Masonic Notes And Queries.

science he is taught everything that God has designed man should know to distinguish good from evil , the true and the false , liberty from license , courage from cowardice , honesty from fraud , generosity from cruel egotism . By virtue he learns to subdue the obstacles arising from ignorance and dishonesty . It is the baptism of honour and knowledge ; it is initiation in

the dignity , the grandeur of humanity ; certainly no religion can lead us nearer the Deity . Men are so curiously organized that nearly every one believes his neighbour ' s religion to be false . Yet no man , except through ignorance or folly , can make the same accusation against Masonry , for she is the touch-stone of

all truth , as every one who knows her must be convinced . Reli gions , whether true or false , are protected by sovereigns and sustained by the treasure of the people . Masonry depends upon herself , and upon God who created li ght . Eeligions lead their chieis to powerto opulenceand to greatness . Masonry confers

, , neither greatness , riches , or power ; it is the only priesthood that costs the people nothing ; it is the only army that makes war at its own expense , hence it may be justly called the army of the good against the had , of" the brave and true against the cowardly and perfidious . Such soldiers look not for

their reward at the hands of men ; they find it in the consciousness of well-doing , which is , after all , true hairiness . In conclusion , we repeat these words , becoming daily of greater truth , Teach and propagate true Masonry , and you will have rendered the ivorld a greater service than all its legislators . ' " 1

AMERICAN DEEEsITIOX OE EEEEJIASOHEY . Taking the foregoing article as the exponent of a French view of the subject , the following may be contrasted with it , as an American definition of Freemasonry . —Ex . Ex . — " To solve the mysterious question , What is Masonry ? has taxed the learning of the wise and the ingenuity of the cunning

for ages . Such have sought to reveal its mysteries with as much labour and perseverance as the ancients sought the philosopher ' s stone or the elixir of life . But , unfortunately , for them , it has eluded their grasp , ancl the question still remains , What is Masonry ? It will be our object on the present occasion to endeavouras far as possibleto answer this

won-, , derful question . Masonry is not a Divine institution . To claim for it a Divine origin , in tbe sense that it is the product of Divine revelation , and instituted by Divine authority , would only be to bring it into

contempt among all intelligent Masons , as well as to destroy all the good it was designed to accomplish among men . ¦ > It does , however , claim to be a ' system of morality , vailed in allegoiy , and illustrated by appropriate symbols . ' In regard to its antiquity , as a practical science , it dates back to the first pillars and arches erected by manand hence it is connected with

, the earliest civilisation and science . Students of archeology , to whom the mysteries of this ancient and honourable Order are unintelligible , may find here an inviting field of investigation . It is a common , but very eironeous opinion , that the earliest ages of antiquity were buried in the profoundest ignorance ; and

, so far as the cultivation of the arts and sciences were concerned , the rude age exhibited ruder specimens of artistic skill and scientific attainment . The history of the past , written upon the imperishable monuments of the old world , while it is rich iu instruction , at the

same time is highly confirmatory of the fact , that art , if not science , strictly so called , existed in greater perfection , during the continuance of the Assyrian , Babylonian , and Egyptian monarchies , than any succeeding period . The sculptor may , iu the unearthed figures of Nineveh , Babylon , and Thebes , behold the finest productions of the chiselthousands of years

, before Phidias or Canova were born . The painter may find in the royal palace at Nineveh , exhibitions of paintings , whose colours are bright , after a burial of four thousand years , and though they may not rival the productions of Raphael and M . Angelo , as works of art , yet exhibit astonishing artistic skill .

The architect may find in the masses of sienite , nine hundred tons in weight , used in the construction of ancient temples , what must for ever excite his wonder , and while he studies their lofty arches , constructed with a precision unsurpassed by his utmost skill , he will find that they were erected b y men who lived two

thousand years anterior to those who constructed the classic piles of Greece and Home . The philologist may study the origin of language , and the art of al p habetical writing in Assyrian and Egyptian sculpture , long before Moses received the God-inscribed tables of the law , on the smoking summit of Sinai . The astronomer from the astronomical tables of

Babylon , or the zodiacs of Den derah and Esneh , in ' Egypt , may read important and truthful observations on the heavenly bodies , five thousand years before Gallileo taught the correct doctrine of planetary revolution . From the ancient records of Nineveh and Babylon , the theologian , may find historical narrativesillustrating ancl confirming Bible history and

, prophecy , a thousaud years before Moses wrote a line of the Old Testament , and two thousand years before Herodotus , who is styled the father of profane history , was born . Besides , from the mythological inscriptions ancl hieroglyphic symbols , he may learn the doctrine of the Divine existence , aud the soul ' s

immortality . Now , practical Masonry is in some sort connected with all these . The palaces , temples , monuments , tombs , ancl tables which have been disinterred from the rubbish of past ages , are so many recovered mementos of the ancient art ; and from the cornerstones , blocks , pillars , arches , and keystones , and cap-stones , as well as from the instruments employed in their construction , a system of Speculative

Masonry has been evolved , vailed in allegory , and illustrated by appropriate ancl significant symbols , all of which are designed to teach , in the most impressive manner , the lessons of mortality . We are perfectly willing to be judged by our principles , so far as they have been made known to the world . We would not have a judgment formed of our institutionsolel

, y from the conduct of those who profess to be Masons , any more than we would have you judge of Christianity alone from the lives of some of its professors , for the obvious reason that this would only he a partial view , aud yon might be led to mistake the spirit and principles of Christianity . If there should be

anything discoverable in the Christian church , contrary to the teachings of Christ and his apostles , know ye that it does not belong to Christianity ; so if there be anything discoverable iu the conduct of Masons , contrary to the principles of morality , it cannot belong to Masonry , for Masonry is a system of morality , founded upon the precepts of the Bible . Masonry professes faith in the God of the Bible , and