Divine mind. The cube was the symbol of the mind of man, after it had been purified by piety and acts of devotion, and thus prepared for mingling with the celestial gods. The point within a circle, and the dodecahedron or figure of twelve sides, were symbols of the universe. The triple triangle was an emblem of health, and the letter Y a representation of the course of human life, in which there are two diverging paths, the one of virtue, leading to happiness, and the other of vice, conducting to misery.

Among the doctrines peculiar to the school of Pythagoras, was that of the metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, which he derived during his travels from the Brahmins of India. He forbade the eating of flesh, and the offering of animals in sacrifice. He taught that the universe was created out of the passive principle of matter, by the Divine Being, who was its mover and source, and out of whose substance the souls of men were formed. He believed in the universal influence of numbers, which he supposed to be the controlling principle of all things. He perceived in the human mind, not only propensities to vice and passion, but the better seeds of virtue. These he sought to cultivate and cherish by labour, study, and abstinence of life. In short, he appears to have extracted from the various sects of heathen philosophy, all that was good, and to have rejected all that was bad, forming thereby an eclectic system which approached nearer to light and truth, than any that had ever, before his day, emanated from the unassisted wisdom of man.

Q.

QUALIFICATIONS OF CANDIDATES. The pre-requisite qualification of candidates for admission into the mysteries of Freemasonry, are of three kinds-mental, moral, and physical.

The mental qualifications are, that the candidate shall be a man of sane mind; that is, neither a fool, an idiot, nor a madman; but one responsible for his actions, and competent to understand the obligations, to comprehend the instructions, and to perform the duties of a Mason. The mental qualifications refer to the security of the order.

The moral qualifications are, that he shall be no "irreligious libertine," but an obeyer of the moral law. That is, he must be virtuous in his conduct and reputable in his character, lest the dignity and honour of the institution suffer by the admission of unworthy persons. Neither must he be an atheist, but an humble believer in the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, a belief which constitutes the religious creed of Freemasonry, and which is essentially necessary to a Mason as a check upon vice and a stimulus to virtue. Another important moral qualification is, that the candidate must come of his "own free will and accord." Masonry does not delight in proselytism. Though our portals are open to all who are worthy, yet we are unwilling that any should unite with us, except they be persuaded to the act by their uninfluenced convictions of the beauty and utility of our institution. The moral qualifications refer to the respectability of the order.

The physical qualifications are, that the candidate shall be twenty-one years old or more, free born and no bondsman, of able body, and "of limbs whole as a man ought to be."

This is one of the oldest regulations of our ancient craft. It arises from the originally operative nature of our institution. Whatever objections some ultra liberal brethren may make to the uncharitable nature of a law which excludes a virtuous man from our fellowship, because he has been unfortunate enough to lose a leg or an arm, we have no right to discuss the question. The regulation constitutes one of the many peculiarities that distinguish our society from all others; its existence continues to connect the present speculative with the former operative character of the institution; it is an important part of our history;

and is, in short, by universal consent, one of the landmarks of the order. It can never, therefore, be changed. The physical qualifications refer to the utility of the order.

The most ancient charges in which these regulations are to be found, are those which were collected from the old repords, and ordered to be printed by the Grand Lodge of England, 1722, and the manuscript charges in the possession of the Lodge of Antiquity, London. As they are brief, but important, I may be excused for inserting them here.

"A Mason is obliged, by his tenure, to obey the moral aw; and if he rightly understands the art, he will never be a stupid atheist nor an irreligious libertine."*

"No master should take an apprentice, unless he has sufficient employment for him, and unless he be a perfect youth, having no maim or defect in his body, that may render him incapable of learning the art, of serving his master's lord, and of being made a brother, and then a Fellow-Craft in due time, even after he has served such a term of years as the custom of the country directs and that he should be descended of honest parents; that so, when otherwise qualified, he may arrive to the honour of being the Warden, and then the Master of the lodge, the Grand Warden, and, at length, the Grand Master of all the lodges, according to his merit."+

"Thirdly, that he that be made, be able in all degrees; that is, free born, of good kindred, true, and no bondsman, and that he have his right limbs as a man ought to have."‡

In the Constitution, published under the sanction of the Grand Lodge of Maryland, by Brother Samuel Cole, the physical disabilities are set forth still more minutely, with an assignment of what is probably the true reason for their existence. They "no person is capable of becoming a member, unless he is

say,

*Old Charges, Sect. 1.-See Anderson, Constitutions.

