CELEBRATIONS OF ST. JOHN'S DAY.

AT GOSHEN, INDIANA.

GOSHEN Lodge, No. 12, assisted by numerous Brethren from the surrounding country, observed the 24th of June last, in a manner highly interesting to the Fraternity and appropriate to the occasion.

The Masonic body in full regalia, preceded by a band of music, and forming the escort to a large procession of ladies and gentlemen, formed at 11 o'clock, A. M., under the direction of Br. James H. Barus, Marshal, and proceeded to an adjacent grove, beneath whose shade the following exercises were had.

After the prayer, by Rev. Br. Andrew Henkel, the following Ode, composed for the occasion by Br. E. W. H. Ellis, was sung by the choir:

MUSIC "Flow gently sweet Afton."

How drear were this world but for friends we hold dear-
How cold all its joys but for sympathy's tear-

Oh! the raptures of heaven and earth seem to blend,

When Brother meets Brother, and friend meets with friend.
Oh! then throbs the heart with emotions of joy,

We drink in a foretaste of pleasures on high;

The sunshine of gladness pours full on the soul,

And Love lends its beams to illumine the whole!

When darkened with sorrow and shrouded with gloom,
A light shines from heaven each heart to illume:
Blest Charity soothes all the cares of the breast,
And Hope points us on to the land of the blest.
Oh! then when we soar to that region of Light,
Where Faith, Hope and Charity fondly unite,
We'll join in an anthem of rapturous love,

Before the Grand Master who ruleth above.

Br. E. Brown, Master of Ceremonies, then presented to Br. Jonathan Brown, of Niles, Mich., the following officers elect for installation: E. W. H. Ellis, W. M., E. G. Chamberlain, S. W.; L. B. Parmalee, J. W.; Washington Earle, Sec'ry; Azel Skinner, Treas.; Philip M. Henkel, S. D.; John Derlan, J. D.; P. Ross and Paul Henkel, Stewards; Azariah Julian, Tyler-who were severally charged and invested with the jewels and implements of office.

An impressive and truly Masonic oration was pronounced by the Rev. Br. G. B. Engle, which was listened to with the deepest interest and attention by all pres

ent.

The exercises at the grove were characterized by the good order and fidelity of the Craft, enlivened by strains of music, the approving smiles of the fair and the beauty of the forest scene, and closed by a benediction pronounced by Br. F. A. Reed.

The procession again formed and proceeded to the table, where an excellent dinner was in readiness, prepared by the ladies composing the Methodist Sewing Society, at which some 250 persons sat down, and after doing ample justice to the rich repast, the Fraternity returned to their Hall and the Lodge closed in har

mony.

Thus ended the first festival day enjoyed by this Lodge since its organization. Amid the massive columns of nature's temple, and beneath the arching canopy of green, the Brethren worshipped the Great Architect. No "man from Tyre" was there to lift up his hand against his fellow and mar the beauty of the work, but all met on the level and parted on the square." "Thus may they ever meet and part."

AT ROCKVILLE, IND.

Rockville, la., Sept. 6, 1847. # The last anniversary of St. John the Baptist was appropriately observed in this place, by Parke Lodge, No. 8, together with a

R. W. BR. Moore:-*

number of visiting Brethren from neighboring Lodges. The Brethren assembled in their Lodge Hall, at half-past 9 o'clock, A. M., where they were all clothed with their proper regalia. At 10 o'clock, they were formed in order of procession, in a spacious room adjoining the Lodge, and moved to the M. E. Church, preceded by the Clionian Band, Br. Gen. G. K. Steele acting as Marshal of the day, and Br. Gen. A. M. Houston, and Br. D. S. Donaldson, of Terrahaute Lodge, assistant Marshals. After an appropriate prayer by the Chaplain, Br. D. M. French, the following officers were severally publicly installed into their respective offices for the ensuing months, by R. W. Br. James S. Freeman, of Terrahaute, J. G. W. of the G. Lodge of Indiana, Br. Harvy Skelton, P. M. of Vermillion Lodge, acting as Master of Ceremonies, viz:-Austin M. Pratt, W. M.; Sam'] Stouse, S. W.; Jeptha Garrignes, J. W.; R. P. Alexander, Treas.; Allean Poleet, Sec.; J. Jones, S. D.; J. Baker, J. D.; James Myers, S. S.; J. M. Creekparm, J. S.; Charlton Britton, Tyler.

