Table Of Contents.

TABLE OF CONTENTS .

PAGE . ROYAL ARCH MASONRY ... 1 SBCRRCY AND SILENCE 2 THB LONDON LITERARY UNION 2 PAPERS ON

MASONRYNo . XII . —Masonry aud the Meridian 3 THE CRAFTMetropolitan ... .. ... 4 Provincial ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 THE ROYAL Alton—Metrppolitan 4 MARK MASONRY—Metropolitan ... 4 ORDERS OK ClIlVAI .

RVKnights Templar—Provincial ... 4 CONSECRATION OF TUB NEPTUNE LODGE , LIVERPOOL 5 MEETIN : OF THE GRAND CONCLAVE OL ' LANCASHIRE 5 Tua GRAND LODGE OP NEW YORK ANB THE GRAND ORIENT or FRANCE ... ... fi

BIRTHS , MARRIAGES AND DEATHS 6 MUTUAL CONGRATULATIONS 6 THE EARL OP DERBY ON FREEMASONRY 6 LODGE oi' BENEVOLENCE 7

OBITUARYThe It . W . J 5 ro . Kichard William Jennings , P . G . W . 7 THE EDITOR ' PORTFOLIO 7 MOLTUM IN PARVO , OR MASONIO NOTES AND QUERIES 7 ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCEAllegorical Sculptures in Mediicvnl Churches ... 8

lioyal Aich Masonry •... .. g THE UUYAL . MAS > NIC IIENEVOLENT INSTITUTION ... 8 MASONIC MEETING * FOR NEXT WEEK 8 ANOTHER FENIAN OUTRAGE : ( A Tale of tho Times ) ... 9 LIST or Annus 10 ADVEI . TISIMENIS 10 , 11 & 12

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NOW READY , Cases to hold 4 copies of "The freemason , " 1 / G . Cases to hold 52 copies of "The Freemason , " 2 / C . With TUB VIIKIUI \ SON emblematically depicted , and other . Masonic emblems in gold . To bo had at tlio Offices , 3 & 4 , Little Britain .

Royal Arch Masonry.

ROYAL ARCH MASONRY .

BY THE SON OK SAI . ATIIIEI .. ( Continued . ) [ The rights of translation and reproduction reserved . ]

The Tri p le Tau is one of tho four hieroglyphics under which men have fought and conquered . These aro , htrictly speaking , —tho Eagle ( first raised by Cyrus ) , tho Laharum , the Crescent , and

the Cross . It will ho seen hereafter how each and all of thoso arc identified with Freemasonry or with tho Orders which claim affinity to tho

Masonic Institution . The use of tho cross as an instrument of punishment or torture almost universall y prevailed long before tho Christian era . But also as the symbolic representation of

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an idea distinct frcm the barbarous purpose to which the cross was first applied , we find the sign and figure existing amongst the most ancient records of remote antiquity . It has been found on the sculptures of Egypt , in the caves of

Hindostan , in tho chief cities of Assyria , and in the wondrous temples of the ruined cities of Central America . The Egj'p tittn symbol , the Tau , or sign of life , is the p lain crux ansata , or small cross , surmounted b y a round or oval-shaped

handle , and invariabl y held in the hands of thc deities depicted on Egyptian hieroglyphics . 1 his figure—thc crux ansata—was actuall y adopted by the earl y Christians in Egypt , till at a Liter period the cross was substituted . All the four

emblems to which we have alluded have a common origin , and it is humiliating to reflect that slight as is their difference in form , they have each served as the rall ying point of rival reli gious systems , and have contributed their share to a

needless effusion of human blood . The Boman eagle—the powerful bird of prey , fit precursor of a conquering army—was elevated upon a p lain staff . The ensign adopted b y Constantine , and to this day commemorated by thc Duke of

Sussex ' s Council in England , was the labarum , a more complicated symbol , whose meaning the learned have yet failed to unravel . It consisted of a long spear , on which a transverse piece ot wood designed the figure of the cross . Above

this was placed n lunette or crescent of nietnl , and a laurel or an olive chaplet crowned the spear . Vainl y havo antiquarians searched in almost all tho languages . of the world for the derivation of the word Labarum , the origin and

signification of tho famous standard which combines in one the Crescent and tlie Cross . The mysterious connection of the two last-named emblems , overlooked as it has been—perhaps purposel y ignored—by modern historians , is not

to be forgotten by the earnest Masonic student . All the filagree work of modern symbolism Hides into insignificance in the presence of this immortal . sign , which in itself is an evidence and a record of truth . Bryant , a learned Orientalist ,

traces the origin of thc labarum irom the ark , and according to his theory , the mountain upon which the ark rested , "Ararat , " had different

names amongst thc nations of antiquity . It was called also Laban , or Labar , or Maris , and hence the word Labarum , distinguishing the ensign of the Roman armies , and typif ying tho event of

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the salvation of mankind . Mclntyre remarks , 3248 or 3276 years after the ark stranded on Ararat the cross was erected on Calvary . Constantine placed upon the standards of the

Homan armies the symbol of the Christian faith and future conquest , so p laced from that day forward in mystic antagonism to the supplanted ciescent . Tho crescent was not a Mahometan

symbol ; it was the relig ious emblem of the Arabians , who adored the increasing moon , and to this day it is uncertain when the crescent was

adopted as the national ensign of the Turks . But to return to the tri p le tau , whose relation to more modern emblems wo have thus attempted to illustrate .

THE TRIPLE TAU . This famous hierogl yphic , whose antiquity is lost in the obscurity of ages , and respecting the precise signification of which various hypotheses have been suggested , was regarded by the ancients

as endued with properties of a mystical and mathematical nature . In order as much as possible to elucidate the orig inal design of thia curious emblem , we have selected a few extracts

which may contribute in some degree to develop its import when considered sepatately from the meaning which is attached to it in tho Boyal Arch degree .

The following extract is from the pen of the learned M . Savary : — Thoth , that symbolical divinity , or famous personage who received the homage of antiquity , was regarded as the inventor of almost the whole of human

knowledge . The ages in which his existence is placed are so very remote that it is almost impossible to throw upon them any light capable of clearing up the objects which lie hidden in tlie obscurity of time . Plato , who wrote upwards of 2 , 000 years before ua ,

and who was educated m the school of the priests of lleliopolis , did not himself know what judgment to form of Thoth , already of too ancient a dale for him to discover his origin . " Theutli , " says he , '' invented letters , distinguished the vowels from the consonants ,

the mutes from liquids ; a discovery which alone should make him be regarded as a god , or as a divine mortal Fume says that he lived in Egypt . " In this state of uncertainty thc most prudent meiisure is faithfully to report the passages of the ancients , nnd to

examine them with tho spirit of impartial criticism . Thoth was differently named hy different nations . u Tlic Greeks , " rays Philo of Biblos , " gave the name of Hermes , or Mercury , to Tnnoiit , whom tlio Egyptians called Tlioith , and the Alexandrians Thoth . "

Historians agree in attributing to him the invention of almost all ( lie arts . "Thoth , " says Lnctantius , " remounts to the most remote antiquity , nnd , though a man , he possessed all the sciences , which justly obtained him the surname of Trismegistus—three times great . " lie created the different parts of dis-