Operative Masonry has been the great embellisher of the pursuits of peace. We see its handiwork displayed in the stately palaces of our merchant princes; in the massive arches of our temples of worship; in the gorgeous splendor of our halls of legislation; in the sculptured elegance of our national monuments; in the fretted colonnades of our public buildings. We see it in the solidity of the Tuscan-in the noble simplicity of the Doric-the elegant symmetry of the Ionic the stately splendor of the Corinthian, and in the combined beauties of the Composite Orders of Architecture. It is a noble science; it refines the taste, educates the heart, ennobles civilization, and dignifies humanity. Its grandest and proudest achievement, no doubt, was the erection of that wonderful temple of the Lord, at Jerusalem. Jerusalem! the Mason's Mecca, to which his eye turns reverently,

'City of palms, of palaces, and fountains ;

Thou sittest a Queen among thy sacred hills,
Begirt as by a tiara of mountains;

Thy ancient glory now my vision fills,
As oft the mind's swift river backward rolls,
To glass thine image on thy thousand rills;

Thou shrine of hope, the Pilgrim's sacred goal,
Blest Mecca of the mind and city of the soul."

* *

"And distant through the warm air shimmering,
Thy massive walls and towers of strength arise;
Bright spires and lofty turrets glimmering,

While from the 'Orient,' robed in Tyrian dyes,
A queenly Temple fills my wondering eyes,
Moriah's mystic Fane, whose burnished dome
Looms up, as if to mock the bowing skies,

From many lands where Christian warriors come,
Their tears and vows to blend above the holy tomb.

"And now, high poised on fancy's soaring wings,
I fain would linger o'er the Temple's shrine;
A heavenly radiance round about thee clings,
As mirrored on my heart, thy splendors shine;
Thy beauty wraps my soul, Oh, Fane divine,
Where once, in silken bonds, three sons of Light,
With purpose high, and mystic word and sign,
Together met, amid thy wonders bright,

That shine like flashing stars upon the brows of night."

From the erection of this wonderful edifice, with whose history every Mason is familiar, we can confidently date Masonry. That its mysteries were practiced by the Craft then, we have the most indubitable evidence. That they have been transmitted thence to us, unimpaired, we entertain no doubt.

66

But operative Masonry, as a secret science, has long ceased. to exist. As practiced by us, its mysteries are wholly speculative. As Masons, we are not, like our ancient operative Brethren, engaged in the actual labor upon a material edifice; we are devoted to a nobler and more glorious workthe construction of a moral and spiritual building. We are not actually squaring stones in the quarries of Zeradatha, or hewing cedars in the forests of Lebanon, but are, or should be, fitting ourselves, as living stones, for that spiritual building that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." We are not necessarily adepts in the use of the plumb, the square, and the level, and the various implements of the operative art; but from these working tools of our ancient Brethren we symbolize lessons of the purest morality, and are instructed in the ethics of the most exalted benevolence. As the plumb teaches us to walk uprightly before God and man, the square to square our actions by the square of virtue, and the level to remember that we are travelling on the level of time to that undiscovered country-" that bourne from whence no traveller returns,"-so every implement of the operative art inculcates some moral precept, or typifies some Christian virtue. The highest morality and noblest philanthropy are illustrated in every stage of the Masonic life. Thus, its cardinal virtues are prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice; its motto is Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. Its theological ladder, leading from Earth to Heaven, consists of three principal rounds, the first of which is "Faith in God," the second the "Hope of immortality," and the third "Charity towards all mankind,"—a creed, it seems to me, wide enough for the whole moral universe, and yet narrow enough to exclude the unworthy. We do not claim it

as a strictly Christian institution, for its profession may be made, and its principles be embraced by every faith, creed, and sect that acknowledges a Supreme Being, who will reward virtue and punish vice. Yet Masonry inculcates an unceasing practice of all the Christian virtues, and exacts obedience to its fundamental precepts. The very badge we wear, that distinguishes us from the world, is emblematic of the innocence of an immaculate Saviour-the Lamb of God, whom we all, Christian, Jew, or Mohammedan, agree either has, in the past, or will in the future, make atonement for the sins of the world. Deprive us of faith in that atonement, and where is the hope impressed upon the heart of every Master Mason with awful solemnity, that "after life's fitful fever is over," and his body shall be consigned to the grave, he shall be raised, by the power and strength of "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," to life and immortality.

