Antiquity Of Masonic Degrees.

century with the old operative body of 1380 . Let me then commend to " Delta" a perusal of the " tercius punctus , " and the " quartus punctus , " and " puuctus duodecimen , " indeed the whole of that unique little poem , since he says "he has with great disappointment gone carefully over the constitutions

without being able to find the resemblance to Masonry of the York rite , which the imagination of "Ebor" has led him to observe . " By the way , 'Ebor' said nothing ofthe " York rite , " what Ebor did say , was , that he had found a striking resemblance in the constitutionsand which he

re-, affirms , between operative and speculative Masonry ; and as there is nothing like proof of an assertion , I offered "Delta" one of about 1380 , intheMS . poem . I proffered him one of about 1480 , in the earliest prose constitution edited by Bro . Matthew Cooke , and now I give him another before 1700 , when he admits " a

partial resemblance became strengthened . " In a MS . constitution in the British Museum , the earliest , next to the recently printed one , and transcribed about 1680 , containing the history and charges of operative Masons , to be read to all newlyadmitted Masons , there is a distinct recognition of

the " signs and words of a Ereemason , to be kept secret , and not to be ' revealed' to any in the hearing of any but to the Master and Eellows of the said society of Ereemasons . " Curiously enough , the same MS . contains the amount paid by many non-operative , and others , clearly operative , to be made masons : —¦

" e . g ., 10 gave £ 1 , 2 gave 15 s ., 10 gave 10 s ., 2 gave 8 * ., and 2 gave 5 s . to be a Ereemason . " I can only then repeat here , that the more these ancient constitutions are studied , the more these operative charges are mastered , the more will points of similarity be made manifest , as between operative and speculative Masonry .

To such an extent does it really go , that many of the very expressions of those ancient charges are repeated , "totidem verbis , " in our ceremonies to-day . " Delta" repeats his statement about " signs , " and refers me to vol . iv . of the Magazine , p . 3-18 . Not having that by me , I can only re-assert that no

historical account of Masonry , no ancient constitution , no operative charge or regulation , profess to give , and I nave seen a good many , what , as Masons , we call signs . The very extract I gave above is conclusive on this point . As " Delta " first put it , ' ' the constitutions and signs of the operative lodges " were preservedand

, he challenged "Bro . Eindel to find any close resemblance between them and present Masonry . " No doubt the constitutions are preserved , and they show a very close resemblance between operative and speculative Masonry , but as for the signs I can say nothing . I know not what "Delta" really means or

where they are to be found . There is , indeed , among the Sloane MS ., what professes to be a " narrative of the Ereemasons' word and signs , " but it would puzzle " Delta " or anyone else to make it available for his argument . In respect of Templar traditions , I can only repeat ,

that Templar Masonry itself contains no such ancient dates or startling traditions as " Delta " mentions . I do not assert this at haphazard , or presumptuously . I have studied the question carefully , under a variety of forms , and in different languages , and in more than one ritual , and I have been for some time

Antiquity Of Masonic Degrees.

collecting data and evidence , and am pretty certain in what I advance . I hope the true connection of knightly orders with Masonry may yet be satisfactorily elucidated ; and it deserves , as it will repay , a patient and discriminating student . Let me conclude this very long paper by thanking you ; for your kind indulgenceand by answering

, another query of "Delta" in your last number . The " unlawful ceremony" he mentions , as the records of the trial of the Templar Knights clearly show , are a novel form of initiation used in some preceptories , and which consisted in a professed denial of the Saviouraud even of a spitting on the

, cross , & c . These were clearly meant as proofs or texts ; first of all , however wrongly , of courage and faith , but degenerated into wicked mockeries , that paved , the way for cruel and unjust slanders of a famous Order . EBOB .

The Hidden Mysteries Of Nature And Science.—Part Ii.

THE HIDDEN MYSTERIES OF NATURE AND SCIENCE . —PART II .

( Continued from page 63 . ) The love of nature is instinctive in all cultivated minds . It begins in youth and continues to old age ; it seems to be a principle implanted in the human breast for the wisest purposes , and though it may be checkedis seldom , if everwholly extinguished . How

, , often has the sight of some flower well known in innocent and youthful days , awakened better thoughts and desires of repentance and amendment in those who had grown old in ill-doing . Go into the heart of some great city and mention but " the country , " and then hear the hard-working artizan or over-tasked

sempstress speak of the green fields and flowers . Look at the dust-begrimed windows in narrow streets , the dwellings of the poor , and in most you see some struggling plant , which proves the love of nature which still burns in their breasts , and long may it endure and increasesince when that love is

ex-, tinguished they will soon sink below the level of the brute creation , that love being a reflection , faint though it may be , of the universal love or charity implanted in the breasts of our first parents in Eden , for thus

"Reads he nature whom the lamp of truth illuminates . " ( TasTc , book V . J Well has the poet ( Allan Cunningham ) sung : — " There is a lesson in each flower , A story in each stream aud bower ; On evei-y herb o ' er ivhich we tread Are written words which rightly read , AVill lead us from earth ' s fragrant sod , To hope and holiness to God . "

Pride , says Patterson , delights to contemplate man as lord of the earth > vested with dominion over all its animated tribes , and gifted ivith form and faculties so express and admirable . But when science marshals before us the tribes of earth and air ; when she unveils the animated millions which lurk unseen

around us , or those which abide in the ocean depths , we speedily find out that the least of these displays the perfection of creative skill , and shows the ever superintending goodness of the Great Architect ofthe Universe , not in a less degree than man himself .