Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial Grand Lodge Of Cumberland And Westmorland.
Ihe brethren then adjourned to Bro . Henry Peacock ' s , the Globe Hotel , and who is always equal to any occasion , as the banquet received wellmerited praise ; for quality and attendance it could not be surprassed , and the assembly room was filled to overflowing . The VV . Deputy Prov . Grand Master , Bro . Dykes , filled the chair , supported by W . Bros . F . Binckes ,
P . G . Steward ; Col . F . R . Sewell , R . de E . Collin , Rev . Wm . Thwaites , Rev . C . J . Bateman , Rev . Jas . Anderson , and others , faced by the newlyappointed Prov . Grand Wardens . The toast list was a long one . The usual loyal and patriotic toasts were given from the chair .
" The Army , Navy , and Reserve Forces " was ably proposed by Bro . COLLIN , and responded to by Bros . Col . SEWELL and WAUGH . " The Bishop and Clergy of all Denominations" was proposed by Bro . BINCKES in a brilliant style , and heartily responded to Bros , the Revs . BATEMAN and ANDERSON ; and with other toasts and songs a most agreeable evening was spent .
We may also mention that the brethren of the Skiddaw Lodge , 1002 , took the opportunity of opening their new lodge room adjoining the Globe Hotel , and , previous to the Provincial Grand Lodge being opened , held their first meeting , which was presided over by the W . Deputy Prov . Grand Master , Bro . Dykes , who is a Past Master of the lodge , assisted by several Present and Past Provincial Grand Officers . The room was very much
admired by the visiting brethren , and for architecture , furnishing , and general decorations , it may almost be said without flattery to be the lodge room of the province , and redounds verv much to thecreditof Bros . Marsh , Shilton , Peacock , and Taylor for their " taste and true Masonic spirit . We wish the brethren all success in their laudable undertaking , and may they be emblematical of the name of " Skiddaw , " and as unmoveable as the mountain itself in the good works in Masonry .
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
ROSICRUCIAN THOUGHTS ON THE EVERBURNING LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS .
BY DR . WM . WYNN WESTCOTT , FRA . Ros . CRUCIS , VIII . ( An Essay read before the Rosicrucian Society of England . ) The ordinary Englishman of to-day considers the idea of a lamp which should be everburning only less absurd than the idea of perpetual motion . To the dabbler in modern science it is but little less absurd , but to the deepest thinkers , and to Rosicrucians , a scintillula of light appears on this
mysterious subject . The true adept has discovered that although Nature is bound in general laws which seem universal , yet in Nature herself evidence may be found , when properly searched for , that at certain times and seasons , and in certain modes , unknown to us , her laws are over-ridden and replaced by a power to which she , the mighty mother , has herself to bow . The pages of the history of the world present to us many instances of such
events , which we generally class as miracles ; some of them are as well authenticated as any points in ancient history . The Israelitic passage of the Red Sea , the swallowing of Jonah by a whale which brought him forth again alive , and the ascension of Jesus , are examples . The power of prophesy is a contradiction of the ordinary powers of earthly beings , and is so far
miraculous . Angel visitors come but rarely now from the realms of glory ; is heaven more distant 1 Or have men grown cold 1 Rosicrucians are nothing if not Christians , and Christians have ever believed in miracle , or have ever acknowledged the existence of an Omnipotence who can act at times in such a manner as to leave the traces and steps of the process so hidden as to tempt scoffers to doubt , and doubters to scoff .
But although perpetual motion be but a dream to us earthbound mortals , we do not doubt a future perpetual existence , and it is as reasonable to picture to ourself a perpetual flame , as an Eternity of Life . The ancient Egyptian priests pictured life as a flame . The Great Master of the Temple of this world being omnipotent , and able to do all things , does not usually proceed by miracles , or they will not be prized as such ; an essence of
miracle is rarity , a miracle imitated is not a second miracle . Ordinary events , _ then , being the extreme of opposition to miracle , there are yet events of a third and intermediate type , marvels , which cannot be understanded of the people , but which are yet the product of a special gift to certain men , their spirits , minds , and bodies , who by due , careful , and sufficient training , wisdom and experience , have earned such a reward .
