nothing tangible, and laying by no stores for the household," like a man in haste to be rich, they will have too many irons in the fire, and none of them will be kept up to the proper temperature.. The field of Masonic study is so vast, the subjects of study and investigation are so many and so varied, that no common mind can hope to master them all and become a skilled workman in either at will, and therefore, as in the operative arts, a division of labor seems to be the necessary and proper conclusion. If these premises are sound, and we certainly believe them so, then there is one field lying fallow to which we can direct all who are willing to labor, not so much for self-advancement as that good may follow their works, not so much that fame may come to them, as that the cause may be exalted, and justice done to those who have deserved well of it, not so much for the wages known of men as for that higher reward the Father giveth in secret, and which He will one day openly proclaim. The field to which we allude is the history of Masonry. Not, however, the general history of which so much has already been written, but the history of ourselves, of our time, and our own men, of our neighborhoods and our Masonic firesides; the deeds, the words, the recollections of our own men who have passed through the times of trial, who have faced the blasts of persecution unblanched and unscathed, but who, one by one, are passing away to the final rest, and taking to the blank forgetfulness of the tomb memories and instructions that might be to us as apples of gold in pictures of silver. "History," says Lamartine, "is the written world, human nature in relief, evoked from its ashes, resuming soul, life, motion, and speech before us and before posterity, and affording for our instruction a lesson and example for the future, in the eternal drama of humanity, represented in this vast arena girt with tombs, of which the dust is the ashes of what once was man.” History is the picture of human destiny, which memory presents, to excite sometimes admiration and applause, at other times horror and aversion, according as virtue or crime, barbarism or civilization are placed before us, but always with advantage to ourselves. a word, history is to a nation what the faculty of memory is to individuals, the link of unity and continuity between our existence of yesterday and our existence of .to day; the basis of all our experience, the source of all improvement." Without history, then, there would be no social, advancement, no progressive civilization in a

In

nation. With history we scarcely need any other lesson. "History knows all thing, contains all things; " not in winged words which strike the ear without impressing the mind, but in great and striking actions. It renders us impassioned and enthusiastic sharers in the scenes of the past, filling our eyes with tears and making our hearts palpitate with emotion. It fills us with enthusiasm or pity by our sympathy with its personations of a herd, a sage, or a martyr, with whom we completely identify ourselves; "and in so far as our distance from the events makes us impartial and impartiality induces justice, we derive much moral benefit from the contemplation of the past than even from the observation of the present." As regards the men of other days, there is nothing to warp our consciences, "no personal interest to corrupt us, no popularity to fascinate, no acknowledged hatred to repel," we consider, resolve, and decide with the impartiality and unerring judgment of innate and unbiassed rectitude. The ultimate result of our impressions is an aversion to evil and a love for good. Virtue increases and becomes more deeply rooted in nations which have grown old with these historical associations and remniscences, and we may say, without risk or error, that the country which has the most history is consequently that which has the greatest display of virtues. A series of historical biographies may, therefore, be with propriety designated a journal of civilization. And again, the heart of man only remembers what moves and impassions it. Now, what is it in history that moves or excites the masses? Is it things or is it men? It is men and men only. You cannot excite yourself over a chart, or be moved by a chronology. These abridged and analytic processes are the algebra of history freezing while they instruct. We want the history of men who have exemplified and exalted Masonry; we want the facts and memories of their existences and experiences; we want to garner and send forth to the present and coming generations the fruits of their truth and their earnest self-sacrificing devotion. In this field workmen are wanted. Who will work ?—Sidney Freemason.

"Ir matters not as to whatever capacity we may be called to labor in, if our abilities are adequate to the duties assigned us, if we are faithful to our part, work honestly, diligently, to the best of our endeavors, we are entitled to the equivalent due for the services rendered."

THE DIVINE LAMB-Continued.

BY BLAZING STAR.

Perhaps one of the most significant things showing connection of this symbol or Sign with Light is the Masonic era, entitled Year of Light, or Anno Lucis, abbreviated A.. L.. Mackey says of this Year, it is "the date used by symbolic Masons, as being the era of the creation (creo-to beget-generation-Summer), when LIGHT was called into existence (made out of Darkness-the opaque Ether of Winter) by the fiat (decree-electric edict-polar impulsion) of the Almighty (Cosmic Omnific Force-the Power symbolically expressed by the Ram), and when the true principles which distinguish the Order first received their birth." He also says that "The Masons of the Rite of Mizraim, which is practiced in France, adopt the chronology of Archbishop Usher, and, adding four years (typically the four Sacred Elements concerned in generation) to the usual computation of the age of the world (the telluric expression of those Elements) would make the year (the whirl) 1850 A.. L. '. 5854"-the 4.000 being an occulting of the Life Principle by 0, equivalent to 1,000 repeated four times, or once for each Element, as also once for each quadrant of the year, the Christian Cycle, or the Years of Our Lord, being also an occultism predicated on the phases of the Moon with reference to Christmas and New Years, as explained by Skinner in an article of recent promulgation. That, likewise, the "Masons of the York Rite begin the year on the first of January, but in the French Rite it commences on the first of March, and instead of the months receiving their usual names, they are designated numerically, as first, second, third, &c. Thus the 1st January, 1850, would be styled in a French Masonic document the 1st day of the 11th Masonic month, Anno Lucis, 5850."" That "the French sometimes, instead of the initials A. . L ., use L'an de la V..L.., or, Vraie Lumiere, that is, 'Year of True Light,'" all going to show that the York Mason has under observation the Lamb on his lower meridian at the Winter solstice, where Light first has its flux, and the French Mason the conjunction of Lamb and Solar Orb at the Vernal Crossing, where Light bursts with renovated force on all the boreal world, banishing Darkness to the regions of purpetual Erebus.

