Masonic Notes And Queries.

wood by any natural causes , save that of fire , it is not unreasonable to suppose that these scions of a princely race may have existed , and even been of good size , Avhen the axes of Adoniram's thirty thousand made the mountain echoes answer back the sounds . Stopping Papers . Subscribers in arrears , who refuse or return their

papers , Avithout paying arrears , are probably not aware that by doing so they give prima facie evidence of fraud as decided by the Courts . If you desire to discontinue , just act upon the square by squaring yonr accounts with the printer , and then if we must part company we can " part upon the square , " and if in life ' s journey , or beyond it , we meet again , AVO can " meet upon Hie level . " To one ancl all Ave wish A HAPPY NEAV TEAR .

Preservation of Masonic Documents . Many Freemasons have books , documents , papers , and relics of Masonic interest and value , lying about , or stowed away in their garrets , that ought to be preserved and cared for . We hope that such things will be preserved . Oftentimes a paper or book has but little A'alue by itself , but , Avhen placed in a collection , its worth is

largely increased . IF any of our readers haA e , or know of any , Masonic or anti-Masonic books or papers , we hope they will take immediate measures to have them put into hands that Avill preserve them . Yanlcee Masonic Geometry . An equilateral triangle is friendship , its base is duty ,

its perpendicular is sincerity of performance ; its hypo-• thenuse , the advantage arising from the performance . If the duty of sincerity floiv equally the advantage will iloAV equally .

Jerusalem Marble . At the residence of our distinguished and most Avorthy Bro . Orr , Tiventy-first Street , NOAV York , is a block of Jerusalem marble , taken from the subterranean quarry immediately underneath the ancient site of the Holy Temple , " hcived , squared , marked , and numbered" by one of the craft of Hiram upward , of 2 , 000 years ago .

'This square block is abput a cubit and a half long and a ¦ cubit thick , and was sent by our worthy Bro . Broivn , of -the American Legation at Constantinople , to Bro . Orr , -to be presented by him to the Grand Lodge of NCAV "York . How impressively this perfect ashlar speaks to . -a Mason , and what hallowed associations are connected with it as it leads us back and brings us , as it Avere , in connection with the past !

A few Hints on Behaviour in Lodge . Think that you are among those who have bound themselves to act as gentlemen , and that the nearer your conduct approaches the same standard ,, the better . If wealthier and more'distinguished persons be present , recollect that your Masonic equality with them can only be shoAvn by your oivn strict propriety of conduct ; if you

are among those otherwise your inferiors , bear in mind that courtesy , and easy condescension , not stiff and . pompous patronage , are your best means of displaying your equality . Let ceremony neither bo exaggerated nor forgotten ; for in the one case you forget what is due to yourself , in the other j ^ ou forget your duty to othersancl those obligations of propriety which belong

, to Masonry pre-eminently , as they do to all civilisation . On Dress while in Lodge . By the custom of wearing full dress you recognise others as gentlemen , and prove your own desire to conform to their customs . Attention to small matters is often the readiest medium for showing our respect

toAvards great ones . On Lodge Decoration . Where these are imperfect and in bad taste , do not sneer at or ridicule them , but think of two things : —1 st .

Whether the funds that might have purchased better are not perhaps devoted to more serious and important purposes . 2 nd . Whether you are able and willing to contribute to their improvement , if necessary . On the Study of Freemasonry . Believe that you have much to learn , and that your

present ignorance is the first passport to the outer gate through which you enter into more glorious and deep mysteries . Feel yourself as a child wanting instruction , and wisdom will perfect its work , patiently and kindly . Enter in simple and unpretending faith , and that faith Avill speedily produce its fruits of knowledge and morality . Do not think to jump at conclusions by guessing what is

to follow . Such conduct is like that of the schoolboy who tries to crib the ansAver to his sum from a key he has surreptitiously obtained , and copies down the wrong one . True knowledge comes only by honest means , and patient labour is the handmaiden of honesty .

The Demands of Freemasonry . Masonry does not demand impossibilities . Squares and circles both belong to Masonry , but Masons are nob expected to square circles . Masonry has utility for its end as well as morality , aud vaiu attempts are as remote from its proper scope as wicked ones . Spiritual and Operative Freemasons .

A Freemason must be a good man , one who duly fears , loves , and serves his heavenly Master , aud , in imitation , of the operative Mason who erects a temporal building according to the rules and designs laid down for him by the Master Mason , ou his tressei-board , raises a spiritual building according to the laws and injunctions laid down by the Supreme Architect of the Universe , in the Book of Life , which may justly be considered in . this light as a spiritual tressel-board .

Freemasonry too Religious . There is beginning to be presented a neiv form and substance of objection , which , however , as it is equally unfounded in truth , will , Ave doubt not , like all the others , meet with the same fate : that Masonry , which was once charged with being the teacher of Atheism , the violator of law , ancl the conservator of absurd trifles , is now

clothed Avith another garment , different from all these , ancl is accused of endeavouring to establish a religion for itself , and to teach its members how to get to heaven in its oivn Avay . Its object is now said to be , to offer itself as a substitute for Christianity , and to present its own teachings , exclusively , as a way of salvation . Although this change of tactics is undoubtedly very absurdit was

, a very natural change in a system of absurdity . When it Avas found that men would nob believe that Masonry had no religion , it was a very shrewd policy to endeavour to persuade them that it had too much . The accusation is now a new one ; it is , perhaps , the last Parthian arrow

from the quiver of anti-masoury , and has already been shot too wide of its mark to effect any harm . The thousands of pious Christians and intelligent clergymen Avho fill the ranks of Masonry , and who would long ago have abandoned it if it had sought , in the most indirect Avay , to interfere with their hopes of eternal safety through the Cross alone , is in itself the best ansAver to

such a charge . We do not intend making any sort of an argument on this subject . In a pleasant little story , from the pen of Mrs . Inchbald , there is a character—a learned but arrogant priest—who once declined entering into an argument with a lady , on the ground that he never disputed with any body under a doctor of divinity . We confess we are someAvhat in favour of his vieAvsab

, least so far as never to argue Avith a man on a subject of which he is totally ignorant . No one AA'ho is at all acquainted with the nature , the history , and the true design of Freemasonry , would ever , for a single instant , undertake to sustain either of the four accusations which