Such should the typical Rosicrucian be , a terrestrial earthly Body , the Temple in which , dwells a mind trained to understand the powers of Nature , and enshrined within this , as a canopy , should sit a Divine afflatus , a portion of the Spirit of God , an ala of the Celestial Dove who brooded over the chaos , and this spirit may by patent submission to Deity , and by active efforts at power , draw down to itself a commission to work wonders , and so do ' * not as other men do . "
The great tendency of the modern times has been to reduce all men to a level , a dead level , of mediocrity , an effort fatal to the supremacy of individuals , and which has tended to discourage research into the Hidden Mysteries of Nature and Science , is opposed to the parrot-like study of what are known as modern sciences , a study of enormous value to mankind , but yet not the stepping stones on the direct road to Deity . History then narrates the lives of many men , who , from the exhibition of uncommon
powers and transcendent abilities and wisdom , are pointed out as the possessors of what we may fairly call occult Inspiration , " Poeta nascitur non Jit ; " but I should add " Magus nascitur non solum fit . " No accident of hirth alone can make a Magician , but intensity of duly directed effort may do so in a certain number of persons with specially favourable mental Powers . We may be all born with an equal right to existence ; but it is absurd to say we are all to be chiefs or Magi , for , as we are told in the Master ' s Degree" some must ruleand some obey . "
, , In 1484 died Christian Rosenkreuz , our great prototype ; he was such a man ; b y the dispositions he made , and the Society he designed , he shook the whole Christian world for a century of years , and laid the first stones of the edifice we are still building to-day . In his tomb , when it was opened by
me l < ratres , in 1604 , or 120 years after his decease , were found , besides other mysterious articles , lamps of a special and peculiar construction ; hence the stud y of Sepulchral Lamps is one particularly germane to us . The discovery if i " ^ - ' n ancient sepulchres , in some cases extinguished , in others burning with brilliance , was no rarity in the middle ages ; but the destroying hands of
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
the Goth and the Vandal have left few ancient tombs for modern research to explore . We have to content ourselves with the observations and reports of our forefathers , the narratives of Arabian , Roman , and mediaeval authors . No fewer than 170 such authorities have written on this subject . Many of these references , in Greek and Latin literature , to lucent bodies , phosphorescence , and " mystic lamps found in tombs , " deserve study , and will repay perusal .
The Darkness of Death and the Darkness of the Tomb are , and have ever been , common phrases ; no wonder , then , that the ancients sought to minimise it . Hence we find that the relatives of a deceased person were desirous of relieving the gloom hanging over the grave of a beloved wife , kind parent , or respected brother , by any means in their power .
To include in the tomb a lamp and leave it burning was a kindly attention , even if it burned but one short hour ; it was an offering to Pluto , to the Manes ; it kept away spirits of evil , and preserved peace to the dead man : this knowledge of the limited time such a lamp could possibly remain alight acted , doubtless , as a stimulus to the discovery of a means of prolonging the burning power of a lamp indefinitely , and if I read history aright , in at
least a few instances , the problem has been solved ; so far at any rate as the manufacture of a lamp which should burn until deranged by the barbarian invader of its precincts . I shall narrate a few examples , premising that these are instances of different modes of obtaining the desired effect ; besides these instances the ancient Latin authors speak of the use as illuminants , not alone of lamps , but of natural lucent bodies , which would suffice to dispel the gloom to some slight extent . Such were
the diamond , the carbuncle , the glow-worm , the exposure of phosphorus to the air , the ignition of certain substances which burn alone without any wick or arrangement , such as camphor , which will burn even floating on water . The presence of a combustible gas , which issues from clefts in the rock in some mines and caverns , seems to have been known , and was probably taken advantage of by the ancient sages to enhance the mystery and majesty of their secret rites .
