Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Parallelism Between Science And Freemasonry.
A PARALLELISM BETWEEN SCIENCE AND FREEMASONRY .
UNITY IN THE OBJECTS OF BOTH . AT the late Masonic Reception at York , Bro . T . W . Tew , D . P . G . M . for West Yorkshire , read the following
paper : — ™ BRETHREN , —Permit me to echo the sincere aspiration of every member of the Craft in the two Masonic Provinces of North and East Yorkshire and West Yorkshire , of the heartiness with which we have endeavoured to embrace this occasion of the Jubilee Meeting at York of the British Association for the Advancement of Science , to form
ourselves , under the auspices of the York and Eboracura Lodges , into a Masonic Reception Lodge , to give the right hand of fellowship and a fraternal greeting to all Freemasons throughout the world attend , ing this scientific gathering in the capital of Yorkshire . We , the members of that operative and speculative science popularly known as Free and Accepted Masonry , constantly assert in onr Lodges ,
when opened in the first degree , two astronomical axioms , and from these two we deduce a third . This last . is evident , for if " The snn is always afc its meridian , " " Freemasonry being universally spread over the snrface of the globe , it necessarily follows that the sun is always at its meridian with respect to Freemasonry . " The snn of Freemasonry was at its zenith in the magnificent reign of onr Grand Master
King Solomon , upwards of 2885 years ago . At that same point overhead , opposite to the Nadir , ever shining in its universality over the whole surface of the globe , under the Grand Mastership of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , it is still , as then , at its highest point of glory and power ; and , in its meridian splendour and lustrous brilliancy , it still may be said to shine in its benign influences for good npon
mankind . For fifty years nnder tho auspices of this British Association have Freemasons and the great personages of science been gathered together from all parts of the world once every year for the advancement of science , in order " to give a stronger impulse and more systematic direction to scientific inqniry , to obtain a greater degree of national attention to the objects of science , and a removal of those
disadvantages which impede its progress , and to promote the intercourse of the cultivators of science with one another , and with foreign philosophers ; " and thrice dnring this period of time have Science and Freemasonry joined hand to hand , and foot to foot , within the walls of this ancient city , in nnitedly pointing ont to the whole world the great lines of direction in which the researches of
operative and speculative , of aerial and oceanic science , should move ; in assigning to every class of mind a definite task , and in vindicating the claims of science to freedom of inqniry into the hidden mysteries of nature . At Plymouth , at Sheffield , and this year , for the third time , afc York , the Freemasons have markedly proved themselves the organisers of the meetings of this Association , and have thus shown
themselves to be the true " Fellow Crafts " of this Association for the advancement of science and of moral philosophy . Dr . Wiliam McCormac ( about to be knighted ) , of Barley-street , has written an admirable work on the " Unity of Science 5 " and a very learned lady , Miss Buckley , has in another work introduced ns to the " Fairy Land of Science ; " and in still another , to "Life and Her Children , from the Amaaba to the Insects , "—
" His parent hand , From the mnte shell-fish gasping on the shore . To men , to angels , to celestial minds , For ever leads the generations on To higher scenes of being . " —AKENSIDE .
Tho teachers of the minds of both these latest of scientific expounders are the men who , for the most part , are now and have been recognised as masters in their several departments of speculative knowledge , — Lord Milton , Harconrt , Gray , Phillips , Allis , Ford , Smith , Kendrick , Davies , Wellbeloved , and Dr . Bell D . P . G . M . of N . and E . Yorkshire : as well as those npon whom the mantles of these noble founders
of the Association have fallen , — Professors Huxley , Osborne , Reynolds , Eamsey , President of the Royal Society , the ex-President , and the acting President of this Association . The key-note of these writers and scientific philosophers is , that science is a centre of union amongst us , and that if Miss Buckley in her glimpses of animal life has shown ns the struggle for existence from the Amoeba to the
insects , so has that noble Yorkshireman , one of the founders of the British Association fifty years ago , shown us in his struggle for existence , for he was a self-educated man , —I mean Professor Phillips , — " The only thing which made the continnsnee of life an object of desire was to enjoy the contemplation of the works of nature . " And he always added— 'The works of nature are the
works of God—the Great Architect of the Universe . " Freemasonry has the same unity of purpose as the nnity rf science . The concord of its degrees and branches is so to polish and adorn the mind , to enrich it with the most useful knowledge , and to prepare it for the reception of moral and divine truths ; that while it searches into the marvellous properties of nature , it further demonstrates the
wonderful truths of morality , mercy , and charity . Freemasonry , indeed , contemplates with studious reverence the splendour of the dispensations of Jehovah ' s Providence , while the Sciences investigate but the outward exercises of God ' s power over matter . And what , may I ask , is the second degree of Freemasonry , with its inculcation of the study of the liberal aits and sciences , but the development of those objects which Freemasonry and the British Association of Science
hold to most firmly , and which the outside world , in an age of material progress , is too likely to forget , the "beauty and the dignity of knowledge , " the duty to look on nature as a more sacred thing , and to view the study of it in a more religious light . Science has penetrated everywhere—into the home , the college lecture room , the Mechanics' Institute , the Board School , and even into tho pulpit Its results are in every one's hands . Its methodsjare consciously , or
A Parallelism Between Science And Freemasonry.
