Masonic Notes And Queries.

the left of the beautiful porch that yielded access to tbe Temple of God . Kilwinning and Melrose , York and " Westminster , Strasbourg and Notre Dame are memorials of our fathers in this great society , and are each canonised aud made holy by all the gentle offices of kindness that distinguish and adorn the fraternity . These strong old days have gone . Kb

longer UOAV does the Eree aud Accepted Mason in very deed Avork out his apprenticeship , and hew out his testimonials from the solid rock . No longer now does the Eellow Craft adjust with square , plumb , and level , the rough work of the apprentice . No longer does the Masteror overseer of the work supervise

, the actual labour of his inferiors . But modern Masonry , abandoning all those grosser elements of toil , teaches all the great principles of religion and morality , of common brotherhood and universal charity , through the medium of these symbols and tokens of an elder time . Deep in the mystic vaults

of her representative temple , she rehearses the lessons of bygone ages . Erom the very ground floor on which her neophyte presses his first step—on through the glorious porch , the "Winding Stairs , the Middle

Chamber , the unfinished Holy of Holies—every footprint of the initiate is on halloAved ground . The absolute and final belief in God , which admits him , is deepened and intensified as he goes on , and the life that is within the man is cultivated , educated , and fitly taught in lessons of never-dying import , until the immortality that has been enforced on his soul

up by indelible impressions , becomes his actual and unquestionable belief . Along with this faith in God and hope in himself and mankind , Masonry teaches to her followers the largest charity for all—charity in that true and original sense , which means unselfish love—that affection of the soul Avhich survives the

wreck of matter and the crush of Avorlds , and is nearest akin to Deity . The system of vrords , signs , tokens , grips , and symbols , which Avere the protection and the evidence of the operatives Avho travelled in foreign lands , remains—but etherealised and spiritualised into a hiher meaninga more effective union .

g , Masonry is meant to be as universal as the Avorld , its love all embracing , extending wherever the cry of suffering and of innocence goes up to Heaven . No miserable per centage of profit contains it ; no petty calculation of life and health insurance bounds it . It

combines the largest liberty of individual benevolence Avith the advantages of associationrendering strength to each and dwarfing neither . Eulfy combining in its own existence this great original system of teaching by symbols , and this other great element of enlightened and systematic charity , Masonry survives to-dayin all the magnificence of

, its superb proportions , glorious in its original beauty , enriched by the labours of twenty centuries , filled with the spoil of all nations and tongues , founded on the solid rock , bearing aloft the glorious fabric , Avith doors inexorably closed against the base , the cowardly , and ever opening for the true and faithful . What son

of hers that has ever penetrated the sacred portal , and ranged along the mighty walks , but bids her God speed ? Advance then fearlessly on thy mission of mercy—call in from all the haunts of crime and of suffering the broken hearted and the Aveeping children of the Great Eather . Inaugurate again in this world of our the reign of love , and in the pathway which religion opens before thee—press on noble Order of

our affections , and as the brimming harvest of good deeds crowns thy progress ; each humble , grateful heart of thy children shall say—AMEH so MOTE ' BE . "—[ "We have seen this before , but cannot call to mind where , perhaps some of our readers can hel p * us ? Its chief fallacy consists in making the Order acommon operative guild , when , in mediawal timeB even , it was no such thing . The guild theory is an utter absurdity , totally subsersive of the antiquity of the Order itself . ]

Hires TO A iruirMT . Horace Smith ' s well-known " Lines to a Mummy " contain several questions Avhich the author puts , asking if the mysterious defunct was a member of our Order ? These lines dreAV forth the folloAving reply from Bro . Dr . J . S . Harrison , of Arkansas , which are too good to be lost . —Ex . Ex .

Of purest science , also , something I was taught While yet a craftsman , and knew not , But in part , the mysteries divine . One of the sciences , and noblest of tlsevn all , Foundation firm , and broad , on which Reposed , and shall forever rest The splendid superstructure of this Brotherhood of olden timewas that

, Which taught them most curiously To trace through all the various winding- ; , Ancl recesses deep concealed , of Nature ' s . Mighty Temple , the wisdom , strength , And beauty which everywhere appear . And though full thirty centuries are gone , Their fabric still stands , erect and sure ,

On that chief corner-stone ne'er laid By human hands . The same great key-stone which I saw Three thousand years ago , I now , When roused from sleep of ages Most profound , still view , supporting Pirinly , as in ages long , long past , The great mysterious arett ;

And thus to thee I testimony bear Of this mysterious Craft ( of which Thou judgest I was one ) which has bees ! , Is now , and shall not cease to he . Thou hast conjectured well that I was present , And of ceremonies grand partook , hy Special invitation from the Hebrew ' s king , When Temple vasthy master builders raised

, , Was consecrated to the worship of the God of Hebrews most devout ; who—as my father Oft at eventide , my childish years to please , The story strange would tell—were bondsmen , And service rendered long ancl hard To our ancestral kings . Champagnolle , Arte , Oct . 30 , 1859 .

ITAMAK riUBEMASOMT . The newspapers state that Garibaldi is chiefly occupied at the present moment with the unification of Italian Ereemasonry , now divided into two rites—the Scotch and the Erench . The former has its centre at Palermo , Avhere it was established when that city was occupied by the Englishand the second at Turin

, , Avhich is near the Erench frontier . The principal members of the two rites Avent to Ischia , and held council Avith Garibaldi , Avho is Grand Master of the Italian Ereemasons of the Erench rite . It seems that no arrangement has yet been found possible , the resistance chiefly proceeding from the lodges of the

Scotch rite , which urge the adoption of their usage , on the ground of greater antiquity and higher authority . The consequence is that the meeting of the representatives of all the lodges which was to be