Antiquity Of The Third Degree.

that I have said all I could say—far from it . I only open the door a little Avay that you may have a peep , — not the first for some of you I hope , —at the limitless ocean of most interesting inquiry into these things . I wish all would throw opeii the portals Aride , and , for themselves , take a steady survey of the scene . The Mexicans , inhabiting thab continent oddly said to

have been discovered by Columbus , celebrated the mysteries of tbe Old World . " The ceremonies Avere intended to represent bhe wanderings of bhe god , and bhe caverns through Avhich the aspirant Avas to pass were called the path of the dead . He is conducted through these caverns amid shrieks of anguish and groans of despair , which seem to rise on every side ; and , while trembling for his

safety , he reaches the body of a slain victim , whose hearb has been ripped from his breast , aud whose limbs are still quivering with departing life : suddenly he finds himself in a spacious vault through Avhich an artificial sun is darting bis rays , and in the roof of which is an orifice through which tbe body of tbe sacrificed victim had been precipitated . " * Finally , ho finds himself in the

open air , and is received as one born again . In tbe JFneid of Virgil , there occurs a remarkable passage , thus translated by Dryden : — "' Not far a rising hillock stood in view , Sharp myrtles on the sides and cornels grew ; 'There , while I went to crop the sylvan scenes , And shade our altar with the leafy greens ,

I pulled a plant ; with horror I relate A prodigy so strange and full of fate , Scarce dare I tell the sequel . Prom the womb Of wounded earth and caverns of the tomb , A groan as of a troubled { 'host renewed My fright ; and then these dreadful words ensued : ' AVby dost thou thus my buried body rend , 0 spare the corpse of thy unhappy friend . ' "

Truly , this is all very mysterious . Is Freemasonry the only one of all bhe mysberies bhafc had no losb aud found ; death and the grave ; corruption and resurrection ? Brebhreu , even Avith bhe poor incomplebe evidence I have laid before you bo-nighb , I camiob believe ib . Of the deepest mystery of all , I say nothing . But with all reverenceI put it to the Christian Mason

, , Avhethcr , in all these dim legends of old time— in their shadowing forth of death aud the rising again—in the still more marked third degree of Freemasonry , he does not see , by the light of tbe bright morning star , a reflection of the later events in bhe greab sacrifice of bhe Eedeemer P

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

. VVTHOIt OS lUMAUKS "WAITED . The following very beautiful remarks on tbe Order were discovered amongst the papers of a deceased hrother . He was not at all likely to have been the author of them himself , but AVIIO ° Avas ?—As EXECUTOR . — "When the fullness of time came , when from every quarter of the known world instructed

skill and diligent labour were gathering around the throne of Solomon , when east and west , and north and south became tributary to his will aud ohedient to his summons , on the Hill of God , the Mount loug since dedicated hy the suhlimest oiferiug that Nature knowsuprose that wonderful creation of high art

, and devotional skill—the first temple of stone Avithin whose Trails the Almighty deigned to dwell . Peace spread her azure wings beneath the sky of Jerusalem . Reduced under one single will , the fiery tribes of the desert p lanted their pennons in the sands . Infant

commerce stretched her sails from , the ports of Tyre and Sidon , and Ezion G-eber , ou the southern sea , opened its glad harbour for the bold craft that tempted the dangers of the Indian ocean . Long caravans of patient camels pressed Avith unwavering feet , the Syrian desert . Tadmor in the "wilderness , aud many another old historic citymarked the wisdom and the

, poAver of the Hebrew monarch . From the remotestcorners of the thenknoAvnAVorld , flocked to the court of the son of David , all that was highest , wisest , best , of the sous of men . i . thiopia and Egypt , Sheba and Arabia , and the very isles of the sea , rendered their tribute . The cedar forests that for centuries had

Avaved in colossal grandeur upon the summits of Lebanon , hy the aid of the willing Tyrians , Avere swept from the mountain ' s broAA , to sAvell the triumph of the time . Quarries of rare stone , long unvisited , gave up their precious deposits to skill of man . Hewn , squared , aud numbered in the quarries where they were raisedeach massive blockaugust in its

magni-, , ficent proportions , or glorious in its elaborate carving , moA ed on to swell the triumph and to become a component part in the grand Avhole which crowned the brow of Mount Moriah Avith glory ancl Avith beauty . Up sprung the Avonderful edifice . No sound of axe or hammer , or any tool of iron was heard , but the grand AA-hole solid in its foundation as the rock-ribbed hills

themselves—perfect in its proportions as the divine work , Avith liiauy a turret and pinnacle sheathed Avith beaten gold , reflected back to heaven some portions of the glory that it gave , and became fit dwelling place for HIM . Avhose presence fills all space , but AA'I IO chooses to dwell among the children of men . And then the cape stone Avas brought home Avith shouting

and praise—Avhen the glory of the Lord descended and filled the whole house—Avhen the king and all the people fell upon their faces before the exceeding brightness , and the very priests of the living God fled for their lives before his visible presence . What Mason of the higher degrees does not know the

profound significance of these great facts—the important lessons embedded iu this history ? "With the completion of this august structure , and the traditional record of the events which preceded , accompanied , and followed it , commences the dissemination of Masonry . From Palestine to Phoenicia , aud thence by easy and natural stages to each seA'erai

nation—distinguished by its love for arts aud sciences ¦—the instructed eye of the well-taught Mason sees in dim traces that still survive tbe devouring tooth of time , the pathway of our Order . Tbe great principles of association binds all its elements together . The need of help , aud the readiness to bestow aid , the one as far spread as the human family—the other the

child and creature of liberal education and trained humanity , Avere , and are , the springs and sources of the Masonic brotherhood , and the close alliance of the mystic tie , invented and enforced for the defence and support of the operative Mason , became at length the distinguishing beauty and the peculiar

characteristic of the speculative . And thus down the rushing current of Time , sometimes submerged and out of sight in the whirlpools that eDgulfed empires , and made nations their playthings—sometimes stamping its existence in the minsters and abbeys , cathedrals and palaces , Avhich piety or luxury loved to erectwe trace the foot-prints of the successors of those who erected the pillars , one on the right and one on