unconsciously , followed by every mind . In every kind of study its influence has made itself felt , the moral philosopher , the editor of a classical poet , the historiau , the Biblical critic , are forced to adopt and to follow the rules of evidence , of which the history of science has proved the universal necessity . The idea which may be said to underlie the very conception of science—the idea of law , is now
familiar to every ono who has tho rudiments of education . Science has transformed not only the material aspect of life , but the whole mutual attitude of mankind . Truly it may be said that the snn of science is at its zenith , and shedding its influences over the whole of tho globe . The leading facts in the history of the British Association tells us this , but there is much work that remains for ns to do , if tho
Sun of Science has to maintain its meridian in duration , like the sun of Freemasonry . Through the efforts of this Association , and the kindred institutes and academies of foreign countries , which compose , in conjunction with it , the many departments of scientific knowledge , since 2831 , when the British Association was first formed in York , the universality of its scientific influence has been marked , for the
benefit of mankind , by changes greater , more far reaching and more astonishing than are to be met with in long ages of the time that preceded it , fifty years ago . And first , one of the greatest changes whioh has accrued to scientific research is onr great advance in appredating , as onr fathers and grandfathers did not , the discoveries and labours of the great men of our earlier times . A flood of light has ,
for instance , been thrown npon the works of Nowton , of Rnmford , and of Davy . Thanks to their genius and experiments , we owe most important discoveries to Colding , to Jonle , and to Helmholtz . Amongst the most important to mankind is the recognition of the fact that work can be converted into heat , that heat can be converted into work , and that while in such conversions there may be a
loss of energy in so far as practical terrestrial effect is concerned , there is never any loss in cosmical result . For a long time it had been known that it was impossible to create or destroy a single partide of matter ; but it remained to be proved , for the benefit of mankind , that it was equally impossible to create or destroy a single impulse of energy . It was known by ancient philosophers that matter
was constant ; bnt it was left for this British Association , and to these men in their labour of recent years , to show that matter was constant , although its forms were variable , that energy is equally indestructible , and that heat and light , electricity and magnetism , are only modes of motion . To Joule , then , we are indebted for the definite law of thermo-dynamics , or in plain words how much work
must be expended to procure a certain amount of heat . But equally great advances for the benefit of mankind have been made in another direction . This is a new branch of science , hardly twenty years in existence ; and in only one other direction , viz ., that of electricity , has science in our time advanced as rapidly . From a carefnl study of the laws of radiation and absorption the fundamental principles
to spectrum analysis have been deduced . The Nebluse have been searched into ; comets have been examined ; the sun ' s rotation on its axis has been verified , and an accurate approximation of the distance of the fixed stars made possible . This brief list of results of scientific advance for the benefit of mankind can only point to Helmholtz's investigations in aconstics , the connection between snn
spots and terrestrial magnetism , and the subjects of contact-electricity , atmospheric-electricity , and thermo-electricity , to note how much has been done to contribute to the clear and accurate appreciation of some of the most important scientific problems of onr times . As an illustration of the' adaptability of electrical discoveries to practical uses , it may snffice to state that the Great Northern
Railway Company have contracted with Messrs . R . E . Compfcon and Co . to light up one of their trains with the Swan incandescent lamps . The initiation of this novel departure from oil-lamps to electricity is looked forward to with the keenest interest . Horticulture and agriculture , are similarly in the near future to benefit by the wondrous adaptability of this electric force . With these advances of
science , we must conple the labours of Sir John Lnbbock and his tastes for natural history . His researches in zoology were first in the direction of insects and Crustacea . He studied the development , structure , and habit of these lower forms of life , and recorded his observations and discoveries in papers communicated to the journals of the learned societies . His elucidations of the habits of ants , bees ,
and wasps are well known . " On the Oiigin and Metamorphoses of Insects , " on " British Wild Flowers , considered in relation to Insects , " are works of his , and contributions to Science , eqnally well read . In the preservation of the ancient monuments of this country , Sir John Lubbock , as an archaeologist , has taken the deepest interest . As a legislator and an educationalist , his views are set forth in a volume
