New Zealand.

Tbe Old Hundredth Psalm was then sung by the brethren , which closed the proceedings . At the conclusion of the ceremony Bro . Brown , Chap ., addressed the audience as follows : — " Would that the task of addressing you had devolved on some brother more deeply versed than myself in that secret knowledge which is veiled under the mysteries of Masonry ! I am , as you know , but a

younger brother of our Order ; nor have I , during the brief period whicli has elapsed since my initiation , had the leisure to pursue , so far as I could wish , those studies which would have better qualified me for dilating on the excellences of the knowledge of the brotherhood of which I have the honour of being an unworthy member , I have , however , learned enough te enable me to perceive that Masonry is an opening to hidden wisdom ; and that initiation into its secrets is the portal to a hall of knowledge— such knowledge as probably transcends the notions of tbe uninitiated . Shakespeare has put into the mouth of one of his characters these remarkable words : —

1 There are more things in heaven and earth , Horatio , Than are dreamed of in your philosophy . ' Now , I am not certain that Shakespeare was a brother , or that he belonged to any of those other brotherhoods whicli have from age to age preserved traces of a secret learning not divulged to the bulk of . mankind . But that such brotherhoods existed—this is a fact which none will

gainsay ; and that they retained , with more or less of correctness , the relics of a primitive enlightmenfc—this I think more ( ban probable . Of course none but the initiated can be acquainted with the mysterious knowledge of any order ; but that these societies did really hold the keys of great secrets is a fact almost indisputable . From the priesthood of ancient Egypt , and from tbe Chaldeans of the East down to the Rosicruciansand perhaps some branches of the mystics of

, later days , there has been a long train—indeed almost a succession- —of parties who professed a secret learning which was veiled from vulgar eyes . That this learning was in many cases only ' science , falsely so called , ' is not unlikely ; and that the secret societies were in some cases a cloak for vice , is only too plain , from the revelations about the mysteries of Bacchus at Rome , and from rumours of orgies among certain negro societies . But it is an old maxim that the abuse of a thing

does not warrant us in condemning the use of it ; and if Cabbalists or Alchymists sometimes perverted the truth , or if other abuses have taken place , the world must not hastily condemn all mysterious knowledge or all secret societies . There is , or at least has been , more knowledge in the world , than the world at large dreams of even in these days of boasted enlightenment . My firm belief is , that sages in ancient days were possessed of secrets which we puny moderns are only

slowly re-discovering . I believe that the discoveries of modern science are in many cases only partial lifting up of the veil which bides secrets long since well known to giant intellects of three thousand years ago . It was not for nothing that God caused it to be written that— ' Solomon ' s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the children of the east country , and all the wisdom of Egypt . That wisdom of all the children of tbe east country , ancl that wisdom of Egypt could not have been

trifling , if they coulcl bear comparison with the wisdom of that man to whom 'God had given wisdom ancl understanding exceeding much ; and largeness of heart even as the sand which is on the sea-shore . ' Whether all their learning has come down to us seems to be more than doubtful . Young as I am in the mysteries of Masonry , I dare not presume to say what may yet be revealed to me or to others by more experienced brethren of our Craft ; but I am disposed to think that neither in our own

brotherhood , nor yet in any other body of men on earth , is there now to be found more than a few fragments , the mere ruins of that splendid edifice of knowledge which once existed in the world . There has , indeed , been somewhat of a disposition to sneer at tiie learning of those ancient sages . The discoveries of modern science have been so dazzling as to hinder us from looking steadfastly at the deep learning which unquestionably existed in those countries which are commonly called

