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Article MASONIC MUSINGS. ← Page 2 of 2 Article MASONIC MUSINGS. Page 2 of 2 Article MASONIC MUSINGS. Page 2 of 2 Article NOTES ON THE ORDERS OF THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Musings.
There is a strong similitude between a modern lodge and this ancient vessel : — ist . In form . and . In closeness . 3 rd . In exclusiveness .
4 th . In being a temple . 5 th . In being an asylum . 6 th . Also an enclosure containing all mankind . 7 th . In being found among all nations . 8 th . In sendinsr forth its emissaries to return in
peace ; and Lastly . In restoring to the world those it has for a time held concealed within its walls , fraught with the traditionary learning of former ages , and prepared to raise an altar for the offering up of praise and thanksgiving to the Creator and
Preserver . Now with regard to the form of the Ark , little doubt can exist but that it was a rightangled parallelogram ; and that such is the required ground plan of all rightly constituted lodges , is well known to our youngest
apprentices . The closeness of a lodge should be such as even at times to render it impervious to the light . In the construction of Masonic halls , the windows should be either in the roof of the
building or at least very high from the floor . The Helvetian ritual prescribes that the lower part of the window should be seven and a half feet from the surface of the floor , thus effectually impeding all communication or observation from without or within .
In admitting none but its qualified and appointed tenants , its exclusiveness was the very model and counterpart of a lodge . Noah himself " Of God observed , The one just man alive , "
guarding tne approach , keeping away all intruders , and tiling the entrance against all those whom the G . A . O . T . U . the High and Mighty Master of the Grand Lodge above had proved cowans and unfit for admission within that
hallowed circle , where alone the accepted and the initiated might rest in security and peace . The Ark was a Temple designed by the Grand Geometiician himself , wherein the whole human tace was gathered together , to render thanks and adoration for the manifold mercies of the Most
High , their Maker , Saviour and Sanctiher , and to mark with dutiful observance that sacred day in which Jehovah had rested from the work of creating all things . For God said to Noah , when the building of the Ark was completed , " yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the
earth , forty days and forty nights , " or six times seven in even numbers ; and so it name to pass , after one hundred and fifty days , or twenty one times seven , the waters were abated , and the Aik rested , on the seventh month , on the seventeenth day of the month , upon the mountain of Ararat
in Armenia . And it came to pass at the end of forty days , that Noah opened the window of the Ark , which he had made , and he sent forth a Raven and then a Dove , which returned to him and he staid yet another seven days , and again sent forth that "surer messenger" the Dove , which
returned to him with evidences that vegetable life was again appearing , and the face of nature revealingitself . Yet another seven days he tarried , and then the emblem of peace and purity—embodiment of the spirit of God which descended on Him , who for our transgressions took on
Himself the mortal form of a man—was permitted to wing its flight from that retreat which had so long been its haven of refuge , and returned not again to the expectant Patriarch any more . Can this singular repetition of the seventh day be accidental ? No , in each case we may rest assured that Noah enquired of the Lord en the day
speciall y dedicated to His Service , and was answered . So will every good Mason observe the statutes and ordinances of his God , and so shall his prayer be heard when the waters of sickness or affliction come in even to his soul . So will he be enabled , like Faithful when he had shaken oil' shame , to sinfjr .
The trials that those men do meet withal , That are obedient to the heavenly call , Are manifold and suited to the flesh , And come , and come , and come again afresh ;
Masonic Musings.
That now , or sometime else , we by them may Be taken , overcome and cast away . O , let the pilgrims , let the pilgrims , then Be vigilant and quit themselves like men . The Ark was an asylum from the anger of
an offended Deity , most justly pouring down destruction on those , every imagination of the thoughts of whose heart was only evil continually . And if any credit is to be attached to the details given in the book of the Prophecy of Enoch , a
work quoted by St . Jude in his Epistle v . 14 , and 15 , the wickedness of the world at that time much have surpassed all that ever before or has since existed , for we read that 200 "Of that race of men , whose lives
Religious titled them the Sons of God , " descended on Mount Anion , and chose themselves wives from the daughters of the earth-born , to whom they taught sorcery , and incantations , and ungodliness . From these alliances giants were born
who were each 300 cubits high . These when they had devoured all the produce of the earth , began to eat men , beasts , birds , and fishes , to drink their blood and to commit every species of profanation and sin .
