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Article MASONIC ZEAL. Page 1 of 1 Article MASONIC PORTRAITS (No. 18.) THE MYSTIC. Page 1 of 2 →
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Masonic Zeal.
MASONIC ZEAL .
WE drew attention last week to the unequal manner in which the various Masonic Lodges throughout the country show their appreciation of the great Masonic Charities . In other respects , also , the amount of Masonic zeal might he shown to be no less unequal and various .
Some Lodges seem never to tire of well doing , and in every great Masonic movement their names are to be found amongst the foremost , the most active , and tho most liberal . Others , on the contrary , are slow to move , and if they move at all , come lagging in at the extreme rear . Is there a Lifeboat to be established or to be endowed for
the honour of the Craft , we could guess pretty nearly what Lodges would figure upon the first list of subscriptions , what upon the last , and what not at all . It is precisely the same if a publication is started in the interests
of the Craft , if a great Masonic festival is to be organised , or in fact in any movement whatever that makes a demand upon the personal exertions or liberality of the Fraternity .
It is difficult to find a satisfactory explanation for this seeming want of harmony amongst the various sections of the Craft . That some Lodges are more wealthy than others might explain why some should give more liberally , but it offers no elucidation of the fact that
some Lodges give much and often , whilst others give nothing , or next to nothing . Our principles are the same , our hopes , aspirations , and sympathies should also be in perfect harmony . Yet we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that whilst we are all brothers , some of us must be considered to be weak brothers . Masonic enthusiasm is not
equally distributed , whilst in some Lodges it can hardly be said to exist at all . We know many men , who , at first , have been most enthusiastic supporters of any reasonable proposition , and who readily commit themselves to advocate almost any
scheme , yet on the slightest rebuff have been equally ready to find a plausible reason for not doing what they had undertaken . By this means individuals undertake liabilities and incur responsibilities which , without such promised support , they would never have entertained .
As in Lodges , so also , though in a lesser degree , in the case of individuals . In every Lodge there are active and passive members . The Mason who is prompt and ready to initiate or follow up whatever he thinks will advance the interests of the Craft , and the meek half-hearted brother
who attends but seldom , proposes nothing , and restricts his share in any Lodge discussion to suggesting difficulties in the way of the proposals of others ; these men are to be found in most Lodges , and often in about the same proportions . Fortunately , however , the robust partyeven if
, only equal in numbers to the weaker , is generally the stronger in argument and influence ; and so the half-hearted are gradually brought to a sense of their responsibilities , and made to assume at least the appearance of zeal . But , m those Lodges where the torpid elements are in a
considerable majority , the most active and zealous members in time lose heart by the constant discouragement they receive , and the maxim point de zble becomes the order of the day . Henceforward , in every Masonic movement ,
they are conspicuous on the lists of supporters or subscribers only by their absence . How to extend amongst tue many the zeal , activity , and enthusiasm which already so worthily distinguish the few , is a problem which it must be the wish of every true Mason to solve .
Masonic Portraits (No. 18.) The Mystic.
MASONIC PORTRAITS ( No . 18 . ) THE MYSTIC .
