thing but the full amount.

When put to a vote, it was decided to

postpone action on the matter for a month. The Secretary notified the accused, but gave no official receipt for the money. Questions were then submitted to me as follows:

a. If the Lodge had credited the $2 00 on his dues, what would have been the result of the action, and could they try him for the non-payment of the balance due?

b. Would it have been the proper course of the Lodge to have proceeded to trial, and, if the accused had been found guilty, return him the money?

Answer.

It is the duty of the Secretary to give a proper receipt for moneys tendered on account of dues, even though the brother making the tender be under charges for non-payment.

The receipt for a portion of the amount due would not nullify the proceedings, and the trial might go on at the discretion of the Lodge.

If the accused were found guilty the sum paid would not be returned, the charges and trial being upon the balance due and the state of facts existing at the time charges were preferred.

3d. A brother wrote me as follows: "It was asserted in open Lodge that the Tyler has no right to vote on any question coming before the Lodge; I would like to be informed upon that question."

I replied that a Tyler of a Lodge, when a member thereof, forfeits none of his rights by accepting that office; that, while much inconvenience might arise in consequence of that officer's demand to be admitted to vote upon every question that came before the Lodge, his privileges were those of any other member.

4th. Doric Lodge, No 25, conferred the first and second degrees upon a candidate, and subsequently waived jurisdiction, granting permission to Spar Lodge, U. D., to confer the third degree. His application for advancement, being acted upon by Spar Lodge, was rejected. He afterwards removed from the jurisdiction and now desires to know what course to pursue to obtain the third degree. I decided that he must get the consent of Spar Lodge before the degree can be conferred.

I have been asked to state whether, upon the request of a Lodge, regularly preferred, I would grant a dispensation for the burial of a non-affiliate with Masonic rites. I replied that I thought the matter could safely be left to the discretion of a Lodge acquainted with

the circumstances, and that when the Lodge vouched, as it were, for the merit of the case, I should grant the dispensation. Upon further consideration, however, I feel satisfied that in such cases no dispensation is required. Admitting the validity of our By-Law depriving non-affiliates of all the rights and benefits of Masonry without trial, it seems to be negative in its application so far as the Lodges are concerned; that is, while it would cut off the nonaffiliate's right to demand Masonic burial, it would not interfere with the right of the Lodge to confer it.

MASONIC STUDY.

Most Masons feel their strongest interest centering in their own Lodges, partly because, if there be any ambition of promotion, it is there they must look for it; but another urgent reason is that they deem the time and zeal they expend upon their own Lodges a sufficient contribution to the general work. Of course no Lodge can long continue to flourish without its own membership exhibiting an interest in its affairs, but they ought not to forget that a Lodge is but an atom in general account, and that the work of the whole Craft is of paramount importance. In a general way brethren do not place as much value on this fact as it deserves, and their views are less cosmopolitan than they ought to to be, considering the sacred ties which unite the body throughout the world. We do not believe that there is any desire to ignore or set aside the solemn obligations into which they have entered, but they are lukewarm in their desire to obtain knowledge, both in regard to the principles of Freemasonry and the doings of their brethren beyond their own narrow sphere. How many rest content with the meager amount of light imparted to them when they are initiated, the majority taking for granted whatever is told them, without making the least further inquiry into the interesting subject. The manner in which this ceremony often is performed can give but a very faint idea of what beauties are in store for those who, having been put on the scent, can follow it up and ascertain truths which, but for the glimpse thus given them, they would never dream of. Even were the ritual, in its original form, fully and clearly delivered at an initiation ceremony, and this is seldom the case, the amount of information conveyed in it should only incite the brethren to know

what really lies beyond, and put them in the way of exploring the wide field which awaits their cultivation. It too often happens that the devotion and mere routine and ceremonial in the Lodge prevents anything else being done. And, then, when we take into account the general disposition to avoid study out of it, it is no wonder Freemasons are, to a great extent, ignorant of the real value of the Fraternity to which they belong. When this evil is known and admitted in many Lodges, the importance of holding meetings for the purpose of instruction cannot be denied, and we are confident that were such set on foot, they would prove a great success. The dominion of Masonry is only bound by the limits of the globe, and if we desire to fully appreciate the duties connected with the Craft, we must begin by understanding that the work of any particular Lodge or groupe of Lodges is but a small part of the whole, and only a real weight and value in the proportion it bears to the corresponding efforts of the rest. As a Fraternity, we have yet to consider and take to heart the real value of organized effort-the effort not of one Lodge, and of one Grand Lodge, but the weight, the power, the influence of the whole Craft, moving forward in one given direction, and bending its energies to one well considered and attainable end. When we reach this point we shall understand the real meaning of Masonic principles, and our labors will be all the more fruitful in that we shall be traveling on a higher plane, overlooking at once the errors of the past, and the errors we have yet to avoid, ere we can feel that the Temple is completed and our wages due. The mystic tie which binds us is the result of a series of profound indisputable truths, and though

The world, with selfish rust and reckless stain

May mar its beauty,

Let

it cannot touch its strength, and they must ultimately prevail. us, therefore, by thought, by study, and by action, endeavor to bring about, among ourselves, a more thorough appreciation of duty, a nearer relation to each other, and a broader field for the whole.-Sydney Freemason.

