The History Of Freemasonry.

worshipped as the god Dagon , and was also considered to be the whale of Jonah . It may be remarked that one of the Anglo-Saxon gods represented a man standing on a fish . Whether this has any allusion to the particular fish must , of course , be but a conjecture . However , the god Dagon

was represented as being half man , half fish . Ovid , in his " Metamorphoses , " Fable 5 , Book 2 , represents Jupiter , after Heaven and Earth had nearly been destroyed by Phaeton's inability to control the Horses of the Sun , as " surveying the vast walls of Heaven , and carefully searches

that no part impaired by the violence of the fire may fall to ruin . " Grand Master Nimrod , as he has been termed by some writers , is given by them as the first founder of Masonry . He is said to have sent sixty Masons to the King of

Nineveh , his cousin , " and then was the Craft first founded there , and the worthy Master Euclid gave it the name of geometry . " In this statement there is some little difficulty in reconciling dates , the period of Nimrod being about A . M . 2000 , and Euclid not having been born until about

A . M . 3700 . But dates appear hardly ever to have been an obstacle to the old historian , and particularly as regards this same " Master Euclid . " ( To be continued !)

Gathered Chips.

Gathered Chips .

There are times in a man ' s life when the humanity and divinity within him seem to be most antagonistic , showing their strongest contrast . To administer to the wants of a brother is but the expression of sympathy which our natures learn through

our human dependence upon a higher power ; we give in return as we have received . We pity and aid in distress because we have experienced the heartache and pain , while the tears often flow in remembrance of our own sorrow

our love goes out toward our fellow-beings because we desire their love ; our humanity craves human love ; it endures , it pleads and labours that it may turn the affections of the hearts most dear . This has its immediate reward ; it is but the following of our natural inclinations ; it is the human side of our nature .

But when this love is demanded in return for the blow of selfish injustice which rankles and burns in the heart and calls for the return blow , 'tis then the higher instincts are called upon . For a moment the hand of indignation reaches for the sword of retaliation ; our wounded feelings

writhe and bleed , crying out for retribution . While with the sweat of passion upon our brow we bend over our foe , then God ' s winged messenger , forgiveness , quick reaches down and wrests the weapon from our hand ,

while that divine spark within us cries out , " Forbear ! this is thy brother . AVithdraw thy human judgment and let thy soul deal with him . " We hesitate and question . Why should not wrongs committed here be repaid measure for

measure ? Need we question long ? Listen while the Psalmist sings of God ' s pardon , "I'll forgive your transgressions , and remember them no more , " and again we hear him say , "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow . " This covers all conditions , all crimes .

However , behind this free full pardon there lies a condition an agreement between us and the Grand Master on high . If we come to Him with all the imperfection of all our lives we must come forgiving and forgetting all our brother's shortcomings and wrongs to us , not the world ' s form of

forgiveness , which for a brief day smothers back the hot words and bitter resentment , to whet its wrath against the opportunity when the " ancient grudge" may be avenged and satisfied , but rather that noble pardon that leaves no trace of anger , no wormwood in memory ' s chalice . Then

shall we dare to ask that we be forgiven of Him as we have forgiven those who have transgressed against us . If in viewing our lifework with His unerring square , the Master should show us the defects , should test with a heavy stroke our weak points , finding with unsympathetic scrutiny

the imperfections , and to our pleadings and excuses He coldly grants forgiveness but assures us we cannot be received on the old terms of trust , our neglect is not forgotten . Where would we find darkness deep enough to hide us in our shame and sorrow ? Andjyet this is inevitable , if God's

deep searching eye finds buried deep in the dark recesses ot our hearts the unpardoned debt of a brother . Does He not note a smile of exultation at a calamity of some unfortunate while our Pharisee hearts have felt it was an answer to our

desire for a repaying of some old debt He owed us ? We as brothers should often weigh and estimate the enormity of our wilful outrages against a just , pure God . Let us look at the past with its darkness and unfaithfulness , at the present with its weakness and unworthiness , then the insecurity of

the coming years , whose trials and temptations we know not . My brother , does not our higher nature cry aloud , " Oh ! fools and blind . Why shut the glory of the East out of your future . "

We are not free and accepted Masons till we gather all the petty resentment , all the hatred , all memory of wrong , and lay them upon our heart ' s altar , and burn them there ; God ' s power within will fan the flame till all is dead ashes , and in that smouldering heap will be the dross of our

natures ; the heat of that flame will refine us , and we shall be free , since we have learned to forgive as God forgives . — The Royal Craftsman .

It has been an established custom among Masons , upon occasions such as and similar to the present , for some qualified brother to set forth , in definite and explanatory terms , the reasons and motives which have impelled the renewed and augmented effort made to extend the area

of Masonic work , and to develop its ramifications in the world ' s field of action . Oftentimes these occasions have been utilised for the purpose of expounding the principles and aims of the Craft , of elucidating and explaining its raison d ' etreand maintaining its claim for very existence .

, And in an age when intellect and culture demand that every effort made to secure an individual and peculiar existence , shall at least prove the value and the utility of its claim —when the balances of incisive judgment are called into use , and are vigorously employed to weigh the

virtues of every organisation demanding recognition at the hands of an enlightened and discerning public—in such an age , I say , if never before , does it become our necessity to satisfy ourselves , as well as those outside the Masonic circle , that the Order exists for noble aims and honourable