Lodge Minutes, Etc.—No. 9.

ten shillings sterling , likewise a pair of shoes , " & c The minutes now are often stamped with the lodge seal , which is as follows , from which we see the number then was 23 . The engravin g is rather rude .

( To be continued . )

Masonic Celestial Mysteries.

MASONIC CELESTIAL MYSTERIES .

By Bro . HENRY MELVILLE . PAPER IV . —( contd . ) LABOE OMNIA VINCIT . With respect to the Bull family , it is of the most remote origin , far anterior to Britannia . Apis

was in its youth a calf , it grew up to be a bull ; a certain operation which takes place annually on the 1 st Jan ., certainly made him an ox or bullock-At times Apis is an heifer , and then becomes a cow . Lion-headed women have been referred to ,

and among the Egyptians there are many bullheaded women , some giving suck to young Osiris , or Antinous , on the first of Jan ., whilst other women are giving the teat to the horned bull on

the 1 st Jan . If any intelligent brother wishes to see the one teat , let him look for hedir , the biblical Shedeur . Job tells us , that among the wicked , that is , those of Misraim , " Their bull gendereth and faileth not : their cow calveth and casteth not

her calf . " * According to nature , such strange results would be utterly impossible , but like the virgin after having a child being still a virgin , so the cow calveth and casteth not her calf ; this cannot be interpreted otherwise than

astronomically . If the celestial bull did not gender , and the cow did not calve , where could the sun-bull come from for the ensuing year ? The Abbe Pluchef says , " Chance produced a calf at

Memphis , which had some spots on it nearly in the form of a crescent ; this singularity , says he , was of itself nothing , ancl deserved no greater attention than those white spots ive see on the foreheads of horses , & c , yet the animal received the

name of "Apis , the powerful God . " After his death he was replaced by another that had nearl y the same spots . " When the marks desired were not neat ancl exact , they were improved with a pencil . " A pencil is a strange implement

wherewith to mark a hairy beast , but not at all so to mai-k the crescent on a celestial chart-The crescent remains to this day in the face of pis , the stars are N , o , p . " O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt , make thee instruments of

captivity to go into captivity , " and there is the daughter with chains on her wrists and on her ankles . " NP , or NOP or NOPH , " implies or signifies Memphis ,. " For NOPH shall be waste ancl desolate , " and '" Egypt is like a very fair heifer . '

Noph , Cruden says , means " honey comb / ' and compasses from the ecliptic pole- will take the bee iriusca borealis to the mouth of the Egyptian heifer Apis , immediately under the crescent N o p . f .

Elijah , meaning " the strong Lord , " took twelve stones , according- to the number of the tribes , and with these built an altar . He cut Apis into pieces and laid him on the wood , and twelve barrels of water were supplied by Aquarius , when the fire

of the Lord , the sun at easter , burnt up the offering . This was the time of evening sacrifice . ^ The sun rising killed the young lion ancl also Apis . It is said the lion shall eat straw like the ox , that must be like a terrestrial ox , for although

there is plenty of straw in the heavens , the mouths of Apis Junior and Ap is Senior cannot by any means touch it , § but the lion of the tribe of Juda has a whole truss to himself , that is , before he is skinned . . " They made a calf in Horeh ,

thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass . "II " Behold , Behemoth eateth grass as au ox . ''<| Behemoth , says Bailey , is a wonderful creature some take to be the river horse . Behemoth is rendered elephant ,

and leviathan , whale , in Job . The Budhists still represent Cetus as an elephant , and our whale cetus is an extraordinary animal with a proboscis ,