" Groat honours aro great burdens , but ou whom They ai'o cast with envy , ho doth bear two loads . His cares must still be double to his joys , In any dignity ; whore , if ho err , He finds no pardon , aud , for doing well , A most small praise , and that wrung out by forco . "
WAS the elixir of life a fable , and the philosopher ' s stone a myth ? Did that mysterious order , the Kosicrucians , ever exist , or are the stories which are told of it mere allegories ? Was there ever such a structure in Europe as the House of the Holy Ghost , and is " Christian
Rosy Cross" but the invention of the fertile mind which invented , so say the sceptics , the fable of mystics who dealt in occult science , and studied laws of nature which are still unknown to the learned of our day ? If these questions were put to a man of science , he would return no
doubtful answer . He would tell us that the Rosicrucian mysteries are but fables , and the elixir a mere dream of a heated imagination . Yet , in spite of the ban which science has placed upon studies which are beyond the range of expei'imental research , there are mystics who do not fear
to affirm that the Rosy Cross is no fable , and the elixir no mere dream of an enthusiast , but a grea i reality . These men do not , indeed , pretend that the stores of knowledge which were once the peculiar property of a secret order , are now in their keeping , but they affirm that the tools , or
symbols , by tho aid of which those secrets may be rediscovered , are theirs . Those symbols , indeed , speak a language which , wherever intelligent beings exist , must have a tangible meaning , for they are drawn from the eternal fount of all wisdom , and have been revealed to
man by his study of the physical universe . The idea that mathematical signs are eloquent teachers of great moral as well as scientific truths has been held b y man for many ages . The Egyptian symbol of eternit y was a circle , but it was a circle made eloquent by the
artist who gave it the form of a serpent , the ancient type of wisdom . Pages of occult lore have been written on the pentacle , which , in Masonic rites , and those of deeper meaning , into which we cannot now penetrate , has a value which we are certainly not called upon to reveal in
this paper . A few years since it was considered a reproach to call a man a " mystic , " but spiritualism , with its startling phenomena , has compelled thoughtful men to ask whether , after all , there may not be more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy ; and with the
growing demand for inquiry into this new " erase " a certain freedom of opinion has been conceded by all but the dogmatist of science . A man may now declare himself a spiritualist , or a mystic , without exciting the derision of his fellows . The attitude of the scientific world is distinctly
unscientific with reference to the " gross superstitions " of the spiritualist . It demands that the phenomena shall be exhibited under conditions which the spiritualist declares to be fatal to discovery of truth , and it pooh , poohs ! the evidence of believers because the testing glasses and
measuring scales of the materialists are not permitted to play their part in a seance . Electrcit y might have remained one of the hidden forces of nature if the enquirers of the
past had insisted npon compelling it to conform to rules of their own making . The expositions of Messrs . Crookes and Varley are contemptuously set aside by Professor Tyndall , on the ground that they are fallacious , but this
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Zeal.
MASONIC ZEAL .
WE drew attention last week to the unequal manner in which the various Masonic Lodges throughout the country show their appreciation of the great Masonic Charities . In other respects , also , the amount of Masonic zeal might he shown to be no less unequal and various .
Some Lodges seem never to tire of well doing , and in every great Masonic movement their names are to be found amongst the foremost , the most active , and tho most liberal . Others , on the contrary , are slow to move , and if they move at all , come lagging in at the extreme rear . Is there a Lifeboat to be established or to be endowed for
the honour of the Craft , we could guess pretty nearly what Lodges would figure upon the first list of subscriptions , what upon the last , and what not at all . It is precisely the same if a publication is started in the interests
of the Craft , if a great Masonic festival is to be organised , or in fact in any movement whatever that makes a demand upon the personal exertions or liberality of the Fraternity .
It is difficult to find a satisfactory explanation for this seeming want of harmony amongst the various sections of the Craft . That some Lodges are more wealthy than others might explain why some should give more liberally , but it offers no elucidation of the fact that
some Lodges give much and often , whilst others give nothing , or next to nothing . Our principles are the same , our hopes , aspirations , and sympathies should also be in perfect harmony . Yet we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that whilst we are all brothers , some of us must be considered to be weak brothers . Masonic enthusiasm is not
equally distributed , whilst in some Lodges it can hardly be said to exist at all . We know many men , who , at first , have been most enthusiastic supporters of any reasonable proposition , and who readily commit themselves to advocate almost any
scheme , yet on the slightest rebuff have been equally ready to find a plausible reason for not doing what they had undertaken . By this means individuals undertake liabilities and incur responsibilities which , without such promised support , they would never have entertained .