"All turned degenerate , all depraved , " naturally arousing the attention of the Almighty , who beheld that the world he had created with so
much care—to be the abode of beings whose sole thoughts and ideas should be directed to his praise and glorification—had become the theatre of all impurity and
corruption' The dismal situation , waste and wild , " presenting nought but , " Regions of sorrow , doleful shade—All flesh corrupting each their way—A world devote to universal wrack . "
And thus so long as we love the Lord our God with all our heart and our nei ghbour as ourselves we shall be protected and sustained though destruction beset us on every side ; for do we not in token of the same ever behold ,
" A dewy cloud , and in the cloud a bow Conspicuous with three listed colours gay , Betokening peace from God and covenant new . " Within the compass of the Ark , eight persons ,
the only surviving remnant of the antediluvian world , were instructed , nourished , and preserved , and thus within the Masonic lodge , which in its capacity has no limits but those of tha terrestrial globe , may be included all mankind at the
present day ; that is all those who are qualified and desire to be received into its comprehensive pale , therein are they nourished by faith and encouraged by hope , that sweet and sacred emotion so well described by an eloquent French writer :
" L ' ospcrance , cette planche que Dieu jette au milieu de tousles naufrages , a laquelle le naufrage peut toujours se cramponner un instant , et pendant cet instant croire encore a la vie : l ' espi ' rance ,
cette derniere et incpoisable monnaie du creur avec laquelle votre pauvre nature humaine nchete sa dernicre emotion . "
therein" By Faith directed and confirmed b y Hope they survey Dawnings of beams and promises of day , " till finally they reach the third and final step at the summit of the Masonic ladder .
" Then constant Faith and holy hope shall die , One lost in certainty , and one in joy : Whilst thou , more happy power , fair Charity ,
Triumphant sister , greatest of the three , Thy office , and thy nature still the same , Lasting th y lamp and tmconsumed thy flame Shall still survive
Shall stand before the hosts of Henv ' n confest For ever blessing and for ever blest . The Ark itself continued in existence for many years , and bore testimony to the truth of the Mosaic narrative , as is expressly affirmed by several
authors of antiquity ; and that the memorials of it are to be found in almost nil nations , as has been already stated , is well known to those who
have sttidietl the literature of Masonry . I may here , in confirmation , quote what Mr . George Smith writes respecting the account of the Deluge which he has lately deciphered from the
Masonic Musings.
Assyrian monuments , he says : —The Cuneiform inscription which I have recentl y found and translated gives a long and full account of the Deluge . It contains the version or tradition of this event which existed in the earl y Chaldean period at the city of Erech ( one of the cities of
Nimrod ) now represented by the ruins of Warka . In this newl y discovered inscription the account of the Deluge is put as a narrative into the mouth of Xisuthrus , or Noah . He relates the wickedness of the world , the command to build the Ark , its building , the filling of it ,
the Deluge , the resting of the Ark on a mountain , the sending out of the birds and other matters . The narrative has a closer resemblance to the account transmitted by the Greeks from Berosus , the Chaldean historian , than to the
Biblical history , but it does not differ materiall y from either ; the principal differences are as to the duration of the Deluge , the name of the mountain on which the Ark rested , the sending out of the birds , Sec . ( TO BF . CONTINUED . )
Notes On The Orders Of The Temple And Hospital.
NOTES ON THE ORDERS OF THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL .
