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Article THE MYTHIC GOAT. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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The Mythic Goat.
" II . —THE GERMAN MODE . " The candidate , clad in dress suit and wearing a silk hat , is welcomed into the lodge and bowed to a seat . His attention is then directed to
a costly oil painting , suspended upon the wall , representing a majestic horned sheep . " The following lecture is then read to him by the W . M . from the secret lodge-book : "' My beloved Bro : Although Masonry itself is not anciezrt , it has
appropriated the ceremonies of very ancient societies of house-builders . To initiate any person into one of those Gilds , it is known that either a sheep or a goat was required . While in some parts of the Masonic world the contrary view is maintained , we hold that a sheep must have been used , for the following reasons :
" -1 . It is probable that goats are of a more recent origin than the date of those Gilds . Certain it is that no such animals were upon the ark at the time of the flood , for not only would Noah have had no desire to save them , but had he attempted to do so , they would have been the sole living occupants of his vessel long before it reached
Mount Ararat ; and "' II . Unless those ancient workmen were naturally cruel , and delighted in giving unnecessary pain , they would have introduced the sheep into their ceremony of initiation , even had goats been in existence , as the former animal is certainly much better adapted for lodge purposes than the latter . Thus , as you must have obsezwed ,
"' fl ) The rotund , soft-woolled sheep , with its gracefully curved hand-holds , seems to invite the Masonic traveller to rest and safety upon its back . On the contrary , the angular , short-haired goat , with its threatening spikes , affrights him as would the hateful horns of a dangerous dilemma ; and
" * ( 2 ) The sheep is a noble animal , more gentle than a love-sigh , and peculiarly fitted to take part in the strange ceremonies of our august order . On the contrary , the goat is , at best , but an Ishmaelifcish relative of the sheep , more testy than a thorn-bush , and fitted only to participate in the wild orgies of the uncivilized .
"' My Bro .: In the semi-barbarous days of those ancient Gilds , the candidate was disrobed , blind-folded , mounted upon a sheep and hurried around the lodge-room until he had repeatedly made the signal of distress , along with other very expressive signs , when , being declared proficient , he was hailed as one of the mystic circle .
" 'While it is true we no longer adhere strictly to this ancient from , we have only varied it sufficiently to put it in harmony with the civilized present ; we still retain its teachings in all their original
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Mythic Goat.
" II . —THE GERMAN MODE . " The candidate , clad in dress suit and wearing a silk hat , is welcomed into the lodge and bowed to a seat . His attention is then directed to
a costly oil painting , suspended upon the wall , representing a majestic horned sheep . " The following lecture is then read to him by the W . M . from the secret lodge-book : "' My beloved Bro : Although Masonry itself is not anciezrt , it has
appropriated the ceremonies of very ancient societies of house-builders . To initiate any person into one of those Gilds , it is known that either a sheep or a goat was required . While in some parts of the Masonic world the contrary view is maintained , we hold that a sheep must have been used , for the following reasons :
" -1 . It is probable that goats are of a more recent origin than the date of those Gilds . Certain it is that no such animals were upon the ark at the time of the flood , for not only would Noah have had no desire to save them , but had he attempted to do so , they would have been the sole living occupants of his vessel long before it reached
Mount Ararat ; and "' II . Unless those ancient workmen were naturally cruel , and delighted in giving unnecessary pain , they would have introduced the sheep into their ceremony of initiation , even had goats been in existence , as the former animal is certainly much better adapted for lodge purposes than the latter . Thus , as you must have obsezwed ,
"' fl ) The rotund , soft-woolled sheep , with its gracefully curved hand-holds , seems to invite the Masonic traveller to rest and safety upon its back . On the contrary , the angular , short-haired goat , with its threatening spikes , affrights him as would the hateful horns of a dangerous dilemma ; and
" * ( 2 ) The sheep is a noble animal , more gentle than a love-sigh , and peculiarly fitted to take part in the strange ceremonies of our august order . On the contrary , the goat is , at best , but an Ishmaelifcish relative of the sheep , more testy than a thorn-bush , and fitted only to participate in the wild orgies of the uncivilized .
"' My Bro .: In the semi-barbarous days of those ancient Gilds , the candidate was disrobed , blind-folded , mounted upon a sheep and hurried around the lodge-room until he had repeatedly made the signal of distress , along with other very expressive signs , when , being declared proficient , he was hailed as one of the mystic circle .
" 'While it is true we no longer adhere strictly to this ancient from , we have only varied it sufficiently to put it in harmony with the civilized present ; we still retain its teachings in all their original