To illustrate further, recourse to the Masonic Funeral Service is pertinent. Taking part in the obsequies, the Brother Mason is supposed to stand upon the Angle of a Perfect Square, as suggestive of Creative Power, or the Principle involving the issues of Life, and this, mystically, at the Zodiacal point of the Summer solstice, where the Omnific Word or Light is lost, the Sun thence commencing its setting to the Northern hemisphere, indicating the place of all Ma sonic burial as under the Holy of Holies, or within the Signs opposed to Aries, Taurus, and Gemini just traversed, to-wit: Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius, which, as a quadrant, answer to the Winter solstice, the limit of the Sun's south declination, and his stated and annual grave, six Signs (feet) deep, to which the Public Grand Honors refer those honors, on the authority of Mackey, being thus given: "Both arms are crossed on the breast, the left uppermost, and the open palms of the hands sharply striking the shoulders; they are then raised above the head, the palms striking each other, and then made to fall smartly upon the thighs," the two Crossed Arms forming two triangles, the one with apex up and the other with apex down, the former denoting the Summer solstice or fire period of the year, and the latter the Winter solstice or aqueous period of the year. The enfoldment of the right arm by the left being the virtual telescoping of the Creative Light of the Spring quadrant by the inflowing Darkness incident to the Summer solstice, the arms themselves prefiguring sunbeams, and the hands creative or formative power, the word hand, in its radical sense, implying "maker," allusively to the Great Solar Force.

The raised arms with palms in contact over the head, suggest "the point within the circle "-a phallic symbol-the point (answering to the Sun) being enveloped in darkness, or the dark Ether of the on-coming Winter, then gradually but surely filling the Zodiac-the Great Yonistic Circle measuring the year.

The shoulders (scripturally Shechem), equally salient with other features of the ceremony, exist in identification of the Summer solstice-the High Twelve or Sanctum Sanctorum of the year, and, in the Mystical Man of the Almanac, are marked by Taurus, the tenebrous coffin of Osiris. While the three blows pertinent to the rite share a parallel that no true Sun of Light can ever possibly forget.

Death, prelusive to resurrection, bespeaks in the Crossed Arms, a monogramic X, denotive of the Darkness (Algebraic unknown

quantity) out of which Light, the Life eternal, must ever evolve. And referred to Sagittarius (see Mystical Man) the thighs stricken by the hands have no surer exposition than the Winter solstice where the Archer shoots forth the fluxing Light that overturns Winter, the Devil's Kingdom, and restores that of Heaven-the ever genial and beautiful Summer.

worn.

But the Lambskin Apron and Sprig of Evergreen, employed in the ritualism, are the chief objects essential to the interpretation of the Celestial mysticism. Removing the Apron from the Coffin, when about to deposit in the Grave, the Worshipful Master says: "This Lambskin or White Leather Apron is an Emblem of Innocence, and the Badge of a Mason, more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle; more honorable than the Star and Garter, when worthily This emblem I now deposit in the grave of our deceased Brother. By this we are reminded of the universal dominion of Death (Organic Law of Dissolution). The arm of friendship cannot oppose the King of Terrors (the Inexorable), nor the charms of innocence elude his grasp. This grave, that coffin, this circle of mourning friends, remind us that we too are mortal soon shall our bodies moulder to dust. Then how important for us that we should know that our REDEEMER liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth." (Be of insolate position on conjunction with Sign of the Ram.) "This Evergreen" (holding it up) is an emblem of our faith in the immortality of the soul. By this we are reminded that we have an immortal part within us, which shall survive the grave (as does the Sun the dearth of Winter), and which shall never, never, never die. Though like our Brother whose remains now lie before us, we shall soon be clothed in the habiliments of DEATH, and deposited in the silent tomb, yet through the mediation of a divine and ascended Savior (the Solar Vivifier above the equinox), we may confidently hope that our souls (fire essence) will bloom in Eternal Spring." (WEBB, Monitor, pp. 138-9.)

Moving now in procession round the grave, the Brethren seve rally drop Sprigs of Evergreen into it; after which the Public Grand Honors are given. What those honors are and their import, we have already seen. But what the Evergreen is, and its import, we have Looking to the ritualism of the Church, we find that on the 25th of December, annually, the Churches are deco

now to learn.