It is very possible that some of the priests of old were aware of the lucent property of some forms of sulphide of calcium , which have attracted much attention the last few years , in the shape of luminous paint . I will submit also that references exist in the history of remote ages to suggest the mysterious light now so freely handled and produced by electricity was not unknown to the ancient sages . Numa , King of Rome , studied
electricity , and left pupils of his art , of whom we are told was his successor Tullus Hostilius , who was destroyed whilst endeavouring to draw down from heaven and coerce the electric fluid from thunder clouds , or , as they said , from Jupiter Tonans . Eliphaz Levi remarks— " It is certain that the Zoroastrian Magi had means of producing and directing electric power unknown to us . "— " Historie de la Magie , " p . 57 . Mediaeval scholars
have fully debated several points in regard to ever-burning lamps , but in all cases without arriving at any definite result ; much erudition has been expended on the question whether a lamp found burning on breaking open a tomb was not ignited by the admission of air , and had not been actually burning until it was disturbed ; there is modern evidence in favour of this view , from the analogy of some chemical experiments , as , for example , phorphorised oil is invisible in the dark when enclosed in a sealed vial ,
when this is opened a light pours forth . On the other hand , evidence exists that some of the lamps actually paled and went out when the cavern in which they were found was opened , as a fine metal wire made white-hot by electricity in a sealed glass ceases to shine when the glass is broken ; others again burned on and could hardly be extinguished by water or other means , until the arrangement of the lamp was broken .
Other authors , taking for granted that some of these lamps had burned for hundreds of years , have discussed the necessary relation between oil or liquid consumed and wick . With regard to wick , there are several names of substances proposed as incombustible ; but they are probably only synonyms of one body , namely , asbestos , which is even now used in our gas fires . It does not consume , although kept constantly red hot with flames flickering over it . Other names for it
were—Asbestinum—Plutarch uses this term , Pliny , and Solintts , and Baptista Porta ; Linum Asbestinum by Albertus Magnus . Amiantus—By Pancirollus , and by Lucius Vives . Plume Alum—See Cyclopaedia by E . Chambers , 1741 , art . " Allum , " and so called by Wecker , De Secretis , lib . 3 , cap . 2 , and Agricola . Earth Flax—Dr . Plot uses this name .
Limim Vivum—Mentioned by Plutarch , also as Limiim Carpasium and Lapis Carystius—see De Defectu Oraculorum , and Pausanias in his Atticus . Salamander ' s Wool — So called by Friar Bacon and Joachimus Fortius . The ancients , we know , did try incombustible metal wires as wicks 5 but found that oil would not pass up them , as it does up fibres of cotton of wool . —See " Philos . Transactions , " No . 166 , p . 806 , of the year 1684 .
In respect to the oil for the lamp , there is no consensus of opinion as to the nature of it ; neither of the authorities who narrate the finding of the lamps describe it in any way , yet many Latin authors discuss it . Some speak of it as bituminous oil , derived from the earth , thus forecasting the recent extensive use of petroleum . None of them definitely associate it with any known animal or vegetable oil . _ Many mystic references are , how * ever , made to the labours of the Alchemists , who thought it must be of the
nature of an essential oil of Sol , the metal gold to be derived from it by alchemic processes . Sol , they say , must be dissolved into an unctuous humour , or the radical moisture of Sol must be separated . —See " Wolfhang Lazius , " lib . III ., c . 8 , and " Camden Brittania , p . 572 . For , say th ey * inasmuch as gold is so pure that it bears repeated meltings without wasting * so if it be dissolved into an oily residuum , such should support fire without being consumed .
It may suitably be explained in this place that the oldest Alchemists held peculiar views on flame and firei Fire was to ihem an element—one of . four ; there were two contraries in nature , three principles , and four elements Fire , as such , should not need what we call fuel to consume ; but only as a means of detaining it in a certain place . —See " Licetus , De Lucernis , " cap . 20-21 , and " Theophrastus . " They said there may be a relations
between fire and fuel of these sorts—if the strength of the fire exceed that , of the humour , it presently burns out ; if the humour be too strong for the fire , the fire departs ; but if the radical strength of the humour and of the fire be co-equal , then , cseteris paribus , that fire would burn continually ,, until the surrounding states of radical moisture or natural heat should bet altered by external circumstances , as if a flame be made . to . burn in a clossdl vault , it would depart when such was opened . ( To be continued ) .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial Grand Lodge Of Cumberland And Westmorland.
