anticipate, divided the current of thought, and prevented the prevalence of any dominant impression. What candidate is able to describe his feelings during that agitating ceremony? Let him try, and perhaps he may find more difficulty in the process than he imagines. He may, or he may not, accomplish the task to his own satisfaction. The chances, however, are against him. Some brethren, with iron nerves, may have been sufficiently self-possessed for such an undertaking, but I doubt much whether others could do it effectually. The situation was embarrassing and confused-they felt it; new ideas continually routed and displaced old ones, and when the reality burst upon them it drove away and obliterated every vestige of the conflicting reflections which had previously passed in rapid succession across the panorama of their mind. Do the candidate's thoughts unconsciously take their character from the variegated emblems which his eye passes over,-light or darkness, hopeful or desponding, now bursting forth with a flood of light, like the glorious central star, and now more mild and gentle, like the tesselated border representing the genial illumination of the planets in their uniform course round the god of day; or are they hazy, indistinct, and illusory, in realization of the physical state of nothingness to which his external preparation has reduced him? Did he feel beneath his feet a carpet of the softest velvet? Did he fancy himself wandering through sounding halls and passages, or through a long series of funeral vaults? or did he feel as in a bewildered dream under the influence of ephialtes? Was he in eager expecta G tion that a new page in the world's wonders was about to be unfolded? What were his hopes? What were his fears? Can he tell you? It is to be doubted whether a candidate is sufficiently collected to be able to combine his thoughts and reduce them to any real or tangible consistency. LECTURE XX. FROM WEST то EAST. "How ought a Mason's Lodge to be situated? Due east and west. Why so? Because all churches, chapels, and places of divine worship, ought to be so situated. For what reason? Because the sun rises in the east and spreads its influence towards the west; and because the Gospel was first preached in the east and afterwards propagated in the western parts of the world."-FROM AN OBSOLETE RITUAL. IN Freemasonry, the East, or sun-rising, constitutes an unchangeable Landmark; and accordingly in an ancient Masonic MS., which was reputed to have been copied by Leland, the celebrated antiquary, we find the following passage: "Where dyd ytt (Freemasonry) begynne? Ytt dydd begynne with the ffyrste menne of the ESTE, whych were before the ffyrste menne of the Weste; and comynge westlye ytt hathe broughte herwythe alle comfortes to the wylde and comfortlesse." Mr. Locke's presumed annotation on this passage induced Bro. Preston to observe that "the opinion there were men in the East before Adam is a mere conjecture, although it may be countenanced by some learned authors; but Masons comprehend the true meaning of the Craft taking its rise in the East and spreading to the West, without having recourse to the pre-Adamite theory." East and West are terms peculiar to the Society, and when Masonically adopted are very intelligible, as they refer to certain forms and customs established many centuries ago; a few of which will form the subject of the present Lecture. In a Mason's Lodge the W. Master is placed in the East as a type of the rising sun, which opens the day that the inhabitants of the world may go forth to their labour, and the behests of the Most High executed to His glory and the advantage of His creatures. "Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light The candidate is obligated in the East and invested in the West; advances from West to East by right lines and angles, to typify the necessity of an upright life and well-squared actions; and he is subsequently placed in the North-East to receive instruction, as a corner-stone, from which a superstructure is expected to rise, perfect in its parts and honourable to the builder. The Brethren, with their faces to the East, reverently attend to the dictates of wisdom which proceed from the Chair, in commemoration of the same custom used by the early Christians; for light, truth, and virtue, as Brother Dunckerley in his code of Lectures, predicates, "sprang out of the darkness which overshadowed this globe when the work of six days began." I now proceed to explain an anomaly which has crept into our Lodge practice, and which many Brethren would be glad if they could distinctly understand. In the traditionary history of Masonry as it was embodied in the primitive ritual, we are informed that "our ancient Brethren, after the completion of King Solomon's Temple, travelled from one country to another, in search of employment, and for other Masonic purposes." Amongst the rest certain Entered Apprentices are said to have proceeded from the West to the East, "hailing from the Lodge of St. John at Jerusalem," for the purpose of receiving scientific instruction from their more experienced Brethren. And this declaration occupies a prominent place in the system adopted by most Grand Lodges at the present day; but having sustained some alteration, a difficulty has arisen which requires a brief notice. It is easy to imagine, that as the East is a place of Light and Wisdom, a novice might beneficially travel thither to seek for information in the science; for, if our traditions are to be relied on, the Dionysiacs, who built the Temple of Solomon, travelled eastward from Jerusalem, bearing with them their skill and taste in architecture, and other secrets of the Fraternity, into various countries, where they were more readily employed, and received better wages than those who did not possess the same advantages. In many places where they sojourned they obtained special privileges; and because they taught their secrets only to the freeborn, their successors acquired the name of FREEMASONS; constituting Lodges and |