Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

KAEBALISM . A brother desirous of information upon this subject belongs to a lodge the members of which are many and rich . Doubtlessly , then , the lodge possesses the fifteen volumes of the Freemasons' Magazine . My brother has only to turn to vol . vii ., pages 23 , 45 , 67 , S 3 and 102 of that useful publication . Thereunder

, , the title " Kabbalisui , Secret Societies , and Masonry , " he will find as much respecting the science , asserted to be older than the creation , and to have been taught by God himself to the angels , as he will probably ever care to know . —C . P . COOPER .

THE PHARISEES . THE SADDUCEE 3 . In answer to the letter of a correspondent , I say that , in the reign of Herod the Great , tho two principal Jewish sects were the Pharisees and the Sadducees . The former believed in the soul ' s immortality , and amongst them Freemasonry was possible . The latter did not believe in the soul ' s immortality , and amongst them , therefore , Freemasonry was not possible . —C . P . COOPER .

THE MARONITES . A correspondent , just returned from a tour in Syria , writes that he found Freemasonry amongst the Maronites , and particularly amongt those dwelling on the western slope of Mount Lebanon . It seems , however , that my correspondent has not the advantage of belonging to our Institutionand he

cannotthere-, , fore , know what Freemasonry is . More information is , I think , necessary to warrant the belief that Freemasonry exists in the ancient Christian tribe of the Maronites . —0 . P . COOPER .

THE DRUSES . Dear Brother ¦ -, all the encyclopaedias into which I have looked of late years contain accounts of the religion of the Druses . You will , therefore , have little difficulty in speedily satisfying your curiosity . It has been suggested , you say , that the Druses invented Freemasonry . "What lias given rise to this strange suggestion I cannot conjecture , unless it be that the Druses have their mysteries . —C . P . COOPER .

EARLIEST EDITION 0 E OUR " CONSTITUTIONS . " Bro . , after much research , both in England and on the Continent , no earlier edition of om " Constitutions " has , I believe , been discovered than that of 1723 , thus described in Bro . Robert Spenser ' s " Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Books on

Freemasonry , " "Constitutions of the Freemasons , containing the History , Regulations , & c , of that most Ancient Fraternity , " by James Anderson , M . D ., 4 to ., very rare , 1723 . French Masonic writers mention earlier editions . Boileau , amongst the works published in England before the Chevalier Ramsay ' s reform , enumerates "The Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masonry , 1689 , 1690 , 1701 , 1723 , 1725 , " & c .-C . P . COOPER - :

EARLY WRITERS OS" EOSICEUCIANISM :. There are live early writers on Rosicrucianism only respecting whom , so far as my information on the subject goes , anything is known . 1 . Jean Valentine Andre , born 160 G , died 165-1 . 2 . Robert Fludel ( in Latin De Fluctibus ) , our countryman , born 157-1 ,

died 1637 . Both these are noticed m my communications to the Freemasons' Magazine , the former vol . x ., page , 5 , and the errata , page 116 , also page 179 ; the latter , vol . xi ., page 521 , where the titles of his Rosicrueian tracts are set forth . 3 , Andre Labaviusborn died 1616 . -1 . Michel Maierborn

, , , 15 ' 6 S , died 1623 . 5 . Gabriel Nacide , born 1600 , died 1653 . A correspondent will find ample accounts of these five writers in the "Biographic TJni verse-He . " —C . P . COOPER .

THE LETTER OP BRO . ANDREW COX . In answer to " A" ( April 13 th ) , my friend and brother , Anthony Oneal Haye , has never attempted to decipher Bro . Cox ' s letter . He would have found it quite easy to do so had he tried , for a simple cypher of that kind , in the hands of so accomplished and learned a Masonwould be read off almost

imme-, diately . If " A" is really an "ignorant" brother-( and I strongly suspect not ) , I beg to inform him , as also the "P . R . A . E . I , A . N . R . Y . P . K . C . R . I . G . " ( April 20 th ) , that , although perfectly willing , and ready to answer any note and query that may be sent to the Freemasons' Magazine according to

my ability , I cannot consent to ' produce my " crucible " or reveal the " right keys , " as such information would place too much power in the hands of the " profane , " from the fact of these pages being read by others than Masons . However , if " A" is anxiousto see the " crucible , ' ' and can forward to me unequivocal proof of his being a Mason , and entitled to a participation in such mysteries , I shall be both happy and proud to enlighten him . — "W . J . HHGHAN ..

DRO . DR . HOPKINS AND THE RIGHTS OP VISITORS . In common with several members of the Fraternity , I have been waiting to hear a solution to the question proposed by our esteemed Bro . Dr . Hopkins ( March 30 th , ZSio . 401 ) , but not until April 20 th has any answer appeared , when Bro . S . Leigh refers to the subject . I cannot reconcile the latter ' s

statements . In one part he says , " It is admitted that a lodge has a right to request visitors to withdraw , " and afterwards that he does not "admit the right of a lodge to exclude visitors on any occasion . " Surely ,, if the lodge has a right to request , the same authority would permit of exclusion . Butaccording to the

, context , it appears that in the former the writer is supposing a case , and likely the word "if" has been omitted , so I will take the latter sentence as his real opinion , which is also mine . I know of no sufficient reason to exclude any subscribing member of the Craft from a lodge ( and am much surprised at the

treatment the learned Dr . Hopkins received at the hands of the Loyalty Lodge , Guernsey ) , during the reading of the minutes . This question deserves , and will require examination , or else eminent members of the Craft , seeking to obtain information as to the working of lodges , can easily be prevented attending T

such lodges as JNo . 243 , by being excluded on the plea of private business being transacted . "Whatever may be the by-laws of lodges on the subject , surely nothing should interfere with a Freemason's right to visit and attend lodges , provided he is a subscribing member of one himself ; and so long as the " Book of Constitutions '' confers that privilege , I am of opinion that Bro . Dr . Hopkins would be justified in opposing any such paltry and shabby attempts to exclude him