Antiquity Of The Third Degree.

Iii the language of St . Paul , — "That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die . " * The aspirant of old was hailed as born again on his issuing from the symbolical grave : he had gained the perfection of the mysteries by passing through the figurative gate of death . " Through death to life . " There is no other way . How the summit of Masonry is attained you all know well .

By no other possible means can any Mason arrive at the summit of his profession . Further : —He must travel the dark road alone—alone must he enter the land of darkness ancl the shadow of death ; a land of darkness , as darkness itself , and of the shadow of death without any order , and where thcTlight is as darkness . f And singlmust he finallarise from

y y the tomb , as one endowed Avith new life . See also how we are taught , through all , that the good and true are sometimes taken away suddenly—cut down as the flower of the field . The Angel of Death respects not persons —all must travel the narrow road , and neither position , nor talents , nor virtue , will postpone their departure .

Ah , brethren , the old old story of these ancient mysteries of our sublime degree , is brought home to ns every now and then ; when , as happened a few short weeks ago , a brother , laiown and loved among us , is summoned away to his long homo in the house appointed for all living . Then we feel the truth of these things . 'Tis an old , old story , truly : taught in the land of Egypt three thousand

years ago . But as one by one we sec men die , that old lesson conies fresh to our hearts ; mayhap too soon to fade away . Brethren , when the Great Master of all summons us to the trial which ought to lead us to perfection in the world beyond the grave , may we have so read these lessons of our Order , and bhe many more I have lefb

aside , as to be able to look forward to that perfection ivith humble confidence , but with fervent hope : and , He not suffering us at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from Him , may we finally arise from the tomb of transgression , ascend to the Grand Lodge above of the just made perfect , and shine as the stars for ever and ever . So mote ib be . ALL GLOEY TO THE MOST HIGH !

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

MASONIC EOOT-PKINTS . Some time since , in digging a well in Mississippi , an Egyptian coin Avas found some thirty feet beloAv the surface of the earth . How did it get there ? "Were the ancient people of this country—those who huilt the mysterious Mounds that exist—of Egyptian

origin ? Some of the articles found in these Mounds Avould seem to indicate it . If they were Egyptians , then the mystery of Masonic instruments being found in them is easily exjilained . Masonry went from Egypt to Tyre ; from Tyre to Jerusalem , and from Jerusalem over the Avorld . These jewels were

obtained from an Indian Mound and may have belonged to the men Avho built the Pyramids!—American Masonic Review . HEADS OP A MASONIC iECTTJItE BY THE I / ATE BKO . A . G-. MiCKEY . The lecturer commenced his subject at

once-with-, out the formula of a preface or introductory bow , a la Thackeray , and shoAved that the present system of Ereemasonry is to be traced to two ancient onesthe pure Ereemasonry , derived from the ancient

priesthood , or patriarchs , ancl the other from the philosophers and sages of Pagandom . The first , called " the pure or Primitive Ereemasonry of Antiquity , " and the second , the spurious Ereemasonry . The lecturer then adverted to the corruptions of religion in ancient times , subsequent to the deluge ; and described the three prominent forms of . these

corruptions— -fetichism , or worship of idols ; sabaism , orsunvvorship ; and liellenism , or hero worship . He shoAved that all those retained traces of some great religious truth , Avhich hacl been derived from the ancient priesthood ; and which truth , symbolised by the "Word in Masonry , it was the object of Ereemasonry always to

preserve . It was thoroughly preserved in the pure Ereemasonry of antiquity , but the only attempt to preserve it among the pagans was in their mysteries , of which the lecturer gave a full , elaborate , and highly interesting account . He particularly described the Diouysian or Bacchic mysteries , which were

introduced into Greece from Eygp t . He established clearly the analogy between the murder of Bacchus by the Titans , and the slayiug of Osiris . by his brother Typhon , ancl identified the legends in those mysteries with the legend of the third degree . In all the mysteries there was a death , a restoration to life , and a

rejoicing , ancl these were no others than symbols of a great and universal doctrine , which taught the mortality of the body ancl immortality of the soul . The lecturer showed by conclusive chronological evidence that these mysteries were in full vigour at the time of the building of King Solomon ' s Temple ; and deduced by evidence , equally unresistible , the union of this branch of the spurious Ereemasonry , or the Tyrian workmen , with that branch of the pure

Ereemasonry of the patriarchs which existed among the Jews at Jerusalem , from which resulted the union of speculative ancl operative Masonry to which the present institution owes its existence . He then entered into a learned defence of the authenticity of the legend of the third degree ; established its claims to truth as a tradition by the

application of the celebrated at Vincentius Lirinensis ( " Quod semper , quod ubique , quod ab hominibus traditum est " ) , and explained the identity of its application with the similar legends of the mysteries . - Rapidly passing over the history of the Order , he proceeded to a consideration of its condition in the middle

ages , ancl gave an account of the travelling Ereemasons of that period , who , he contended , were a fair example of the united operative and speculative science Avhich existed at the temple . He next described the gradual progress by which the speculative element thrust out the operative one , and showed that about

the 16 th century , Ereemasonry began more and more to assume the form of a science , until in the beginning of the 18 th century it assumed its present philosophical form . Comparing Masonry with other initiativemodern societies , he said that Masonry was like the venerable oak , the monarch of the forest , under whose shadow

these assimilated institutions have sprung up like mushrooms , and fatted upon the soil which its own leaves and fallen fruit had nourished . ( The force of this figure will he seen when we recollect that Odd Fellowship , Sons of Temperance , & e ., were all the fabrication of Masons , whom the lecturer alludes to by " fallen fruit . " ) The lecturer then concluded with an appeal to his brethren for the cultivation of Ereemasonry , as a science of symbolism—an appeal which