The Sepulchre Of Christ.

history and the topography are agreed . Returning to the south-west angle , and measuring 600 ft . north , we come to a second bridge or causeway . Up to that point the great " bevilled " masonry of Herod extends , but there it ceases . On this side , again , the history and topography are at one , and

thus two sides of the quadrangle are obtained . The other two , lying within the sacred inclosure , have not yet been investigated . The position of the great rock-cut reservoir in front of the Aksah , thewatercourses , as far as they have been examined , all accord with the indications of Josephus and the

Talmud . Everything tends to show that the Temple of Herod was , as Josephus tells us , 600 ft . square , and was situated in the south-western angle of the present Harem area . The rock , therefore , which now stands under the Dome of the Roch was certainly outside the area of the Temple , cot a

distance of 150 feet from its northern wall . A few words were devoted to showing that the supposition that the altar in the Temple was placed upon a rock is unsupported by any evidence or implication of the Bible , Josephus , or the Talmud , and is , in fact , a mere Mohammedan tradition . The remainder of the lecture was devoted to an

examination of the post-Christian evidence . The lecturer said that he had Sir H . Rawlinson ' s Arabic library examined by a competent Arabic scholar , who had extracted and translated all passages bearing on Jerusalem , the result being that , down to the time of Abd-el-Malik , and later , the limits of the Temple were well known to the Mohammedans , and that they neither built nor pretended to have built the structure now called the

ec Mosque of Omar . " "If , then , " concluded Mr . Eergusson , "the Dome of the Rock was not built by the Saracens , ifc must have been built by the Christians : there is no third party in the field who could have clone it . In that case , I would ask , ' What church did

Constantine or any other Christian priest or monarch build in Jerusalem over a great rock ¦ with one cave in it but the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ? ' Till this question is answered—and no attempt has yet been made to reply to it , or to supply its place with any-reasonable suggestion—¦

the arguments of my opponents halt . As I began let me conclude . I first took up the question on ai'chifcecfcural grounds ; I then examined it historically ; and lastly , I investigated it on the topographical ground I have this evening laid before you . Whichever path I attempted to pursueI

, always came back to the same point . I do not mean to say that the question is without difficulties , or the road without its ruts ancl roughnesses ; but I do assert that , so far as I can judge , an immense preponderance of evidence , from whatever point it is viewedis in favour of the conclusion that the

, building at Jerusalem known as the Dome of the Rock is the identical church which Constantine built over what he believed to be the Sepulchre of Christ . "

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

BIBLIOGRAPHIC AI ; QTTEEIES . Some writers have favoured us with the titles of the following works . The dates of publication are of vast importance , and , in order that there may be no mistake about them , instead of inserting them in figures I have done so in words : —

1 . A Short Analysis of the Unchanged Rites and Ceremonies of the Free-Masons . London , 8 yo . Printed for Steph . Billy . SIXTEEN-HTINDEED AND SEVENTY-SIX .

2 . Observations and Inquiries relating to the Brotherhood , of the Free-Masons , hy Simeon Townshend . 8 vo ., London . SEYENTEEN- HUNDBED AND TWELVE . 3 . The Constitutions of'the Fraternity of Free-ancl-Aeeeptei-llasonry . Wo sizeno lace of publication

, p mentioned , hut dates given thus : —SIXTEEN-HUNDBED AND EIGHTY-NINE ; SLXTEEN-HTJNDEED AND NINETY ; SEVENTEEN-HOTDEED AND ONE ; S EVENTEEN-HUNDEED AND TWENTY-THBEE ; SEVENTEEN-HUNDBED

AND TWENTY-FIVE . "Watt , Lowndes , Bagford , the Bodleian , and British Museum Catalogues have been carefully searched , hut not a vestige of any one of these titles can be found . Nicholls ' s , Grainger , and the various dictionaries of . authors and printers hlexaminedbut

have been most thorougy , no traces have heen found of a Simeon Townshend or a Stephen Dilly . Thory , in his introduction to his Acta Latomorum expresses his doubt of the existence of such books . "We already know that , in the instance of the " Certayne Questions" and theso-called

, John Locke's , letter on them , said to be copied from the Bodleian , and printed ad nauseum in every history of Masonry , that some brother did forge a document which deceived Preston , but that there never has been —so the librarians say—any such letter or MS . in the Bodleian library . I grant it is much easier to

impose on persons , not used to old documents , by the fabrication of a manuscript , but what I am treating of are printed books—books that are said to be printed before the formation—or reconstruction—or any othep of

term the reader may choose—the Grand Lodge in 1717 . Nor must the present , or Anderson's , Book of Constitutions , be confounded with that quoted above—although both are dated in the year 1723 , when an edition of Desagulier ' s or Andersonthey both claimed ifc , and signed the preface—waa

printed , and is lying before me at this moment , and entitled , The Constitutions of the Freemasons . Containing the History , Charges , Regulations , Sfe ., of that most Ancient and Bight Wbrsldpful Fraternity . For the Use of the Lodges . So the identity of year of publicationalthough remarkablecannot be said to

, , refer to one and the same book . My query shall be a terse one . Has any brother ever seen , and if so where , a copy of the printed books I have numbered 1 , 2 , 3 ? Because it does not seem credible to me that every sheet of them should vanish and leave no trace behind . We swallow quite enough

nonsense in the lectures , but historical truth and accuracy demand a more correct version of the existence of those books which have , hitherto , escaped the inquiries of—MATTHEW COOKE .