The Constitutions Of Freemasonry.

though it would appear to us without a shadow of right . In the Irish Constitutions we do not find any such power ; nor in the Scotch , until February , 1851 , when it was enacted , "It shall be in the power of Grand Lodge to confer the distinction of ' Honorary Member of the Grand Lodge of Scotland' upon soA-ereigns or other

distinguished brethren knoAvn to be famed in the Masonic Craft ; " but , at the following Grand Lodge in May , it was thought desirable in some measure to modify this law , and it was declared that " the nomination of Honorary Members is vested in the Grand Master alone , each nomination being subject to confirmation Inj Grand Lodge . "

These honorary members do not receive any further distinctive title , such as Past Grand Wardens , Deacons , & c , as with us , but take " precedence in Grand Lodge immediately after the Deputy Grand Master , and before the Substitute "—the honorary members haA'ing " no vote in Grand Lodge . "

The next clause in the English Booh of Constitutions declares that no member of the Grand Lodge " shall attend therein without his proper jewel and clothing , nor shall he be permitted to wear in the Grand Lodge , or any private lodge , any jeAvel , " & c , belonging to any

order or degree . " not recognised bj r the Grand Lodge of England "—he , of course , being permitted to Avear the jewel of the Boyal Arch which is acknowledged , though someAvhat in an awkward manner . In Ireland , where every degree in Masonry , as we have already stated is acknowledged , no jeAvels are alloAved

"belonging to any order or degree beyond that of Master Mason , " in which that of Past Master "is considered to be included ; " moreover all brethren attending Grand Lodge are compelled to appear in evening costume with "full dress apron , and collar , and jeAvel ( if any ) belonging to the respective stations they represent . " In

Scotland too , the brethren are forbidden to wear , either in Grand Lodge or private lodges , any jewel or decoration , except "those appertaining to St . John ' s Masonry , " which is alone recognised and acknowledged . Our brethren visiting Scotch and Irish lodges must , therefore , remember that the Arch Jewel is not permitted to be

worn in those lodges . We have sufficiently indicated the nature of the task we have undertaken in comparing the laws of the three Grand Lodges , and shall for the present , hold our hand , reserving to ourselves the ri ght of recurring to the subject as opportunities offer .

Classical Theology—Li.

CLASSICAL THEOLOGY—LI .

X . —VESTA AND BECEMBEK .. Bitter , in his History of Ancient Philosophy ( i . 327 ) , describes the ethics of Pythagoras as being of the most lofty , refined , and spiritual organisation . And Aristotle has himself asserted that the Pythagoreans were the first who resolved anything in moral p hilosophy . With them we are told virtue was a social combination that

should as much as possible represent the unity anrl harmony of the super-celestial deity . The duty of man was to master his passions , that the mind might purify the heart ; and thus h y the purification of the body , the offering of sacrifice and adoration of the gods , he should in reality be the type of cleanliness , humility , and sincerity .

Besides the doctrine of transmigration of souls , the system of Pythagoras embraced a very pure system of religious and political morality . He thought a perfect state of society depended on sound religion and philosophy as much as on the principles of politics , but that therein action as Avell as perception Avas as requisite for

the subject as for the government ; that , as it were , on the scale or balance of the universal plan—strength , beauty , and agreement—they might be organised into conformity , and sustained by regulating laws . In the science of numbers Pythagoras imagined he could diseoA-er the equipollent principle and special arrangement of all organisation in the ubvas or unity of God as the soul of the Universe ; by Avhich distribution of

the original unit was formed the development of the entire creation . By the gradual dissemination of his more enlightened opinions , Pythagoras became a beneficent legislator and time-honoured reformer of his country . Much has been recorded concerning the priestly dignity , the majestic appearancethe persuasive and commanding

, eloquence of this philosopher , whose mode of living was very devotional and abstemious . Pythagoras believed and asserted that he could remember the different bodil y existences in which he had lived in the Avorld before he became the son of Mnesarchus . Thus he declared that his soul had animated the body of Euphorbus Panthoides ,

the Trojan , slain by Menelaus at the siege of Troy , through the transmigration of whose soul he himself was re-born . On this account he considered that the consciousness of the past was still present in us , and therefore most earnestly exhorted his disciples not only to improve to the utmost their own course of life , but to extend the example by carefully attending to the education of their children .

As with freemasons , divers opinions are strung together , like the jewels of a carcanet , to display their contrast in the estimation of their intrinsic value ; so Avith the Pythagoreans , the subjects of controversy , hoAvever at variance , Avere to be discussed AA'ith hearty candour and calm attentiveness , Avhich in no way should give rise to any personal enmityhoAvever warm the

, challenge . The pure doctrine of Pythagoras as regarding the metempsychosis was , as the word itself implies , the re-embodiment of the soul after the demise of the flesh by its passing from one body into another . That is , supposing a person at his death was brutall y ignorant , his soul would remain totally ignorant ; or , had he died

Avisely merciful , his soul woulel remain Avisely merciful In this case of its probation , ifc was eventually raised amongst the gods ; Avhereas , in the other respect , it sank to or stagnated in its own level . There was no assigned period for the soul ' s assumption of its human birth , but the event was considered to take lace in the

p natural manner of the conception , in which it worked out for itself the formation of the embryo . In course of time the philosophers who accepted this idea of the Crotonian sage , adhered to the ancient belief of a sorfof purgatorial chastening for the evil deeds done in the flesh ; and at length the Pthagorians taught thai

y there were hi gher orders of beings than mankind , whose souls were compelled to enter into human bodies as a punishment for their delinquencies , such souls being emanations from the Supreme Being ; a doctrine , be ii