After the ceremonies of installation were concluded, Hon. Ex-Gov. Br. David Wallace, of Indianapolis, delivered an appropriate address, which for chastity of style, boldness of figure, and elegance of dress, not only did high honor to the orator and the occasion, but has rarely if ever been excelled on any occasion by any other orator of the West. The Chaplain then pronounced the benediction, after which the procession formed, being considerably augmented by many of the wives and daughters of the Fraternity, together with a number of ladies of invited guests, and moved to the American House, where our worthy host and hostess, D. C. Meddle and lady, had spread a most sumptuous repast, of which all partook with appropriate order and good feeling, after which the Brethren returned to the Lodge, passed some appropriate resolutions on the occasion, and closed in peace and harmony.

Parke Lodge is regularly increasing in numerical strength and prosperity. It was organized in 1844, with eleven members; we now number fortyfive resident members. Yours, fraternally, PETER Q. STRYKER.

REMARKS ON THE SYMBOLICAL NATURE OF

JEWELS.

BY MRS. COLONEL MARY ANNA HARTLEY.

As Freemasonry has the pious honor and glory of first commencing the predicted Milennium by perfecting peace, good will, and brotherly love upon earth, so the Fraternity in their joint Fellowship allegorically continued the true and first precious jewel that shone in the Urim and Thummim, whose dictates were invariably followed by the Israelites before the veil of the covenant was lifted to the eyes of humanity.

Some eastern writers affirm that there were two precious stones added to the other twelve, by the extraordinary lustre of which God marked his approbation of a design, and by their dimness his disallowance of it. Others, that the name of Jehovah was inscribed upon a plate of gold and therein fixed. Some, that the letters of the names of the tribes upon the Urim and Thummim were allegorically styled jewels, and that the letters standing out, or by extraordinary illumination, marked such words as contained the answer of God to those who consulted this oracle.

However various their opinions, it is certain that the Urim and Thummim was pure in the sight of the Almighty, and paramount over all things, until the arrival of the jewel of jewels and perfection of precious stones, when the holy breastplate was condensed into one glorious light from Bethlehem, and afterwards continued by the twelve Apostles, who handed down to the world the Word of God, which was the true seal of the wisest King. God's spirit in Hebrew is called a

seal, because by the gracious inhabitation and influence thereof, men are marked out for God's property, distinguished from the world at large, and secured against apostacy and ruin.

There are a great many mysteries conveyed by stones. In referring to the sacred volume" and Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan,”—and 'Moses previously rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under a hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel,"—it must be remembered that Gilgal derived its name from unhewn stones. Exod. xxiv. 4.

The pure Hebrew knife, for raising the altar, was made of stone, (Tzur.;) but this word signifies also edge.

The use of graving tools, for erecting high altars, was forbidden, because no human inventions were acceptable in the worship of Jehovah: and was intended to show symbolically that his true shrine was made without hands, being that of a purified heart. Our Saviour was the most perfect offering for man, and as a priest after the order of Melchisedec, and as the chief corner-stone, connecting and establishing the Church and all her concerns, and by which all, both Jews and Gentiles, angels and men, are as it were joined into one, he thus spiritually constituted the first and only perfect order and altar.

It is this spiritual building which constitues Freemasonry. By copying divine example, the Fraternity allegorically rise above their mundane Brethren as true workmen of stone and tile, and when thus Masonically employed, they hew, cut, and square, new altars and buildings to the Lord of Hosts, by perfecting his spiritual works. Freemasons should be engaged in promoting friendship, virtuous society, mutual assistance, and good fellowship.

Although the world is indebted to Pythagoras for the demonstration of the 47th proposition of the first book of Euclid's elements, relative to the square of the hypothenuse, and history tells us that he was so clated after making the discovery, that he made an offering of a hecatomb to the gods, yet it was reserved for a Christian to have the honor and triumph of explaining the true jewel and the seed of Solomon.

