Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Zend Avesta And Masonry.
his wisdom , " that neither envy , discord , nor confusion , prevailed among the craft while at work . " Our God , the God of Abraham , the God of Isaac and of Jacob , as we know Him , through His Divine Word , is the rock on which we stand , and
all the mystic law of the Magi and modern disquisitions give us no more knowledge than that God is God , while the Bible enables us to know Him as the God of love and mercy , our Protector and Guide . He implanted in us a desire for
knowledge , and gave us reason that we might find it . We think we know him better after an hour in the study of Nature than in years wasted over musty manuscripts , coming from people who never knew Him as He his revealed to us through His
sacred Word . " Tools and implements have been selected by the fraternity to imprint upon the mind wise and serious truths . " Nothing mystical , nothing farfetched in this—perfectly plain and simple ; and why not as satisfactory to us as
though we derived them from Zoroaster , or Zarthustva , of whom men had no real knowledge 4 , 000 years ago ! How much can we know of him now 1
Tom Hood.
TOM HOOD .
" He sang the Song of the Shirt . " By Bro . EMEA HOLMES , Author of Lectures on " Public Speaking ; what it is , and what it might be "; " Charles Dickens "; and " Odds and Ends of Wit and Humour . " Delivered at IpswichColchesterand
, , Saxmnndham , and rewritten , for the MASONIC MAGAZINE . AT the end of 1838 we find him writing f long letter to his friend , Mr . de Franck , ill v / kich he says— " that he had been publishing some letters on the state of the law of
copyright , which made a stir in the hterary world of London , and an M . P . borrowed bis ideas and made a flourish with them in the House . Moreover , a follow attacked me , " he writes , " and » me others , for our infidelity , whereupon took up the cudgels in a long poem
which delighted an old gentleman so much that he called it Hood ' s sermon ! ' ' The poem alluded to is known as an " Ode to Rae Wilson , " and is one of the finest pieces of satire in the language . I regret that space will not allow of my quoting it ; but I cannot pass it by without
telling the readers of the MASONIC MAGAZINE what he said as to the reality of his belief in God and godliness , of which he says —( alluding to his opponent ' s piscatorial name no doubt )— "It would be plain to any one but a fisher for
faults—predisposed to carp at some things , to dab at others , and to flounder in all . " Tom Hood , the younger , in a foot note to this letter , speaking of the character of his father ' s writings , says— " My father seems to have been almost persuaded , by the popular demand on him for fun rather
than serious writing , that he was not possessed of a serious as well as 'a comic vein ; but when after his death his serious poems were published , the world discovered it had lost a poet indeed . Is there anything more pathetic than the ' Bridge of Sighs' anything more
pro-, foundly melancholy , in its absolute simplicity , its tale of common life , than the < Song of the Shirt !'" Of his wit and humour you have had examples , of that true pathos which characterises some of his poems , I have
given you illustrations enough . I suppose few will now dispute the fact that he was a true poet worthy of a place in our Walhalla . As to his religious belief , I will make one more quotation from the interesting "Memorials , " and I have done .
" It has always been a popular misconception , " says his son , in the preface to the work I am quoting , " that men of letters as a rule are freethinkers . It is my own earnest belief that the higher mental organization , and refined sensibility of men of letters , render them almost to a fault
reserved in expressing a religious faith , for the very reason that they feel it so deeply and solemnly . "My father ' s religious faith was deep and sincere ; but it was little known to a world ever too apt to decide by hearing professions rather than by scrutinizing actions . Those to whom his domestic life was every day revealed felt how he lived
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Zend Avesta And Masonry.
his wisdom , " that neither envy , discord , nor confusion , prevailed among the craft while at work . " Our God , the God of Abraham , the God of Isaac and of Jacob , as we know Him , through His Divine Word , is the rock on which we stand , and
all the mystic law of the Magi and modern disquisitions give us no more knowledge than that God is God , while the Bible enables us to know Him as the God of love and mercy , our Protector and Guide . He implanted in us a desire for
knowledge , and gave us reason that we might find it . We think we know him better after an hour in the study of Nature than in years wasted over musty manuscripts , coming from people who never knew Him as He his revealed to us through His
sacred Word . " Tools and implements have been selected by the fraternity to imprint upon the mind wise and serious truths . " Nothing mystical , nothing farfetched in this—perfectly plain and simple ; and why not as satisfactory to us as
though we derived them from Zoroaster , or Zarthustva , of whom men had no real knowledge 4 , 000 years ago ! How much can we know of him now 1
Tom Hood.
TOM HOOD .
" He sang the Song of the Shirt . " By Bro . EMEA HOLMES , Author of Lectures on " Public Speaking ; what it is , and what it might be "; " Charles Dickens "; and " Odds and Ends of Wit and Humour . " Delivered at IpswichColchesterand
, , Saxmnndham , and rewritten , for the MASONIC MAGAZINE . AT the end of 1838 we find him writing f long letter to his friend , Mr . de Franck , ill v / kich he says— " that he had been publishing some letters on the state of the law of
copyright , which made a stir in the hterary world of London , and an M . P . borrowed bis ideas and made a flourish with them in the House . Moreover , a follow attacked me , " he writes , " and » me others , for our infidelity , whereupon took up the cudgels in a long poem
which delighted an old gentleman so much that he called it Hood ' s sermon ! ' ' The poem alluded to is known as an " Ode to Rae Wilson , " and is one of the finest pieces of satire in the language . I regret that space will not allow of my quoting it ; but I cannot pass it by without
telling the readers of the MASONIC MAGAZINE what he said as to the reality of his belief in God and godliness , of which he says —( alluding to his opponent ' s piscatorial name no doubt )— "It would be plain to any one but a fisher for
faults—predisposed to carp at some things , to dab at others , and to flounder in all . " Tom Hood , the younger , in a foot note to this letter , speaking of the character of his father ' s writings , says— " My father seems to have been almost persuaded , by the popular demand on him for fun rather
than serious writing , that he was not possessed of a serious as well as 'a comic vein ; but when after his death his serious poems were published , the world discovered it had lost a poet indeed . Is there anything more pathetic than the ' Bridge of Sighs' anything more
pro-, foundly melancholy , in its absolute simplicity , its tale of common life , than the < Song of the Shirt !'" Of his wit and humour you have had examples , of that true pathos which characterises some of his poems , I have
given you illustrations enough . I suppose few will now dispute the fact that he was a true poet worthy of a place in our Walhalla . As to his religious belief , I will make one more quotation from the interesting "Memorials , " and I have done .
" It has always been a popular misconception , " says his son , in the preface to the work I am quoting , " that men of letters as a rule are freethinkers . It is my own earnest belief that the higher mental organization , and refined sensibility of men of letters , render them almost to a fault
reserved in expressing a religious faith , for the very reason that they feel it so deeply and solemnly . "My father ' s religious faith was deep and sincere ; but it was little known to a world ever too apt to decide by hearing professions rather than by scrutinizing actions . Those to whom his domestic life was every day revealed felt how he lived