Business To Be Transacted In Grand Lodge.

The consideration of this question will be the last subject to occupy the attention of the brethren , and it argues a very happy state of affairs when we see that there are

no difficulties to be adjusted , no dissensions to be quelled , and that the great English Craft continues to advance in

prosperityits progress being unimpeded by the snares of schism , and free from the shadows of discord or discontent .

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

Multum in Parbo , or Masonic Notes and Queries .

—«—" Hele " is a word still of common use in Sussex , and its- meaning is , as stated by Bro . W . Carpenter , " to cover or hide . "

" Cowan , I am inclined to think , means a " smith , " or worker in iron . I . Kings , vi . 7 may perhaps tend to illustrate the Masonic use of the word .

" Gow ( Gael ) is a smith , and in Sir W . Scott ' s " Fair Maid of Perth " we have the word as a surname . W . DE ST . CROIX .

COWAN . The following remarks , as showing the difference of opinion respecting this word , may not be out of place . The first is by the author of the Masonic Ritual of

Freemasonry , page 69 ( America 18 35 ) , who has endeavoured to explain the origin of this word , and I subjoin his words , although they are at variance with my own opinions : — " The origin of this word is French , and

was written clwuan , and the h was omitted in English without aspirating it , agreeably to cockney pronunciation . The Chouans were loyalists during the French revolution , and the most determined and

inveterate enemies of the Charitables—Robespierre , Billaud , Varennes , Callot d'Herbois , the Duke of Orleans , and all the rest of their bloodthirsty gang . The Chouans were worse than eavesdroppers to the

Masons , who originated the revolution . They were a party connected with the several parties of armed royalists , who were of course opposed to the Masons , and the most inveterate of them , the Chouans .

Hence , probably , all opposers of Masons were afterwards designated by the term Chouan , pronouncing thc ch like kf So much for that definition ; and before proceeding to our next , we may notice that in the lectures used at the revival of

Masonry in 1717 , the following curious punishment was inflicted on a detected Cowan : — " To be placed under the eaves of the house in rainy weather till thc water runs in at his shoulders and out at his shoes . "

The French rather extend this punishment : — " On le met sous unegouttiere une pompe ou une fontaine , jusqii a ce qu'il soit mouille depuis la tetc jusqii aux pieds . " Hence a listener is called an eavesdropper .

From the affair of Jeptha , an Ephraimitc was termed a Cowan . In Egypt cohen was thc title of a priest or prince , and a term of honour . Bryant , speaking of thc Harpies , says they were priests of the sun , and as

cohen was the name of a dog as well as a priest , they are termed by Apollonius "the dogs of Jove . " Now , St . John cautions the Christian brethren that" without are dogs" ( Kwe < s ) , cowans , or listeners

( Rev . xxn ., 15 ) ; and St . Paul exhorts the Christians "to beware of dogs , because they were evil-workers ( PJu'I . iii ., 2 ) . Now , ••*•<¦•••, a dog , or evil-worker , is the Masonic cowan . The above priests , or metaphorical dogs ,

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

were also called Cercyonians , or Cer-cozvans , because they were lawless in their behaviour towards strangers . I throw out this hint for the consideration of the brethren , although aware that others have

adopted very different opinions on the etymology of the word . A writer in the F . Q . R . thus explains the word . " I trace it , " says he " to the

Greek verb a . Kovn > , to hear or listen to , from which it is but parce 'detorta , and we have high authority for so importing words from one language to another .

Our illustrious Brother Sir Walter Scott , makes one of his characters in " Rob Roy " say— " She does not value a cawmil mair as a cozvan , and ye may tell MacCullum More that Allan Inverach said sae . " C . G . FORSYTH .

ANCIENT AND MODERN MASONRY IN INDIA . " Explore the rock-cut temples and monasteries of India , and then inspect the great railway works of the nineteenth century—the excavations of Adjunta and

Ellora , and the excavations of the Bhore Ghaut tunnel . In both the patient labour of man—the might of the many-handed multitude — is proclaimed by gigantic results . The actual workmen—the hewers ,

the carvers , the diggers—were probably well-nigh the same . They wore the same clothes , they ate the same food , they toiled in the same way ; perhaps they were moved by the same common impulses , knowing

as little and caring as little about what they were making . But how different the directing minds—how different the languages in which the work of men ' s hands addresses itself to the imagination—how

different are the sentiments which they inspire ! The extremes of mysticism and utilitarianism are there to be seen in striking contrast . "—From " India Ancient and Modern , " by William Simpson .

The remark about the natives of India caring little about what they were making will apply in many cases to natives of our own island just as well—e . g ., I have been told by a " sculptor" that all he cared about

in his work was simply to get it taken off his hands , and get the money for it . Small chance of any great artistic improvement whercever that spirit prevails or holds sway . Yet , who is to blame ? W . P . B .

