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Article THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON. ← Page 7 of 8 →
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The Freemasons' Lexicon.
upon himself as the link between the spiritual and corporeal world ; the spirits saw through his eyes , and he found them principally before antl in his head . Without a form he could not conceive a God , for the eternal Father he substituted the Son . He divided heaven into two kingdoms ^—the kingdom of the inward spirit or of the true man , and the kingdom of knowledge . His style is entirely destitute of ornament , anil his discourses with this or that spirit are extremely naive . He had
numerous disciples in Sweden , England , and other countries . His large , work , " The True Christian Religion , " is worth reading , as an appendix to the errors of the human spirit . Sylvester Abend . New Year ' s Eve . —The Freemason , more than any other man , ought to feel what an important division of time this evening is , and ought to celebrate it by holding a lodge and a fraternal festival . At this festival he ought earnestly to ask himselfif during the past year
, he has always been faithful to the rules of the Order , and active in promoting its principles ; he ought solemnly to pledge himself to continue llis exertions ; to pray fervently for a blessing upon the government of the country in which he resides ; and heart to heart the brethren ought to wish each other a happy new year , and solemnly pledge themselves to maintain the great principles of brotherly love and truth . System Ritus-oder Ritual . System or Ritual . —The last word
imports how a lodge ought to be opened and closed , and how an initiation , passing , or raising ought to be conducted ; this may also be called the liturgy of the lodge . Commonly by those words are also understood the system of the lodge , although with more justice it is only ihe object of Freemasonry which ought to be understood by the word system . It is from this error that we have the appellations Knights Templar system , Eclectical system , & c . True Freemasonry cannot have more parts , or be anything different from what it is in the ritualand the word system
, ought to be entirely banished from Freemasonry . The ritual is not the same in all lodges , nay , there are nearly as many different rituals as there are Grand Lodges . Many of those rituals are of quite modern origin , especially that of the Grand Lodge Royal York , Berlin , and that of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg . The English ritual is the most ancient , it extended itself into every part of the earth , but was afterwards superseded in many places by the FrenchSwedishand others . Those
out-, , ward forms and ceremonies , although they differ , yet they do not divide the brethren amongst themselves , but each lodge and its members is tolerant with the members of other lodges ; and all lodges are allowed to endeavour and strive to obtain their object by what way they think best . Neither is there any real difference whether some ceremonies are to be performed in this manner , or in that , according to the different rituals , or whether the officers are called this or that . Time and various
circumstances have made those alterations in the rituals principally to produce a more lasting impression upon the mind of the candidate at his initiation , and to advance with the improved spirit of the times . Fragments from some of the rituals have been published , especially from the old ones ; but there must be more than a dozen rituals published before an un-initiated person could learn how an initiation was conducted , or how a lodge was held . The end to which the ritual leads us is the principal object , or the real secret of Freemasonry , and it would require an adept to discover this from any ritual . There only ought to be one ritual , as was the case in former ages ; and the unlucky word system ought never to have been introduced into the Craft . AVe will here mention the prin-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
upon himself as the link between the spiritual and corporeal world ; the spirits saw through his eyes , and he found them principally before antl in his head . Without a form he could not conceive a God , for the eternal Father he substituted the Son . He divided heaven into two kingdoms ^—the kingdom of the inward spirit or of the true man , and the kingdom of knowledge . His style is entirely destitute of ornament , anil his discourses with this or that spirit are extremely naive . He had
numerous disciples in Sweden , England , and other countries . His large , work , " The True Christian Religion , " is worth reading , as an appendix to the errors of the human spirit . Sylvester Abend . New Year ' s Eve . —The Freemason , more than any other man , ought to feel what an important division of time this evening is , and ought to celebrate it by holding a lodge and a fraternal festival . At this festival he ought earnestly to ask himselfif during the past year
, he has always been faithful to the rules of the Order , and active in promoting its principles ; he ought solemnly to pledge himself to continue llis exertions ; to pray fervently for a blessing upon the government of the country in which he resides ; and heart to heart the brethren ought to wish each other a happy new year , and solemnly pledge themselves to maintain the great principles of brotherly love and truth . System Ritus-oder Ritual . System or Ritual . —The last word
imports how a lodge ought to be opened and closed , and how an initiation , passing , or raising ought to be conducted ; this may also be called the liturgy of the lodge . Commonly by those words are also understood the system of the lodge , although with more justice it is only ihe object of Freemasonry which ought to be understood by the word system . It is from this error that we have the appellations Knights Templar system , Eclectical system , & c . True Freemasonry cannot have more parts , or be anything different from what it is in the ritualand the word system
, ought to be entirely banished from Freemasonry . The ritual is not the same in all lodges , nay , there are nearly as many different rituals as there are Grand Lodges . Many of those rituals are of quite modern origin , especially that of the Grand Lodge Royal York , Berlin , and that of the Grand Lodge of Hamburg . The English ritual is the most ancient , it extended itself into every part of the earth , but was afterwards superseded in many places by the FrenchSwedishand others . Those
out-, , ward forms and ceremonies , although they differ , yet they do not divide the brethren amongst themselves , but each lodge and its members is tolerant with the members of other lodges ; and all lodges are allowed to endeavour and strive to obtain their object by what way they think best . Neither is there any real difference whether some ceremonies are to be performed in this manner , or in that , according to the different rituals , or whether the officers are called this or that . Time and various
circumstances have made those alterations in the rituals principally to produce a more lasting impression upon the mind of the candidate at his initiation , and to advance with the improved spirit of the times . Fragments from some of the rituals have been published , especially from the old ones ; but there must be more than a dozen rituals published before an un-initiated person could learn how an initiation was conducted , or how a lodge was held . The end to which the ritual leads us is the principal object , or the real secret of Freemasonry , and it would require an adept to discover this from any ritual . There only ought to be one ritual , as was the case in former ages ; and the unlucky word system ought never to have been introduced into the Craft . AVe will here mention the prin-