Ihe brethren then adjourned to Bro . Henry Peacock ' s , the Globe Hotel , and who is always equal to any occasion , as the banquet received wellmerited praise ; for quality and attendance it could not be surprassed , and the assembly room was filled to overflowing . The VV . Deputy Prov . Grand Master , Bro . Dykes , filled the chair , supported by W . Bros . F . Binckes ,
P . G . Steward ; Col . F . R . Sewell , R . de E . Collin , Rev . Wm . Thwaites , Rev . C . J . Bateman , Rev . Jas . Anderson , and others , faced by the newlyappointed Prov . Grand Wardens . The toast list was a long one . The usual loyal and patriotic toasts were given from the chair .
" The Army , Navy , and Reserve Forces " was ably proposed by Bro . COLLIN , and responded to by Bros . Col . SEWELL and WAUGH . " The Bishop and Clergy of all Denominations" was proposed by Bro . BINCKES in a brilliant style , and heartily responded to Bros , the Revs . BATEMAN and ANDERSON ; and with other toasts and songs a most agreeable evening was spent .
We may also mention that the brethren of the Skiddaw Lodge , 1002 , took the opportunity of opening their new lodge room adjoining the Globe Hotel , and , previous to the Provincial Grand Lodge being opened , held their first meeting , which was presided over by the W . Deputy Prov . Grand Master , Bro . Dykes , who is a Past Master of the lodge , assisted by several Present and Past Provincial Grand Officers . The room was very much
admired by the visiting brethren , and for architecture , furnishing , and general decorations , it may almost be said without flattery to be the lodge room of the province , and redounds verv much to thecreditof Bros . Marsh , Shilton , Peacock , and Taylor for their " taste and true Masonic spirit . We wish the brethren all success in their laudable undertaking , and may they be emblematical of the name of " Skiddaw , " and as unmoveable as the mountain itself in the good works in Masonry .
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
ROSICRUCIAN THOUGHTS ON THE EVERBURNING LAMPS OF THE ANCIENTS .
BY DR . WM . WYNN WESTCOTT , FRA . Ros . CRUCIS , VIII . ( An Essay read before the Rosicrucian Society of England . ) The ordinary Englishman of to-day considers the idea of a lamp which should be everburning only less absurd than the idea of perpetual motion . To the dabbler in modern science it is but little less absurd , but to the deepest thinkers , and to Rosicrucians , a scintillula of light appears on this
mysterious subject . The true adept has discovered that although Nature is bound in general laws which seem universal , yet in Nature herself evidence may be found , when properly searched for , that at certain times and seasons , and in certain modes , unknown to us , her laws are over-ridden and replaced by a power to which she , the mighty mother , has herself to bow . The pages of the history of the world present to us many instances of such
events , which we generally class as miracles ; some of them are as well authenticated as any points in ancient history . The Israelitic passage of the Red Sea , the swallowing of Jonah by a whale which brought him forth again alive , and the ascension of Jesus , are examples . The power of prophesy is a contradiction of the ordinary powers of earthly beings , and is so far
miraculous . Angel visitors come but rarely now from the realms of glory ; is heaven more distant 1 Or have men grown cold 1 Rosicrucians are nothing if not Christians , and Christians have ever believed in miracle , or have ever acknowledged the existence of an Omnipotence who can act at times in such a manner as to leave the traces and steps of the process so hidden as to tempt scoffers to doubt , and doubters to scoff .
But although perpetual motion be but a dream to us earthbound mortals , we do not doubt a future perpetual existence , and it is as reasonable to picture to ourself a perpetual flame , as an Eternity of Life . The ancient Egyptian priests pictured life as a flame . The Great Master of the Temple of this world being omnipotent , and able to do all things , does not usually proceed by miracles , or they will not be prized as such ; an essence of
miracle is rarity , a miracle imitated is not a second miracle . Ordinary events , _ then , being the extreme of opposition to miracle , there are yet events of a third and intermediate type , marvels , which cannot be understanded of the people , but which are yet the product of a special gift to certain men , their spirits , minds , and bodies , who by due , careful , and sufficient training , wisdom and experience , have earned such a reward .