The figure appended to the Master Mason's square beautifully expresses the Trinity. We must in contemplating this problem feel persuaded that it conveys the idea of some self-existent and absolutely eternal power, continued by one equal square, immediately proceeding to two, then a third, and finally terminating in the central celestial figure. It shows us, that God necessarily in and of his own infinite, but simple and undivided essence, subsists in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Here, indeed, by an emblem which sets at naught all irregular angles, and assists in bringing rude figures into a divine form, we have the Freemason's spiritual square in perfection.

Pope Innocent III., from the letter which accompanied his presents to King John, appears to have understood Freemasonry; for he therein expresses himself in the following terms:

"Among the riches that mortals prize as the most valuable, and desire with the greatest earnestness, it is our opinion that pure gold and precious stones hold the

first rank.

"Though we are persuaded your Royal Excellence has no want of these things, we have thought. proper to send you as a mark of our good will, four rings, set with stones; we beg the favor you would consider the mysteries contained in their form, their matter, their number, and colour, rather than their value; their roundness denotes eternity, which having neither beginning nor end, ought to induce you to tend without ceasing, from earthly things to heavenly, and from things temporal to things eternal.

"The number four, which is a square, signifies firmness of mind, not to be shaken by adversity, nor elevated by prosperity, but always continuing in the same state. This is a perfection to which yours will not fail to arrive, when it shall be adorned with the four cardinal virtues, justice, fortitude, prudence and temperance;

47th Prob. of Euclid.-ED.

the first will be of service in your judgments, the second in adversity, the third in dubious cases, the fourth in prosperity.

"By the gold is signified wisdom; but as gold is the most precious of metals, wisdom is of all endowments the most excellent, as the Prophet witnesses in these words, The spirit of wisdom shall rest upon him,' and indeed there is nothing more requisite in a sovereign; accordingly, Solomon, that pacific king, only asked of God wisdom to enable him to well govern his people. The green color of the emerald denotes faith, the clearness of the sapphire hope, the redness of the ruby charity, and the color of the topaz good works, concerning which our Saviour said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works.' In the emerald, therefore, you have what you are to believe, in the sapphire what you are to hope, in the ruby what you are to love, and in the topaz what you are to practise, to the end you may proceed from virtue to virtue, till you come to the vision of the God of Gods in Sion."

The most holy stone was the emerald, because it denoted faith; it was the fourth foundation stone in the "new Jerusalem," and perhaps the fourth in the high-priest's breastplate. The bow that surrounds the holy throne, St. John tells us, displayed no other shade of glory, but that which encircled it was like unto an emerald. It is an oriental tradition that any serpent will grow blind at the sight of that stone if held near its eyes. Figuratively, Satan in his fallen state cannot bear its refulgence. It was the type of Christ's coming, David's tribe being descended from the fourth son of Jacob by Leah.

The common emerald is ranked among the gems, but is now found only in Peru; it is green, harder than quartz, and always in crystals. The oriental emerald is a green sapphire. The beryl is a variety of the emerald of a paler green or blue. The emerald of Brazil is a tourmaline.-F. Q. Review.

ON THE STUDY OF MASONIC ANTIQUITIES.*

BY BRO. THOMAS PRYER.
CHAPTER IV.

RESULTS OF THE RE-DISCOVERY OF HIEROGLYPHICAL KNOWLEDGE CONSIDERED WITH REGARD TO THE HISTORY, GOVERNMENT, PHILOSOPHY, SCIENCE, CHRONOLOGY, LITERATURE AND RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

THE antiquities of ancient Egypt, whether considered historically, theologically, or masonically, deserve our most particular attention; for, if not the nation in which science, literature, and the arts of civilized life first attained great perfection, it is perfectly clear, from what has been before observed, that the ancient Egyptians concentrated all the knowledge of the post-diluvian world, and were the means by which that knowledge became subsequently diffused over different nations.

