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Article UNITED GRAND LODGE. ← Page 2 of 2 Article CLASSICAL THEOLOGY.—XLVI. Page 1 of 2 →
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United Grand Lodge.
frrand Master ; but that gave them no position as officers of Grand Lodge , each of whom have their duties elearly defined ; there being none for Prov . G . Masters excepting to preside in their own province ; and on Wednesday , the chair ought to have been occupied by
Bro . Pattison , the senior Past Grand "Warden present . But apart from the law there are questions of policy why the senior Provincial Grand Master present should not , in many instances , be called upon to preside over Grand Lodge which we do not wish to enter into ; but
we would remind the Most Worship ful Grand Master that upon the last occasion there was something like a collision between Grand Lodge and himself ; it originated in the practice which we are now strongly depreeating—trusting that some day we shall have Grand
Wardens sufficiently diligent to attend to their duties ; sufficiently independent to claim their rights ; and sufficiently spirited to maintain them . Otherwise the office © f Grand Warden , being shorn of its duties , may as well he at once abolished , and the Prov . Grand Masters liaving usurped the most important of those duties , entrusted with the whole .
. We have written so much as a prelude to our notice of the proceedings of Grand Lodge that we Save left ourselves but little space to speak with regard £ 6 them , but that is of the less consequence as with the exception of a vote of thanks to Bro . Havers , Past
President of the Board of General Purposes , for his services to the Order—the business was mere routine . OT the value of the services of Bro . Havers we have too
^ recently expressed our opinion to need that we should say one word regarding them , but if anything can add to the estimation in wliich we are sure the vote of "W ednesday will be received by Bro . Havers , it will be file exceeding graceful terms in which it was proposed ~ b y Bro . Stebbing , a brother who has stood more in
opposition to the general policy of Bro . Havers than ¦ probabl y any other brother in Grand Lodge ; and who , whilst asserting his own independence is not afraid to acknowledge the good services and the talents of his antagonist—thus evincing that , whilst differing on points of policy , the true appreciation of Avorth and
good' feeling which should always distinguish the members of the Craft . As regards the remainder of ilie conversation—for discussion we cannot call it , it feeing all on one side—we need do no more than observe i & at many brethren bore testimony to the services and qualities of Bro . Havers as a man and a Mason—many more were ready to do so had it been desirable—and that & e resolution was carried by acclamation .
Amongst the absentees of the evening was Bro . . Havers himself , a circumstance easily accounted for , inasmuch as seeing that the resolution for a vote of thanks to himself had been placed in the Agenda paper , his own good taste , doubtless , dictated to him to abstain
from attending in his p lace in Grand Lod ge , in order to leave the brethren unconstrained in their discussion , if ., any could have arisen on such a motion .
Classical Theology.—Xlvi.
CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XLVI .
