Masonic Notes And Queries.

weakness in tho spirit , if not in the very words of Melchisedec Gullcranimer , regardless of tho just rejoinder : — ' Aye ! tis the jest at which fools laugh the loudest , The downfall of the old nobility . ' " Well , granted that it is shorn of its power and consequence , nevertheless it is the true and genuine relic of

what was once so grand and glorious ; and its governing chief is acknowledged to be the legitimate representative of the D'Anbussons , LTslo Adams , and La Yalattcs of other times by every sovereign court in Europe . Even the laws of England admitted that fact , as a perusal of tho case of'Candida v . Moncorvoo' will domgnstrate . And hero let me ask a question regarding that case that

touches nearly the fanciful pretensions of the Langue to be considered on an equality with what they persist , with wilful ignorance , in calling tha Italian branch . Perhaps some of your readers may not have cognisance of this case . About the year 1800 , a Portuguese commander named Continho arrived in London , having in his possession moneys of tbe Order to the amount of £ 2000 .

Before his death ( which occurred soon after his arrival ) by tho advice of the Catholic Vicar Apostolic of the London District , he deposited the money in tho Bank of England to tho credit of the Order of St . John of Jerusalem . Meither principal nor interest of this deposit having been claimed , it had , in the year 18-1-0 , accumulated to a respectable sum . In that year , the S . Council in Rome , being informed that the money was tying in the Bank of England to the credit of the Religion , and

unclaimed , made the necessary legal demand for it . Upon proving themselves to bo the representatives of the Sovereign Authority of the Order , tho money was awarded , and paid to them ; not , however , without a fruitless opposition on tho part of the Baron Moncorvo , Portuguese Minister to the English Court , who put iu a counterclaim to the money ; on the plea that the depositor

had been a Portuguese subject . Now , my question is"Why did not the Langue seize this glorious opportunity of assorting their cl ? . im to be considered equal , or even superior to the S . Council in Rome , as representative of the Order of St . John ? But no , they were silent and made no sign ; but allowed their rivals , tho Italian hranch , as they call them , to carry off the golden prize . AVas it

disinterested modesty ou their part ? or a consciousness that their claim to be held legitimate was of too delicate and fragile a nature to abide the rough sifting of a court of law ? Having trespassed unconscionably on your valuable , space , I will now conclude at once and for ever by apologising to Ax OBSERVER for not replying to hii . pa . r-UCUIOA- query , which , in my opinion , is only calculated to

draw attention away from the question immediately at issue ; viz ., the right of the Langue to be considered a legitimate branch of the Order of St . John . Perhaps HISTORICUS , who , as AN OBSERVER justly opines , is not a member of the Order , may be induced to reply to the difficulty propounded . "—J . J . W .

MASONIC RITES . Allow me a few hasty remarks as to the antiquity of our Masonic system , in hopes that others , with more leisure , may be induced to give us their opinions for or against . 1 . We have the evidence of Sancouiathon that a similar account to the Mosaioal one of tho creation and

early history of man , was given in the secret mysteries of Phoenicia . In the third generation came Upsouraneons and his brother Ousis , who consecrated two pillars to fire and wind . After many generations came Ghrysor , who invented many things useful to civil life , and after his decease was worshipped as a god ; then flourished Ouranos and his sister Ge , who deified and offered sacrifices to their father TJpsistos , when ho had been torn in pieces by wild beasts ; or , as I understand it , when the mummy of Osiris had been dismembered and scattered

over Egypt as shown by Osburn . This Ouranos—Hiram or Daedalus- —was the inventor of animated stones , or of statues . Taantus was the inventor of hieroglyphics . Afterwards Cronos consecrated Muth , his son , and was himself consecrated by his subjects ( more of this in Haber ) . Here we have tho trinity of the people , Osiris and his wife Isis , with their son Horns , or Mencherer ,

tho first institutor of tho trinity of the vulgar . The priests and the more enlightened had other notions , and the book of the ritual of the dead required " that they had not omitted certain ceremonies . " Those ceremonies- - , as proved by the writings of Plato , taught a trinity of Agathos , Loyos , and Psyche , the Father , Word , and Spirit . No one could be admitted to this sublime

philosophy unless ho was thoroughly master of geometry . 2 . There is a palpable hiatus between the second and third degrees ; not so when we come to the Royal Arch . The construction of the Master ' s degree at once betrays its Egyptian origin ; its legend is almost identical with that of Osiris . The pastos I take to represent the boat which ferried over the mummy to its final resting place .

The history of the ceremonies attending the reconstruction of the remains of Osiris must , according to Osburn , have been well known to tho Jewish lawgiver , and do not appear to have been given in all mysteries ; they were identical with the rites of Tammiz and Adonis , or Baal .

3 . We do not find that Moses publicly taught the doctrine of a future state , though he forbade the gross teaching of the later Egyptian priests . In other , words , his reformation was partial , and suited to the people . Had ho publicly taught that doctrine , it would have been difficult to prevent the celebration of the attendant Egyptian rites .

4 . We find secret schools amongst the Jews , teaching our Ancient Royal Arch Masonry , and claiming Moses as their founder . 5 . It is very evident that the first Temple was erected by Phoenician architects ; and they , most certainly , derived their knowledge from Egypt . Also , that our third degree was constituted considerably before the time of

our Lord Jesus Christ , and introduced from Phoenicia . The cunning man of " Hiram my fathers , " I believe to bo a cunning man , or follower , of Uranos , or Daedalus , the father of architects , tho secret rite of Hiram being an adaptation of tho public lamentation for tho dismemberment of Menes . At some period , applied astronomical ^ -, query , Was the degree introduced at Jerusalem , or is it the Druidical ceremony reformed by the York Templars ?

6 . It does not even follow that the Rose Croix degree was established in its present form after the death of our Saviour , who said , "Destroy this Temple , and in three days I will raise it up . " Its ground work is found in both the mysteries of Egypt and Greece , and is , in fact , only a more sublime version of the Master ' s degree , pointing to the resurrection of the spirit to the joys of

the paradise of the mysteries ; and for centuries has claimed an Egyptian origin . Besides , there is sufficient proof in the Book of Enoch that the cabalists were well acquainted with tbe doctrine of the " Son of Man , " the "Elect One , " the "Messiah , " and the "Son of God , " who was highly exalted with the ancient of days , long before our Lord ' s birth , " For , from the beginning , the

Hon of Man existed in secret , whom the Most High preserved in the presence of his power , and revealed to the elect . . . . All the angels of the Lord , namely , of the Elect One and of tho other power who was upon the earth , over the water , on that day . ... In that hour was the Son of Man invoked before the Lord of Spirits , and his name in the presence of the Ancient

of Days . Well might an Esseniaii Master inquire , "Art thou he that should come , or do we look for another ?" St Paul was advanced to the third heaven , and afterwards to Amenti , or Paradise . —A .