Notes And Queries For Freemasons.

NOTES AND QUERIES FOR FREEMASONS .

THE TEMPLE ; A SYMBOL OE MASONIC LIFE . § HE following extract from a paper entitled , "The Outer and the Inner Temple , " by Bro . the Rev . Dr . W . P . Strickland , is so much in accordance with my oira views that I do not hesitate to forward it for the more widely extended circle of your readers . If such extracts meet with approval , 1 can , occasionally , furnish others .

EX . EX . " That great exhibition of art—the glory of all ages , and unsurpassed in magni" Sconce by any other reared by the hand of man , the temple of King Solomon " —had its outer and inner courts , both of which were in the highest sense " emblematical of its design . Like its Divine Author , who is the Creator of all " men , and 'hath made of one Wood all nations and fixed the bounds of their " habitation' it was designed for allyet not alike for all The first rtment

, , . apa " of the sacred inclosurc was open to all nations ; beyond this , and advancing "inward , wan the court of the Israelites , into which no other nation was "permitted to enter , and then only the Jewish males , the women having an " apartment allotted to themselves . Still beyond was the court of the Levites " and priests , and in the centre of all the sanctuary or temple-proper , divided into " what was denominated the holy and the most holy place . Ministering priests " were alone admitted into the former , while none but the High Priest could withdraw the veil

" of the latter , and that only once a-ycar . Between the " cherubim ^ over the Ark of the mercy-scat , the mysterious unapproachable glory " of the Divine Sbckinah poured its effulgence . From this ever-present oracle " went out , tlu-ough the High Priest , to those in the Sanctuary and the outer " courts , and through the assembled thousands to the outside world , the revelations " of Jehovah . To the construction of this temple , and its significant design , "Masonry traces its ori gin and derives all its principles and teachings . Its " mysteries—unlike those of Osiris and Isis , in Egypt , and those of Eleusis , in " Greece—arc open to all of every nation who are found worthy and well qualified

' to receive them . "As it was in the temple and its worshippers , so is it in Masonry . There are " many of those who got within the sacred inclosurc who never penetrate beyond " its outer court , and are , to all intents and purposes , outer-court worshipers . " The mere external form is all they sec and all they know ; the spirit and power " are either entirely beyond their perception , or they possess no inclination Lo " advance beyond these outward signs and symbols .

" The design of the masonic institution is to form a character according to a " model embracing all the cardinal virtues ; and where this design is not carried " out , the defect will he so apparent as to destroy all claims to the designation " of a true mason . It is not enough that the outer court of the temple of Masonry " be entered , that the , obligations to be good and true are taken at its altar , and " that the profession be assumed ; this is but the beginning , the mere laying of " the corner-stone . But as the foundation is not the structure , though hearing

" an essential relation to it , so the entrance upon a masonic life is important as " a beginning , but it is not the pursuit and the goal . The regulation of the " life , and the cultivation of every virtue that adorns humanity , becomes the dut y " of all who bear the name of mason , and he betrays his trust , ' and belies his pro" f ' ession , whose constant aim is not to form an erect and solid character . As the " plumb , the level , and the square , are essential to the most experienced and " skilful architect in the construction of an edificeso an observance of rules is

, " essential to the erection of a masonic character . Many arc only attracted by " the outer adornments of the temple . They admire its form and symmetry , " gaze witli rapture on its pillars and vohite ' d columns and minarets , but the " inner apartments attract them not . The objects of thought and study with " which they abound would require too much of their time , and tax them with