Masonic Notes And Queries.

" Masonry being thus vast , thus grand , and thus beautiful , it would be impossible within the compass of an address for the most gifted intellect and the most eloquent tongue , to exhibit , what volumes have been written to image to the world , and I , being a mere neophyte iu the great Temple , shall feel amply satisfied if I succeed in placing before you only a few

features of this noble and titne-hououred institution . Although speculative Masonry is in a more flourishiug condition at the present time , both on this continent and in many countries of the old world , and although the fullest information concerning it is easily accessible to all who will seek it , yet a large portion of mankind are ignorant of its nature , misconceive its aims , and remain blind to its happy effects upon the human race .

"If I were addressing Craftsmen alone , there are many things of a purely esoteric nature , to which their attention this day might be fitly and profitably directed ; but I shall on the present occasion endeavour very briefly to trace the history of this beautiful science , notice its genius and effects , aud reply to some of the aspersions with which our institution has been assailed .

" The princip les of Masonry are coeval with the creation , for the Sovereign Architect himself , upon those prin ^ iles , organized the bouudless firmament and constructed those wonderful systems of suns and worlds which beautify the expanse of heaven ' s concave . By His command that noblest of sciences , geometry , the corner stone and foundation of operative Masonry

, adjusted those vast heavens whose motions , intricate yet simple , exhibit to us the perfection of sublimity , and whose nice dependencies and harmonious relations astonish and delight the cultivated mind . The same Wondrous science was commanded to raise and adorn the earth , and fit it for the habitation of one , who

was to be created in the image of his Maker . Our common parent , no doubt , had the various sciences , but especially geometry , eugraveu upon his heart by the Great Grand Master . No doubt , he also taught his sons this science , and its application to the arts and crafts suitable to those rude and early times ; for we are told that Caiu built a city which he named after his first born son . Other arts were also improved , such as working in metal , the construction of musical

instruments , and the craft of tent making . Seth also , who delighted in astronomical research , no doubt , taught geometry and Masonry to his offspring . Many useful discoveries were made in that early day by its principles , some of which are set forth in the writings of the great Jewish historian , and the Nilotic valley , the banks of the Tigris and Euphratesthe plains of

, India , and the dense jungles of Burmah , have in these latter days , furnished the most convincing testimony of the comparative perfection of Masonry of the remote ages of antiquity . The curious and thoughtful Craftsman may go back , upon the opinions of his immortal spirit , into the dim and mysterious abyss of

past eternity , when the globe upon which he treads was a thin and impalpable ether , spread through the regions of surrounding space ; when the sun , and all his attendant worlds , were as the almost invisible nebulas of the milky way ; when chaos existed and darkness brooded over the unformed matter out of which the Deity would call into being the symmetry and beauty of the universe . " But he spake the word and order rose out of disorder , harmony and

proportion out of discord and a shapeless mass ; the foundations of the world were laid ; the arch of heaven hung with its glittering constellations ; the waters were rolled into a heap ; day was divided from night ; all living creatures that float in the air , or swim in the waters , rejoiced in their fresh existence . " Every part of creation began to obey a general lawand to perforin

, its appropriate functions in the system of the universe . And the Great Architect and Geometrician said , " Let light be , and light was . " Thus the essence of of tlie Deity pervaded the whole of His mighty workmanship , the signet of Divine wisdom , was impressed upon every part of His handiwork . The

vast and almost incomprehensible changes which our planet has undergone ; the successive creations and destructions of animal and vegetable life ; the mighty upheavings of the interior of the world , bringing to its surface exhaustless riches , upon which Masonicskill could be exerted ; causing the monotonous plain ,,

desert and dreary , to present an ever-changing variety of beauty and sublimity , in the mountain chain and valle 3 , the gentle hill and dale , the glen and glade , the fast flowing river , fertilizing continents , and the little rill trickling amidst the moss . The gigantic dinotheriumthe swiftldarting plesiosaurusand

, y , the curiously formed pterodactyl , the enamelled plated cephalaspis , the stately dinornis , the gigantic tree ferns , beauteous shrubs and colossal trees ; yes , the whole Eauna and Elora of creation ' s morning , exhibited creation ' s Architect in bold relief . When He

therefore called man to stand forth from the dust of the ground , and breathed into him a reasonable soul , an undying spirit , one of the first and noblest exercises of the faculties thus given to him , was to consider thewonders by which he was surrounded , to trace thewisdom and power of the Deity through the mazesof nature ' s secrets , to conform himself to the wisdom .:

of the most High , whose glorious attributes he acknowledged with reverence , with gratitude , and love . " With the dawn of creation , then , began the work of the Mason . To understand the measures of weight and the wonderful phenomena of light ; to comprehend the doctrine of sound ; to seize upon and elucidate

those immutable laws by which the heavenly bodies are upheld in space ; to follow up the beautiful changes from spring with its verdure , to summer with its luxuriance , from summer to autumn with its rich and golden grain and fruits , and from autumn to winter ' s suowy realmand again to the budding

splen-, dours of the vernal season ; to trace out the cycles aud revolutions of days , of months , and of years , and as the intellect winged its way from lofty truths to truths more lofty still ; to praise in the profundity of admiration ; to feel the divinity in trembling nearness to the creature : and to adore—this was the first

aim of Masonry—this its labour , ever fresh , never ceasing ; a science full of new results adding incentive after incentive to praise and glorify the Great Builder of the Universe .

" Thus all times and all seasons were appropriate for a Mason ' s labour ' and employment . Night brought with it the glittering and star-spangled sky , with countless millions of the worlds and suns , streaming li ght from the dark canopy which overspread the earth , directing his eye to the star of evening with its surpassing beauties , the Pleiades with their sweet and soothing influences ; the bands of Orion , the rapidly