"REMEMBER that every person, however low, has rights and feelings. In all conditions, let peace be rather your object than triumph. Value triumph only as a means of peace."

THE DIVINE LAMB-Continued.

BY BLAZING STAR.

"I always was, I always am, I always shall be. There is no other, so that I can say to you, I am like him. In this Me is the inward essence and the exterior substance of all things. I am the Primitive Cause of all things in the East or West, or North or South-above or below, it is I. I am all. I am older than all. I am the King of kings. My attributes are transcendent. I am Truth. I am the Spirit of Creation. I am Almighty. I am Purity. I am the first, the middle, and the end. I am Light."

EXCERPTS WITH COMMENTS.

The Lamb is intimately associated in symbolical meaning with the Apron, The Lamb is universally esteemed an emblem of innocence. Through the Sacred Word his image often appears. The Savior condescends to adopt it as his own "mark," so to speak, and thus gives it divine sanction.--MORRIS, Dictionary of Freemasonry, p. 273. The Masonic Apron is not made of material of an ordinary sort, such as is used for garments of warmth, decency, or protection. It is made of Lambskin, and that only, and it thus incorporates into its real ordinary meaning all that pertains to that Divine Emblem of Innocence. This makes up one of the finest allegories in Freemasonry, and those members of the Fraternity who are Christians see in their Apron everything taught in the Altar, the Thorny Crown, and the Cross.-SHERER, Masonic Ladder, pp. 16, 17.

While we admire the tender and submissive nature of this gentle tenant of the field, we are taught what must be our own character if we would attain to that perfection of which Freemasonry teaches. Thus the very clothing of the Freemason, like the symbolical garments which covered the Priest under the typical law, is suggestive of the highest graces and virtues of our profession.-Ibid, p. 27.

The Apron derives its significance as the symbol of purity from two sources-from its color and from its material. In each of these points of view it is, then, to be considered, before its symbolism can be properly appreciated.

And, first, the color of the Apron must be an unspotted white. This color has in all ages, been esteemed an emblem of innocence and purity. And, hence, Aaron was commanded when he entered into the holy of holies to make an expiation for the sins of the people to appear clothed in white linen, with his linen Apron or girdle about his loins.

As to the material of the (Masonic) Apron, this is imperatively required to be of Lambskin. No other substance, such as linen, silk, or satin could be substituted without entirely destroying the symbolism of the vestment. Now, the Lamb has, as the ritual expresses it, "been, in all ages, deemed an emblem of innocence," but more particularly in the Jewish and Christian Churches has this symbolism been observed. "The Paschal Lamb," says Didron, "which was eaten by the Israelites on the night preceding their departure, is the type of that other Divine Lamb, of whom Christians are to partake at Easter, in order thereby to free themselves from the bondage in which they are held by vice.” The Paschal Lamb, a Lamb bearing a cross, was, therefore, from an early period, depicted by the Christians as referring to Christ crucified, that spotless Lamb of God, who was slain from the foundation of the world."- MACKEY, Symbolism of Freemasonry, pp. 132, 134, 135.

We are clothed in white, as emblematical of the innocence and integrity which ought always to distinguish a Free and Accepted Mason.-The Masonic Token.

The Lambskin or White Leather Apron must be worn in all Lodges during the hours of labor.-MACKEY, Lexicon of Freemasonry, p. 52.

The Light, in especial prefiguration by the Lamb and found to be in every way innocuous, is, by the universal consent of all ages of the world, received upon transition of idea from the physical to the

abstract, as the direct embodiment of innocence itself. And, because concomitant with Summer, the pacific period of the year, is also tantamount to peace itself. Hence, sin or darkness always yielding to Light or the good principle, the Lamb surely “taketh away the sin of the world"-the whirl or year-whenever conjunction with the Solar Orb is had.

The offering or sacrifice of this Lamb is the offering or sacrifice of Light-Light, too, which is slain from the foundation of the world," or from the moment of flux at the Winter solstice the initial point of the whirl or year, there being no remission or putting aside of sin or darkness or Sun's south declination without the shedding or outpouring of blood-Light with increments-sanguinous drops, in certitude of which it is affirmed of the Celestial Hosts at the end of Winter that they are those who have come out of great tribulation-darkness, and washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

That Light should be unified with blood is very proper from the various considerations which exist to that end. First, Light is identical with the Ether and is the primal spermatic force whence proceeded all generated things. Then, the blood is the source of the propagating principle of all animated nature, while in the Light or the Ether exists the Red Ray which gives to the blood its peculiar color. And this ray, again, is equivalent to the Oxygen or Fire-principle in the Ether that, on abstraction by the lungs, arterializes the blood-the blood being also electric as is the Light or the Ether.

The ancients, in speaking of the arteries being filled with and coursed by Air, referred to the Oxygen taken on by the blood through the medium of the lungs, the word air responding to the Hebrew term AOR-Light, and the word AOR existing as the radical for the anatomical title, Aorta, the great artery or trunk of the arterial system proceeding from the left ventrical of the heart.

That the blood is the life gives the deduction, from their assimilation backed by positive experience, that the Air, Ether, or Light is the vital force of the whole organic economy, and without which not an iota of the same could exist.

To say, as we are wont to do, that the Lamb and Lambskin Apron are closely associated symbols, is but to express a patent and logical truth. They are, but with this difference, that the Lambskin very