" Scientific Lectures . " But as the author of the Bankers' Holiday , he is , perhaps , most popularly known amongst us ; and as the Honorary Secretary to tho London Association of Bankers , he is the natural representative and the spokesman with the Government on all qurslrons concerning the banking interest in general . Yorkshire bankers greet Sir John as the President of the 51 st meeting of the " British Association for the Advancement of Science . " It is not
only onr science , onr banking laws , and onr commerce that have advanced by " leaps and bonnds ; " the whole material conditions of life have been changed dnring the last half-century ; and these changes are nowhere better recorded than in tho history of the British Association . It is difficult , indeed , to realise the conditions in the midst of which the British Association was born . England then
differed notably from the land we now inhabit . No railways ( the Mancheater and Liverpool line had only been opened a year or two ) , no telegraphs , no Reform Bill : onr navy was still " the wooden walls of Old England ; " Oxford and Cambridge were close Corporations ; South Kensington , and Board Schools , and Technical Colleges were
in tho far future ; science was mostly spoken or as philosophy , anu . Philosophical Institution was the dignified title given to the few local societies that then existed ; George IV . had been dead only about a year , and London was scarcely half its present size ; half tho world was unexplored ; Australia was only a penal settlement , Melbourne did not exist . The sciences were but accumulations of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Parallelism Between Science And Freemasonry.
A PARALLELISM BETWEEN SCIENCE AND FREEMASONRY .
UNITY IN THE OBJECTS OF BOTH . AT the late Masonic Reception at York , Bro . T . W . Tew , D . P . G . M . for West Yorkshire , read the following
paper : — ™ BRETHREN , —Permit me to echo the sincere aspiration of every member of the Craft in the two Masonic Provinces of North and East Yorkshire and West Yorkshire , of the heartiness with which we have endeavoured to embrace this occasion of the Jubilee Meeting at York of the British Association for the Advancement of Science , to form
ourselves , under the auspices of the York and Eboracura Lodges , into a Masonic Reception Lodge , to give the right hand of fellowship and a fraternal greeting to all Freemasons throughout the world attend , ing this scientific gathering in the capital of Yorkshire . We , the members of that operative and speculative science popularly known as Free and Accepted Masonry , constantly assert in onr Lodges ,
when opened in the first degree , two astronomical axioms , and from these two we deduce a third . This last . is evident , for if " The snn is always afc its meridian , " " Freemasonry being universally spread over the snrface of the globe , it necessarily follows that the sun is always at its meridian with respect to Freemasonry . " The snn of Freemasonry was at its zenith in the magnificent reign of onr Grand Master
King Solomon , upwards of 2885 years ago . At that same point overhead , opposite to the Nadir , ever shining in its universality over the whole surface of the globe , under the Grand Mastership of H . R . H . the Prince of Wales , it is still , as then , at its highest point of glory and power ; and , in its meridian splendour and lustrous brilliancy , it still may be said to shine in its benign influences for good npon
mankind . For fifty years nnder tho auspices of this British Association have Freemasons and the great personages of science been gathered together from all parts of the world once every year for the advancement of science , in order " to give a stronger impulse and more systematic direction to scientific inqniry , to obtain a greater degree of national attention to the objects of science , and a removal of those
disadvantages which impede its progress , and to promote the intercourse of the cultivators of science with one another , and with foreign philosophers ; " and thrice dnring this period of time have Science and Freemasonry joined hand to hand , and foot to foot , within the walls of this ancient city , in nnitedly pointing ont to the whole world the great lines of direction in which the researches of
operative and speculative , of aerial and oceanic science , should move ; in assigning to every class of mind a definite task , and in vindicating the claims of science to freedom of inqniry into the hidden mysteries of nature . At Plymouth , at Sheffield , and this year , for the third time , afc York , the Freemasons have markedly proved themselves the organisers of the meetings of this Association , and have thus shown
themselves to be the true " Fellow Crafts " of this Association for the advancement of science and of moral philosophy . Dr . Wiliam McCormac ( about to be knighted ) , of Barley-street , has written an admirable work on the " Unity of Science 5 " and a very learned lady , Miss Buckley , has in another work introduced ns to the " Fairy Land of Science ; " and in still another , to "Life and Her Children , from the Amaaba to the Insects , "—
" His parent hand , From the mnte shell-fish gasping on the shore . To men , to angels , to celestial minds , For ever leads the generations on To higher scenes of being . " —AKENSIDE .
