The Religious Aspect Of Masonry.

the dark and gloomy passages of infidelity , atheism , and distrust , side by side have they stood , twin brothers , battling both for the same great good , each supporting and aiding the other . And now , in this enli ghtened and God blessed land , Avhere men enjoy all the blessings of freedom , and Christianity holds her truthful sway , Masonry is found approaching perfection , and has attained an exalted situation in the hearts of her brethren .

_ From the moment a candidate for Masonry enters its portals till " his toils on earth have ceased , " and he " has been raised to the enjoyment of fadeless light and immortal life in that kingdom Avhere faith and hope shall end , and love and joy prevail through eternal ages , " God's great and good book is before him ; the teachings therein contained form the corner stone of all Masonic ceremonies . Masonry teaches no creeds . Her faith is as

boundless as the ocean's poAver , and she holds all men as brethren , loA'ers of one common good , children of one common Father . Therefore , though Masonry teaches no dogmas , holds to no creed , exercises no particular faith , still with the Bible as her greatest li ght , the _ wordcf God constantly before her , Ave can claim that the religious aspect _ of Masonry is the purest , holiest tie that hinds men to Christianity and reliion . It Avide the gate

g opens of heaven , and Avidens the path that leads to immortal life . So Ave say to those men , and Christians they are too , AA'I IO oppose Masonry , and class it among the many sins that are laid at the door of that poor fellow , the devil , that they should study Masonry , examine into its teachings , and then j'Gu -will be the better enabled to decide upon the effects of our Order . —Bob Morris ' s Voice of Masonry .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

THE LATE ALDEHMAX HCN'TEU . WAS the late Sir Stephen Claudius Hunter , Alderman of London , a brother of the Craft?—Cuvre . —[ Yes ; and served the Grand Stewardshi p in 1811 . ] GEOMETRICAL LECTURES . Is there anywhere printed a specimen of the geometrical lectures delivered in our Lod in the earlpart of the last century ?

ges y —EUCLID . THE COMPAXY on conroHATiox OF MASONS . The author of an interesting work , entitled "The Present State of London , " published in 1690 , after noticing the twelve chief companies out of Avhich the Lord Mayor is to be annually chosen , giA-cs a list of thc other corporations in London , giving a woodcut of

the armorial bearings of each of thc Masons , lie says : "The company of Masons called Freemasons were a loving brotherhood for many ages , yet not regulated into a society till 12 Hen . 4 . Their arms sable , on a chevron between three castles , argent , a pair of compasses of the first . " AVhat is the relationship betAveen this company or corporation and our Order' ? - —GEORGE MABKIIAJI TAA'EDDELL .

THE TE . AirLAR BANNER . Casting my eyes over the current number of thc little , chatty , and useful cotemporary , " Notes and Queries , " I saw the following , Avhich may be worthy of a corner among the "Masonic Notes and Queries " of the Freemasons' Magazine , it is headed" Beauseant , " Etymology of . I find in that extraordinary roll of arms given in Leland ' s " Collectanea" ( vol . ii ., p . 616 ) , and commonl

y called " Charles ' s Roll , " the following blazons :- — ' Le baucent del temple dargent al chef de sable a mi croyz de gomes passant . " " Le baucent del hospitale de goules a ira croy / , dargent fourme . ' ' It would appear from this that the beauseant Avas not the cri de guerre , as has generally been supposed , but the coat of arms itself . I should suppose also the passant was the cross patrieand

croyz , not on thc chief but on the shield . "Poets' Comer . A . A . " Believing the aboA-e to be sound information , I forward you the same .

Encampment . A . HIEDEKICIC THE GREAT . —JUS INITIATION . Perhaps the foflowing two extracts may be " found Avorthy of a place amongst thc " Masonic Notes" —they only SIIOAV how a single event can be presented in a truthful , as Avell as a bantering style . In the poet Campbell ' s Frederick the Ureal aud lies Times he says-One day , at table , tho conversation turned upon Freemasons , against whom Frederick

launched out with great acrimony . The Count of Lippe Buckeburgh , himself a member of the fraternity , defended it with such warmth and eloquence , that lire prince afterwards privately intonated to thc count bis wish to join a society Avhich numbered such

staunch champions of truth amongst its members . The count accordingly requested some of the brethren residing at Hamburgh and Hanover to meet at Brunswick , for thc purpose of the initiation . The celebrated Bro . Bielfeld Avas of tUe number . AA'hen the preparations were fully made , the prince royal arrived , accompanied by Count AA artensleben , a captain iu the king ' s regiment at Potsdam . The prince introduced him to us as a candidate , whom he very warmly recommendedand begged that he might be admitted immediately after

