amidst surrounding peace, it has flourished in proportion to the prevalence of good laws and vigorous government, such as prevented deeds of rapine and violence, and secured the sacredness of human life, the rights of property, the due administration of justice, and the good order of society. As the sun rises in the east and advances towards the west, so have religion, civilisation, learning, and Freemasonry advanced from the east to the west. The position of the Lodge reminds us of all this, and thus calls us to gratitude for all that we have received, and due consideration of the source to which we owe it to the consideration, above all, of the connection of all that we regard as of the highest value, and especially calling for our gratitude, with the revelation which has been graciously made from heaven. The position of the lodge-room certainly refers also to the rising of the sun in the east, and his progress to the west, reminding us that we also have our appointed day, of which it behoves us to make good use ere the shades of evening gather around us.

There are many passages of Holy Scripture to which we may advantageously turn for help and guidance in the meditations that arise from contemplation of the symbolism of the lodge-room. Such are these:-"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen. i. 1).

"The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods " (Ps. xxiv. 1, 2).

:

"The Lord reigneth; He is clothed with majesty the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith He hath girded Himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: Thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord, for ever" (Ps. xciii).

"God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him" (Acts x. 34, 35).

"God, that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things: And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation" (Acts xvii. 24-26).

From what has been said of the symbolism of the lodgeroom, the nature of the thoughts to which it leads, and the feelings which it is fitted to produce or intensify, it may surely be inferred that every Freemason ought to regard it as a place in a high degree sacred; a temple into which nothing unholy should be permitted to enter-no thought nor feeling inconsistent with reverence for God, and a "reasonable service" such as a good man must delight in rendering to Him-no sentiment at variance with brotherly-kindness and charity, to which, therefore, any angry or offensive word, any profane speech is extremely unsuitable. And the more that he meditates upon this important part of masonic symbolism, the more will the Freemason seek both to regulate his conduct and to govern his heart so as to make the Lodge-both to himself and to all his brethren-the scene of elevated and elevating employments and of pure and happy feeling, which it is designed to be and ought to be. There is nothing in all this inconsistent with "innocent mirth." True religious feeling is not at variance with cheerfulness, but on the contrary, cheerfulness is a proper characteristic of a religious man, and there is something wrong in a man's religion when he is always sombre and gloomy. Austerity does not belong to true religion: the asceticism with which it is congenial grows out of ignorance, superstition, and self-righteous pride.

CHAPTER LXXV.

MASONIC SYMBOLS.-W.-E.

THE rise of Religion, of Freemasonry, of Civilisation, of Learning, and of the Sciences in the East and their progress towards the West is indicated to the Freemason not only by the position and arrangements of the lodgeroom, and so by the lodge-room itself when depicted as a symbol, but also in a special manner by another symbol, which consists simply of the letters W. and E., the initial letters of the words West and East, placed at the ends of an oblong board, a line extending from the one to the other. The remarks already made under the head of the lodge-room, render it unnecessary to enter here into the subject of the import and value of this symbol. The employment of it as a distinct symbol shows the importance which Freemasons have always regarded as belonging to the ideas and lessons connected with it.

It may however be suggested, in addition to what has been already said on this subject, that from the view of this symbol, and from the thought of the wonderful westward course of all that ennobles humanity, throughout a long course of past ages, there ought certainly to arise within us a strong desire for the restoration of religion and learning to their ancient seats in the East, and the extension of their blessings to regions farther eastward still. The prophetic Scriptures plainly announce to us that a time is coming when this shall be the case, the same Scriptures which announced long beforehand the downfall of the great eastern empires, and the transference of the chief seat of power in the world to regions farther west. Has not Egypt for many centuries, for more than a

thousand years, been a base kingdom, the basest of kingdoms, acknowledging the sovereignty of a foreign power, and with servants for her rulers? It was 80

predicted, whilst Egypt was still great. Is Babylon a desolation? The prophets of the Lord foretold it, in the days of Babylon's pride and of the plenitude of her power. "Babylon shall become heaps," says one of them, "a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant" (Jer. li. 37). Nay, we find in the prophetic books of Scripture clear predictions of the downfall of empires which had not yet arisen when the prophets prophesied who wrote these books: we read in the inspired Scriptures ancient predictions both of the rise and of the fall of the Medo-Persian Empire, of the Grecian or Macedonian, and of the Roman. But we read also predictions of a better time to come, when the world shall no longer be under the despotic sway of one predominating power, and when true religion with all its attendant blessings shall be universally diffused, for "the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea. And as if to give greater point and force to such general predictions, we find them specially applied to some of those nations of which the terrible downfall is particularly foretold; as in the prophecy of Isaiah regarding Egypt and Assyria: "In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a Saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. And the Lord shall be known in Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite and heal it; and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall be entreated of them and shall heal them. In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into

The

Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance" (Is. xix. 19–25). As we see that the prophecies relating to the rise and fall of empires, and the desolation of great, wealthy, and magnificent cities, have been wonderfully fulfilled during a long lapse of ages, so we are encouraged to expect with confidence the fulfilment of the prophecies concerning a better time to come, a time of universal piety, knowledge, peace, and joy. We must remember, however, that He in whose word all these predictions are to be found, and who alone sees the end from the beginning, is He with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years are as one day, and although He is not slack to perform His promise, yet there may be what to our apprehension must seem long waiting ere its fulfilment takes place. prophecies of the desolation of Babylon were not perfectly fulfilled for centuries after they were delivered, nor even after their fulfilment began in the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire, but the progress of events went on, gradually bringing about the complete realisation of all that they foretold. We are not to imagine as we might be apt to do if we had only history to guide us, and no sure word of prophecy shining as a light in a dark place—that the progress of civilisation is always to be westwards and westwards only, until perhaps it passes round and so returns to where it was at first, or that thus in cycles of thousands of years it is to pass round and round the globe. It is no such prospect that is opened before us in the word of Him who cannot lie; but one which it is delightful to contemplate, of the ultimate and rapid diffusion of light on every side from every centre in which it has begun to shine. To this it is our duty and ought to be our delight to contribute according to our ability, each in his own sphere making our own light to shine, and doing good as we have opportunity.