poor , " and yet in England the poor do not consider themselves divinely chosen enough to gather this manna . —Food journal .

The Basis Of Masonic Science.

The BASIS of MASONIC SCIENCE .

By LEON HYNEMAN , Philadelphia , U . S . Freemasonry is based upon two fundamental principles—the unfoldment of mind , and the benevolent nature in man . It is for these purposes that man exists , and hence they are the bases upon which the structure of Freemasonry

is founded . These principles in their outwrought action prove that man is a progressive being ; unfoldment is progression . The unfoldment of these principles embraces all the activities of man ' s exterior and interior being . The benevolent nature in man has its centre in the

soul , and the mind unfolds as the soul's perceptions expand . The unfoldment of these constitute the aim and end for which man was brought into being * they form the great purpose of life . To unfold the mind the study of nature ' s laws through their phenomenal manifestations is

essential ; to study his own nature , absolutely necessary . " Man know thyself" has been the great lesson through all past time , and always will be in the endless future . The reason is evident . Man is the ultimate of nature ' s manifestations , and therefore must have been the

primal thought of the Infinite mind * and being the primal thought , all nature must have been necessary to his production , and he must have come up through all preceding phenomena . Therefore man is the make-up of all nature , and its p henomena are all a part of him * . hence , man embodies within himself all of nature ' s

laws and its constituents , and hence to know himself is to have a knowledge of the laws of universal nature ' s manifestations . That knowledge is the acme of all science , because man , in all his relations as the ultimate of finite being , is the subject .

The mind , although a part of the physical man , can only express the perceptions of the interior faculties as they unfold . As the soul unfolds in wisdom the interior perceptions express its thoughts through the physical medium . If this were not true , man could not unfold in

knowledge , as the animal cannot , unaided by man ' s teachings . Knowledge is to know , and therefore the wide universe is displayed for man to exercise his faculties , to investigate , to learn the laws of phenomenal manifestation , his relations to all things , to his fellow-beings , and to

God—in all of which is embraced a knowledge of himself . A teacher has said , " The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom . " AVe say that fear has its source in oppression , unjust abuse of power , a latent dislike or hatred to that we fear . To love God we must manifest it in our love

towards our fellow-men , which will ever draw us nearer to the Source of All AVisdom . The mere sentiment is nothing—it proves nothing . The love must be manifested in kindly and benevolent actions , to improve the heart , purify the life , anti brings us into closer communion with the

Infinite . Tlie poet brother has said , " The heart benevolent and kind the most resembles God , " than which no greater truth nor godlike expression ever fell from human lips , from pulpit or rostrum , or was impressed on paper . There is implanted in the soul a benevolent

disposition and a desire for knowledge , and to unfold his interior perceptions and his benevolent nature man possesses possibilities to the unfoldment of which there are no bounds ; hence , no limits to his manifestation of love to God in kind benevolent actions to his brother-man , nor to his

unfoldment of knowledge . Thc criterion of possessing true knowledge is evinced in our love of God through kind and benevolent actions to our fellow-men . It is the only true test by which to judge ourselves ancl others , if the statement that we love God has its basis in truth .

The harmonious unfoldment of knowledge and benevolence characterise the good and true man . Knowledge is only useful to its possessor and to humanity when applied to improve and elevate the race . No one , however great his attainments , if not applied to the proper uses

for the benefit of mankind , can be in the sphere of magnetic attraction to the divine source of love and wisdom . Knowledge must be combined with love for man , manifested in efforts to advance the interests of humanity , to help , aid , and assist those in need : to raise the fallen , and

The Basis Of Masonic Science.

the expression of kindly counsel , and warm sympathies to prove that the love of God is not a vain belief , an assertion not consistent with truth . The originators of Freemasonry in establishing charity as the outward expression of Masonic principles , established that those principles in spirit embraced the essence of all true science .

Because , as the conscious being , man , was the primal thought of Divine Being , and as that thought eliminated universal nature , and as the human was the ultimate of nature ' s efforts , so the Divine Being illustrated the progressive principle of unfoldment implanted in man , with possibilities of attainments illimitable . Embraced in

the divine thought of human formation was the great aim of similitude for man to unfold the divinity within him , to bring himself into close and ever progressing , and drawing into closer rapport with the infinite , to , in the likeness of the Divine Author , be active in constant

efforts to promote the welfare of mankind . Man lives not for himself alone . The inspiration of the Mason poet recognised that the fundamental principles of Freemasonry were in accord with the divine aim of progressive unfoldment in attaining a higher diviner life , and resembling

the infinite in the degree that man was kind and benevolent to his fellow-man . The highest powers in man should always be exercised in striving to increase his knowledge of God , and as the finite can never approach the infinite , yet as the world of phenomenal nature is displayed

to his senses , man can increase his knowledge of God by studying the laws of phenomenal unfoldment . That study is the subject of science . Masonry embraces all science , because man is the object . Therefore , Freemasons to be true to the institution and to themselves ought to be in

advance of other men in the unfoldment of their intellectual and benevolent natures , and have a clearer conception of God and His laws because the fundamental principles of Masonry are founded upon the recognition of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man .

The Masonic Student.

THE MASONIC STUDENT .

The Sublime Degree of a Master Mason is a term , or expression , that is probably thought of by the candidate , either before or for a long time after initiation . Why is it called sublime , is an enquiry that every true and earnest student of Masonry may profitably inquire and carefully study , and the

more he dwells upon the inquiry , if sincere , the more sublime will it be presented to his imagination . At the very outset of his introduction to the Mysteries of Freemasonry , upon its very threshold , he is introduced by prayer . He either prays for himself , or others for him , in all the ceremonies of

his initiation , and this stamps the exercises with a seriousness befitting the importance of his introduction into thc brotherhood , and every step of his advancement , therefore , is , if possible , increasingly serious , and the end sublime . It may be a question in thc mind of the earnest

Masonic student , as to thc proper forms of prayer , and whether it is possible for persons of various religious belief , being able to use in prayer the same language . Thc Jew , the Mahommedan , and the Christian , all alike included in the Fraternity , how arc they to unite in an address to thc Supreme Being , so as to not produce a feeling of antagonism ,

while occupied in one lodge room , in a united act of devotion ? The consideration of this problem , and the actual possibility of this wonderful result , is in itself sublime , and a cause of grateful adoration to the Supreme Being that such a sublime result can be accomplished in the area ofthe Masonic lodge .

This grand result is not produced by a miracle of religious uniformity , but by the thoughtful consideration of thc Founders of Freemasonry . One ofthe great landmarks ofthe Order , and its chief glory , is that no man can be made a Mason , unless he is a believer in one Supreme Being , one

great first cause , that he must believe in one God , is the first question he must answer in the affirmative . The Jew may call his name Jehovah ; the Mohammedan , Allah ; and the Christian , God ; all being synonymous , and well understood . As believers , therefore , in one God , each separately addresses the one ( Great Architect ofthe Universe , )

a descriptive name , that embodies His universal dominion and power . The language used , therefore , is an address to the one God , in which all can unitedly join , in one room , and as one brotherhood , without infringing upon the religious peculiarities by which the several forms of religion arc developed and at thc close of the prayer , in thc final pause , before pronouncing the final " Amen , " each wor-