Sixth Decade Of Masonic Precepts.

LIS . —BIOLOGY . Brother , the prudent Freemason looks with caution into books of Biology * LX . —THE IVORY KNIFE AND THE STEEL KNIFE . Brother , as for some purposes an ivory knife is hotter -than a steel knife , so for some affairs of life common ¦ sense is preferable to genius .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

S 03 IE BEJIABKS WKITTEN ABOUT 3 , 400 YEAES AGO . The author is unknown , hut it is supposed that Moses ( who "was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians , " or initiated into all their mysteries ) , revised the book in which they appear , hence its p lace in the Hebrew canon .

f Job ir ., 6 . —Which shaketh the earth out of her place , and the pillars thereof tremble . Job . xxvi ., 7 . —Hehangeth the earth upon nothing . % Job . ir ., 33 . — Neither is there any daysman betwixt us thafc might lay his hand upon us both . Job . xi ., 8 and 9 . —It is high as heavendeeper

, than hell ( or the lowest depth ) , longer than the earth , and broader than the sea . § Job xix ., 25 and 26 . — "For I know that my Redeemer liveth . And though after my skin worms destroy this body , yet in my flesh shall I see God . (| Job . xxxi ., 17 and 19 . —Or have eaten my morsel

myself alone , and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof . If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me or lifted up myself when evil found him . — W . P . B .

AYOWAL OF ADOPTION 03 ? ATHEISM . The member of an English lodge avows in a public manner that he has adopted Atheism . The door of the lodge ought to be shut against him . —JYom a bundle of Masonic memoranda in Bro . Purfcon Cooper ' s manuscript collections .

ESSENCE OE A THI ^ G . Take away from a thing that which is its essence , and you destroy the thing . Take away from true Ereemasonry natural religion , which is its essence , and you destroy true Freemasonry . —Prom a manuscript volume in Bro . Purton Cooper ' s Masonic collections , entitled "Ereemasons' Table Talk . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

ATHEISTS TEACHEBS 03 ? HATI 7 EA 1 EE 1 IGI 0 K . A correspondent' does not seem to be aware that the logical consequence of his argument is—that Atheists may not improperly be made teachers to a barbarous people to the truths of natural religion . — C . P . COOPEK .

ENGLISH EEEEMASONBT ESSENTIALLY MONOTHEISTIC . —E'E-BATUM . See my communication entitled "Euglish Freemasonry essentially Monotheistic , " Freemasons' Magazine , vol . xv ., page 168 . There is an error of the presswhich a critical friend and brother afc Oxford ,

, from his remarks upon the bad construction of a passage , evidently supposes to be an error of the author . In line seven of the communication the words " we find" should be read "hefinds . "—0 . P . COOPEE .

LEGEND . —AFTER MAS ' S REBELLION OK THE PLAINS OE SHETAB THJ 3 PATBIABCUS PBESEBYED TBUE EllEEMASOXBY . This legend is thus told in a standard Masonic work— " On the plains of Shinar man again rebelled , andas a punishment of his rebellion at the lofty

, tower of Babel , language was confounded and Masonry lost . For Masonry then , as now , consisted in the knowledge of these great truths , that there is one God and thafc the soul is immortal . The patriarchs , however , were saved from the general moral desolation , and still preserved true Masonry , or the

knowledge of these dogmas , in the patriarchal lore . The Gentile nations , on the contrary , fell rapidly from one error into another , and , losing sight of the one great I AM , substituted in his place the names of heroes and distinguished men , whom , by a ready apotheosis , they converted into the thousand deities who occup ied the calendar of their religious worship . ''—0 . P . COOPEE .

Correspondence.

CORRESPONDENCE .

The Editor is not responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents . MASONIC LIFEBOAT . TO THE EDITOR 05 TIIK EREEitASOXS' SIAGAZIKK AXD 1 U . S 0 JCIC SltREOK . Dear Sir and Brother , — I was very glad to see a letter from Scotland in approval of this truly

Masonic project . This letter suggests one point , which was not dwelt upon by the originator , and that is the p lan is not dependent solely on the contributions of the Craffc in England , hut has its claim on the Craffc of the sister Grand Lodges . Thus , with the square and compasseswell known on the seas

, , and borne hy many a merchantman , will be entwined its emblems , the rose , shamrock , and thistle . There is one thing , however , in this triple undertaking to be wished , and that is , as the suggestion was made in the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of England , so the members of that jurisdiction will not wait till

others go ahead of them . The design is so good , thafc it may be expected it will start spontaneously in the three jurisdictions . Tours fraternally , PHABOS .