Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

Provincial Grand Lodge of Ayrshire was the scene of this eccentric encounter upon the question of Mother Kilwinning ' s rights and privileges . A Provincial Grand Communication had been summoned for April , 1860 . On its becoming known

that neither the Master of Mother Kilwinning ( ex-officio P . G . M ., ) nor any properly-commissioned depute , would be present , the Senior Warden , as pro tempore Master of the Lodge of Kilwinning , claimed the right to preside , and forthwith took

possession of the chair . Objections to this course were offered on behalf of the R . W . M . whose right it was to hold the Orient , which post the Kilwinning Warden declined to relinquish . The matter having

been brought under the notice of Grand Committee , that body decided " that , in the Provincial Grand Lodge of Ayrshire , the Senior Warden of Mother Kilwinning , as such , can claim no precedence over any R . W . M ' s of Lodges present . "

This decision , which in August , 1860 , was confirmed by the Grand Lodge , has , in conjunction with the adoption of a more liberal policy than had hitherto prevailed at Kilwinning , proved efficacious in dispelling the indefinite notions ,

entertained by west-country craftsmen , regarding what of right pertains to the Mother Lodge in contradistinction to the privileges enjoyed by all other Scotch Lodges .

A . UTOGEAPH OP THE EAEL OF KlLMAENOCK . In the excellent paper upon " A ritual of three degrees used by Frederick the Great of Prussia , " of which Bro . George Lambert is the author , referring to the introduction of certain high grades

into Germany ( about the year 1743 , ) it is stated that in Paris " Baron Hunde Avas duly admitted to all the degrees , and his Masonic patent , now in Berlin , is signed by Kilmarnock as ' George . '" We present a fac-simile of the autograph of William Earl of Kilmarnock , taken from a letter

Ears Of Wheat From A Cornucopia.

signed by the same hand under an assumed name , may serve to test the genuineness of the latter . It may appear somewhat singular that although for several years before his execution ( Aug . 1746 ) Lord Kilmarnock was closely connected with the

Lodge of Kilwinning , and with its Master when , in November , 1742 , he became also head of the Grand Lodge of Scotland , he never sought to introduce the High Degrees into either of the then existing Scottish centres of Speculative

Masonry . He must either , at the period referred to , have been himself ignorant of any degreebeyond those of St . John , or have been too well aware of his countrymen ' s aversion to the Stuarts and their policy , to attempt to enlighten them upon the subject of Jacobite Masonry .

Masonic Celestial Mysteries.

MASONIC CELESTIAL MYSTERIES .

By HENHY MELVILLE . PAPEB 2 . —OMNIA VINCIT VEEITAS . It has been explained that the box ark of Noah and the Royal Arch of Masons both apply to the

same " point" in the heavens . Gaprieomus has been variously symbolised ; in the Zodiacs of Esne and Dendera , it is a monster with the forequarters and feet of a goat with upright horns , and the hinder part consisting of a straight fish *

As shewn Capricornus is the sign Pan , and Pan is pictured with goats upright horns , and the tail and feet of the same animal , and this grotesque figure is considered to be the devil who claims the lower regions . The Budhists call the sign

"Merkere , " with them it is pictured as a sea monster , and they say it is the house of Saturn ( Satan ) , and it is their cavernous or hell sign in which certain celestial objects owing to precessional motion are concealed and punished at mid winter . Europeans call Capricornus the sea goat

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on Masonic business which in 1734 was addressed by his Lordship to the Master of Mother Kilwinning . A comparison of this signature with that attached to the patent believed to have been

inasmuch as the symbol is part goat and part fish , but there is a better definition . The type - ^ of