As in Lodges , so also , though in a lesser degree , in the case of individuals . In every Lodge there are active and passive members . The Mason who is prompt and ready to initiate or follow up whatever he thinks will advance the interests of the Craft , and the meek half-hearted brother
who attends but seldom , proposes nothing , and restricts his share in any Lodge discussion to suggesting difficulties in the way of the proposals of others ; these men are to be found in most Lodges , and often in about the same proportions . Fortunately , however , the robust partyeven if
, only equal in numbers to the weaker , is generally the stronger in argument and influence ; and so the half-hearted are gradually brought to a sense of their responsibilities , and made to assume at least the appearance of zeal . But , m those Lodges where the torpid elements are in a
considerable majority , the most active and zealous members in time lose heart by the constant discouragement they receive , and the maxim point de zble becomes the order of the day . Henceforward , in every Masonic movement ,
they are conspicuous on the lists of supporters or subscribers only by their absence . How to extend amongst tue many the zeal , activity , and enthusiasm which already so worthily distinguish the few , is a problem which it must be the wish of every true Mason to solve .
Masonic Portraits (No. 18.) The Mystic.
MASONIC PORTRAITS ( No . 18 . ) THE MYSTIC .
" Groat honours aro great burdens , but ou whom They ai'o cast with envy , ho doth bear two loads . His cares must still be double to his joys , In any dignity ; whore , if ho err , He finds no pardon , aud , for doing well , A most small praise , and that wrung out by forco . "
WAS the elixir of life a fable , and the philosopher ' s stone a myth ? Did that mysterious order , the Kosicrucians , ever exist , or are the stories which are told of it mere allegories ? Was there ever such a structure in Europe as the House of the Holy Ghost , and is " Christian
Rosy Cross" but the invention of the fertile mind which invented , so say the sceptics , the fable of mystics who dealt in occult science , and studied laws of nature which are still unknown to the learned of our day ? If these questions were put to a man of science , he would return no
doubtful answer . He would tell us that the Rosicrucian mysteries are but fables , and the elixir a mere dream of a heated imagination . Yet , in spite of the ban which science has placed upon studies which are beyond the range of expei'imental research , there are mystics who do not fear
to affirm that the Rosy Cross is no fable , and the elixir no mere dream of an enthusiast , but a grea i reality . These men do not , indeed , pretend that the stores of knowledge which were once the peculiar property of a secret order , are now in their keeping , but they affirm that the tools , or
symbols , by tho aid of which those secrets may be rediscovered , are theirs . Those symbols , indeed , speak a language which , wherever intelligent beings exist , must have a tangible meaning , for they are drawn from the eternal fount of all wisdom , and have been revealed to
man by his study of the physical universe . The idea that mathematical signs are eloquent teachers of great moral as well as scientific truths has been held b y man for many ages . The Egyptian symbol of eternit y was a circle , but it was a circle made eloquent by the
artist who gave it the form of a serpent , the ancient type of wisdom . Pages of occult lore have been written on the pentacle , which , in Masonic rites , and those of deeper meaning , into which we cannot now penetrate , has a value which we are certainly not called upon to reveal in
this paper . A few years since it was considered a reproach to call a man a " mystic , " but spiritualism , with its startling phenomena , has compelled thoughtful men to ask whether , after all , there may not be more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy ; and with the
growing demand for inquiry into this new " erase " a certain freedom of opinion has been conceded by all but the dogmatist of science . A man may now declare himself a spiritualist , or a mystic , without exciting the derision of his fellows . The attitude of the scientific world is distinctly
unscientific with reference to the " gross superstitions " of the spiritualist . It demands that the phenomena shall be exhibited under conditions which the spiritualist declares to be fatal to discovery of truth , and it pooh , poohs ! the evidence of believers because the testing glasses and
measuring scales of the materialists are not permitted to play their part in a seance . Electrcit y might have remained one of the hidden forces of nature if the enquirers of the
past had insisted npon compelling it to conform to rules of their own making . The expositions of Messrs . Crookes and Varley are contemptuously set aside by Professor Tyndall , on the ground that they are fallacious , but this