'the East ; ' indeed , we scarcely possess the materials for a comparison . Those ancient sages—for wise reasons , doubtless —veiled their learning from the eyes of the vulgar . Indeed , there were in those days no facilities for the dissemination of ideas , no steam printing presses , no penny posts , no daily journals or monthly reviews . What was written had to be carved on hard granite or moulded on the clay tablets and

cylinders of ancient Nineveh ; compared with these even the manuscript was as great a stride as it was from manuscript to printing . With those scanty means of registering ' ideas , it is no wonder that the teaching of ancient sages was chiefly oral , or that that teaching was committed almost exclusively to the ears of privileged disciples . Why should a deep-thinking hilosopher proclaim the results of his deep

p researches aloud to ears which did not care to listen ?¦ Ay , and it may be that some of their discoveries were such as it was not wise to entrust indiscriminately to the unthinking multitude . It was in wisdom , doubtless , that they reserved their esoteric doctrines for the ears of a favoured few , who , after a course of discipline , bad been prepared , or bad shown them , selves worthy of the communication of the traditional or

carefully elaborated ideas ; all that was heard by the outside world was a few sentences which , as they have been echoed down to us , sound little better than unintelligible jargon . Such is the account of the Gnostic doctrines as they have been handed down to us by the early fathers of the Christian Church . Yet , while I have been reading what Irenams or Tertullian have had to tell us about those doctrinesI have sometimes thought that I could discern

, traces of a true knowledge , that those apparently senseless names and a : ons were but , as it were , the crumbs of knowled ge which philosophers chose to fling to the crowd outside , while the invited guests within feasted on the more substantial truths which were taught in their philosophy . In other cases the wise men hare diverted the public with tricks ; or less worth y parties , assuming their names , have palmed off as genuine what was at best but a meretricious acquaintance with the

secrets of nature . The very name ' magician , ' for instance , is connected in our minds with some satanic influence , some improper connection with the spiritual world ; and it is to be regretted that in our translation of the Bible the word ' magician / has been applied to those adherents of Pharoah who performed ' lying wonders , ' in opposition to those mi ghty wonders which Moses was empowered to perform . This unhappy translation has tended to perpetuate an error greatly to the detriment of tbe character of the true magi . Yet that these true magi were good and holy men is certain from the fact , that

of them were those wise men from the East , who , as at this season , were guided by a star to the house at Bethlehem , where lay that divine infant , that son of God , whom they had come so far to honour with their gifts ancl with their worship . Yet , even if vulgar error has falsely imputed improper practices to the professors of hidden learning—or , even if false professors have in some eases grounds for such imputations , nevertheless there has for thousands of been a deep

acyears quaintance with truth , which has had an effect , second only to that of revelation itself , in moulding the ideas and in advancing the welfare of the human race . Ifc was not for nothing that Pythagoras travelled into Egypt and the East . Great , it is believed , was the wisdom whicli he brought back thence to be communicated to his initiated disciples . Nor was it on a mere journey of curiosity that Plato visited some of those same

countries , and there became imbued with notions which he taught in the Academy , and which have coloured all the learning of Greece and Rome . No , from the sages of Egypt and of the East there were deep secrets to be learned . What measure of these secrets is dealed out in the teaching of Masonry , this can be known to those brethren alone who have made greater progress than I have in their acquaintance with its mysteries . Unhappilthe

y , very word ' mystery' grates harshly on the ears of the modern publie . Nothing is acceptable in these days but what is published abroad to all , even to the undiscerning public . Yet , before they condemn the word ' mystery , ' let them recollect that even Christianity itself has its mysteries ; Christianity , intended to be the religion of the whole world , has its mysteries—mysteries which are unintelliible to those unenlihtened bthat great

g g y Hierophant , the Holy Spirit . There are spiritual truths which , as it is written , can only be ' spiritually discerned / Our Saviour himself spake of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven which it was given to his own disciples to understand , but not to others . Elsewhere the disciples are called ' stewards of the mysteries of God . ' Paul also writes , 'Great is the mystery oi godliness , God manifest in the flesh , ' that great mystery

which at this season the Christian world commemorates . Ii then even Christianity itself has its mysteries , let not Christiana think suspiciously of us because we have our mysteries ; rathei let them think highly of that hidden knowledge which il