BV . E . MRA HOLMES 31 ° Preceptor Prudence l'rcccptory , Knights Templar , Prior Prudence Priory , Knights of Malta ; Grand Provost of England . According to promise I now publish the two documents respecting the Emperor Alexander
and the Sacred Council , from which it will be made abundantly manifest that I was not so far wrong in describing the Knights of St . John as a Papal Order . The correspondence being now closed , I have only to say , in reply to the last paragraph of Bro . Lupus ' s article of the 20 th , that
1 had very excellent authority for the statement I made respecting Prince Albert , and that again I assert that by the mere fact of his joining the Roman Catholic Order , and not joining the English Langue subsequently , when it was formed , he in substance ignored and repudiated the Protestant body .
Proclamation of the Emperor Alexander , appointing Count Soltikoff' Lieutenant of the Grand Master . We Alexander I , by the grace of God & c , being desirous of giving a proof of our particular
esteem and affection towards the Sovereign Order of St . John of Jerusalem , declare that we take the said Order under our Imperial protection , and that we will employ every possible care and attention to maintain it in all its rights , honours , privileges , and possessions .
For this purpose we command and ordain ^ that our General , Field-Marshal , Bailiff ; Count de Soltikoff " should continue to exercise the functions and authority of Lieutenant of the Grand Master of the said Order , and convene a sitting of the Sacred Council to make known our
intention that the Imperial residence should be still regarded as the chief seat of the Sovereign Order of St . John of Jerusalem , until such time as circumstances shall permit the election of a Grand Master , according to the ancient forms and statutes . In the interim , we ordain , in our
quality of protector , that the Sacred Council shall have the government of the Order , and shall make known to all the langues and priories this our determination , inviting that at the same time , for their own proper interest , they submit to the decrees issued by the said Council . We confirm , by this present declaration , our two
Grand Russian and Catholic priories , established in our empire in the enjoyment of the property , privileges , and administration alread y bestowed on them ; and it is our will and pleasure that they should be governed in our name of protector , by the Lieutenant of the Mastership , our General , Field-Marshal , Baillift " , Count Nicholas de Soltikoff ' .
The first moment that , in concert with other Courts , means can be found , and a proper place fixed upon , to convene a General Chapter of the Sovereign Order of St . John of Jerusalem , the first effects of our protection will be , to procure a Grand Master to be elected who shall be worthy to preside over the Order and to reestablish it as formerly . .... „ , ; ,.. ; ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Musings.
There is a strong similitude between a modern lodge and this ancient vessel : — ist . In form . and . In closeness . 3 rd . In exclusiveness .
4 th . In being a temple . 5 th . In being an asylum . 6 th . Also an enclosure containing all mankind . 7 th . In being found among all nations . 8 th . In sendinsr forth its emissaries to return in
peace ; and Lastly . In restoring to the world those it has for a time held concealed within its walls , fraught with the traditionary learning of former ages , and prepared to raise an altar for the offering up of praise and thanksgiving to the Creator and
Preserver . Now with regard to the form of the Ark , little doubt can exist but that it was a rightangled parallelogram ; and that such is the required ground plan of all rightly constituted lodges , is well known to our youngest
apprentices . The closeness of a lodge should be such as even at times to render it impervious to the light . In the construction of Masonic halls , the windows should be either in the roof of the
building or at least very high from the floor . The Helvetian ritual prescribes that the lower part of the window should be seven and a half feet from the surface of the floor , thus effectually impeding all communication or observation from without or within .
