Antiquity Of The Craft.

if it Avere quite ancient , some marks would occur of the successive eras of varied civilization and general belief through Avhich it had traversed to reach our times . There are few traces of modern thought , but much of ancient ideas in our Craft .

It breathes a spirit of religious toleration and fraternity still remarkable above all existing institutions ; distinctly religious , yet widely tolerant of different forms of faith . None Avho believe in God find its portals closed against their faith .

HOAV early did our Institution begin ? The Bible lays upon our altar , and our tradition says that King Solomon was our founder . The seal of Solomon is among our symbols . Architecture Avas imported into Jerusalem by Solomon . ( To le Continued . " )

Time.

TIME .

Time is of infinite value to man , but is seldom so considered , except by the reflecting and thoughtful . Masonry directs special attention to this subject , and requires of its votaries a proper improvement .

Being a social institution , hoAvever , it imposes no penalties on neglectors or violators of this requirement , and men , being but men , often forget and neglect duties imposed for their own good .

Masonry divides the time into three equal parts—eight hours it devotes to labour . This is the theory of Masonry , I mean , and this it strongly recommends . This requirement harmonises with the laAv of our present nature , and

Avith the laAv of God . It is true that labour was imposed upon man by his Maker because of his transgression , but God does nothing without design—and a grand design . By the fall man ' s physical organisation was affected—became

subject to derangement , sickness and death—and then labour , a reasonable amount of labour , became essential to man ' s physical being . By labour man ' s health is preserved — a proper circulation is promoted , and the whole physical

frame or machinery is kept in order . The physical constitution being the medium through which the mind acts and exhibits itself , is important to us

as intelligent creatures , and by the proper car © and preservation of it our intellectual powers are aided and preserved . Mind , I imagine , cannot be deranged , but Avhen the body , the medium of its

communication with surrounding objects , is broken up or disorganised , the mind is apparently deranged , and is just as imbecile and inefficient , as if it was really itself deranged . Thus we see that not only our physical but

our mental well-being much depends upon the amount of labour Ave perform . Parents should remember this , and as they love their children and desire their Avelfare and promotion in life , they should train them to labour , especially as it

is a Avell-observed fact that few—very feAV—ever become eminent on the score of actual merit and personal inferiority , Avho are not taught to toil with their c-Avn hands .

When Ave inquire into the history of men actually great , the result is , in a large majority of cases , that they are self-made men . The same principle is no less true in regard to morals . Labour is no less favourable to mental

than to moral cultivation . Idleness is the parent —the hot-bed of vice , and there legions are brooded . That parent leaves but a poor inheritance to his child Avhen moral cultivation does not

compose a part of it . Labour has a tendency to humility , and engages the attention which Avould be otherwise directed , if out of employment . Raised in idleness , the mind naturally seeks employment , and , if found nowhere else , it will range

over the fields of vice , following the dictates of a corrupt nature , until by cultivation our evil nature becomes predominant , and Ave are doomed to follow them .

The evils of training children to idleness are not confined to themselves—it affects others . The vicious mind preys not only on itself , but as it expands it enlarges the sphere of its operations , until the whole community feels the evil . So with

a different training , except inversely—a blessing instead of a curse is bestoAved upon a community in the person of a well-trained child—and he is prepared to adopt the second Masonic division of time—to devote eight hours to benevolent and

religious purposes . This may be considered a large portion of time to spend in religious and benevolent exercises , but when we reflect that we