The Study Of Masonry.

regularly attend his Lodge , and learn as quickly and as perfectly as he can tho routine of Lodgo business . We have faith in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the social board , while he who contributes of his means to the cause of Charity is worthy of all praise . But the duties of a

Mason end not here , and , unfortunately , it is a small minority of Craftsmen who are alive to this truth . Let us illustrate our meaning more fully . The professing Christian , Jew , or Mohammedan , who attends his . place of worship the prescribed number of times per day or per week , fulfils his

duty so far , literally , but not necessarily in the spirit . It may be he is virtuous as regards this particular virtue of obedience to prescription ; or it may be he is obedient because obedience is enjoined upon him . Again , familiarity with a certain ritual , tho observance of certain ceremonies ,

and the bestowal of alms , may be the outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual excellence , but they aro by no means necessarily so . Aid just as there are many who are Christians , Jews , Mohammedans , in name only , so are there Freemasons . They are initiated , aud take the

vows . They attend Lodge , become more or less acquainted with a few forms and formula ) , and subscribe to every charity , yet are they little more than nominal Masons .

They confounded the outward form with the upward grace . They observe , but they understand not . They follow in the prescribed path of duty , but they know not why they follow .

It cannot , of course , be denied that nrach good results when people do what is right , but it is far better they should do so because they know why it should be done . And the " why " is not to be learned without study , by merely attending Lodge , repeating , parrot-like , certain

words , eating sundry dinners , and giving occasional gifts . But what time is devoted to study ? Now and again , in some exemplary Lodges , a lecture is given , or a tracingboard explained , over and above the ordinary business of the meeting . Lodges of instruction are also held , where

brethren , by diligence and punctual attendance , may soon learn our ceremonials , and become ' proficient in working the sections . But how many trouble themselves to attend these latter , and for how long or how often does even the most exemplary Lodge devote itself to study ? We do not

expect all brethren to become learned exponents of the mysteries of the Craft , but we should liko them in the first place to realise that a few grips and passwords do not constitute Masonry , and in the next to exhibit somo desire to know more of its abstruser doctrines . Were the

philosophers of old content with proclaiming their doctrines r Were their disciples content with bare statements of doctrine ? Did not the former teach , and the latter study ? Do ministers of religion confine themselves to enunciating the tenets they severally profess ? Are they not , on the

contrary , diligent always in expounding the true nature of those tenets , and why it is fit they should be so scrupulously observed ? Yet Masons leave Masonry to explain itself . It has a beautiful symbolism , but a verbal explanation of the symbols is , perhaps , all the bulk of the Craft ever exhibits any curiosity about .

The truth is , Masonry is fashionable . Men join onr ranks with as much insouciance as they make tho grand tour of Europe . The " set" they mix with has travelled , has seen . Paris , Vienna , Florence , Rome , Naples ; has " done " the

Rhine , Switzerland , the Alps , the Apennines , and even perhaps Egypt and the Pyramids , and they must follow in its footsteps . They would " do" the moon if it were accessible and a resort of fashion . But the

beautiful scenery they pass through has no charm for them . The vestiges of former civilizations arouse in them no enthusiasm . Their dut y is to travel , for Fashion has so willed it , and they arc devotees of the fickle jade . And so as regards Masonry . Princes and nobles , men of letters

and men of wealth , are on the muster-roll of our Order , and everybody who thinks he is anybody must join us likewise . It is only necessary that he should be free , of good repute , have attained his majority , and come voluntarily to seek admission to our ranks . He is proposed and

balloted for , and , in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred , he finds himself with no further ado a Mason , a "brother of the mystic tie . " And having taken his degrees , he subsides into a regular Lodge attendant , makes his signs with clue

solemnity , eats heartil y at the banquet , and renders due honour to each Masonic toast . This , in his idea , is being a Mason , this the only sacrifice he feels bound to offer to the idol ho so reverentl y worships . What is Masonry , whence ib came , who invented it , or whether , like Topsy .

The Study Of Masonry.

it grew of nothing ? these and like matters concern him not . These are points no fashionable Masonic " fellah " can be expected to understand . Here , then , is the real danger to Masonry ; that access of members should bring with it no real access of streno-th . Mere numbers aro of littlo avail without trainhw . Let it

be once established as a custom , as a fashion which shall never change , that Masonry is a science to be studied , and that all who enrol themselves . under our banners must at least master its grammar , if they attain not proficiency to translate its mysteries ; let it be once recognised that

ignorance of Masonic precept is not a fashionable , and therefore , perhaps , a pardonable weakness , bnt the reverse of creditable in those who display it ; and we need have no fear whatever as to the future stability of our Order . It is a fair question for argument , whether , with all our

wonderful growth of late years , the light of Masonry is diffused over a proportionately wider surface . We do not think it is , and it is because wo hold this opinion that wo urge now , as we havo urged before , that brethren should study more our beautiful science . It will not repent them ,

when they have made some progress , of the time withdrawn from other occupations . On the contrary , they will become more and more enamoured of its doctrine ; and if , unhappily , fresh conflicts await us , they will be a source of strength to tho Order instead of a source of weakness .

Masonic Portraits (No. 25). An Able Preceptor.

MASONIC PORTRAITS ( No . 25 ) . AN ABLE PRECEPTOR .

" Teach mo , good Sir , thy solemn lore , And with thy precepts sage enlighten me : I would the light of truth , in one grand stream , Should flood my ardent soul . "

THE Teutonic mind is just now in the ascendant in Europe . German ideas are fashionable , and the vast literature of the Fatherland is exciting great and deserved interest in the minds of people who hitherto have looked to France for their intellectual pabulum . To thinkers and men of letters this change is by no means surprising . The

influence of Germany upon the leading minds of this country has been paramount for more than a generation . They have turned to her men of letters , for philosophy , for criticism , and for philology . Carlyle has devoted himself to the task of interpreting the thoughts and even tho words of her chief writers . His translation of "Wilhelm Meister" is

confessedly the best which has yet appeared , and his essays on German literature are a mine of intellectual wealth . But perhaps the highest compliment ever paid to a nation of thinkers by a great master of English , was paid by our cynical Chelsea philosopher when , under the title of

" Sartor Resartus , " he sketched the struggles of a great soul in its efforts to solve the mighty problems of existence . The hero of the book is a German , and the action of the

fiction—or shall we say prose poem?—turns upon the sufferings and the heroic resolves of a thinker , and that thinker just such a one as Germany daily turns out from her universities . If we are to amend our methods of

Biblical criticism the Germans will certainly show us the way to do it ; and if philology is to be elevated into a science we shall owe the fact to the untiring industry of a German , Professor Max Mailer . But although the influence of the German mind upon literature is potent for good , it

is likely , we trust , to be not less potent in the arena of morals and sociology . The German is a much more homely man than the Frenchman . He likes simplicity ; he loves home . He cares little or nothing for tawdry and vulgar finery . His hours and habits are much more natural

than those of our brilliant but superficial neighbours , and if German ideas should at any time leaven our social life , the result cannot but be beneficial to the community at large . Military glory has never had the same charm for the Teuton that it has for the Gaul . The military

masters of the Continent are much more likely to keep the peace , now that their bayonets are omnipotent , than were the French under the Empire . The passion for conquest does not indeed come with success in the field ,

but our Teutonic friends have too much natural good sense to lose their heads ; and if the peace is broken , we are sure the provocation will not come from the newly consolidated Empire . We have been led to these reflections because the subject of our Masonic Portrait is a son of the