Masonic Notes And Queries.

acting on them , you will find a sli ght trial will strengthen your memory , and every systematic attempt to increase its retentiveness will he sure to lead to the desired result . We could—if it would not be an ungraceful act—mention several brother Masous , by namewho despairedat one timeas do nowof

, , , you , ever being able to master even the necessary answers to certain peremptory questions , always put before conferring degrees , but by a course , such as we have indicated , are now tolerable and useful workers . Try again— "faint heart never won fair lady . " ]

DBTODS AND EEAHMINS . Many Masonic writers are pleased to derive some of our customs from the Druids or Brahmins , just as it suits their convenience . How can two such races —so distantly located—have anything to do with each other or with Freemasonry?—W . II . B . —[ We '

are not inclined to think your method of stating the case a fair one . The generality of Masonic writers do not claim to derive their Freemasonry from the Druids or Brahmins , whichever they may adopt , but they endeavour to show au analogy between Freemasonry and the rites of the Druidsor Brahmins

, , or both , just as it suits their theory . But we are inclined to think that the Druids of Gaul and . the Brahmins of India had many traditions and religious beliefs in common , and that it is not so difficult a matter , as you seem to suppose , to compare them . The fair inference is , that when the nations were

dispersed , they took with them their primitive faith , and when they invented monstrous systems of idolatry they still retained , in a more or less perfect form , fragments of the primitive reli gion . Thus truth may enter into the composition of systems of error , which are not on that account the less sj'stems of errornor

, are less to be excused . Another inference—which all will draw—is , that these universal traditions , the one grain of truth in the myriad husks of error , point to the ori gin of man from one and the same original source . ]

TEXT EOU A MASONIC SEEMON . Wanted a good text for a Masonic sermon , by—A LAX PEEACHEE . —[ This is one of those curious examples which show how necessary it is for a man to be a Craftsman of his Craft . "A Lay Preacher " wants to be a parson , but is ignoraul of a parson ' s

work . Suppose the parson wanted to be "a butcher , a baker , or a candlestick maker , " what a cry out there would be for his indentures of apprenticeshi p ! Would not the whole town be up in arms ? Then why should tbe butcher , baker , & c , as the case may be , seek to oust the * parson , and try to do so for a

Masonic sermon . Well , well , perhaps there isuo parson -to be found , and so if the "Lay Preacher" wishes for a theme to inculcate the principles of mutual association , and will venture ou trying bis " ' prentice hand " on other master ' s work , we should advise him to select the 10 th verse of the 6 th chapter of Galatians . ]

THE WHITE-CLAD BEETHEEN . In Mosheim ' s Ecclesiastical History , book iii ., part h \ , chap . 5 ., it is stated that " In Italy a new sect , that of the white-clad brethren , or the Whites ( fratres albati , seu Candida ) , j : > roduced no little excitement among the people . Near the beginning of the fifteenth century a certain unknown priest descended

from the Alps , clad in a white garment , with an immense number of people of both sexes in his train , all clothed , like their leader , in white linen , whence their name of white brethren . This multitude marched through various provinces , following a cross borne by a leader of the sectaudby a great show of pietyso

, , , captivated the people that numberless persons of every kind joined their ranks . Boniface the X ., fearing some plot , ordered the leader of this host to be apprehended and committed to the flames . After his death , the multitude gradually dispersed . " It i 3 evident these brethren were a formidable party , for in

the rolls of Henry VI ., that monarch is reported to have made the following announcement when opening Parliament : — " And whereas the king hath certainly understood that a new sect hath risen up , clothed in white vesture , aud assuming to themselves great sanctityand whereas the people of this realm may

, lightly consent and be perverted by its novelty , their arms be divested , and the kingdom itself be subverted , should the new professors enter the realm : therefore , by the advice of the lords spiritual and temporal , the king hath ordained by proclamation that every county and seaport shall be shut against them ; and any one

harbouring or maintaining them shall forfeit all that he is able to forfeit . " Neither Mosheim nor the parliamentary rollsgive any clue to where these brethrenemanated . I have my own suspicion , hut , at present , cannot assert where , for want of some documentary proof to bear me out . If any brother has met with a notice

of this curious fraternity—other than the foregoingin the course of his reading , he will much oblige by ] 3 ointing out his authority to—MATTHEW COOKE .

THE THEEE KINDS OE SACEED AECHITECTUEE . Creuzer , a German philosopher , thus writes of the three kinds of sacred architecture . Hieratic architecture , or the art of temple building , considered in its completeness , is found representing three chief but essentially different characters , proceeding from three different principles , the outlines of which I will here indicate .

The Orientalism , if I may so call the first kind , or the Hylozoism aud Pantheism of Hieratic architecture had matter for principle . As the worship of the ancient east incorporated nature as a whole , and transformed it , so to speak , into a god-body , thus the architecture is limitless and yet limited , aud consequently inspired entirely by the genius of the

wonderful ; striving toward nothing less than to corporify the material world in space aud time . In this sense were the Indian grotto temples hollowed aud chiselled out . But the architecture of the Egyptians , in necropolis and temple , shows the tendency the most strikingly ; under the ground , the dwellings of the dead

and of the divinities ruling over them ; above , the firmament , with all the animals consecrated in star worship ; round the pedestal play in zig-zag lines the waves of the divine land-stream ; the head of the pillar , a lotus-crown or palm-crown adorns ; and the singularly extended body of Isis along the upper walls of the temple represents , in an altogether material fashion , Nature embracing all things in heaven and earth .

To this Hylozoism , with its blind insatiate impulse and its overladen manner , the discreet self-limitation of ZZellenism stands in . directesfc contrast . As there ,