, himself . At the same time he desired that he might be treated as any private individual , aud that none of the usual ceremonies might be altered on his account . Accordingly he was admitted in the customary form ; and I could not sufficiently admire his fearlessness , his composure , and his address . AA hen all was over , the prince returned to the ducal palace as well pleased with us as we were charmed with him . " Now take another version of the same event from Mr . Carlle ' s

y History of Frederick the Great , vol . ii ., p . 6 b ' o , he heads his account thus : — " Crown , Prince becomes a Freemason , and is harangued bi / Monsieur de Bielfeld . " After Avhich comes the folloAving : — "His Majesty , Ave said , had three pleasant days at Loo , discoursing , as with friends , on public matters , in a frank unconstrained way . He is

not to be called ' majesty' on this occasion ; but the fact at Loo , and by the leading mightinesses of the republic who come copiously to compliment him there , is Avell remembered . Talk there was , with such leading mightinesses , about the Julieh-and-Berg question , aim of this journey , earnest private talk with some of them ; but it availed nothing , and would not be worth reporting now to any creature if Ave even knew it . In fact the journey itself remains mentionable chiefly by one very trifling circumstance , and then by another which followed out o £ that . The trifling circumstance is—that Frederick , in the course of this journey ,

became a Freemason ; and the unimportant sequel was , that he made acquaintance with one Bielfeld on the occasion , who afterwards wrote a book about him which was once much read , though never much worth reading , and is still citable , Avith precaution , now and then . ( Monsieur le Baron de Bielfeld : Lcttrcs Familiires et Autrcs , 1763 ; Second Edition , two vols ., a Lcidc , 1767 , is the one we use here ) . Trilling circumstance of Freemasonry , as Ave read in Bielfeld , and in many books after him , befell in manner following .

" Auioug the dinner guests at Loo , one of those three days , was a Prince of Lippe Buckcburg , prince of small territory , but of great speculation ; whose territory lies on the AVeser , leading to Dutch connections , and whose speculations stretch over all the universe in a high fantastic style . He was a dinner guest , and one of the topics that came up was Freemasonry , a phantasmal kind of object which had kindled itself , or rekindled iu those years , in England first of all ; and was now hovering about a good deal in Germany and other countries , pretending to be a

new light of Heaven , and not a bog-meteor of phosphorated hydrogen , conspicuous in the musk of things . Bog-meteor , foolish putrescent willo ' -wisp , his Majesty promptly defined it to bo . Tomfoolery and Kinderspiel , ivhat else ? AATiereupou ingenious Biickeburg , who was himself a Mason , a man of forty by this time , and had high things of him of the Quixotic type , ventured on defence ; and was so respectful , eloquent , dexterous , ingenious , he quite captivated , if not his Majesty , at least thc Crown Princewho was more enthusiastic for hih things . Crown

, g Prince , after table , took his Durchlaucht of Buckeburgh aside ; talked farther on the subject , expressed his admiration , his conviction , his wish to bo admitted into such a hero fraternity . Nothing could bo welcomer to Durchlaucht . Aud so , in all privacy it was made up between them that Durchlaucht , summoning as many mystic brothers out of Hamburgh as were needful , should be in Avaiting with them on tho Crown Prince's road homeward , say at Brunswick , night before the fair , ivhere we are to be , and there make the Crown Prince a Mason .

' this is Bielfeld's account , repeated ever since ; substantially correct , except that the scene was not at Loo at all . Dinner and dialogue , it no % v appears , took place iuDurchlaught's own neighbourhood during the Clove Review time , probably at Minden , 17 th July , and all was settled into fixed programme before Loo came iu sight . Bielfeld ' s report of the subsequent procedure at Brunswick , as he saw it and Avas himself part of it , is liable to no mistakes , at least of the involuntary kind , and may , for anything Ave know , be correct in every particular .

" He says ( veiling it under discreet asterisks , which are now decipherable enough . ) The Durchlaucht of Lippe-Buokeburg had summoned six brethren of the Hamburg Lodge , of wliem we mention only a Graf von Kielmannsegge , a Baron von Oberg , both from Hanover , and Bielfeld himself , a merchant ' s son of Hamburgh : these , with ' Kielmannsegge ' s valet to act as Tyler , ' valet being also a Mason , and tho rule equality of mankind , —were to have the honour of initiating the Crown Prince . They arrived at the western gate of Brunswick on the

11 th of August , as prearranged ; Prussian majesty not yet come , but coming punctually ou the morrow . It is fair time ; all manner of traders , pedlars , showmen rendezvousing ; many nei ghbouring nobility too , as was still the habit . 'Such a bulk of light luggage V said the custom house people , at the gate ; but were pacified by slipping them a ducat . Upon which we drove to 'Korn ' s Hotel' ( if any body now kne . w it ); and there patiently waited . IS ' o great things of an hotel , says Bielfeld , but can be put up with ; worst feature is , we discover a Hanover acquaintance lodging close by , nothing but a Avoyden partition between us : IIOAV if he should overhear ?