Masonic Notes And Queries.

ments . Pailh and hope pertain to us as individuals . As an individual , I may climb along the ladder to reach heaven by the aid of the two simple rounds of faith and hope ; but if I am to extend a helping hand to others , or if I am to be aided in my own ascent by the hand of others , love is the round by which we

holdfast , on which our feet must be planted . " If we Avould now strip our definition of its figurative or' emblematical dress , and investigate its simple meaning , we infer thus , that , as Masons , Ave look forward with a hope , and this hope built upon a confidence in Godthat at the end of our labours

in-, this earthl y lodge , Ave will be called to a brighter one in heaven . But to attain this final exaltation , it teaches that there is only one road , one course of conduct , which is that Ave must practice the virtues prescribed and inculcated by the Great Architect . These virtues form the rounds of the ladder by which

our ascent will be effected . But of these rounds the three principal ones are faith , hope , and charity ; and they Avill endure even after all necessity for any others will have been done away . Again , the chief of these ,

and that the most important round in the Avhole ladder , the largest and strongest of the only three that remain , is love . Without love there is no hope of reaching heaven along the only road hy which Masons expect to arrive there . It swallows up and includes within itself all other gifts and virtues , or easts them aside as useless . Though I may be able to

speak to every living man in his own tongue , and paint to him the glories of the Lodge above ; though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor , and even flinch not from the very fires of persecution , if I have not love , if I possess not that quality which will lead me always to forget myself in the necessities and the

happiness of my brother , it profitefch me nothing . Like sounding brass or the tinkling cymbal , I may utter sounds that will charm the ear , aud seem like music to the senses of men , but with the Master enthroned above it will avail me nothing ; and the g lories of that Lodge , though they may seem within my reach , Avill , like the golden apples before the eyes of the starving Tantalus , elude my grasp , or fall to ashes at mv touch .

" And now , brethren , we will request your attention to our slight examination of the questions . What is this love , and Avhat are its fruits ? And here we can chum ability to do no more than reflect the light emitted by the source of our Masonic li ght ; that light whichcentering among usirradiates with its

, , refulgent beams all the windings of our terrestrial path , guides us upward along the ladder that reaches to the star-bedecked heaven above , whither as good Masons we expect to arrive , nor withdraws from us , nor suffers to be clouded , one needful ray until the last round has been securely gained and safely passed .

That most excellent Masonic authority , our ancient worthy brother and Past Master , St . John tho Evangelist , tells us that ' God is love . ' Thus , the more we are filled with that heavenly virtue , the nearer will we assimilate in character that Great Being in whose image man first was made . Anger

, malice , envy , hatred , strife , confusion , these are the offspring of some other parent ; bub charity , celestial IOA' 6 , is only of God . This is the love which , as our brother afterwards says , is Avithout fear . ' There is no fear in love , for perfect love easteth out fear . '

And so Avould it prove among us , that if a perfect love existed among us , and ivas cultivated by us , as it ever should be , as tlie brig htest and holiest tenet of our profession , we should be exempt from much fear . We would always meet and approach each other , when without the lodge , in a perfect confidence and free from restraint upon any subject that could

ori g inate between us . And confiding in the love that subsisted among us , we could assemble for our meetings within these Avails , knowing that joy and peace , and all the pleasures of an unalloyed fraternity , Avere the A'iands on which our hungry spirits would feast , and fearing no strife or contention that could

arise to impair our delight . " The lecture next elucidates , severally , the various effects and offices of charity , as these are enumerated iu 1 st Cor . chap . 13 , and thus concludes : — " Charity never faileth ; and , therefore , as in a building Avhere the chief object would be enduring

permanency , Ave would seek for the most durable materials Avhereof to construct it , so , Avith us , has this love been wisely selected as the imperishable cement , abiding even after the things of time and sense shall have passed aivay , wherewith to unite into

one community of interest and feeling and fellowship our brethren , however Avidely time or space may separate them . Brethren , is it here ? Does it hold us together ? Is it upon and around ns , its properties so well understood , itself so Avell mixed , so tempered , and so spread upon the joints , that the block would rend ere ifc Avould slip from its bed ? The glory , the

beauty , the permanency of our temple are well worth the scrutinising inspection of every workman that there be no flaw , no defect , no open joint ; fchat would endanger it . Comes there here a brother who must be mindful of the time when he assumed before that altar his most solemn vows ? Comes he here with

any other sentiment in his heart than that of pure , ardent , unselfish love which he is in duty bound to cherish for his brother ? Comes he here to-night , or any night , to offer on that altar as au acceptable gift , his tribute of thankfulness to God who has upholden our glorious Masonry through periland darkness ,

, aud persecution , and has made it almost the light and salt of the earth ? My brother , in the name of that God I charge you , ' Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy Avay ; first be reconciled to thy brother , then come and offer thy gift . ' "—Ex . Ex .

AVAB INCIDENT IN AMERICA . An incident of the good effects of Masonry was related by Bro . Bev . 11 . T . Iioach , of Georgetown , P . E . Island , at a meeting of Virgin Lodge ( rTo . 396 ) , Halifax , IN " . S ., as follows : —His father , mother , and sister resided in the Southern States of America for

some time . His father died ; war broke out between the Northern States and the South , and his mother and sister received permission to leave the South . They Avere put on board a flag of truce boat , which Avas crowded to excess Avith all sorts and descriptions of reckless human nature . The widow Avas in the

habit of wearing on her person a Eoyal Arch jewel , Avhich had belonged to her late husband , who had been an earnest Mason , and at the time of going on board had it so exposed . She was accosted by an officer of the Federal army , a Mason , Avho asked her a few questions , and on finding out that she Avas the