X . —VESTA AND DECEMBEE . Amongst other artificial divinations the ancient Greeks resorted to , one particlar kind , under the name of "Ovvxoii . avTi _ ia . Pieces of horn , or the finger nails of a child , were smeared over with oil mixed with soot or lamp blackand sometimes other preparationsand then
, , held toAvards the sun , whose rays thereon pourtrayed certain images , believed to symbolise the events which would befall the inquirez-s . Another magical ceremony amongst these pagans restricted to the priesthood alone , and , therefore , considered as more solemn and as belonging to a higher Of
caste of prognostics , was the Q ^ onavreis . this there were three distinct lands , bearing in some particulars a resemblance to practices which still prevail amongst the barbarous tribes of the present day , particularly among the African Savages , who believe their Obeah men to be inspired with a demoniac , or ( which is the same thing to them ) divine afflatus . One sort Avas by prophecying demons located in the body of the adepts ( formerly
styled prophets ) ; the familiar announcing in the ear of the priest , unheard by the bystanders , the answers to the questions put to the wise men by his dupes . Ventriloquism also being called into play , on other occasions , voices were heard to issue from the belly and chest of the holy man , by whom no doubt a favourable attack of
indigestion mig ht be turned to good account—and the " wombling in his innards , " as Geoffrey Hamlyn would call it , would be made to represent the promptings of the resident devil from the shades below . The third mode was by pressing into the service lunatics and idiots , and representing the poor creatures' disconnected ravings as
utterances from the tongues of " possessed" persons . These unfortunate beings were called Aai /_ . ovo ) vnTToi , possessed with demons . This mode of imposture was also constantly in practice with other nations , and in particular was turned to popular aud political uses amongst the Jews . The words of Isaiah will here fully enough exemplify our meaning in the passages in which the sacred satirist denounces this folly among his
countrymen : — "And when they shall say unto you , 'Seek unto them that have familiar spirits' ( or , as likewise translated , whose speech is in their bellies ) , and unto wizards ( or devils ) , that peep , and that mutter ( or who speak out of the earth—i 7 w . se whose voice is in their bellies ) , should not a people seek unto their God , for the living to tho dead ? " ( or , as rendered by
the Septuagint , Why do they consult the dead respecting the concerns ofthe living ?—Isaiah viii ., 19 ) . Diviners of this sort were also denominated KlphiXtnai , after one Eurycles , who is stated to have been the first professor of this art at Athens . To this person we find the following allusion in the ironical verses of the comic post Aristophanes , according to the Scholia - . —
" Like that capricious divination JPi-om entered bellies , Eurycles of old Did first devise , announcing strange Aud fanciful absurdities . " Of this character in a certain degree were the oracular utterances of the Delphian Pythoness ; though in her case the woman , naturally of au enthusiastic
temperament , was worked up to the required pitch of frenzy by the administration of certain drugs and most probably by the inhalation oi an intoxicating gas similar to that known among us as laughing gas . This secret was found to be a " source of great profit to the priests ; and the popular awe and respect for this plan of divination were studiously fostered by their scoundrelly deluders . We find rhe system in full vogue in the time of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United Grand Lodge.
frrand Master ; but that gave them no position as officers of Grand Lodge , each of whom have their duties elearly defined ; there being none for Prov . G . Masters excepting to preside in their own province ; and on Wednesday , the chair ought to have been occupied by
Bro . Pattison , the senior Past Grand "Warden present . But apart from the law there are questions of policy why the senior Provincial Grand Master present should not , in many instances , be called upon to preside over Grand Lodge which we do not wish to enter into ; but
we would remind the Most Worship ful Grand Master that upon the last occasion there was something like a collision between Grand Lodge and himself ; it originated in the practice which we are now strongly depreeating—trusting that some day we shall have Grand
Wardens sufficiently diligent to attend to their duties ; sufficiently independent to claim their rights ; and sufficiently spirited to maintain them . Otherwise the office © f Grand Warden , being shorn of its duties , may as well he at once abolished , and the Prov . Grand Masters liaving usurped the most important of those duties , entrusted with the whole .
. We have written so much as a prelude to our notice of the proceedings of Grand Lodge that we Save left ourselves but little space to speak with regard £ 6 them , but that is of the less consequence as with the exception of a vote of thanks to Bro . Havers , Past
President of the Board of General Purposes , for his services to the Order—the business was mere routine . OT the value of the services of Bro . Havers we have too
^ recently expressed our opinion to need that we should say one word regarding them , but if anything can add to the estimation in wliich we are sure the vote of "W ednesday will be received by Bro . Havers , it will be file exceeding graceful terms in which it was proposed ~ b y Bro . Stebbing , a brother who has stood more in
opposition to the general policy of Bro . Havers than ¦ probabl y any other brother in Grand Lodge ; and who , whilst asserting his own independence is not afraid to acknowledge the good services and the talents of his antagonist—thus evincing that , whilst differing on points of policy , the true appreciation of Avorth and
good' feeling which should always distinguish the members of the Craft . As regards the remainder of ilie conversation—for discussion we cannot call it , it feeing all on one side—we need do no more than observe i & at many brethren bore testimony to the services and qualities of Bro . Havers as a man and a Mason—many more were ready to do so had it been desirable—and that & e resolution was carried by acclamation .
