Notes On Literature Science, And Art.

in one of which orders , for already the Good Templars are split up into two bodies— -he is a District Deputy . I have no wish to introduce into the Masonic Magazine any discussion on total abstinence from intoxicating drinks ; though I may be allowed to remind my Masonic readers , that on their first introduction into the Craft they were taught , among other important duties , the necessity of such a prudent and well regulated course of discipline as may best conduce to the preservation of their corporeal and mental

faculties in their . fullest energy ; thereby enabling them to exert the talents wherewith God has blest them , as well to His glory as to the welfare of then- fellow-creatures . Judge , then , my surprise , shortly after . I had received the above instruction , on being asked by the old secretary of a lodge where I was a visitor , if I really did not think that Freemasonry had led many a man to his ruin by causing him to become a drunkard ? My reply was then , as it would be now , that men had got drunk at christenings , at

marriages , at funerals , at public auctions , at visitations , at meetings of benefit clubs , ancl such like , but the drunkenness was no part of the institution ; and that the Mason who gave himself up to the dominion of any passion , was a false Brother , who had better ncA er have been admitted to its privileges . The true Mason , whether a teetotaler or otherwise , will be quite ready to exclaim with Mr . Macpberson : — " Alas ! how many men stoop from their gifted stature , and reel along the path of life , shriveUing up their nobler nature into something worse than that of brutes , cowering basely within the bounds of the lowest animal propensities . Take the very elements out of which he builds the physical stature of his life . Does he budd up his own body as he-woidd the

dwelling within which he houses it ? How wed he cuts his clothes ancl fits them , to his body ! How ill he fits his body to the requirements of his soul ! As he advances in civilization , his art touches hardly anything but what it adorns—except himself . When he tries to manipulate himself , the inspiration of his art seems to fad him . He seems in fact to have lost his nature in his art , forgetting that true art is but' nature dressed to advantage . '" And too truly he remarks , that " man has fallen from his high estate ,

and lies weltering in sensualities . " "The leading features of our constitution , " he remarks , " are the Fatherhood of God , and the universal Brotherhood of Man , " adding : — "Under the Fatherhood of God ancl the Brotherhood of Man , which are indispensable articles of our faith and practice , we comprise the whole duty of man . " So that an atheist can no more be a Good Templar than he can be a Freemason . Of their secresy he remarks : — " There is no more secresy about our proceedingsthan there

, is in those of any domestic family ; and the whisper that opens a welcome to every lodge in the world , is but the confidential latch key , which proclaims the entrance of a member of the family . Our secret signs are merely symbols of brotherly affection , and of aspiration towards heaven and God ; Our regalia are ensigns of the royal yoke of duty we have undertaken as subjects of the King of Icings , ancl are intended to lmpres * our minds that our duty should be pure as the snowtrue as the blue of heavenancl

, , lofty as the imperial purple . Everything around us in our lodge points to truth of thought , charity of purpose , nobdity of action . We may not rise to the height of our principles , but there they are continuaUy symbolized before us . " So it is too with our clear old Craft !

That Angus Macpberson has thoughts , ancl knows how to express them , the following specimen of his pencraft will show : — " Working men , who use the reason God gave you to think by , let me sketch before your mind ' s eye a picture you may verify for yourselves . The night is dark ancl gloomy , but the flaming furnaces beat back the darkness and the gloom , ancl glow with a strong , stern light . Swart sons of Yidcan stand by those furnaces , kneading the molten iron

into pliant forms for the purposes of man . Carefully they supply the fierce fuel which ' melts the iron , and renders it obedient to their will . A bad workman be , who burns his iron and sends it up the chimney stack . Proudly the good workman turns out a full weighted bloom of metal on the anvil of the steam hammer . And yet the men who are so careful of their iron , and turn out with honest pride the full weight of metal , will burn tbe precious metal out of their nature , by the force of strong drinks , ancl bring a seriously defective bloom to be laid on the anvil of life . "