" ONE WHO SEEKS LIGHT . The following address , delivered at thc anniversary meeting of the Rosicrucian

Society of England , on the 1 st February , 1868 , by Bro . Robert Wentworth Little ( S . M . ) , then Master-General , will give you some information on the subject : —

" Brethren , —lam penetrated with a sense of my inability to address you this evening in a manner sufficiently worthy of the solemn and august truths developed in the study of Rosicrucian philosophy ; for , although our thoughts may

( lash bright and beautiful as sunbeams , it is but seldom that we can invest them in language ofa corresponding . splendour , and tlie kindled glory of our conceptions is therefore lost , perchance , for ever . To the fitting contemplation of our

mysteries we must bring minds divested of the cares and griefs of life—unfettered by the chains of custom—and free from thc storms of passion and prejudice which darken and desolate the souls of men . Tlie grandest heights that faith

reveals , the most luminous regions of thought and intellect are , however , to be attained by a steady devotion to thc cause of truth , and an unwavering progress in the paths of science . In

general terms we may announce that the primary object of Rosicrucianism is to elucidate the mysteries that encompass us in life , and to reverently raise the veil from those that await us in the dreaded dominions of death—looming

Multum In Parbo, Or Masonic Notes And Queries.

like awful shadows through the profound abysses of the infinite and the eternal . It is by calm meditation on such ennobling themes that the soul is prepared for its wondrous destiny in the radiant future , when the celestial essence of man shall be filled with glory from the fountain-waters

of light and wisdom . It is no chimera of the imagination to believe that the rolling mists of error which obscure our spiritual vision will vanish before the resistless advent of knowledge ; it is no vague dream that the mind of man may be purified and perfected by an humble

recognition of the power of the Supreme , and a pervading sense of His love and beneficence . Toattain this object we invite our aspirants—prescribing , by certain laws , the direction of their course , and guiding them through the arcana of the unknown . By regulated steps they are led from

the dawn to the meridian of day . The talismans with which we entrust them are unalterable precepts of virtue ; we tell them , in the language of a great thinker , that 'the truth of nature is a part of the truth of God—to him who does not search it out , darkness : to him who does , infinity !'

We call upon them to bear aloft the torch of hope across the night of life . We proclaim that despair must be banished from our dwellingplaces , for ' a bold heart may command anything * ' and that the lamp of reason should never be extinguished by the spectral shades of doubt .

The symbols with which our neophytes are familiar , as well as those which are known only to the advanced adept , equally demonstrate the existence of an All-Powerful and All-Sustaining Being , and alike impress upon us the necessity of religious faith . Our mystic lore is evolved

from the ideal of Divine philosophy , our principles are indestructible as the great universe itself . Our studies tend not to the deification of matter , but to the exaltation of reason as the principal agent in the intellectual organisation of man . Our investigations are not , however , restricted

merely to the moral aspect of nature—we glean from the fields of the physical world abundant food for thought , dedicating our efforts to the service of truth , and advancing hopefully in the spheres of duty allotted to us in the actual

present . This , my brethren , is the true alchemy of life ; this—the magic by which wc remove mountains of ignorance and vice ; this—the real ' elixir vita ; ' from the springs of light and beautyj ; this—the revelation of the sublimest faculties of

the soul . Nourished by lofty musings and divine imaginings , the faith to which we aspire will waft our spirits into the inner circles of wisdom—yea , beyond the lampless shores of death our feeble steps shall be upheld by the mighty strength of love , and supported by the unquenchable fire of universal intelligence . Such are the

elementary principles of our philosophy , and such are the results that will inevitably follow a devout adherence to our laws . Thus , in the serene tranquillity of thought the soul is unconsciously elevated above tlie things of earth , and in the interpretation of the mystic symbols of antiquity , its ethereal sympathies are naturally awakened .

" I-ollow , then , my brethren , in the track of those enlightened sages whose names are hung , like constellations in the heaven of fame , beginning with the Chaldean shepherds of old , who drew lessons from the shining stars , or with those later adepts who , adopting the theories of

Platonist or Pythagorean , used numerals or geometrical figures as a medium to instruct and guide mankind in the hidden ways of truth . Through the successive developments of occult and cabalistic science , let us trace their perpetual progress—let us moimtwith them the

mysterious ladder , ami learn the doctrines of nature , and tlie woundrous principles that govern the material an . I : •: natcrial universe . But approach not tlie temple of light with darkened soul or impure thought—rather would I counsel you to recede in silence than to advance incautiously to the consummation of our holy rites .

"'J"here are many things incomprehensible to untutored minds ; our impressions in youth and childhood differ considerably from those which we experience in riper manhood ; and it is so with our neophytes—placed in the vestibule of knowledge—should they attempt to enter the sacred