Amongst the absentees of the evening was Bro . . Havers himself , a circumstance easily accounted for , inasmuch as seeing that the resolution for a vote of thanks to himself had been placed in the Agenda paper , his own good taste , doubtless , dictated to him to abstain
from attending in his p lace in Grand Lod ge , in order to leave the brethren unconstrained in their discussion , if ., any could have arisen on such a motion .
Classical Theology.—Xlvi.
CLASSICAL THEOLOGY . —XLVI .
X . —VESTA AND DECEMBEE . Amongst other artificial divinations the ancient Greeks resorted to , one particlar kind , under the name of "Ovvxoii . avTi _ ia . Pieces of horn , or the finger nails of a child , were smeared over with oil mixed with soot or lamp blackand sometimes other preparationsand then
, , held toAvards the sun , whose rays thereon pourtrayed certain images , believed to symbolise the events which would befall the inquirez-s . Another magical ceremony amongst these pagans restricted to the priesthood alone , and , therefore , considered as more solemn and as belonging to a higher Of
caste of prognostics , was the Q ^ onavreis . this there were three distinct lands , bearing in some particulars a resemblance to practices which still prevail amongst the barbarous tribes of the present day , particularly among the African Savages , who believe their Obeah men to be inspired with a demoniac , or ( which is the same thing to them ) divine afflatus . One sort Avas by prophecying demons located in the body of the adepts ( formerly
styled prophets ) ; the familiar announcing in the ear of the priest , unheard by the bystanders , the answers to the questions put to the wise men by his dupes . Ventriloquism also being called into play , on other occasions , voices were heard to issue from the belly and chest of the holy man , by whom no doubt a favourable attack of
indigestion mig ht be turned to good account—and the " wombling in his innards , " as Geoffrey Hamlyn would call it , would be made to represent the promptings of the resident devil from the shades below . The third mode was by pressing into the service lunatics and idiots , and representing the poor creatures' disconnected ravings as
utterances from the tongues of " possessed" persons . These unfortunate beings were called Aai /_ . ovo ) vnTToi , possessed with demons . This mode of imposture was also constantly in practice with other nations , and in particular was turned to popular aud political uses amongst the Jews . The words of Isaiah will here fully enough exemplify our meaning in the passages in which the sacred satirist denounces this folly among his
countrymen : — "And when they shall say unto you , 'Seek unto them that have familiar spirits' ( or , as likewise translated , whose speech is in their bellies ) , and unto wizards ( or devils ) , that peep , and that mutter ( or who speak out of the earth—i 7 w . se whose voice is in their bellies ) , should not a people seek unto their God , for the living to tho dead ? " ( or , as rendered by
the Septuagint , Why do they consult the dead respecting the concerns ofthe living ?—Isaiah viii ., 19 ) . Diviners of this sort were also denominated KlphiXtnai , after one Eurycles , who is stated to have been the first professor of this art at Athens . To this person we find the following allusion in the ironical verses of the comic post Aristophanes , according to the Scholia - . —
" Like that capricious divination JPi-om entered bellies , Eurycles of old Did first devise , announcing strange Aud fanciful absurdities . " Of this character in a certain degree were the oracular utterances of the Delphian Pythoness ; though in her case the woman , naturally of au enthusiastic
temperament , was worked up to the required pitch of frenzy by the administration of certain drugs and most probably by the inhalation oi an intoxicating gas similar to that known among us as laughing gas . This secret was found to be a " source of great profit to the priests ; and the popular awe and respect for this plan of divination were studiously fostered by their scoundrelly deluders . We find rhe system in full vogue in the time of the