A Relic Of Solomon's Temple.

The foundation on one side of that worldrenowned edifice were laid in a valley , and the wall of the temple on that side went down a distance of ninety feet . The stone presented to the Lodge was a part of this wall , and was obtained at a

distance of seventy feet below the surface of the hill on which the temple stood . What revolutions has that stone witnessed . As

a part of the foundation of the temple , built by the Worshipful Grand Master of Israel , it supported the magnificent edifice at whose dedication the Grand King stretched forth his hand to heaven as he offered to the living God that wonderful sublime

prayer for his people . In the course of years that people fell away into idolatry ; few were the worshippers of Jehovah left in Jerusalem ; on the hills towering above the vale of Hinnon rose the splendid temples of the

Zodiac and of Venus , and the Gehenuc was white with the bones of the victims of Moloch ; in the temple itself prophets of the Most High were slaughtered before His very altars , and from the gorgeous perch gleamed the glittering horses of the Sun .

In spite of the partial return to the true religion , in the reign of Josiah , the people became rapidly worse and worse , till they were carried captive , and suffered the terrible penalties of their their crime , as has been foretold by Moses and the

Prophets . The first temple was destroyed ; but its foundations were left untouched , and this stone helped to unfold the second temple , built after the return from their captivity , and adorned with the greatest magnificence of King Herod .

This was the temple destroyed by the Romans , and though they ran the plow over the upper portion of the foundations , the lower was still undisturbed when Julian the Apostle attempted to rebuild the edifice , and was driven off in terror by the flames bursting forth from the bowels of Mount Moriah .

When the Master Mason beholds this stone , his imagination carries him back to the time when the Great and Good Junior Warden placed ifc in position . He beholds him , square in one hand , and gavel in the other , setting it true by

the plumb , in its bed of well-tempered mortar . He sees the foundation go up gradually , till it reaches the level of the top of the holy hill . He sees the temple walls arise without the sound of hammer or any tool of iron , and the majestic

A Relic Of Solomon's Temple.

pillars , Jachin and Boaz , planted in their places ; he sees the beautiful structure roofed iu , and the temple almost completed—when his soul is horrified at a deed of unequalled atrocity , the wail for wliich is yet heard among all true Master Masons ,

and which will be lamented as long as the Craft exists that knows no latitude or race , and confers its blessings upon all mankind from the rising to the setting of the sun . Such are some of the reflections that arise in

the breast of the Master Mason , as he gazes with reverence upon this relic of hoary antiquity . It must suggest much more to the brother that has DO received light by progressing to the Royal Arch , in which many more interesting facts are disclosed

about that sacred edifice . Union Lodge , No . 60 , of Baltimore , should be proud of owning but a part of one of the stones of that glorious structure , more celebrated than the Pyramid of Cheops , the Pantheon , or the

Parthenon . Would that every Lodge in the country were possessed of a fragment , however small , of the joint work of the genius of King Solomon , of Hiram of Tyre , and of Hiram Abif !

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

ACCEPTED MASONS . " By degrees many persons of eminence , not of the Craft , chiefly Ecclesiastics , became associated with these societies of Freemasons , from the desire to obtain the secret knowledge they possessed , and participated in their privileges . This admixture of a

superior class , as Accepted Masons , soon became potential ; as the knowledge of the art of building spread beyond the limits of the society , the Speculative element gradually predominated . — From a bundle of Masonic Excerpts . —CHABLES PD & TOS COOPEE .

THE EDWIN LEGEND . Z . A Brother has sent me a paper , containing a statement of the words of Dr . Plot , who rejects the Legends , and of Krause , who upholds it . But he forgets that Kloss , like Dr . Plot , rejects the Legend . My Brother should add to the paper a statement of the

words of Kloss , and then forward it to the " Freemasons' Magazine , "—CITAELES PraxoN COOPEB . PARSEES . Readers of the " Freemasons' Magazine" are aware that Parsees are received into our English Freemasonry . Parsee Theists , are accidently omitted in the jotting , " Candidates admissable into true Masonry . " ante page 188 . - — A . PAST PROVINCIAL GSAKD MASTEB .