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Masonry—Its History And Teaching.
than those who were over other provinces , and by their connivance , the persecuted Christians fonnd a refuge among the bnildine corporations . In consequence , many among those who becanio active in the dissemination of the Gospel , sought and obtained admission into these fraternities . In later ages , in England as unou tho Continent , Lodges became
attached to the convents , and were more or less governed by monks , according as the leading architects were monks or lay brethren . Hence arose tho custom of holding Lodge sessions in convents . When an abbot became Master or Warden , ho was addressed as Worshipful Master or Worshipful Brother—a mode of address which has been handed down to our own time in connection with the first Officer of
the Lodge . As years rolled on it was deemed ttdvisnble that influential individuals who loved and protected the arts should be received into the fraternity , although they wore not practical architects and builders , and they were designated as Accepted Masons . The Lodge at York , which became the most important in the country , received none as companions who were not free men , establishing this
characteristic of the Institution . It was formerly the custom to dedicate to some saint the structures intended for Divine worship , and in like manner organisations of artists and artizans chose patron saints . Tbo Masonio brethren selected St . John the Baptist , as his Festival was on 24 th June , tho period of the summer solstice , when nature is most lavish in her
abundance and the sun attains its greatest height , a period which had always been celebrated by the ancients and tho Fraternity from the earliest times . Thus they came to be known not only by the name of Freemasons , but as the Fraternity of St . John . Upon the Continent they were generally designated as St . John Brothers or Brothers of St . John .
I have mentioned these circumstances , culled from Masonic history in Europe ( it has , however far remoter connections ) , to indicate that it is not strange that there should be found in onr Institution , as we have received it from the mother country , both a religious element and a peculiar tinge of antiquity . There appears much in our work which is congruous with the fragments of historical tradition which have come down to us . Even the language employed tells of a
distant past ; we find a quaintness of expression which is most peculiararchaic words which are liable to be misunderstood , and which , so far as I am awtjgge , are not employed in our day outside the Lodge room . They are like the ocean shell , which , held to the ear , tells 7 n gentle murmur of the distant home whence it came , or the beanteously . formed vegetation of the sea which exhales its fragrance and reveals its oriarinal habitat , or the fragments of the mausolea ( shall we so term it r ) of the polypi , which tells of
" A coral grove Where the purple mullet and gold fish rove , Where the sea flower spreads its leaves of bine , That never are wet with the falling dew . " So our exercises and lectures suggest to a thoughtful and studious mind much of a far by . gone day , and give indication of sacred truths
which in the past practical Masonry has done so ranch to nphold , and which speculative Masonry should ever legitimately conserve . Among the various teachings which Masonry inculcates there are several which at this time may be briefly recalled by ns as peculiarly important . The first is the idea of a God over us . Did it ever occur to you ( I am sure you must have thought of it ) how terribly out of
place in our exercises would be one who had lost belief in the Great God overall ? Of course snch a person conld not be admitted into our band save by a deception most gross any more than a lnnatic or an idiot could be . But for tlie purpose in view , suppose such a case as I have suggested—a man within the walls of a Lodge room with belief in God lost . Verily it wonld seem as if , in the language of
Habakkukii . 11 : "The stone shall cry out of the wall , and the beam out of the timber shall answer it , " in execration of snch profanation of presence . How strange to him would be a glance toward the East with its pendant solitary letter above the Master—how strange the inoipiency of candidateshi p—how strange the altar in time of labour with that which rests upon it—yea , how strange everything from
opening to closing inclusive . Out of place ? Yea , like Christians in Mohammedan , mosque or in Buddhist temple . No man ought to enter or leave a Lodge room without a deeper impression of the presence of that All-seeing Eye , whose ken penetrates all nature and looks into all hearts . If , indeed , the operative Mason might , in erecting his temporary building agreeably to the rules and designs laid down by the Master on his trestle-board , be absorbed , for a time at
least , in that which was of the earth , earthy , certainly no speculative Mason can rightfully ignore that Supreme Architect of the Universe , to honour whom are erected the temples made with hands , but whose glory is more adequately honoured in the temple made without hands , eternal in the heavens . I do not know that I could give a better illustration of the legitimate influence of this character exerted bv onr
fraternit y , than by a reference to one who was for some time the highest official in the Lodge with which our late Most Worshipful wand Master Bullock was connected . It was some years since , when 1 was very young in the Craft , that the Brother to whom I have referred said to me in the Lodge room , " I don't see how it can be dif .