Tho teachers of the minds of both these latest of scientific expounders are the men who , for the most part , are now and have been recognised as masters in their several departments of speculative knowledge , — Lord Milton , Harconrt , Gray , Phillips , Allis , Ford , Smith , Kendrick , Davies , Wellbeloved , and Dr . Bell D . P . G . M . of N . and E . Yorkshire : as well as those npon whom the mantles of these noble founders
of the Association have fallen , — Professors Huxley , Osborne , Reynolds , Eamsey , President of the Royal Society , the ex-President , and the acting President of this Association . The key-note of these writers and scientific philosophers is , that science is a centre of union amongst us , and that if Miss Buckley in her glimpses of animal life has shown ns the struggle for existence from the Amoeba to the
insects , so has that noble Yorkshireman , one of the founders of the British Association fifty years ago , shown us in his struggle for existence , for he was a self-educated man , —I mean Professor Phillips , — " The only thing which made the continnsnee of life an object of desire was to enjoy the contemplation of the works of nature . " And he always added— 'The works of nature are the
works of God—the Great Architect of the Universe . " Freemasonry has the same unity of purpose as the nnity rf science . The concord of its degrees and branches is so to polish and adorn the mind , to enrich it with the most useful knowledge , and to prepare it for the reception of moral and divine truths ; that while it searches into the marvellous properties of nature , it further demonstrates the
wonderful truths of morality , mercy , and charity . Freemasonry , indeed , contemplates with studious reverence the splendour of the dispensations of Jehovah ' s Providence , while the Sciences investigate but the outward exercises of God ' s power over matter . And what , may I ask , is the second degree of Freemasonry , with its inculcation of the study of the liberal aits and sciences , but the development of those objects which Freemasonry and the British Association of Science
hold to most firmly , and which the outside world , in an age of material progress , is too likely to forget , the "beauty and the dignity of knowledge , " the duty to look on nature as a more sacred thing , and to view the study of it in a more religious light . Science has penetrated everywhere—into the home , the college lecture room , the Mechanics' Institute , the Board School , and even into tho pulpit Its results are in every one's hands . Its methodsjare consciously , or
A Parallelism Between Science And Freemasonry.
