Masonic Notes And Queries.

First assertion . The four old London Operative Lodges were neither acquainted with , nor practised our system of speculative Freemasonry , before A . D . 1716-17 . Answer This would be very strange . We have been shown both by English and German Masonic

Historians , that the four old London Lodges there called Operative Lodges only , established the Grand Lodge of 1717 , and gave to it their system of speculative Masonry , which thereupon became our system of speculative Masonry . Second assertion . The four old London Lodges

were simply made use of by Doctors Desaguliers and Anderson in founding our present system . They naturally required some foundation upon which to build , and they found it in these four old Lodges . Answer . —The four old London Lodges were not the foundation upon which our present system was

built ; but they were and they constituted the present system itself . Third assertion . These four old London Lodges , observe , were neither the structure , nor the stones out of which the structure was built ; they were merely the foundation upon which it pleased the

architect to raise the structure . Answer . —These Lodges were both the stones and the structure , and had been both the stones and structure time immemorial All the four old Lodges have not yet ceased to be such stones and structure as is shown by our Grand Lodge Kecords and Preston ' s illustrations . —CHARLES BURTON COOPER .

THE LEVEL OF TIME . Freemasonry , amongst its beautiful and sublime lessons , teaches us that life on earth is only of limited duration , and each candidate is impressed in symbolic illustration , that " we are all travelling on the level of the time to that undiscovered country

from whose bourne uo traveller returns . " The object of this teaching is to influence man to lead a virtuous life , to look upon God as the summum honum of perfection , who doeth all things well , so that after the termination of his pilgrimage on earth , after a life well spent in useful employment , he may

enjoy a happy blissful future in the realms of cloudless eternity . "Well would it be that Freemasons would only rightly consider the import of the expressive and significant lesson taught in the illustration of the Level ! What a glorious , happy thought it is , that we are not as the flower that withers , or

the tree that is cut down ! Our bodies truly will be consigned to the narrow house of death , but there is no confining the immortal spirit . More free and untrammelled into thought in the earthly life Willi be the spirit when divested of mortality . Is it not our duty to wear the white lambskin in our daily life , in our

commingling with the world and with those who share our best affections , so that the spirit when disenthralled from its earthly tabernacle , pure , unspotted and unpolluted , may enter into the spiritual realm to enjoy the association of the angelic throng ? Lik has its joysbut the joys of a life of virtue and

, goodness endure forever . Time cannot efface or rub out the influence of a good deed . A life of virtue and usefulness is rewarded on earth , and its happy effects go with us beyond the grave . Let each Free-

Masonic Notes And Queries.

mason live up to the teachings of the Society , and all who do so will , when life's scenes are over , be welcomed into the land of unfading flowers by blessed , happy spirits who have goue before . This ' life is but of limited duration . It is a probationary state . To live well , so as to be acceptable to our Heavenly Father , is our duty here . It ought to be

to us a most pleasing duty , which we should strive for with all our soul , might and strength . If our heart is in the rig ht place , and we learn the lessons of Freemasonry well , we will , with all the powers of our soul and mind , strive to merit the approval of Him from whom all goodness and blessings proceed . —Bomeroy ' s Democrat .

BRO . FINDEL DEFEATED BY THE CORYPHCEUS OF THE 1717 THEORISTS . An Entered Apprentice ( Oxford ) nas sent me a paper , of which the following is a copy : — "On the 16 th July , 1870 , there appeared this jotting in the columns of the ' Freemasons'Magazine . '

' The end of ancient Masonry is thus described by Bro . Findel in his valuable history—here then we are at the end of ancient Masonry . The Operative Masons ,, who , for a long time past , had been gradually decreasing in number , now acknowledged that it was out of their power to continue the existence of their

Fraternity any longer . They had fulfilled their mission by carefully preserving their ancient laws , traditions and ceremonies , and transmitting them as a heritage to the Grand Lodge of England . ' " On the 30 th July , a communication was made to our periodical bthe Coryphceus of 1717 theorists

y , " The quotation given from Bro . Fmdel's History of . Freemasonry appears to me to be one of his mistakes . The idea seems to me to have a good deal of the imaginary in it—more , it is highly calculated to mislead . I think very highly of Bro . Findel ' s work , but I would try to discriminate between fact and fiction

were I giving quotations from it . The Coryphceus , it will be seen , differs in opinion with Bro . Findel ; and readers of the ' Freemasons ' Magazine ' are well aware that difference of opinion with the Coryphceus in a matter of literary controversy is equivalent to a defeat * Alas ! poor Brother Findell . "—A PAST PROVINCIAL GRAND MASTER .

Obituary.

Obituary .

"We regret to announce the death of Lieut .-Ool . H . A . Bowyer , Provincial Grand Master for Oxfordshire , which occurred at his residence , the Grange , Steeple Aston , Oxfordshire , on Saturday , 29 fch hist . Our esteemed brother has suffered for a considerable time , we understand , with cancer in the tongue . He was greatly respected among the fraternity , to a large number of whom he

was personally known . For many years he had taken a lively interest in all the charitable institutions connected withour order . In the year 1854 , he was appointed Prov . G . Master by the M . W . G . M ., the Earl of Zetland . He has therefore ruled over that important Province for upwards of sixteen years . We hope in our next to be able to give a more leivthened notice of the Masonic career of our late distinguished brother , who was also connected with the Knights Templar and the Ancient Rite .