w ° u Witk ottler 8 » knt I know that in my own case the suggestions "which I here received have led me to attendance on cbnrch services . " aubseqnentl y he became a communicant . I am sure the issue was legitimate . To the devout worship of God , the teachings of onr Fraernity legitimatel y lead . You may remember the expression of * oung in his "Night Thoughts " :
" An undevont astronomer is mad . " And the same statement would be predicable of ono who had revived and studied the teachings of onr Fraternity , and was not ref erent to the Great Being over all . I would therefore recognise as a T . . m- aid in religious inculcation the body which is here represented . . \ peering to think that here are to be farthered the interests of institution which , though human iu origin , yet points the finger
reverently towards the dwelling place of Him before whom all , from tho youngest entered Apprentice to tho Worshipful Master , should with reverence most humbly bow . I note , as another feature which claims out attention , the fraternal love which Masonry inculcates . It is well to encourage , on general principles , any institution which , shunning that which is wronc ,
gathers together thoso who have peculiar regard for each other ' s welfare . I think no ono with any experience in our Fraternity will be hesitant in acknowledging the glow of fraternal pleasure with which he has often met those whom ho discovered to be Brothers in the mystic bond . It may have been in the harrying car ; it may have been a casual acquaintance in the weeks of recreation ; it may have
been at some disaster where physical injury was involved , or it may have been when sickness had prostrated , or at a chance gathering with those who had met in the last office to cast the sprig of evergreen . The pleasure of some of these meetings , who shall happily describe ? Bnt the point which I desire to impress upon yon is , that tho heart on having its sympathies thus aroused towards brethren , is not thereby
rendered any less cordial to those who are , Masonically considered , outsiders . Because you are very cordial and cheery on meeting one whose presence arouses reminiscences which are pleasing , or ludicrous even , yon are not in consequence inclined to be lachrymous if the next man you meet is a stranger . On the contrary , the probability is that , if you have any occasion to address him , it will be with a
cheerfulness of manner which will leave no unpleasant impression upon him . So it is with the bond of our Brotherhood . I believe , that wherever the spirit of the Craft in regard to fraternal love is carried out , it will not only be felt within the limits of the organisation , but extend beyond its bounds . Let it be that not only is there an open hand when needed , bnt a Brother ' s open hand , a Brother ' s
sympathy , and in this world of ours in which it must be that sorrow comos , and distress comes , and aching hearts come , hero shall be one of tho blessed influences to cheer and to irradiate . It shall be like the lights in the princely mansions on festal night iu merry England in tho olden timo , which not only brightened tho rooms within , bnt lighted the pathway of the
weary traveller without , and encouraged him to enter and receive a cordial welcome within . There are reasons why it might be desirable that one of another calling than mine should on an occasion as this address yon . We all have our standpoints whence we take our views of life and the various organisations among mon . The merchant , the statesman , the
lawyer , tho artist , all have their stations of outlook . Tho eye sees not only what it brings the power to see , but what its position brings as well . 1 can conceive of ono looking at our Institution in its historic aspects , and carefully tracing , or endeavouring to trace , its remote outlines in the dimness of a shadowy past , where in the mists no glass can penetrate ; or , like him who trios to discover in the
distant ages , the germinal buddings of the fair tree of representative government , whose branches now are spreading over all the realms of civilised man . I can conceive of another studying onr organisation , and endeavouring to trace its influence in war and in peace , as the centaries hare rolled away . Another wonld study it as the artist studies some old cathedral , thrilled with the beauties of form and
varied light and shade , loving oven the defects wheh time has caused , and the ivy clinging to the mouldering wall . But yon will expect with reason that one in my position , occupying the honourable station to which the Most Worshipful Grand Master has kindly appointed me , should regard it in aspects in which it is seen as assisting men to view the grand truths connected with spiritual well being ; and
certainly , most prominent among these is that which glorifies humanitythe soul's immortality . When that truth ceases to be taught in our Lodges , onr ritual must be changed verily , aud our symbols have a new rendering . In some other mode must we bury our dead , and the old story so familiar to us all , be told no longer , and the acacia be supplanted by the blossom of an hour . If within our closed doors
he would be a profanation who believed not in God , profanation would tbe presence of him be who believed that the last of earth was the last of man . Remember that solemn truth , my brethren , aud so live that the solemn striking of the funeral chime may be followed by the life which is in a nobler temple than can be delineated on the trestle board of any earthly Master .