In admitting none but its qualified and appointed tenants , its exclusiveness was the very model and counterpart of a lodge . Noah himself " Of God observed , The one just man alive , "
guarding tne approach , keeping away all intruders , and tiling the entrance against all those whom the G . A . O . T . U . the High and Mighty Master of the Grand Lodge above had proved cowans and unfit for admission within that
hallowed circle , where alone the accepted and the initiated might rest in security and peace . The Ark was a Temple designed by the Grand Geometiician himself , wherein the whole human tace was gathered together , to render thanks and adoration for the manifold mercies of the Most
High , their Maker , Saviour and Sanctiher , and to mark with dutiful observance that sacred day in which Jehovah had rested from the work of creating all things . For God said to Noah , when the building of the Ark was completed , " yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the
earth , forty days and forty nights , " or six times seven in even numbers ; and so it name to pass , after one hundred and fifty days , or twenty one times seven , the waters were abated , and the Aik rested , on the seventh month , on the seventeenth day of the month , upon the mountain of Ararat
in Armenia . And it came to pass at the end of forty days , that Noah opened the window of the Ark , which he had made , and he sent forth a Raven and then a Dove , which returned to him and he staid yet another seven days , and again sent forth that "surer messenger" the Dove , which
returned to him with evidences that vegetable life was again appearing , and the face of nature revealingitself . Yet another seven days he tarried , and then the emblem of peace and purity—embodiment of the spirit of God which descended on Him , who for our transgressions took on
Himself the mortal form of a man—was permitted to wing its flight from that retreat which had so long been its haven of refuge , and returned not again to the expectant Patriarch any more . Can this singular repetition of the seventh day be accidental ? No , in each case we may rest assured that Noah enquired of the Lord en the day
speciall y dedicated to His Service , and was answered . So will every good Mason observe the statutes and ordinances of his God , and so shall his prayer be heard when the waters of sickness or affliction come in even to his soul . So will he be enabled , like Faithful when he had shaken oil' shame , to sinfjr .
The trials that those men do meet withal , That are obedient to the heavenly call , Are manifold and suited to the flesh , And come , and come , and come again afresh ;
Masonic Musings.
That now , or sometime else , we by them may Be taken , overcome and cast away . O , let the pilgrims , let the pilgrims , then Be vigilant and quit themselves like men . The Ark was an asylum from the anger of
an offended Deity , most justly pouring down destruction on those , every imagination of the thoughts of whose heart was only evil continually . And if any credit is to be attached to the details given in the book of the Prophecy of Enoch , a
work quoted by St . Jude in his Epistle v . 14 , and 15 , the wickedness of the world at that time much have surpassed all that ever before or has since existed , for we read that 200 "Of that race of men , whose lives
Religious titled them the Sons of God , " descended on Mount Anion , and chose themselves wives from the daughters of the earth-born , to whom they taught sorcery , and incantations , and ungodliness . From these alliances giants were born
who were each 300 cubits high . These when they had devoured all the produce of the earth , began to eat men , beasts , birds , and fishes , to drink their blood and to commit every species of profanation and sin .
"All turned degenerate , all depraved , " naturally arousing the attention of the Almighty , who beheld that the world he had created with so
much care—to be the abode of beings whose sole thoughts and ideas should be directed to his praise and glorification—had become the theatre of all impurity and
corruption' The dismal situation , waste and wild , " presenting nought but , " Regions of sorrow , doleful shade—All flesh corrupting each their way—A world devote to universal wrack . "
And thus so long as we love the Lord our God with all our heart and our nei ghbour as ourselves we shall be protected and sustained though destruction beset us on every side ; for do we not in token of the same ever behold ,
" A dewy cloud , and in the cloud a bow Conspicuous with three listed colours gay , Betokening peace from God and covenant new . " Within the compass of the Ark , eight persons ,
the only surviving remnant of the antediluvian world , were instructed , nourished , and preserved , and thus within the Masonic lodge , which in its capacity has no limits but those of tha terrestrial globe , may be included all mankind at the
present day ; that is all those who are qualified and desire to be received into its comprehensive pale , therein are they nourished by faith and encouraged by hope , that sweet and sacred emotion so well described by an eloquent French writer :
" L ' ospcrance , cette planche que Dieu jette au milieu de tousles naufrages , a laquelle le naufrage peut toujours se cramponner un instant , et pendant cet instant croire encore a la vie : l ' espi ' rance ,
cette derniere et incpoisable monnaie du creur avec laquelle votre pauvre nature humaine nchete sa dernicre emotion . "
therein" By Faith directed and confirmed b y Hope they survey Dawnings of beams and promises of day , " till finally they reach the third and final step at the summit of the Masonic ladder .
