Our Masonic Charities.

management or interested in the welfare of the noble Institution . It stimulates the entire Executive to renewed zeal in the discharge of their several duties , that nothing may be left undone to endeavour to prove that the Institution merits such illustrkms

patronage ; and it induces a hope that a knowledge of the good work carried on Avithin the walls of the Institution has travelled beyond the limits of the circle of its present immediate supporters , and has been deemed worthy of the highest encouragement

that can be possibly extended . "FREDERICK BISCKS , " Secretary " " February , 1870 . ( To ce continued . )

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

" EEEEMASONEY AND RELIGION , " ( Page , 250 ) . ' " By the omission of the words "Pseudo-Christian , " at page 251 , | the last sentence has no meaning . It should read " as to the only genuine Freemasonry being their Pseudo-Christian Freemasonry . —W . P . B .

" THE DEFENCE . " ( Page . 250 ) At page 250 Ave read ' -What ? AvewhohaA ^ e reared the Temple , and had Kings Dovid , King Solomon , and Zerubbabel for our G-rand Masters , and Ezra and Nehemiah for our Scribes , not believers in revealed reli g ion ? The idea is preposterous . " So says " the

Editor of the former series of the Freemasons Magazine , " but this , I trust , is an age of progress , and I would fain hope that the Editor of the present series of this Magazine is above retailing any such fanciful rhodomoutade . I , as a Protestant , look upon the

Bible as the foundation of my religious faith , and as a Freemason , upon the 1723 Constitutions as the foundation of my Masonic Avalk , yet neither of these support the silly notion of Kings David and Solomon being " our Grand Masters , " or Ezra and Nehemiah being " our Scribes . " The idea is a pure myth . —W . P . B .

GEE 3 IAN FBEEMASONEY . Speculative Freemasonry in Germany Avas not an outcome of the old operative German Masonic Lodges , for these old operative lodges neither knew of nor practised it ; it Avas adopted or imported from England—its alma mater—after A . D . 1717 . —W . B . BUCHAN .

LOST . " ( Pope . 243 ) . At page 248 we read " He is lost ! He had not taught himself ^ theyesson ^ of restraint , and the neces-

Masonic Notes And Queries.

sity of subduing his passions aud improving himself in Masonry " These words call up many sad reminiscences of brethren who have been '' lost " Not lost through their attention to the real ceremonies of our Order , but lost in great measure through their

devotion to Bacchus , which their participation in the baneful drinking customs of the fraternity may have engendered and encouraged . In many cases , as I believe in Scotland for example , a Masonic lodge has been little better than a training school for drunkards . The bad custom of perpetually calling

off the lodge to " refresement" reduced it to the status—as a brother lately said to me—of a " freeand-easy " This custom , as I knoAV , has ruined many ; it has already sent several of my friends to a premature grave , and upon others I greatly fear it has put its mark . I pray they may escape the vortex , and not he " lost . " —PICTUS

Masonry At The Cape Of Good Hope. "Scottish Constitution."

MASONRY AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE . "SCOTTISH CONSTITUTION . "

CORRESFONDE 1 TOS . The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondent s

TO THE EDITOE OS THE FREEMASONS' JIAGAZ 1 XE A . XD MASOXtC . AIIKEOH . Dear Sir and Brother , —Since the establishment in this colony of lodges under the constitution of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , we have witnessed some peculiar proceedings under that jurisdiction .

To us easy going , slow coaches—as these Scotch fiiveniles term us—AVIIO work under the constitution ' of England , it seems strange that the three degrees should be conferred upon an initiate Afithhi one ....: •]• : , and frequently on three consecutive nights . It is little more than twelvemonths since that

certain officers and members of the Southern . Cross Lodge , working under the constitution of Scotland , went clown to the British Lodge Avorking under the constitution of England , ancl waited in the refreshment room until a candidate had taken his ( -econd degree in the British Lodge . They then left the

British Lodge with the newly crafted brother , took him up to the Southern Cross Lodge , Avhere they raised him to the third degree , Avithin three hours hours after he had been crafted under the constif ution of England . But I doubt if anything equal to their last act has been heard of in the present generation ,

viz . , some time since the District Grand Lodge of Southern Africa Avere under the painful neees .-iity of suspending a lodge for contumacy The District Grand Lodge afterwards discovered that certain parties , Avorking under the constitution of Scotland , had forwarded an application to the Grand Lodge of Scotland to enable the suspended brethren to work under that constitution .