Summary Of Masonic Law.

thus denied demand an investigation ? Or is it the duty of the Lodge in which the objection was made to prefer charges ? And if not , musl the first Lodge prefer charges against its own member ? A . Visitation is a privilege , and not a right , and no one is to be held responsible for denying that privilege . Neither Lodge is expected or required to prefer charges , —Tennessee .

Eesolved : That it is the privilege of every affiliated Mason , in good and regular standing , to visit any Lodge , when not engaged in the transaction of private business ; but that it is alsa tho right of a sitting member of the Lodge to object to the admission of a visitor , giving his reasons therefor , if required by a majority vote of the members to do so ; or , as the alternative , declaring , upon his honour as a Mason , that his reasons are such that he

can not , with propriety , disclose them to the Lodge . — Massachusetts . A brother can not vouch for a visitor unless he has sat in a Lodge with him , or has examined him by appointment of the Worshipfnl Master . A committee may be appointed when the Lodge is about to open , as well as after it has been actually opened . —Arkansas . _ An Entered Apprentice can not claim the right of visitation only in the Lodge in which he was entered . —

Delaware-A Mason has not the inherent right of visitation ( socalled ) . This is a courtesy extended to the visitor by the Worshipful Master and the Lodge , and may be refused if the Worshipful Master or members see proper to do so . It is the bounden duty of the Worshipful Master to prevent any visitor from entering the Lodge whose presence would cause dissensions or difficulties therein ,

or in any manner disturb the harmony of the Lodge , and particularly if any member of the Lodge should object to the admission of such visitor . A member who objects to sit in a Lodge with a visiting brother need not prefer charges against him unless he thinks proper to do so . The right of objecting to the entrance of a visiting brother should not be lightly exercised , nor without sufficient cause , but the brother objecting is tbe proper judge of this , and the matter is between him and his conscience . —Louisiana .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

FREEMASONRY IS NOT A RELIGION . Freemasonry is not a religion ; but Freemasonry has a religion . And the religion which Freemasonry has , is natural religion , or one of the four positive religions , Christianity , Judaism , Parseeism , and Mahommedanism . —CHAHLES PUETON COOPEE .

A "MIRACLE . A London correspondent thinks that the first exercise by the Great Architect of the Universe of a new Law of Nature may not unfitly be called " A Miracle . " —CHAIILES PUKTOIT COOPEE . CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS .

Dear Brother J . C . M . —There are some who , I trust , will not yet cease to hold up to the reprobation—nay , to use your own words , to the abhorrence of the Craft , the communications of which your letter epeaks' —communications for which no regret has been expressed , and for which no excuse can he

brought forward ; for an excuse could only be an avowal of faults , of which ignorance is not the worst ; and with these faults there is mingled much conceit ,

and conceit knows no avowal of faults . —CHAELESPunxoif COOPEE . VULGURALITY—IGK ORANACB . In some departments of literature , vulgarity is more hurtful than ignorance . —A PAST PEOVISCIA I * GEAND MASTEE .

WHY Ig IT IMPOSSIBLE TO ARGUE WITH THE CONTRIBUTOR P Brother , Sixteen months ago it was stated in the columns of the " Freemasons' Magazine" that it was impossible to argue with the member of our Craft whom you call the contributor , inasmuch as every thing which makes against his view is represented by him to be a fraud and a forgery , and every adverse fact ' and statement , a delusion and a mistake . —A PAST PEOVINCIAI / GIUND MASTER .

LITERARY CONTROVERSY . Should the man , whom the Great Architect of the-Universe has created to work with his hands rather than with his head , unluckily engage in literary controversy , he in no way benefits the reader , and surely loses the reputation for common sense which is bestowed upon all our kind . —A PAST PEOVINCIAB GEAHD MASTEE .

CHRISTIAN AND PAGAN ART . —THEIR CONNECTION , " When , after the long period of darkness which followed upon the decline of the Roman Empire , the-Fine Arts began to revive , the first , and for several ages the only impress they received was that of the religious spirit of the time . Painting , sculpture ,,

music , and architecture , as they emerged one after another from the ' formless void , ' were pressed intothe service of the church . But it is a mistake tosuppose that in adroitly adapting the reviving Arts to her purposes , in that magnificent spirit of calculation which , at all times characterised her , the church

from the beginning selected the subjects , or dictated the use that was to be made of them . * * * There seems to have been at this time a sort of compromise between the popular legends , with all their wild mixture of northern and classical superstitions , and the church legends properly so-called . * # * The Glory , Nimbus , or Aureole—the christian attribute of sanctity , and used generall y to distinguish all

holy personages—is of Pagan origin . It expressed the luminous nebula , ( Homer , II ., xxiii ., 205 ) supposed to emanate from , and surround , the divine essence , which stood ' a shade in midst of its own brightness . ' Images of the gods were decorated with a crown of rays , or with stars ; and when the Roman emperors assumed the honours due to divinitythey

, appeared in public crowned with golden radii . " * * * "It is interesting , and leads the mind to many speculations , to remark that the Babylonish captivity must have familiarised the Israelites with the combination of the human and animal attributes in the same figure . The gigantic bas-reliefs from

Ninevehshow us winged bulls with human heads , and the human form with the eagle ' s head and wings . " W © find Mediaeval representations of the four evangelists , where Matthew is represented simply as a man while Mark , Luke , and John have each respectively the head of a lion , ox , and eagle , thus showing how christian art was influenced by the pagan art wihch preceded it . —W . P . B .