" Then constant Faith and holy hope shall die , One lost in certainty , and one in joy : Whilst thou , more happy power , fair Charity ,
Triumphant sister , greatest of the three , Thy office , and thy nature still the same , Lasting th y lamp and tmconsumed thy flame Shall still survive
Shall stand before the hosts of Henv ' n confest For ever blessing and for ever blest . The Ark itself continued in existence for many years , and bore testimony to the truth of the Mosaic narrative , as is expressly affirmed by several
authors of antiquity ; and that the memorials of it are to be found in almost nil nations , as has been already stated , is well known to those who
have sttidietl the literature of Masonry . I may here , in confirmation , quote what Mr . George Smith writes respecting the account of the Deluge which he has lately deciphered from the
Masonic Musings.
Assyrian monuments , he says : —The Cuneiform inscription which I have recentl y found and translated gives a long and full account of the Deluge . It contains the version or tradition of this event which existed in the earl y Chaldean period at the city of Erech ( one of the cities of
Nimrod ) now represented by the ruins of Warka . In this newl y discovered inscription the account of the Deluge is put as a narrative into the mouth of Xisuthrus , or Noah . He relates the wickedness of the world , the command to build the Ark , its building , the filling of it ,
the Deluge , the resting of the Ark on a mountain , the sending out of the birds and other matters . The narrative has a closer resemblance to the account transmitted by the Greeks from Berosus , the Chaldean historian , than to the
Biblical history , but it does not differ materiall y from either ; the principal differences are as to the duration of the Deluge , the name of the mountain on which the Ark rested , the sending out of the birds , Sec . ( TO BF . CONTINUED . )
Notes On The Orders Of The Temple And Hospital.
NOTES ON THE ORDERS OF THE TEMPLE AND HOSPITAL .
BV . E . MRA HOLMES 31 ° Preceptor Prudence l'rcccptory , Knights Templar , Prior Prudence Priory , Knights of Malta ; Grand Provost of England . According to promise I now publish the two documents respecting the Emperor Alexander
and the Sacred Council , from which it will be made abundantly manifest that I was not so far wrong in describing the Knights of St . John as a Papal Order . The correspondence being now closed , I have only to say , in reply to the last paragraph of Bro . Lupus ' s article of the 20 th , that
1 had very excellent authority for the statement I made respecting Prince Albert , and that again I assert that by the mere fact of his joining the Roman Catholic Order , and not joining the English Langue subsequently , when it was formed , he in substance ignored and repudiated the Protestant body .
Proclamation of the Emperor Alexander , appointing Count Soltikoff' Lieutenant of the Grand Master . We Alexander I , by the grace of God & c , being desirous of giving a proof of our particular
esteem and affection towards the Sovereign Order of St . John of Jerusalem , declare that we take the said Order under our Imperial protection , and that we will employ every possible care and attention to maintain it in all its rights , honours , privileges , and possessions .
For this purpose we command and ordain ^ that our General , Field-Marshal , Bailiff ; Count de Soltikoff " should continue to exercise the functions and authority of Lieutenant of the Grand Master of the said Order , and convene a sitting of the Sacred Council to make known our
intention that the Imperial residence should be still regarded as the chief seat of the Sovereign Order of St . John of Jerusalem , until such time as circumstances shall permit the election of a Grand Master , according to the ancient forms and statutes . In the interim , we ordain , in our
quality of protector , that the Sacred Council shall have the government of the Order , and shall make known to all the langues and priories this our determination , inviting that at the same time , for their own proper interest , they submit to the decrees issued by the said Council . We confirm , by this present declaration , our two
Grand Russian and Catholic priories , established in our empire in the enjoyment of the property , privileges , and administration alread y bestowed on them ; and it is our will and pleasure that they should be governed in our name of protector , by the Lieutenant of the Mastership , our General , Field-Marshal , Baillift " , Count Nicholas de Soltikoff ' .
The first moment that , in concert with other Courts , means can be found , and a proper place fixed upon , to convene a General Chapter of the Sovereign Order of St . John of Jerusalem , the first effects of our protection will be , to procure a Grand Master to be elected who shall be worthy to preside over the Order and to reestablish it as formerly . .... „ , ; ,.. ; ,