Masonic Notes And Queries.

of Mr . R . Phemister , wright , Edinburgh . ( New York and Boston , U . S ., papers please copy . )" I have attended a Masonic Funeral Lodge ; the Americans have a ceremony for a Masonic baptism ; but it is the first time I ever heard of a Masonic marriage ceremony . —CURIOUS .

[ Bro . Phemister , we understand , is the respected Secretary of the Lodge Journeymen . —ED . P . M . ] A MASONIC TnOUGIIT . We know not the names of the builders of the pyramids , but these immortal works , defying alike the tooth of timethe anger of the tempestancl the

de-, , vastating hand of man , rear their immortal heads to Heaven . What is it to us who built them ? What matters to its development , who puts a great idea into the world ? We see not ; we have never personally known God , but His worlss still proclaim that HE IS . —L . F .

RED CROSS OF CONSTANTINE . Does R . W . L . know anything of the Red Cross Degrees ? Has he ever heard of Babylon , and does he know the history of the degree upon which he claims to be an authority—the Cross of Constantine . He appears to be alike a poor student of history , as he is of modern Masonry , or he would know that the

Constantine Order among OLD MASONS has always been treated as a contemptible side degree . Lupus is correct . Who reall y is R . W . L . ?— -A RED CROSS KNIGHT .

R . W . L . asks if Lupus will state explicitly what other Red Cross Order than that { miscalled ) of Constantine " has for many years " been known in certain provinces . I may , -perhaps , be allowed to support Lupus so far as to state that I received admission into a Red Cross Order when I was installed a Templar . The brother who gave me the accolade

had been 50 years a Templar , and was Grand Master . I need hardly state , however , that the Red Cross Order was not the Order of Constantine , which is not recognised by the Grand Conclave nor any other grand body in the three kingdoms , so far as I know .

I must beg to contradict " R . W . L . " in his assertion that the Masonic Order of St . John has been revived within the past "four or five " years . The thanks of all true Red Cross Masons are clue to " Lupus " for his letters anent the Order of Constantine . —<&

[ We have had much reluctance in inserting these letters aud notes . Brethren should really think before they write . The discussion had better now close . — ED . P . M . ] CRLTX" ON MASONIC DISCIPLINE , I have with great leasure perused the valuable

p articles by " Crux ' ' on the above subject , and I trust his efforts will be productive of practical good . However , when he leaves his subject and indulges ( as he occasionally does ) in historical remarks , I must say he spoils himself ; and I beg most decidedly to dissent from several of his ideas . I do so becauseas

Pro-, fessor Iuues observes ( p . 120 ) , " we ought to " avoid fables and fabulous pretence of anti quity , " aud because , as Bro . W . J . Hughan wisely remarks ( p . 113 ) , "the ceremonies of the Order require neither trickery nor antiquity to secure their general appreciation ; '' and , further , because I consider that when "Crux "

attempt's to bring in such pseudo-historical remarks as I refer to , he is "going beyond his last . ' " ' Crux " is writing upon " Masonic Discipline , " aud well too ; but he deliberately spots his own sun . Among others , I object to this sentence , "The rites and ceremonies belonging to a fraternity coeval with the

creation of the firmament , are beyond all interrogatory jurisdiction . They stand above the reach of human inquisition . Like the will of the Omnipotent Creator ¦—immutable ancl eternal— -they come not within the narrow sphere of mundane criticism . The nature of their originancl the mystery of their creationare

, , lost in the oblivion of ages ; their secrets are not to be fathomed by the rules of logic nor by the wiles of sophistry . " With all due respect to " Crux , " the above quotation appears to me to be simply bosh , and highly calculated to injure us in the eyes of educated or thinking men . Imagine for a , moment the

meaning of the words that Freemasonry is " a fraternity coeval with the creation of the firmament ! " Again , to liken " the rites and ceremonies " to " the will of the Omnipotent ; Creator , " seems to me to border on blasphemy , "Crux" may not mean so ; but he should be more careful , knowing how our words and

acts are apt to be criticised . Again , at page 121 , " Crux " says there are P . M . ' s who " are as willing at any moment to get into the

chair as their Masonic predecessors were to get into the saddle . " From that sentence it appears to me that " Crux " believes in the modem story , or mushroom legend , of the Knights Templars being Freemasons , of which imagination or fable Bro . A . 0 . Haye fairly disposes when he says ( see Magazine for

May 23 rd , 1 S 6 S , page 411 ) : "There never was and there never has been , up till the end of tho 17 th or beginning of the 18 th century , any connection between the Templars and Freemasons ; " ancl , apart from that , I consider on other grounds that the idea of our " Masonic predecessors getting into tho saddle "

is simply , to saj r the least of it , a mistake . Imagine for a moment the idea of a member of one of tho old operative or building fraternities quietly working away at his stone ; mayhap it is only a plain ashlar which he is carefully squaring , or it may be some quaint device or woudrously-carved capital he is

engaged on . But , hark ! the trumpet sounds ! * * * * Down goes the mell and chisel , off goes apron , the fiery steed is brought out , ancl the worthy Mason being duly transformed pro tern , into Sir Knight McFreestono , sallies forth—a real Bayard—able and willing to encounter—like that doughty Knight , Sir

Don Quixote—any amount of windmills ! So much for our " Masonic predecessors getting into tho saddle . " It strikes me they would fool safer and more at home on terra iir . ua .

There are some historical ( r ) remarics ( page lo /) prefaced to a report of a meeting of the Prov . G . Lodge of Yorkshire West , which I would leave in the bands of some of our English Masonic scholars to deal with . —PICTUS .

THE FREEMASONS ( pp . 90 & 101 . Has the origin aud meaning of the word "Freemason , " as adopted by Arclusologists been explained in the columns of the Freaniutoiis Maya ~ i ; ie and , if so , where?—S . G .