Masonic Notes And Queries.

A . PAST PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER . — ARCHITECTURE . The position of the matter is not such as a Correspondent supposes . —a contributor charged a Past Provincial Grand Master with " perpetually praising German architecture at the expense of English . '' *

Ihe Eight Worshipful Brother answered that he " not only had not perpetually , but that he had not even once praised German Architecture at the expense of English . " t The Contributor has never thought it fitting to eply . —CHABLES PUETON COOPEE .

COMMUNIST SODALITIES . " Attempts of this kind engender abuses so shocking that communist establishments are condemned to crumble away in a very short time—as in the case oi the Essenians—or very soon to ignore the principle on wliich they are created—as with the Franciscans . —B .

SAINT PAUL . " Paul had a sickl y appearance , which did not , as it appears , correspond with the greatness of his soul . He was ugly , short , thick-set , and stooping , and his broad shoulders awkwardly sustained a little bald head . His sallow countenance was half hidden in a thick beard , his nose was aquiline , his eyes piercing ,

and his black and heavy eyebrows met across his forehead . Nor was there anything imposing in his speech ; his timid and embarrassed air , and his incorrect language , gave at first but a poor idea of his eloquence , lie shrewdly , however , gloried in his exterior defects , and even drew advantage therefrom . It appears that lie was never married . ' The thorn in the flesh ' which he hints at was apparently some bodily infirmity . —B .

JESUS CHRIST AND TIIE JEWS . The Jews may yet gladly acknowledge Christ as the noblest teacher their race has ever produced . When the mists and misrepresentations which have been thrown around his sayings and actions are cleared away , they will then be able to see and understand him as he really was . Great as is the name of

Phidias in sculpture , equally great , if not even more so , is that of Christ in theology . Moses although called " meek , " was in reality stem in comparison with Christ . Christ had the larger and nobler , more humane and yet grander heart of the two . The " divinity , " orco-equality with Godwhich his

dis-, , ciples , or historians have attributed to him has had the effect of alienating from him the majority of his fellow-countrymen ; let them know , however , thafc that is a mistake , arising out of a misunderstanding of some of Christ ' s ideas , and that Jesus was only and in all points one of themselves and then they

may begin to take more interest in him . Christ ' s grand idea was that God was the Father of the whole human race , and that they were his children . Surely the Jew will 3 et have as much true manliness in him as to he able to throw aside all narrow and exclusive selfishness , and be ready to admit this universal Fatherhood of God . If tbe Jew desires honour has

he not got it in the fact that he who is so highly respected by the foremost nations of the earth was one of themselves , and although these may respect him too much , that is no excuse for them esteeming him too little . Of course pride strives to keep them from acknowledging that their ancestors made any mistake in their estimate of Christ ; but surely good sense

and greater light should now enable them to get over that . The children of those who opposed Galileo , can now honour and revere the name of him whom their ancestors persecuted , so ought the Jews also to do in the case of Christ . We honour the man who invented the steam-engine , hut surely no less honour

is due to him who taught us to say— " Our Father who art in heaven . " These two simple and homelyjet deeply mysterious words , " Our Father , " as uttered by Christ , did indeed rend the vail which separated man from God . Symbolism was at an end , for now man could talk with his Makeras it were "face to

, face . " When the words " My Father " can be uttered out of a loving , faithful heart , no human priest , nor beastly sacrifice is needed , nor ought to he allowed to intervene between the soul and God .

When the heart is pure , God Himself will dwell in it , and as the sweet singer of Israel ages ago did sing and feel that heart can also truly say "The Lord is my shepherd . "— -B . " CHRISTIAN EREEMASONRY , " PAGE 40 G . When , some time ago , I stated that tlie expression " Christian Freemasonry was a contradiction in terms , " I had in view Christianity as generally understood . To be an orthodox Christian one must

not only believe in God but also in Christ as God the Son . Seeing therefore that Freemasonry only asks belief in the former , and dispenses with belief in the latter , it follows that Freemasonry is more universal , as things are , than Christianity ; consequently , follow out the idea , aud the contradiction in terms '' will easily be understood .

— W . P . B . THE BANISHED . The banished of a church are occasionally of its best blood .- —PiioGitisss . ' TIIE ARAB'S PROOF . Some years agoa Frenchmanlike many of his

, , countrymen , had won a high rank among men of science , yet who denied the great God who is the author of all science , was crossing the great Sahara , in company with an Arab guide . He noticed , with a sneer , that at certain times his guide , whatever obstacles miht ariseput them all asideand

kneelg , , ing on the burning sands , called on his God . Day after day passed , and still the Arab never failed till at last one evening the philosopher , when he arose from his knees , asked him , with a contemptous smile , " How do you know there is a God ? " The guide fixed his burning eyes on the scoffer for a moment in

wonder , and then said , solemnly , " How do I know there is a God ? How do I know thafc a man and not a camel passed my hut last ni ght in the darkness ? Was ifc not by the print of his foot in the sand ? Even so , '' he pointed to the sun , whose last rays were flashing over the lonel y desert , "that footprint is not that of man . "