Masonic Portraits (No. 16.) The Churchman.

Great Architect of the Universe , might be paraphrased for use in the Lodge . The moral teachings of Buddha , the Prince who became a beggar for the good of mankind , finds its counterpart in our ritual and our practice , and the practical morality of the Koran is , we need scarcely

say , so far as it goes , in accord with ours . We may indeed boast that our principles touch the deepest chord in the human heart . The harp of a thousand strings has

a gamut of wonderful range , but a child in mere worldly knowledge may play upon it , provided he is familiar with a few of the great master truths , which , while man retains his humanity , will never pale or sink into obscurity .

The Established Church in this country has supplied many Masonic recruits to our ranks who , in the pulpit and out of it , have been consistent members of the fraternity . The reverend gentleman whose portrait we are about to sketch is , perhaps , one of the most distinguished

of the clerical band whose eloquence has so often been employed in the service of the Craft . His Masonic career has been a most eventful one , and is almost without a parallel in the annals of the Order . He was initiated in the Apollo University Lodge , at Oxford , in the year 1822 , and was

passed and raised in the usual course of things . He has served as W . M . of St . John ' s Lodge , Exeter , and is a subscribing member of several Lodges in the Province of Devon . In the year 1835 he was appointed Provincial Junior Grand Warden , and a similar honour was accorded

him on three subsequent occasions . In the year 1844 we find him filling the honourable post of Provincial Grand Senior Warden , and in 1850 he was appointed by patent , under the hand and seal of the late Earl Fortescue , Deputy Provincial Grand Master for Devon . In the year 1862 he

was Grand Chaplain of Grand Lodge , an office which he has twice filled . He is a Past First Principal of St . George ' s Chapter , Exeter , and of the Chapter of Fidelity , Devonport . He has been Grand Superintendent of Royal Arch Masons ( Devon ) , and Grand Sojourner in the

Supreme Grand Chapter of England . As a Mark Mason he has risen to the highest provincial rank , and he is equally distinguished in Ihe military orders of H . R . D . M . Grand

Election Knights Templar , K . D . O . S . H . of St . John of Jerusalem , Palestine , & c , & c , and has served as Eminent Commander of the Rongemont Encampment stationed at Exeter .

We should weary our readers if we were to enumerate all the honours and distinctions which have been won by this eminent Mason , whose services have been highly appreciated by the brethren of the province in which he has

mainly laboured . Testimonials and votes of thanks have been showered upon him but we have merely space to record the fact that the Rougemont Encampment , in 1846 , presented their Eminent Commander Avith a beautiful mediaeval Toast

Cup of hammered silver , which was originally the property of the late Grand Master the Duke of Sussex . On his installation as P . G . M ., a gold chain , with other paraphernalia of office , valued at 200 guineas , was presented to him by

the members of the Province . He has often presided , with singular tact and ability , over the deliberations of Grand Lodge , and he is one of the few Knights Grand Crosses appointed by H . R . H . the Prince of Wales .

Such a career as this is almost startling in its exceptional brilliancy , and we are proud to say that our brother has achieved his high position in the Order by merit and industry alone . He has not been pitchforked into high office , nor has he ever endeavoured by mere self-assertion to push

his way to the front . Love of the cause , and a desire to benefit humanity , have been the primary motive forces of his great career . In the service of the Church he has been a faithful minister , and all the reserve energy which he could spare from his work , as a parish priest , he has devoted to

the cause of the fraternity . Bevevolence , in its finest phases , is characteristic of him ; he has been a large contributor to the Charities , and his amiable lady , who is , we are almost inclined to think , as good , if not as great a Mason as himself , has liberally given from her own private

purse m aid of the same good cause . Socially our brother is most genial ancl kindly in all his relations with his fellow creatures . In his parish he is loved and honoured by all , and he fulfils the obligations incident to his sacred calling with all the simple dignity of the venerable priest who has

been immortalised in Goldsmith ' s " Deserted Village . " If the splendid talents which he has devoted to works of Christian charity and to the duties of our Order had been expended upon mere clerical intrigue , he might have risen high in the Church . But he has been content to remain a

Masonic Portraits (No. 16.) The Churchman.

parish priest , tho friend , adviser and champion of the poor . " Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway , And fools , who came to scoff , remained to pray . " To many of our readers his features are as familiar as their

household gods . In the south-west of England his name is a tower of Masonic strength , and the magic of his influence is widely and deeply felt in tho metropolis . In the deliberations of Grand Lodge he has exercised a great and deserved influence , and perhaps there are feAV

Masons on the great roll of illustrious brethren who have done so much to render the practical working of the Order familiar to the outer world . Such men as he are our best media of communication with that section of the public who aro inclined to scoff at the high claims of the

Craft . He virtually proclaims to the world that Masonry and the religion of the Bible are in harmony , and he attests that the Order exists for something better than the mere self-glorification of ambitious men , or for the mere indulgence of convivial pleasures .

Masonry And Magic.

MASONRY AND MAGIC .

( Continued from page 52 . ) A DEFINITION of the Astral Light or Soul of the World , which seems more than accidental , was given by the gifted author of the " Coming Race " in his description of the supposed agency Vril . " I should call it electricity , except that it comprehends in its manifold branches

other forces of nature , to which , in our scientific nomenclature , differing names are assigned , such as magnetism , galvanism , & c , the unity in natural energic agencies , which Faraday thus intimates . J have long held an opinion , almost amounting to conviction , in cemmon , I believe , with many

other lovers of natural Knowledge , that the various forms under which the forces of matter are made manifest have one common origin , w are so directly related and mutually dependent , that they are convertible , as it were , into one another , and possess equivalent of poivcrin their action , "

But the only perfect definition of this agency is said to have come from immemorial antiquity in the " emerald tablet , " of Hermes . This source is Egyptian , but from the nature of earliest extant notices and the reverence it has

inspired through ages , we shonld feel no surprise at its discovery by the indefatigable Mr . George Smith upon some cylinder from Babylon , 2000 B . C . It runs : I speak no fable , but that which is most certain and true . That which is above is like that ivhich is below , and that

which is below is like that which is above for worhing the miracles of ihe one thing . As all things were engendered from one by the will of One , so all things are produced from this one thing , by adaptation .

The sun is its father , the moon its mother , the wind bore it in its womb , the earth is its nurse . . . This thing is the very poiver of power , for it stibdues all that is subtle and penetrates all that is solid .

It is here implied , says Levi , that the atmosphere is its receptacle or prison , and that though engendered by the influences of the sun and moon , it is set going in equipoise , or , as it were , in oscillation , by the heat that radiates from our orb .

Levi ' s commentary continues , that from this force or light , a universal solvent may be obtained , also a formative and coagulative agent ; that it may be extracted from bodies where it lies latent , in tho condition of fire , of impetus , of luminous gas , & c , & c , so as to imitate by various manifestations all foi-ms of Creation .

Those of our readers who have no personal experience of the so-called Phenomena of modern spiritualism , will regard these lucubrations on the occult , as lacking a raison d ' etre , asmereemptyspeculations . Wehave , however , already observed that an occult principle will be proved , even by

the movement of a pin without known cause against known natural law : and as evidence of much more , we cite the pages of the Quarterly Journal of Science , 1 st July 1871 , and the pamphlet of William Crookes , F . R . S ., entitled "Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism . " London , 1874 .

We adduce also the following curious instance , which no received theory can satisfactorily explain , from onr own knowledge : — A well-known spiritualist had been giving his experience .