unconsciously , followed by every mind . In every kind of study its influence has made itself felt , the moral philosopher , the editor of a classical poet , the historiau , the Biblical critic , are forced to adopt and to follow the rules of evidence , of which the history of science has proved the universal necessity . The idea which may be said to underlie the very conception of science—the idea of law , is now
familiar to every ono who has tho rudiments of education . Science has transformed not only the material aspect of life , but the whole mutual attitude of mankind . Truly it may be said that the snn of science is at its zenith , and shedding its influences over the whole of tho globe . The leading facts in the history of the British Association tells us this , but there is much work that remains for ns to do , if tho
Sun of Science has to maintain its meridian in duration , like the sun of Freemasonry . Through the efforts of this Association , and the kindred institutes and academies of foreign countries , which compose , in conjunction with it , the many departments of scientific knowledge , since 2831 , when the British Association was first formed in York , the universality of its scientific influence has been marked , for the
benefit of mankind , by changes greater , more far reaching and more astonishing than are to be met with in long ages of the time that preceded it , fifty years ago . And first , one of the greatest changes whioh has accrued to scientific research is onr great advance in appredating , as onr fathers and grandfathers did not , the discoveries and labours of the great men of our earlier times . A flood of light has ,
for instance , been thrown npon the works of Nowton , of Rnmford , and of Davy . Thanks to their genius and experiments , we owe most important discoveries to Colding , to Jonle , and to Helmholtz . Amongst the most important to mankind is the recognition of the fact that work can be converted into heat , that heat can be converted into work , and that while in such conversions there may be a
loss of energy in so far as practical terrestrial effect is concerned , there is never any loss in cosmical result . For a long time it had been known that it was impossible to create or destroy a single partide of matter ; but it remained to be proved , for the benefit of mankind , that it was equally impossible to create or destroy a single impulse of energy . It was known by ancient philosophers that matter
was constant ; bnt it was left for this British Association , and to these men in their labour of recent years , to show that matter was constant , although its forms were variable , that energy is equally indestructible , and that heat and light , electricity and magnetism , are only modes of motion . To Joule , then , we are indebted for the definite law of thermo-dynamics , or in plain words how much work
must be expended to procure a certain amount of heat . But equally great advances for the benefit of mankind have been made in another direction . This is a new branch of science , hardly twenty years in existence ; and in only one other direction , viz ., that of electricity , has science in our time advanced as rapidly . From a carefnl study of the laws of radiation and absorption the fundamental principles
to spectrum analysis have been deduced . The Nebluse have been searched into ; comets have been examined ; the sun ' s rotation on its axis has been verified , and an accurate approximation of the distance of the fixed stars made possible . This brief list of results of scientific advance for the benefit of mankind can only point to Helmholtz's investigations in aconstics , the connection between snn
spots and terrestrial magnetism , and the subjects of contact-electricity , atmospheric-electricity , and thermo-electricity , to note how much has been done to contribute to the clear and accurate appreciation of some of the most important scientific problems of onr times . As an illustration of the' adaptability of electrical discoveries to practical uses , it may snffice to state that the Great Northern
Railway Company have contracted with Messrs . R . E . Compfcon and Co . to light up one of their trains with the Swan incandescent lamps . The initiation of this novel departure from oil-lamps to electricity is looked forward to with the keenest interest . Horticulture and agriculture , are similarly in the near future to benefit by the wondrous adaptability of this electric force . With these advances of
science , we must conple the labours of Sir John Lnbbock and his tastes for natural history . His researches in zoology were first in the direction of insects and Crustacea . He studied the development , structure , and habit of these lower forms of life , and recorded his observations and discoveries in papers communicated to the journals of the learned societies . His elucidations of the habits of ants , bees ,
and wasps are well known . " On the Oiigin and Metamorphoses of Insects , " on " British Wild Flowers , considered in relation to Insects , " are works of his , and contributions to Science , eqnally well read . In the preservation of the ancient monuments of this country , Sir John Lubbock , as an archaeologist , has taken the deepest interest . As a legislator and an educationalist , his views are set forth in a volume
" Scientific Lectures . " But as the author of the Bankers' Holiday , he is , perhaps , most popularly known amongst us ; and as the Honorary Secretary to tho London Association of Bankers , he is the natural representative and the spokesman with the Government on all qurslrons concerning the banking interest in general . Yorkshire bankers greet Sir John as the President of the 51 st meeting of the " British Association for the Advancement of Science . " It is not
only onr science , onr banking laws , and onr commerce that have advanced by " leaps and bonnds ; " the whole material conditions of life have been changed dnring the last half-century ; and these changes are nowhere better recorded than in tho history of the British Association . It is difficult , indeed , to realise the conditions in the midst of which the British Association was born . England then
differed notably from the land we now inhabit . No railways ( the Mancheater and Liverpool line had only been opened a year or two ) , no telegraphs , no Reform Bill : onr navy was still " the wooden walls of Old England ; " Oxford and Cambridge were close Corporations ; South Kensington , and Board Schools , and Technical Colleges were
in tho far future ; science was mostly spoken or as philosophy , anu . Philosophical Institution was the dignified title given to the few local societies that then existed ; George IV . had been dead only about a year , and London was scarcely half its present size ; half tho world was unexplored ; Australia was only a penal settlement , Melbourne did not exist . The sciences were but accumulations of