Such should the typical Rosicrucian be , a terrestrial earthly Body , the Temple in which , dwells a mind trained to understand the powers of Nature , and enshrined within this , as a canopy , should sit a Divine afflatus , a portion of the Spirit of God , an ala of the Celestial Dove who brooded over the chaos , and this spirit may by patent submission to Deity , and by active efforts at power , draw down to itself a commission to work wonders , and so do ' * not as other men do . "
The great tendency of the modern times has been to reduce all men to a level , a dead level , of mediocrity , an effort fatal to the supremacy of individuals , and which has tended to discourage research into the Hidden Mysteries of Nature and Science , is opposed to the parrot-like study of what are known as modern sciences , a study of enormous value to mankind , but yet not the stepping stones on the direct road to Deity . History then narrates the lives of many men , who , from the exhibition of uncommon
powers and transcendent abilities and wisdom , are pointed out as the possessors of what we may fairly call occult Inspiration , " Poeta nascitur non Jit ; " but I should add " Magus nascitur non solum fit . " No accident of hirth alone can make a Magician , but intensity of duly directed effort may do so in a certain number of persons with specially favourable mental Powers . We may be all born with an equal right to existence ; but it is absurd to say we are all to be chiefs or Magi , for , as we are told in the Master ' s Degree" some must ruleand some obey . "
, , In 1484 died Christian Rosenkreuz , our great prototype ; he was such a man ; b y the dispositions he made , and the Society he designed , he shook the whole Christian world for a century of years , and laid the first stones of the edifice we are still building to-day . In his tomb , when it was opened by
me l < ratres , in 1604 , or 120 years after his decease , were found , besides other mysterious articles , lamps of a special and peculiar construction ; hence the stud y of Sepulchral Lamps is one particularly germane to us . The discovery if i " ^ - ' n ancient sepulchres , in some cases extinguished , in others burning with brilliance , was no rarity in the middle ages ; but the destroying hands of
Rosicrucian Thoughts On The Everburning Lamps Of The Ancients.
the Goth and the Vandal have left few ancient tombs for modern research to explore . We have to content ourselves with the observations and reports of our forefathers , the narratives of Arabian , Roman , and mediaeval authors . No fewer than 170 such authorities have written on this subject . Many of these references , in Greek and Latin literature , to lucent bodies , phosphorescence , and " mystic lamps found in tombs , " deserve study , and will repay perusal .
The Darkness of Death and the Darkness of the Tomb are , and have ever been , common phrases ; no wonder , then , that the ancients sought to minimise it . Hence we find that the relatives of a deceased person were desirous of relieving the gloom hanging over the grave of a beloved wife , kind parent , or respected brother , by any means in their power .
To include in the tomb a lamp and leave it burning was a kindly attention , even if it burned but one short hour ; it was an offering to Pluto , to the Manes ; it kept away spirits of evil , and preserved peace to the dead man : this knowledge of the limited time such a lamp could possibly remain alight acted , doubtless , as a stimulus to the discovery of a means of prolonging the burning power of a lamp indefinitely , and if I read history aright , in at
least a few instances , the problem has been solved ; so far at any rate as the manufacture of a lamp which should burn until deranged by the barbarian invader of its precincts . I shall narrate a few examples , premising that these are instances of different modes of obtaining the desired effect ; besides these instances the ancient Latin authors speak of the use as illuminants , not alone of lamps , but of natural lucent bodies , which would suffice to dispel the gloom to some slight extent . Such were
the diamond , the carbuncle , the glow-worm , the exposure of phosphorus to the air , the ignition of certain substances which burn alone without any wick or arrangement , such as camphor , which will burn even floating on water . The presence of a combustible gas , which issues from clefts in the rock in some mines and caverns , seems to have been known , and was probably taken advantage of by the ancient sages to enhance the mystery and majesty of their secret rites .
