to their heads in the springs that well up in the far distan Past, and there you will find the meaning and the origin of Masonry.

A few trite lessons upon the rudiments of architecture, a few important and unsubstantiated traditions will no longer satisfy the earnest inquirer after Masonic Truth. Let him: who is satisfied and content with them remain where he is, and seek to ascend no higher. But let him who desires to understand the harmonious and beautiful proportions of Masonry, read, study, reflect, digest and discriminate. The true Mason is an ardent seeker after knowledge; and he knows that books are vessels which come down to us full-freighted with the intellectual riches of the past; and that in the ladder of these Argosies is much that sheds light upon the history of Masonry and proves its claims to be regarded as the great benefactor of mankind.-Albert Pike.

THE DYING TEMPLAR.

BY B. P. SHILLABER.

THE Templar's pilgrimage was nearly done ;
And as he lay, in silence on his cot,

His faint breath struggling as the clouds of death
Came stealing round his pillow, while his brow
Was damp with vapers of approaching night,

His mind roamed back, through the enclosing mist,
And saw the scenes of old that he had loved.

The active life, and the sweet intercourse

Of friendly hearts with his in the brave strife

That ever contemplated human good,

And all the graces and beautitudes

That lay about him in fraternal paths,

Where brother's hand by brother's hand enclasped,

Fought the good fight in grand community,

Came up before his eye, that veiled its beams

To things of sense, and through the spirit saw

The spirit of that Past in brightness lit.

And mid the scene that met his inner sight,
Were those that made life beautiful: whose steel
Had crossed with his in knightly courtesy;
Whose hearts had throbbed in kindly sympathy
With his, in sympathy for all, whose forms
Had long since hidden from his mortal ken
Who smiled a welcome to his nearing foot

Just treading on the borders of that realm,
A purer, brighter pilgrimage to run

lu airs of joy and everlasting peace!

And there above him, in the pendent clouds,
Rich in the glory of supernal light,
Swung the broad banner, underneath whose folds
He'd waged the warfare of the good and true,
Bearing its rare device, that knightly trust
Has ever cherished as its guide and hope;
Then, as his eye embraced the symbol high,
His face grew luminous with wonderous light,
A smile about his mouth in transport played,
And, casting up his hands as if to grasp
The blest memento that gave life to faith,
He murmured "In Hoc Signo Vinces!" when
The life-strings snapped in twain, and quietly
The Templar in his triumph passed away.

-Flag of our Unich.

TOLERANCE.

To students of Masonic history, the present hostility of the leaders of the Roman Church to Freemasonry is somewhat astonishing, when it is remembered how closely the builders of the middle ages were associated with the ecclesi astics in the erection of those magnificent structures which remain to this day as monuments of wisdom, strength and beauty. Considerable prominence has been given to this subject, in consequence of the recent publication of certain old manuscripts, which prove that our medieval brethren swore allegiance to "God and to holy Church;" and the whole question has been exhaustively treated in the report of a Committee appointed by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts to investigate the origin of certain allusions in the

ritual of Freemasonry which were deemed sectarian by a number of Hebrew brethren. The Committee found that the "allusions" referred to evidently were of a Christian character, and their investigations established the fact that Christian symbols had been used in Masonic Lodges from time immemorial. Upon this the Committee very justly remark:

"It will be conceded, that at no modern time has Freemasonry been practised in this country, or in England, without a ritual of a religious character, reverential to the Grand Architect of the Universe. To adhere to it as we receive it, is to keep our faith with the fathers, and maintain the landmarks, the petitioners formally ask only this, but a considerable body of French and other writers insist that all reference to Christianity should be excluded, whether they are ancient or not. The field of arge ment includes both positions. The evidence that Freemasonry, after 1717, did con tinue many Christian symbols and usages, is very strong; and nothing offered to your Committee has weakened the faith due to our traditions. We shall return to this again. Conceding this, then, that some Christian usages are found among our Craft in our traditions, ought we to stamp them as unmasonic, and expel them? It has been distinctly put to us by an acute and learned Israelite brother, that as they are offensive to him as an Israelite, we ought to exclude them. If that is a sufficient reason, what will become of our Society? A Christian may ask that allusion to King Solomon shall be expunged, because he was a Jew. Another may ask all allusions to Hiram to be effaced, because he was a Pagan. The Trinitarian may ask that the Grand Architect of the universe shall only be addressed in His triune character. The resurrection from the dead stands no better. Every particle of our religions ritual and symbols must fall under the same axe, and the Masonry we have received be extinguished."

