Masonic Discipline.—Ii.

avoidable circumstances of calamity and misfortune , are reduced to poverty and distress . Masons may perhaps regard the Order as au inoperative one , by too rigid an interpretation of that portion of the address , commencing , " But as we are not met upon the present occasion , as operative , but rather

as speculative , etc ., " whereas in truth the Fraternity is practically as active as iu the ancient times , only the nature of their operations is changed iu conformity to tbe exigencies of modern civilization . It is true that we no longer practice Masonry as a

liandicraft ; we no longer build up with our hands , temples iu which to enshrine the glory of the Most High ; but we still retain our ancient signs and words , we still possess the legendary ritual handed down to us by our ancestral brethren , and , as of old , the God of Masons is still the Lord of Hosts .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE ANTIQUITY OB lEEEMASONRY . In reply to , I would say there are plenty of Latin aud Greek evidences of the existence of a sodalit y or brotherhood of operative Masons , with a form of organization and a system of secret probation and companionship entirely akin to our own . I will give

one or two , if A would like to see them , in the pages of the Magazine . I do not quite understaud what A means by saying that stone building was not much in operation at the time he apparently means . —A MASONIC STUDENT .

NOEWEGIAN GUILDS . The other week the writer forwarded some extracts from Conde ' s work on the Arabs in Spain , showing the state of operative Masonry in the East from A . D . 600—1000 , at a time when little of stone building existed in Britain , and also some time ago called

attention to the fact that many of the ancient Masons ' marks were letters of the Teutonic alphabet . The old Constitutions seem to say that Atlielstan established in Britain the guild or fraternity of the Masons , on the model of societies elsewhere existing , and derived from the old geometricians . The Sagas

of Norway seem also to imply that these guilds wero in A . n . 1070 of foreign origin , and possibly of English , as Hakon , King of Norway , was educated at the Court of Atlielstan as his foster-sou ; but the combination of Eastern churns and Runes marks , may have passed to England from the Arabs through

Spain ( where the Runes were in use ) and France ; as the tradition of Charles Martel being a brother is found in our old MSS ., and confirmed by ancient French authority . It is still singularly unsatisfactory that no proof positive is adduced of the existence of the society ( which originated speculative Masonry in

the 17 th century' in England ) beyond the 13 th century , and that only in England and Germany ; and the absence of universality might be taken to imply that the architectural was a branch of the religious aud scientific brotherhoods . One of the latest descriptions of these mysteries is that given by

Apuleius in the 2 nd century , who describes his reception into three degrees of l : ho Egyptian . 1 st . Those of Isis , where , after a Friday ' s purification , he is obligated , descends into Hades , is tried by the four elements , and then admitted amongst the initiated , invested , proclaimed , and feasted . 2 nd . After a ten

days' puniieation Isis reception into the mysteries of Osiris and Serapis , which he describes as differing only in ceremonial and not in doctrine ; and 3 rd . After ten days' purification and vow of chastity aud obedience , his reception as a Master Priest and a member of the College of Pastophira . His allegory of Cupid and Psyche throws other light upon these

ceremonies . Even if Masonry is as old as claimed , tho MSS . and ceremonies attest its subordinacy in point of date to the religious mysteries , and it seems justifiable to suppose that the various similar rites of the brotherhoods of architectural Freemasonry , Hakems , House of Solomonknighthood ( pageesquireaud knight ) ,

, , , the llosicrucians , and the 2 nd or third degrees or brotherhoods of the present Dervish , Druse , and other like secret associations , have a common origin from these ancient religious mysteries , shorn , by force of circumstances , of much of the imposing solemnities of the old rites .

Were proof adduced of the Masonic architectural association being the father of the religious , the writer would be the first to admit its claims , aud there is ample work here for the new " Masonic Archaeological Institute . '

Norway , as regards stone architecture , seems to have been equally barren with . England ; and herewith is all on the subject to be found in Lang ' s translation of the Jleimslcringla : — Saga of King Olaf Kyrre , 10 G 9—93 . — < He had the foundation laid for the large Christ Churchwhich

, was to be a stone church ; but in his time there was little done to it . Besides he completed the old Christ Church , which was of wood . King Olaf also had a great feasting-house built iu Nidaros , and in many other merchant towns , where before there wero only private feasts ; and in his time no one could

drink in Norway but in these houses , adorned for the purpose with branches and leaves , and which stood under the King ' s protection . Tho great guildbell in Drontheim , which was called the pride of the town , tolled to call together these guilds . The guildbrethren built Margaret ' s Church , in Nidaros , of stone . In Kins : Obit's time there were general

entertainments and hand iu hand feasts . * At this time also much unusual splendour aud foreign customs and fashions in the cut of clothes were introduced . " Saga of Magnus the Blind , 1130—5 . — " King Harold sought the Danish King , Eric Eymuud , v . o obtain hel p and aid from him , and they met in Smoland . King Eric received him well , and princi-