In continuing the speculative portion of our subject, I must necessarily allude to the Egyptian mysteries; but before doing so, it becomes essential, for the better understanding of the matter under consideration, to describe more particularly some of the leading results flowing from the newly-discovered art of deciphering the hieroglyphics, and to consider each point under its separate head. I therefore purpose to make some remarks, as concisely as the nature of the subject will admit, on the important accession of knowledge which these long-hidden, but now available sources, throw upon the history, laws, scientific attainments, literature, and religion of ancient Egypt.

And first as to HISTORY.

From these sources the Caucasian origin of the Egyptian is now clearly estab

*Continued from p. 314, vol. vi.

lished, and the hypothesis so recently entertained of their Ethiopian origin is shown to be perfectly groundless. In what way, or at what particular time, the founders of this mighty empire wound their way across the wilderness to the fertile banks of the Nile, it is at present impossible to determine; whether their primogenitors progressed slowly westward as a pastoral people, or were driven by political convulsions or intestine feuds from their earliest domicile, (although the former supposition bears the strongest impress of probability,) cannot now be ascertained; but their Asiatic origin is now satisfactorily established, in opposition to the hitherto generally received notion; and this important fact, developed from hieroglyphical knowledge, will be found, on strict examination, more in accordance with natural deduction and scripture history.

With regard to LAWS and GOVERNMENT, it is perfectly evident that the first general form of government was that of a priestly aristocracy. This was before, in some manner, deducible from traditionary legends in the works of the Greek writers, and inferenca gleaned from those mythological doctrines wherein truth was concealed beneath a veil of allegory; it is now, however, rendered manifest from monumental evidence. This form of government was created gradually out of the union of those patriarchal heads of villages, who each governed his own particular family, in precisely the same manner as does an Arab Sheikh at the present day; an oriental custom but little varied since patriarchal ages. This hierarchy, unquestionably the first form of general government in that primeval period, preceded the establishment of a monarchy, and ruled Egypt for at least several centuries before the accession of Menes, the first Pharaoh. Champollion Figeac states-" A theocracy, or a government of priests, was the first known to the Egyptians; and it is necessary to give this word priests the acceptation that it bore in remote times, when the ministers of religion were also the ministers of science (and knowledge,) so that they united in their own persons two of the noblest missions with which men can be invested, the WORSHIP OF THE DEITY, and the CULTIVATION OF INTELLIGENCE." This is truly a Masonic union well worthy of our consideration; but to continue. This priestly aristocracy had existed some time-how long cannot be accurately determined, there being no means of arriving at dates during their rule so accurately as under the Pharaohs-when a rivalry sprung up between the two ruling powers, the priestly and the military; and the latter wielding the elements of physical power, enabled a military chieftain to assume the reins of government, who established a kingdom, and made the throne hereditary in the line of the Pharaohs. Thus the social condition of Egypt was altered at a very early period of its history; but the priesthood did not lose the influence which superior knowledge always confers upon its possessors; the sacerdotal power became united with the regal; the two principles were interwoven and perpetuated for many centuries; and the Pharaohs, initiated by the priests in the higher mysteries, display the origin of a royal priesthood.

As to PHILOSOPHY and SCIENCE.

It has already been shown that that aggregation of human knowledge, emphatically denominated "the wisdom of the Egyptians," supplied the copious sources from whence the sages of Greece and Rome derived mainly if not entirely their knowledge. Of the depth of this wisdom, the world has for centuries remained in ignorance; and but for the truth which now glimmers from imperishable records, it would have been lost to the present age. The recipients of that wisdom give us but crude and distorted notions of it-sullying the purity of the original fountain, the stream became polluted. Thus we see how necessary it is to trace the elements of knowledge to their source, in order that we may be enabled to comprehend somewhat of that wisdom, the profundity of which even present enlightenment scarcely enables us to appreciate. We shall hereafter (in the course of the present chapter) have occasion to remark how valuable, and indeed essentially important this equity is to our present subject. The perfection to which the ancient Egyptians carried all the arts and sciences of civilized life, has been already adverted to; and it may be observed as a matter deserving par