Masonic Symbolism.

Westwardly in the course of the sun . All discoveries have been in a Western course . The arts and sciences , ancl in a word every substantial benefit the world has enjoyed—eveiy improvement , every ray of advanced thought—all have come from the East . That they have grown to matured proportions in their Westward progress is most true ; that the West has always been , apparentla necessarycertainla prolific fieldfor their developmentcannot be

y , y , , denied ; but it is an undeniable fact that , without important exception , they have germinated Eastwardly and followed the course of the sun in their natural progress . How appropriate then that in all Masonic Lodges , Masonic instruction ancl enli g htenment , coming as they do from the presiding officer , should come from the East ! Thus it is , that from our first Grand Master clown , all Master ' s stations have been , theoretically and symbolically at least , in that

direction from which the sun ' s bright beams come to gladden and fructify the earth , ancl from which , in obedienne to nature ' s unchangeable laws , every material benefit to mankind has been derived . The Temple of Solomon , sometimes called the cradle of Freemasonry , has changed its potential existence to a symbolic one ; the armies of a mig hty empire were able to destroy itbut its grand symbolism they could not affect .

, The Monitor informs us that when it was built the earth was supposed to bo in the form of a parallelogram , or " oblong square , " ancl the Temple , to symbolically represent the earth , was built in that form . If Solomon were living now , aud should undertake a . similar enterprise , he would make his Temple round or nearly so . Concerning the circumstances which led King Solomon to erect the Temple upon the exact spot selected on Mount Moriah ,

the Arabs , as I have somewhere read , have a very beautiful legend . According to that it would seem that , the site oi the Temple was originally a cnltivated field , belonging- jointly to two brothers . One of them was married and the father of a numerous progeny . With many mouths asking for food , he had

but his own two hands to feed them . The other was a poor , forlorn old bachelor . One harvest time the brothers , who cultivated the field in common , bound up their sheaves and put them in two stacks of equal size . In the night it occurred to the bachelor brother that it would be a gracious and charitable thing- for him to do to take some of the sheaves h . 'om his stack and secretly add them to his married brother ' s , reflecting that the latter had a wife and children to maintain . He did so . Later in the niht the married brother

g said to his wife : " My brother lives alone , with no companion to console him , no children to warm his heart , and it will be just and right for me to add to his stack some of my sheaves . " He arose and did so . The next clay the brothers to the surprise of each , discovered the stacks to be of equal size ; neither could , account for it ; and neither spoke of the matter to the other . They pursued the same course for several nihtsonlto be secretlastonished tho

g , y y next day , the result being always the same . One night they met , each carrying sheaves to the other ' s stack , and the apparent mystery was solved . It is said Solomon heard of it and determined to erect the Temple on that very spot to commemorate this grand instance of fraternal charity . Whether the legend is true or not , it may serve to remind us that the Temp l e itself is a symbol of the greatest of Christian and Masonic virtues —¦ Charity ancl

Brotherl y Love , as well as of the terrestial world itself ; and tho ngh now Mount Moriah is crowned with the Turkish Mosque of St . Omar , the value of the Temple to the world in the fact that it once existed in all its marvellous pandeur of workmanship , that it was erected upon a spot made sacred by such legendary lore , and that it was the cradle of Fremasonry , and long used for the practice of Masonic virtuesis not lessened thereb

, y . The design of the Temple did not originate with Solomon , for the Bible tells us that David , his father , had long contemplated such a work during his lifetime , but was prevented from carrying his plans into execution in that direction by the " wars which were about him on every side . " When