In one sense , the voice which has spoken to you this evening is to some of you a strange one , bnt not , indeed , in every sense is it that of a stranger . A Brother's heart has prompted these suggestions . If he has presumed to instruct where there are many who are his seniors in years , and in experience in the Craft , he knows that the oldest and wisest among you will second his suggestions . More than this , he knows you all will .
Make your Masonry no mere name nor formality . Gather the spirit of its teachings . Exemplify tbat spirit in yonr intercourse with each other , and with tho world at large . It will make yon better , and yon will make the world better . Masons' lips , outside the Lodge room , shonld be silent in regard to Masonry ' s mysteries . Masons' lives shonld be vocal for it . May your lives give no uncertain utterance . —Keystone .
The eighteenth Installation Meeting of the Panmure Boyal -Arch Chapter , No . 720 , will be held at the Horns Tavern , Kennington , S . E ., on Monday next , the 8 th inst . Ex . Comps . Samuel Poynter , B . R . Bryant , and John S . Terry are to be installed into the respective chairs of Z ,,
H ., and J . There are several candidates for exaltation also , and the summons announces plenty of work . Exaltations at 3 30 p . m . Jnsfallations at 5 . Ex . Comp . James Stevens , P . Z . and Scribe E . of the Chapter , will officiate as Installing Principal . 11 is anticipated that the Grand Chapter will be well represented at the meeting .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonry—Its History And Teaching.
than those who were over other provinces , and by their connivance , the persecuted Christians fonnd a refuge among the bnildine corporations . In consequence , many among those who becanio active in the dissemination of the Gospel , sought and obtained admission into these fraternities . In later ages , in England as unou tho Continent , Lodges became
attached to the convents , and were more or less governed by monks , according as the leading architects were monks or lay brethren . Hence arose tho custom of holding Lodge sessions in convents . When an abbot became Master or Warden , ho was addressed as Worshipful Master or Worshipful Brother—a mode of address which has been handed down to our own time in connection with the first Officer of
the Lodge . As years rolled on it was deemed ttdvisnble that influential individuals who loved and protected the arts should be received into the fraternity , although they wore not practical architects and builders , and they were designated as Accepted Masons . The Lodge at York , which became the most important in the country , received none as companions who were not free men , establishing this
characteristic of the Institution . It was formerly the custom to dedicate to some saint the structures intended for Divine worship , and in like manner organisations of artists and artizans chose patron saints . Tbo Masonio brethren selected St . John the Baptist , as his Festival was on 24 th June , tho period of the summer solstice , when nature is most lavish in her
abundance and the sun attains its greatest height , a period which had always been celebrated by the ancients and tho Fraternity from the earliest times . Thus they came to be known not only by the name of Freemasons , but as the Fraternity of St . John . Upon the Continent they were generally designated as St . John Brothers or Brothers of St . John .