We need scarcely add that we quite agree with our American brethren in their conclusions, for, really, the principle of elimination can be pushed to an absurd point. So long as religious or political discussions are excluded from the Lodge, no man need take offence at an allusion or symbol which may possibly bear an interpretation not quite in accordance with his own theological convictions; and we can not see that the real "universality" of the Craft is endan gered by the retention of phases bearing upon either the Jewish or Christian faith.

It is, at least, singular to find that, while the advocates of free thought in our Body desire to abolish those references to Christianity, the dignitaries of the Roman Catholic Church denounce the Society as anti-Christian-the fact being, that the words used in our ceremonies have been handed down

from an age when the priests themselves bore sway in the Lodges, and used the very language of which they now profess to complain. Both sides have something to learn, and the lessons we would especially enjoin are peculiarly applicable at this happy season of the year-whether to Christianor to non-Christians-let us all endeavor to enforce the prac tices of tolerance, and the exercise of a more comprehensive spirit of charity towards our fellow-men.-The London Freemason.

TINKERING THE CONSTITUTION.

IT has been said that the world was arranged upon the principles of progression, and Young America fully realizing that law, is continually forming new plans, inventing new schemes, and adopting new modes of doing things. It would seem that this young chap is never satisfied with things as they are; he must make some change, some improvement for the better, some progression. This spirit of ungovernable discontent and restlessness (which has entered into the young gentleman above named) has been and now is producing some of the most signal blessings to humanity. It is like the sea, and yet not like the sea, for the sea is constantly casting up dirt and filth; but the great, seething, boiling cauldron of human intellect is continually bubbling up and boiling over. casting up improvement after improvement, invention after invention, until time and space have been almost annihilated. This rampart spirit that has whirled Young America into many a wild dance, has of late years extended its influence and taken in its mysterious embrace the more sedate, and heretofore contented Royal Arch Masons of Michigan, prima facie evidence of which may be found in their continued efforts to change the constitution of the Grand Chapter. In 1867 the Grand Chapter adopted a new constitution, after having consulted it section by section, and it appeared to be entirely satisfactory; but before the close of the session an amendment was presented and laid over under the rule, and

rom that time to the present, not one session of the Grand Chapter has been held but that the constitution has been mended, until it has been so changed that its own father would scarcely know it, except by instinct. And here let me say that almost every amendment that has been offered to the constitution came from Companions who were present at its adoption. Now is this continual tinkering desirable? Is profitable for instruction, correction, admonition and reroof? I think it is not. I believe this shifting, changing system is better calculated to mislead than to enlighten the Royal Craft. Can it be presumed that the relations and interests of the Royal Craft are so changeable that a constitution that is adapted to our wants now, would not be adequate to the necessities of the case one year hence? Such a presumption is simply absurd; because our relations to each other and to the Royal Craft at large remain the same, our wants and necessities are the same from year to year, and if the conditions and circumstances remain the same, why not iet the law remain the same, at least long enough for the member to become acquainted with it?

CASSOPOLIS, Nov. 20, 1871.

I. A. SHINGLEDECKER.

PAST GRAND MASTER, THE PRINCE OF WALES.

THERE has been so much exaggeration, says the Keystone, the habits and character of our R. W. Brother the Prince of Wales, that we are sure our readers will be glad to be made acquainted with the following estimate of him, just made public by an eminent American, resident in England, Mr. Moncure D. Conway, in a late letter to the Cincinnati Commercial. Mr. Conway says:

"Not long ago, I happened to meet the prince at the Cosmopolitan Club, and band that his face was not all outside. There was something genial and kind about it, and I could see something of the frankness of the boy to whom I had been introduced at Pike's Opera House. He is not remarkable for profundity, but his conversation is that of an educated man, with some humor. What struck me most was his entire openness, and the entire absence of affectation. He was surrounded by a score VOL. III.-NO. X.-29.