It is very possible that some of the priests of old were aware of the lucent property of some forms of sulphide of calcium , which have attracted much attention the last few years , in the shape of luminous paint . I will submit also that references exist in the history of remote ages to suggest the mysterious light now so freely handled and produced by electricity was not unknown to the ancient sages . Numa , King of Rome , studied
electricity , and left pupils of his art , of whom we are told was his successor Tullus Hostilius , who was destroyed whilst endeavouring to draw down from heaven and coerce the electric fluid from thunder clouds , or , as they said , from Jupiter Tonans . Eliphaz Levi remarks— " It is certain that the Zoroastrian Magi had means of producing and directing electric power unknown to us . "— " Historie de la Magie , " p . 57 . Mediaeval scholars
have fully debated several points in regard to ever-burning lamps , but in all cases without arriving at any definite result ; much erudition has been expended on the question whether a lamp found burning on breaking open a tomb was not ignited by the admission of air , and had not been actually burning until it was disturbed ; there is modern evidence in favour of this view , from the analogy of some chemical experiments , as , for example , phorphorised oil is invisible in the dark when enclosed in a sealed vial ,
when this is opened a light pours forth . On the other hand , evidence exists that some of the lamps actually paled and went out when the cavern in which they were found was opened , as a fine metal wire made white-hot by electricity in a sealed glass ceases to shine when the glass is broken ; others again burned on and could hardly be extinguished by water or other means , until the arrangement of the lamp was broken .
Other authors , taking for granted that some of these lamps had burned for hundreds of years , have discussed the necessary relation between oil or liquid consumed and wick . With regard to wick , there are several names of substances proposed as incombustible ; but they are probably only synonyms of one body , namely , asbestos , which is even now used in our gas fires . It does not consume , although kept constantly red hot with flames flickering over it . Other names for it
were—Asbestinum—Plutarch uses this term , Pliny , and Solintts , and Baptista Porta ; Linum Asbestinum by Albertus Magnus . Amiantus—By Pancirollus , and by Lucius Vives . Plume Alum—See Cyclopaedia by E . Chambers , 1741 , art . " Allum , " and so called by Wecker , De Secretis , lib . 3 , cap . 2 , and Agricola . Earth Flax—Dr . Plot uses this name .
Limim Vivum—Mentioned by Plutarch , also as Limiim Carpasium and Lapis Carystius—see De Defectu Oraculorum , and Pausanias in his Atticus . Salamander ' s Wool — So called by Friar Bacon and Joachimus Fortius . The ancients , we know , did try incombustible metal wires as wicks 5 but found that oil would not pass up them , as it does up fibres of cotton of wool . —See " Philos . Transactions , " No . 166 , p . 806 , of the year 1684 .
In respect to the oil for the lamp , there is no consensus of opinion as to the nature of it ; neither of the authorities who narrate the finding of the lamps describe it in any way , yet many Latin authors discuss it . Some speak of it as bituminous oil , derived from the earth , thus forecasting the recent extensive use of petroleum . None of them definitely associate it with any known animal or vegetable oil . _ Many mystic references are , how * ever , made to the labours of the Alchemists , who thought it must be of the
nature of an essential oil of Sol , the metal gold to be derived from it by alchemic processes . Sol , they say , must be dissolved into an unctuous humour , or the radical moisture of Sol must be separated . —See " Wolfhang Lazius , " lib . III ., c . 8 , and " Camden Brittania , p . 572 . For , say th ey * inasmuch as gold is so pure that it bears repeated meltings without wasting * so if it be dissolved into an oily residuum , such should support fire without being consumed .
It may suitably be explained in this place that the oldest Alchemists held peculiar views on flame and firei Fire was to ihem an element—one of . four ; there were two contraries in nature , three principles , and four elements Fire , as such , should not need what we call fuel to consume ; but only as a means of detaining it in a certain place . —See " Licetus , De Lucernis , " cap . 20-21 , and " Theophrastus . " They said there may be a relations
between fire and fuel of these sorts—if the strength of the fire exceed that , of the humour , it presently burns out ; if the humour be too strong for the fire , the fire departs ; but if the radical strength of the humour and of the fire be co-equal , then , cseteris paribus , that fire would burn continually ,, until the surrounding states of radical moisture or natural heat should bet altered by external circumstances , as if a flame be made . to . burn in a clossdl vault , it would depart when such was opened . ( To be continued ) .