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Contents . PAGE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE : — The Model Master 381 The Blue Lodge 382 Masonic Jottings , No . 69 384 Tenets of Knighthood 384 385

The Secret Tongue Masonic Notes and Queries 385 Correspondence 387 Masonic Sayings and Doings Abroad 388 Masonic Festivities 389 MASONIC MIKBOE : — Masonic Mems 381 CBAIT LODGE MEETINGS : —

Metropolitan , 391 Provincial 391 India 395 Royal Arch 396 Knights Templar 396 Ancient and Accepted Rita 399 Obituary ..... 399 List of Lodge , & c , Meetings for ensuing week 400 LONDON , SATURDAY , MAY 20 , 1871 .

The Blue Lodge.

THE BLUE LODGE .

Ancient Craft Masonry and Blue Masonry are synonymous . A wisdom so remarkable that it seems akiu to inspiration , governed the founders of the order of Freemasons , that every detail of the symbolism of the first three degrees , has a

depth of meaning and a practical point , that we look for in vain in the so-called "higher" degrees of Masonry , much less in the teachings of any other of the Lodges in the order now existing anions * men . The colour chosen for the

decorations of the E . A ., P . O ., and M . M . degrees , and ivhich in popular Masonic parlance gives name to the Lodge in which these degrees are conferred , is worthy of the profoundest study , Names are things . In Masonry they are

always chosen for their appropriateness , and hence they never fail of being interesting as well as instructive . Let us now see how true this is with

regard to the title , " Blue . " Blue is in colouring what the note 0 is in music —the natural key or ruling tone , —universally agreeable to the eye ; and it may be more frequently repeated with uniform pleasure than auy other colour . It is this which gives so peculiar a charm to the Ifcaliau skies . Hence it is in

accordance with the best principles of Art , as well as of symbobgy , that Blue is made the prevailing colour in Masonry . The colour of plants on the other hand is constantly changing , owing to the season , or the quality of light that falls upon them Even the evergreen changes its shade , while the oak , which beams so green in summer , in winter

flashes out fiery red , Not so the symbolic colour of Ancient Craft Masonry . It is ever the same , as unchangeable as the Landmarks of the order , or the Great Light that rests upon its altar . This quality is the key to the first lesson

of Blue Masonry , which is Constancy or Fidelity . Brethren , be faithful to the teachings of the craft ; be faithful to your distressed , worthy brethren ; be faithful ta your families and your homes •be faithful to yourselves . Unless you do , you have

altogether failed to learn the great lesson of the Blue Lodge . Artists tell us , that blue alone possesses entirely the quality technically called coldness in colouring-It is shadowy and soothing , a sedate rather than

a gay colour . It is , therefore , the farthest remove from the idea . of passion , vindictiveness , or revenge , De Blancourt calls it the symbol of generosity ; and our tars , Jarge-bearted as they characteristically are , in sea-phrase call friendship true-blue .

How appropriate , then , in its application to Masonry . The craftsman if he be not generous , if he has not learned the great virtue of Charity , if lie does not practice it in the daily actions of his life , has yet to learn the cardinal principle of

Masonry . Brethren , see to it that you are true-blue . In nature , blue is the colour of Heaven , that is of the pure atmosphere , not the aqueous vapour , buk the pure azote and oxygen ; and it is the total colour of the whole mass of air between us and

the void of space . It is , therefore , emblematic of divinity . " The heavens declare the glory of God " by their blue immensity , as they cover the endless depths of space . Blue , therefore , in the lodge suggests to us the omnipotence of God ,

the endlessness of his perfections , the seat of his habitation and his glory . By natural analogy , blue is used in mythological representations to distinguish the mantle of Minerva , the blue-eyed goddess : and the veil of Juno , the goddess of the

air ; while Diana , or the moon , is robed in blue and white , as the Isis of the Egyptians and her priests , from whom some of our mysteries are derived , was robed in pure azure * and Poetry herself is personified in a vesture of celestial blue .

To come to real personages of the highest worth , Christ and the Virgin Mary are alwaysy smbolically clothed by the old masters in blue mantles , while St . John the "Evangelist Avears a blue tunic . The use of this colour for purposes so noble through