I have mentioned these circumstances , culled from Masonic history in Europe ( it has , however far remoter connections ) , to indicate that it is not strange that there should be found in onr Institution , as we have received it from the mother country , both a religious element and a peculiar tinge of antiquity . There appears much in our work which is congruous with the fragments of historical tradition which have come down to us . Even the language employed tells of a
distant past ; we find a quaintness of expression which is most peculiararchaic words which are liable to be misunderstood , and which , so far as I am awtjgge , are not employed in our day outside the Lodge room . They are like the ocean shell , which , held to the ear , tells 7 n gentle murmur of the distant home whence it came , or the beanteously . formed vegetation of the sea which exhales its fragrance and reveals its oriarinal habitat , or the fragments of the mausolea ( shall we so term it r ) of the polypi , which tells of
" A coral grove Where the purple mullet and gold fish rove , Where the sea flower spreads its leaves of bine , That never are wet with the falling dew . " So our exercises and lectures suggest to a thoughtful and studious mind much of a far by . gone day , and give indication of sacred truths
which in the past practical Masonry has done so ranch to nphold , and which speculative Masonry should ever legitimately conserve . Among the various teachings which Masonry inculcates there are several which at this time may be briefly recalled by ns as peculiarly important . The first is the idea of a God over us . Did it ever occur to you ( I am sure you must have thought of it ) how terribly out of
place in our exercises would be one who had lost belief in the Great God overall ? Of course snch a person conld not be admitted into our band save by a deception most gross any more than a lnnatic or an idiot could be . But for tlie purpose in view , suppose such a case as I have suggested—a man within the walls of a Lodge room with belief in God lost . Verily it wonld seem as if , in the language of
Habakkukii . 11 : "The stone shall cry out of the wall , and the beam out of the timber shall answer it , " in execration of snch profanation of presence . How strange to him would be a glance toward the East with its pendant solitary letter above the Master—how strange the inoipiency of candidateshi p—how strange the altar in time of labour with that which rests upon it—yea , how strange everything from
opening to closing inclusive . Out of place ? Yea , like Christians in Mohammedan , mosque or in Buddhist temple . No man ought to enter or leave a Lodge room without a deeper impression of the presence of that All-seeing Eye , whose ken penetrates all nature and looks into all hearts . If , indeed , the operative Mason might , in erecting his temporary building agreeably to the rules and designs laid down by the Master on his trestle-board , be absorbed , for a time at
least , in that which was of the earth , earthy , certainly no speculative Mason can rightfully ignore that Supreme Architect of the Universe , to honour whom are erected the temples made with hands , but whose glory is more adequately honoured in the temple made without hands , eternal in the heavens . I do not know that I could give a better illustration of the legitimate influence of this character exerted bv onr
fraternit y , than by a reference to one who was for some time the highest official in the Lodge with which our late Most Worshipful wand Master Bullock was connected . It was some years since , when 1 was very young in the Craft , that the Brother to whom I have referred said to me in the Lodge room , " I don't see how it can be dif .
w ° u Witk ottler 8 » knt I know that in my own case the suggestions "which I here received have led me to attendance on cbnrch services . " aubseqnentl y he became a communicant . I am sure the issue was legitimate . To the devout worship of God , the teachings of onr Fraernity legitimatel y lead . You may remember the expression of * oung in his "Night Thoughts " :
" An undevont astronomer is mad . " And the same statement would be predicable of ono who had revived and studied the teachings of onr Fraternity , and was not ref erent to the Great Being over all . I would therefore recognise as a T . . m- aid in religious inculcation the body which is here represented . . \ peering to think that here are to be farthered the interests of institution which , though human iu origin , yet points the finger
reverently towards the dwelling place of Him before whom all , from tho youngest entered Apprentice to tho Worshipful Master , should with reverence most humbly bow . I note , as another feature which claims out attention , the fraternal love which Masonry inculcates . It is well to encourage , on general principles , any institution which , shunning that which is wronc ,
gathers together thoso who have peculiar regard for each other ' s welfare . I think no ono with any experience in our Fraternity will be hesitant in acknowledging the glow of fraternal pleasure with which he has often met those whom ho discovered to be Brothers in the mystic bond . It may have been in the harrying car ; it may have been a casual acquaintance in the weeks of recreation ; it may have