Our Institution is founded on the Bible, which is its "Great Light;" without this great moral luminary we grope in darkBanish it from our Lodges, and our work ceases. It

ness.

It is the great controlling Remove it, and Masonry falls

rests immovable upon our altars. centre of the Masonic system. to the ground, just as the solar system would be thrown into wild disorder without the sun to regulate and govern the movements of the heavenly bodies. It is the very cornerstone of the superstructure upon which Masonry rests; and when it perishes, if such a thing were possible, Masonry must perish with it; but not till then. Our very Lodges are dedicated to two of the most eminent disciples of Christ—the Saints John-who, we are assured, were equally eminent patrons of Masonry. Strange, then, that an Institution, founded on the Bible, whose very Lodges are dedicated to illustrious Apostles of Christ, whose principles inculcate an increasing practice of the Christian virtues, and which adopts the Bible as its "Great Light,"-"the rule of its faith and guide of its practice," should meet with determined opposition from Christians! Yet, in all ages, how much of the denunciation that is heaped upon it comes from the bosom of the Church, whose faithful handmaid it is!

MASONIC JURISPRUDENCE-QUERIES AND

REPLIES.

[We are indebted to Bro. WESTON for the answers to the queries in this department.-Publisher.

BRO. SCOTT: Who should prepare candidates?

ANS. It has been the custom to intrust the preparation of candidates to the J. D., but we think the stewards, or marshal, should attend to it. No officer who has a duty to perform inside the Lodge room should be sent out for the purpose designated.

Suppose an E. A., who has received the first degree in one Lodge, removes to the jurisdiction of another, can the Lodge into whose jurisdiction he removes, confer the F. C. and M. M. degrees on him?

ANS. No-unless it has the permission of the Lodge which conferred the first degree.

When two members rise to address the Lodge at about the same instant, must not the Master assign the floor to the one who first addresses him?

ANS. He should generally do so, but he has the power to assign it to either, as he chooses.

Is a Past Master entitled to a seat in the East in his Lodge? ANS. He is.

Can a man, not a Mason, prefer charges against a Brother? ANS. We see no reason why he cannot, and think it in the discretion of the Lodge to receive the charges or not, as it deems proper.

30-VOL. IV. NO. X.

A PATRIARCHAL LODGE.

[From the Signet and Journal.]

ONE of the oldest Lodges in existence, of which we have any knowledge, is St. John's Lodge, Glasgow, Scotland, which celebrated its eight hundred and first (801) anniversary on the 27th of December last. It holds its charter from Malcolm III, King of Scotland, of date 1057. This Charter, says Bro. James Cruckshank, of Glasgow, who has presided over the Lodge as Master, has been carefully handed down from generation to generation, and is still in possession of the Lodge, and, although a little defaced, is in a tolerable state of preservation. It is believed to be a genuine Charter; and, along with it, they have a translation of the original, which shows that the Lodge of Masons was constituted on the petition of the operative Masons of Glasgow, for the purpose of building the Cathedral, for keeping out unskilled workmen who had come to work there; and, also, for putting down irregular Lodges got up by them. They were, therefore, allowed to form themselves into one incorporation, and to have a free Lodge forever; not only so, but in the very words of the Charter: "None in my dominions shall erect a Lodge until they make application to the St. John's Lodge at Glasgow." But this original Charter is not the only guarantee of the antiquity of the Lodge; for we find that when Bishop Joceline commenced to re-erect the Cathedral in Glasgow, in 1181, (the former having been destroyed by fire,) he received from King William the Lion, a Charter of confirmation in favor of the Lodge. The Corporation and the Lodge, chartered at one and the same time, have gone, hand in hand, together up to the union of the latter with the Grand Lodge in 1849. Evidence of this is given in a Charter of 1628, where it is stated that John Boyd is Deacon of the Corporation and Master of the Lodge; and the present venerable Bro. Geo. Young, who has filled the office of Secretary of the Lodge and Clerk to the Corporation, for nearly half a century, tells us that this has been the custom during the long time of his connection with the Lodge. It is much to be regretted that the early records have been lost. The Lodge has in its possession a very fine old oak box, which is regarded by the members as a valuable relic of a past age. We had the pleasure of seeing it when in Glasgow two or three years since, and, from our minutes, made in the hall of the Lodge, are able to furnish a brief description of it, which