† Ibm. Sect. 4.

MS. in Lodge of Antiq. See Preston, 273. Note.

free born, of mature and discreet age; of good report; of suffi cient natural endowments, and the senses of a man; with an es tate, office, trade, occupation, or some visible way of acquiring an honest livelihood, and of working in his craft, as becomes the members of this most ancient and honourable fraternity, who ought not only to earn what is sufficient for themselves and families, but likewise something to spare for works of charity, and supporting the true dignity of the royal craft. Every person desiring admission, must also be upright in body, not deformed or dismembered at the time of making; but of hale and entire limbs, as a man ought to be.”*

In an able report made by Bro. W. S. Rockwell, Deputy Grand Master, to the Grand Lodge of Georgia, he traces the existence of the law prohibiting the initiation of maimed candidates, to that early period of Egyptian history, in which a personal defect would exclude from the priesthood—a law which is again to be found in the Mosaic ritual, from which the masonic institution is more immediately derived. Looking to the symbolic character of speculative masonry as referring to the material temple for its architype, he explains the present existence of the law in the following language, with the sentiments of which I cordially concur.

"It was eminently proper that a temple erected for the worship of the GOD OF TRUTH, the unchangeable I AM, should be constructed of white stones, perfect stones, the universally recognised symbols of this, his great and constant attribute. The symbolic relation of each member of his order to its mystic temple forbids the idea that its constituent portions, its living stones, should be less perfect, or less a type of their great original, than the inanimate material which formed the earthly dwelling place of the God of their adoration."

QUESTIONS OF HENRY VI. This is a document which

See Cole, Freemas. Lib. p. 69. Constitutions, Ch. 1, Sect. 4.

has been so often printed in various masonic publications as to have become familiar to the fraternity. Its full title is, "Certayne questions with answeres to the same, concernynge the mystery of maconrye; wryttene by the hande of Kynge Henry the Sixthe of the name, and faythfullye copied by me, Johan Leylande Antiquarius, by the commaunde of His Highnesse." It first appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1753, where it purports to be a reprint of the pamphlet published five years before, at Frankfort.* It is there stated to have been copied by one John Collins, from a MS. in the Bodleian library, and to have been enclosed in a letter from the celebrated John Locke, the author of the Essay on Human Understanding, to Thomas, Earl of Pembroke, and bearing date May 6th, 1696. Preston afterward incorporated these questions into his work, and appended to them a section of remarks on the manuscript, as well as on the annotations of Mr. Locke. This work has always been received as genuine among the craft, and in the life of Leland its authenticity is positively asserted. But this has lately been denied by Mr. Halliwell, in a small work entitled, "The Early History of Freemasonry in England," published at London, in 1840. The document purporting to come from the Bodleian library, is so well known to most Masons, that I should have passed it over without notice in this work, were it not that I deemed it necessary to bring the doubts of Mr. Halliwell before my readers, many of whom may have no opportunity of seeing the original work in which the subject is discussed. The views of Mr. Halliwell will, perhaps, be best conveyed in the words of the doubter himself.

"It is singular," says Mr. Halliwell, "that the circumstances attending its publication should have led no one to suspect its

The title of the paper, as found in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1753, page 417, is as follows: "Copy of a small pamphlet consisting of 12 pages, in 8vo., printed in Germany in 1748, entitled: 'Ein Brief von dem berüchmten herrn heron Johann Locke betreffend die Frey-Maurreren. So aufeinem Schrieb-Jisch eines verstrorbnen Bruders ist gefunden worden.'"