finds himself in need of light. And when he emerges from his prison and appears in the Lodge, he is still no better than a new-born infant, naked, dark, and ignorant; and unable to direct his steps without the assistance of others. For awhile he paces the dull round in blank astonishment, without a correct idea to tell him where he is, or what amount of pain or pleasure is in store for him. He bears without a murmur his present dreary lot, in the hope of mental and bodily enlightenment, trusting, like a nascent child, to those who guide him in the devious and unknown paths of knowledge, till he arrives at the portal of the Temple of Science; which being at length opened, the light streams on his wondering eyes from the altar in the East, while instruction distils from the lips of Wisdom, and he rises finally from the ranks of the profane, and becomes the disciple of Truth.

As the infant advances in years, he undergoes the training of moral and scientific instruction to enable him to perform the active duties of life with credit to himself, and advantage to his fellow-citizens; and so advances in knowledge till he arrives at maturity. Thus entering on the second stage of his progress, he becomes personally responsible for his actions. So the Masonic aspirant, before the second door of Masonry is opened to him, is expected to perfect and fortify himself in a competent knowledge of the demands which moral principles have upon him, as an admitted member of the society; all of which may be included in that Grand Symbol which refers to T G A O TU, and combines all earthly good—

I mean the Equilateral Triangle. He will then be admitted to share in the arcana of science, and have revealed to him divers other matters, which are necessary to complete his knowledge as a Craftsman, and advance him in his passage through the various grades of Masonry to its final end and consummation. This represents the second stage of life and manhood.

His physical course now begins to display a picture of old age and death, which are embodied in the Third Degree of Masonry. As he passes the Middle Age and recedes towards that period when earthly joys and earthly sorrows approach their termination, so when the Fellow-Craft has passed the Middle Chamber, the porch, the dormer, and stone pavement, and is admitted into the Sanctum Sanctorum, he there finds a coffin and a tomb, striking emblems of his future destiny; on sight of which he is instructed to lift up his hands on high to propitiate TGA OTU, that he may inherit a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

The pale beam struggled through the shade
That black'd the cavern's womb;

And in the deepest nook betray'd

An altar and a tomb.

The French Masons of the last century had an ingenious hypothesis that at the initiation of a candidate, the first door by which he entered was the portal of Eternity, on account of the grand and imposing thoughts which accompanied his admission into the Temple of Science. And here he was subjected to a rigorous ordeal, both physical and moral,

by water, air, and fire, to symbolize a kind of new birth; because at his actual nativity he came out of water, passed through the air, and at a certain age became under the fatal influence of fiery passions. And they feigned that these three elements were the mothers of the world; for the heavens were created from fire, the earth from water, and that the air constitutes the purifying medium which conciliates and reconciles the two former to each other. In like manner they affirmed that man was made out of the same elements; his head being formed from fire, the abdomen from water, and the rest of his body from air or spirit. This theory was applied in the following manner.

The universal spirit traversing the highest heavens without interruption, forms the inaccessible source of light and fire, which, penetrating through all the celestial spheres, gradually condenses itself and flows perpetually towards the earth. By the same laws of nature the central fire, which is the terrestrial Sun, forms an inexhaustible series of emanations towards the concave vault of heaven, and corrects, by decomposition, all the impurities of the atmosphere. Thus fire is condensed into air, air into water, and water buries itself in the earth; which being here purified, again ascends in air, and is exalted and disseminated in fire. This eternal rotation of the ethereal emanations constitutes the golden chain which connects all terrestrial bodies.

Again, they assigned to water the attribute of Wisdom, to fire Intelligence, and to air a royal and celestial Crown; distinguishing them by the names

of the three principal worlds, the Angelic, the Sideral, and the Inferior; and applying them officially to the Orator, the Secretary, and the Master of the Lodge, the Wardens being identified with Glory and Triumph. And they taught that the health of the human body was preserved and maintained by a proper distribution of these three elements. If the balance be destroyed by the preponderance of fire, inflammation and fever are the necessary consequences; if the element of water prevail, agues and other dangerous diseases are precipitated, and death ensues when these elements finally disappear. They are also considered emblematical of the three conspirators who destroyed their Master, and abandoned his breathless corpse; thus bringing into operation the fourth element, earth, which, according to the old Lectures of Masonry, "opens her arms to receive us when forsaken by all our friends."

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God' and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.”KING SOLOMON.

"Fear Him with a filial fear, better expressed by that better word, love; who, though the building hath been injured by the defection of sin, will restore and ornament it with all its original order, regularity, beauty, excellency, and usefulness; who will again adorn it with all its former beauty; who will cleanse all its defiled vessels; who will make it a beautiful temple for His own everlasting residence; who will manifest Himself in glory to all its inhabitants; and who will write upon its doors and door-posts, upon its windows and window-frames, upon its porches and pillars, HOLINESS TO THE LORD!"- INWOOD'S MASONIC SERMONS.

I Now approach the conclusion of my labours by an explanation of the great aim and end of our progress through the three degrees of symbolical Masonry, which are shadowed out by an expressive type exhibited at our first entrance into the Master's Lodge; and it is exceedingly appropriate, for it contributes materially to the general effect of the drama. It cannot, therefore, be excluded from our inquiry, because it constitutes one of the Landmarks which were instituted and confirmed by the Lodge of Re