Masonic Archæological Institute.

released iu consequence of making a Masonic sign . Bro . Dadabhai proposed , and Bro . Bywater seconded a vote of thanks to the eminent archasologist and naturalist , Bro . Moggridge , who had

presided over the institute on that evening . The Chairman announced that the next meeting would be held on Thursday , 30 th June , when the subject will be " The Phoenician Masons' Marks at Jerusalem and the Moabite Stone . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE 1717 TKEOBT—A " DIAIOQ-TJE . A young Oxford Mason has sent me a paper , some lines of which are here subjoined : — THE 1717 THEORY—A DIALOGUE . * ® * A .: There was no Speculative Masonry before 1717 .

B .: I differ ; and I affirm that there was Speculative Masonry in the 17 th century . Witness our traditions , the untruth of which you are unable to show . A .: I do not think ib necessary to take that trouble . B .: If j'ou do not think it necessary to take that trouble , you will , I imagine , cease the cry that there was no Speculative Masonry before 1717 ?

A .: No , indeed I shall not . It is my fixed opinion that there was no Speculative Masonry before 1717 , and I shall continue to make my opinion known . B .: But will you do nothing more than that ? A-: Perhaps not ; my Opinion ought to be considered sufficient on all such points . 1 have studied Masonry several years .

— CUAEIES PuilTOS" C ' OOPEB . XLOVUS 03 ? W 0 B . K .. The Masters and officers should always be punctual in their attendance , and observe the hour of meeting with scrupulous exactness , for correct conduct in officers will invariably produce a corresponding

accuracy in the brethren . Nothing tends more to disgust and sour the mind than the unprofitable employment of waiting impatiently for the attendance of the superior officers , with a probable expectation of being disappointed at last . — EXCHANGE .

rnilOSOI'HICAL SECTS OP CHEISTIAHITX . See Bro . Tarker ' s " Masonic Principles , " page 428 of the present volume . In those philosophical sects of Christianity which reject the superhuman element ofthe New Testament and receive its Natural Theology and its Natural Ethics , there will probably be found all the essential principles of Freemasonry as a universal institution . —A PAST PEOVINCIAL GEAND MASTEE .

sxaiBOHSir . IN" BOHEMIA ; OE , THE BOOK AND THE CUP . At page 287 ol the Magazine for October 9 , 1869 , I gave some interesting quotations and remarks upon this subject , and I now beg to add a few more : — " In the library of our Edinburgh "University there is a singularly interesting- Bohemian document . It

s the protest of the Diet of Bohemia in Prague to Council of Constance against the burning of Huss and the imprisonment of Jerome , with portraits oi

both . It ia signed , or rather sealed , by a hundred Bohemian nobles , the orig inal seals bsipg still appended , and is such an object of interest for Bohemia , that at the request of the municipal authorities a photograph-of it waa sent to Prague last suinmer . lt is a singularly vigorous and bold protest , and its high moral and relig ious tone is so striking in a document of stale , that we translate its opening sentence : —

Because truly , according to both natural and divine law and by the words of our Saviour , we are commanded , "Whatsoever yo would that men should do unto you , do ye even tho same unto them-, " as also an elect vessel exclaims , " Love is the fulfilling of the law , " and all the law is fulfilled in one word , "Thou shalt love thy neighbour thyself" Therefore so far as in our power b

as . y God's help , having respect unto this divine Jaw for our dearest neighbour of good memory , Master John Huss , whom lately in . tho Council of Constance ( moved by we know not what spirit)—not confessing , not lawfully convicted , and by no proved errors and heresies—you have condemned , and delivered over unto a cruel and most

shameful death . " "At a time when preaching was rare , ilusa had preached fearlessly against the vices ot the Bohemian nobles , and the priests applauded him ; hut when in turn he preached with equal faithfulness against their own vices , they dragged him to the stake . And now these nobles , turned from the error of their ways through his word , thus boldly and tendori y testify their affection to him aa their moat beloved inenc ,

"After the earliest rent in tho midnight eund of mediasval Popery , ihe' first 'beloved physician' who was sent , and ran , to bear tho glad tidings oe the Gospel light , was ' ane man of Bccum name ;! Paul Craw , 'the noble forerunner of modem medical missionswhich he was honoured tc seal with his blood .

, The cruel deaths of Huss and Jerome , aud the subsequent sufferings in Bohemia , did not prevent Christ ' s witnesses these from thinking on otnor \ v .. \ - -.-. . hat were still sitting under the shadow of death . B -i .,- , -nia

had got light from England , for nuss am . J ero me owed much to the writings of Wycliffe ; . but the Bohemians would appear to have selected Seotbud for a mission-field , as we might now Japan , ou a .-s . - irat of its extreme want , with a full knowledge of ihe difficulty and danger of the enterprise . "At this date there was not a single kuow . i

Scottish witness for Christ . In 1-107 a confessor was burned at Perth for affirming that the Pupe was not the vicar of Christ , and thai no man of wicked life could be Pope . But he was an English 1 'resbyter , James Eesby , a preacher of the cross , hated by the priestsbut listened to fay crowdsfor 'the common

, , people heard him gladly . ' In other pruts of the country there were Lollards from England ; ami , in . 1-120 , a martyr suffered iu Glasgow , but ho also was a stranger , or a man unknown , whoso name coidd not bo fouucl in the registers . England was sending men to teach us , but in our zeal for Eome we burncu them

at the stake . "Taught by such examples , but not deterred , the Bohemians sent us a skilful physician named Paul Craw , or Crawar ( a name still frequent in Bohemia ) , to try if the healing of our families might ope ' i the way for the Gospel ; . yet a man fully prepared f e our sahes to follow those who had gone before him th - .. ugh . the gates of death . Coining to St . Andrews , iu fulfilling his mission , ho did not merely teach h ' . h pa .,