been at some disaster where physical injury was involved , or it may have been when sickness had prostrated , or at a chance gathering with those who had met in the last office to cast the sprig of evergreen . The pleasure of some of these meetings , who shall happily describe ? Bnt the point which I desire to impress upon yon is , that tho heart on having its sympathies thus aroused towards brethren , is not thereby
rendered any less cordial to those who are , Masonically considered , outsiders . Because you are very cordial and cheery on meeting one whose presence arouses reminiscences which are pleasing , or ludicrous even , yon are not in consequence inclined to be lachrymous if the next man you meet is a stranger . On the contrary , the probability is that , if you have any occasion to address him , it will be with a
cheerfulness of manner which will leave no unpleasant impression upon him . So it is with the bond of our Brotherhood . I believe , that wherever the spirit of the Craft in regard to fraternal love is carried out , it will not only be felt within the limits of the organisation , but extend beyond its bounds . Let it be that not only is there an open hand when needed , bnt a Brother ' s open hand , a Brother ' s
sympathy , and in this world of ours in which it must be that sorrow comos , and distress comes , and aching hearts come , hero shall be one of tho blessed influences to cheer and to irradiate . It shall be like the lights in the princely mansions on festal night iu merry England in tho olden timo , which not only brightened tho rooms within , bnt lighted the pathway of the
weary traveller without , and encouraged him to enter and receive a cordial welcome within . There are reasons why it might be desirable that one of another calling than mine should on an occasion as this address yon . We all have our standpoints whence we take our views of life and the various organisations among mon . The merchant , the statesman , the
lawyer , tho artist , all have their stations of outlook . Tho eye sees not only what it brings the power to see , but what its position brings as well . 1 can conceive of ono looking at our Institution in its historic aspects , and carefully tracing , or endeavouring to trace , its remote outlines in the dimness of a shadowy past , where in the mists no glass can penetrate ; or , like him who trios to discover in the
distant ages , the germinal buddings of the fair tree of representative government , whose branches now are spreading over all the realms of civilised man . I can conceive of another studying onr organisation , and endeavouring to trace its influence in war and in peace , as the centaries hare rolled away . Another wonld study it as the artist studies some old cathedral , thrilled with the beauties of form and
varied light and shade , loving oven the defects wheh time has caused , and the ivy clinging to the mouldering wall . But yon will expect with reason that one in my position , occupying the honourable station to which the Most Worshipful Grand Master has kindly appointed me , should regard it in aspects in which it is seen as assisting men to view the grand truths connected with spiritual well being ; and
certainly , most prominent among these is that which glorifies humanitythe soul's immortality . When that truth ceases to be taught in our Lodges , onr ritual must be changed verily , aud our symbols have a new rendering . In some other mode must we bury our dead , and the old story so familiar to us all , be told no longer , and the acacia be supplanted by the blossom of an hour . If within our closed doors
he would be a profanation who believed not in God , profanation would tbe presence of him be who believed that the last of earth was the last of man . Remember that solemn truth , my brethren , aud so live that the solemn striking of the funeral chime may be followed by the life which is in a nobler temple than can be delineated on the trestle board of any earthly Master .
In one sense , the voice which has spoken to you this evening is to some of you a strange one , bnt not , indeed , in every sense is it that of a stranger . A Brother's heart has prompted these suggestions . If he has presumed to instruct where there are many who are his seniors in years , and in experience in the Craft , he knows that the oldest and wisest among you will second his suggestions . More than this , he knows you all will .
Make your Masonry no mere name nor formality . Gather the spirit of its teachings . Exemplify tbat spirit in yonr intercourse with each other , and with tho world at large . It will make yon better , and yon will make the world better . Masons' lips , outside the Lodge room , shonld be silent in regard to Masonry ' s mysteries . Masons' lives shonld be vocal for it . May your lives give no uncertain utterance . —Keystone .
The eighteenth Installation Meeting of the Panmure Boyal -Arch Chapter , No . 720 , will be held at the Horns Tavern , Kennington , S . E ., on Monday next , the 8 th inst . Ex . Comps . Samuel Poynter , B . R . Bryant , and John S . Terry are to be installed into the respective chairs of Z ,,
H ., and J . There are several candidates for exaltation also , and the summons announces plenty of work . Exaltations at 3 30 p . m . Jnsfallations at 5 . Ex . Comp . James Stevens , P . Z . and Scribe E . of the Chapter , will officiate as Installing Principal . 11 is anticipated that the Grand Chapter will be well represented at the meeting .