MASONIC.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 871, 9 November 1888, Page 7

MASONIC.

Having re-opened the. Masonic column in the Mail, under the supervision of a Master in the Graft, we shall be glad to receive from Secretaries of Lodges, and brethren generally , short reports of Lodge meetings and Masonic 'vents of all Linds likely to be of interest to nembers of the craft . All correspondence for this column tp be addressed to the Masonic Editor, New Zealand Mail. ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Freemason (Wellington).—We have perused the letter with' pleasure, and certainly think your proposal a good one. Organist (Blenheim).'-— You will find suitable music in Bro. Dr Spark’s ‘ Liber Musicus.’ Vide page 12. D.L.G. (Hokitika). —We are pleased to hear that the project will be supported in your District. - , , _ G.G. (Lincoln), are quite in order. FAVOURS RECEIVED. London Freemason, Victorian Freemason, South Australian Freemason, South Australian Register, New Zealand Masonio Journal, and Proceedings of the Grand Orient of Italy.. A KINGLY LESSON. The Lelpsig Bauhiitte in an article from the pen of the editor, Bro. Findel, ventilates some curious details Respecting the Masonio initiation of the late Emperor Frederick TII., whose father declared his desire in a marked manner that the postulant should not be admitted into the Order until he had qualified himself for constant work as a sincere and practical Mason. The candidate’s preliminary education was entrusted to the learned Bro. Selasmoky, who caused the prince to peruse, with care and deliberation, various histories of the Fraternity with critical examinations of the different rites, so that the" future emperor, whea demanding light, might have proven himself to have been more enlightened than an average Master. Nevertheless, the obligations • assumed by Frederick were accompanied with • surroundings calculated to render them permanently impressive. At the period of his admission, Masonry in Germany had been assailed by powerful and implacable enemies, prominent of whom ' were Etenstenberg and Eckart; consequently it was deemed an -act of enlightened liberalism for tho Prince to ally himself with an institution assailed' at that period simultaneously by Puritanism and by religious hypocrisy. To the influence- of Masonry can; be attributed Frederick’s'liberal tendencies. ; NOBLE WORDS. Extracts from an address delivered by his late Royal Highness, the Emperor Frederick of Germany, in 1870, on tbs occasion of the Centenary Festival of his own Grand Lodge : —‘ We call Freemasonry a science ; . nay, even a royal science. This designation is undoubtedly meant to point out that true Freemasonry is not only the ability to possess and to know, but to act; and moreover, the very highest action, the pourtraying morality in life. But, my brethren, Freemasonry has another side in which is 1 is connected with science. Like the creative science, Freemasonry brings her truth to view by forms observable to the human seuses. Thero is only that difference between the two—that science creates figures in whioh we see the idea of the artist, as it were, directly incorporated ; whereas the Craft adopts symbols whioh only suggest the idea, signs with which the thoughts or the truths are, however suitably, nevertheless more or less arbitrarily combined. Just this symbolization is precisely suitable for the objects of Freemasonry, because sign and thought are not completely identical, and the latter does not find its entire immediate expression in the former. Such'signs require their special interpretation, and may therefore serve to represent to the initiated matters which one unpossessed of the keys cannot conjecture. But on the other hand, it might easily happen that different explanations could be attached to such symbols, from the most simple relations of life to the most abstract thoughts, from the most serious truths to mere foppery; Just as easily might it happen that in different stations in life, and under different circumstances, such forms—yes, even from its most simple origin—might be multiplied in a differeut manner, and in larger and smaller numbers and variety. Add we to this that, as it is reported to us, the traditions of our Order were by more than one way handed down from the old to the new time, so is it indeed explicable that various modes of teaching could be establisheiL’ THE SOCIAL TIE. Freemasonry in all its branches is a social brotherhood, and while teaching a * beautiful

system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols ’it will fail if the social element is negleoted. The social tie is the tie which binds, and these organizations have originated to snpply a sooial necessity. Man was created a helpless and dependent being and it is a natural heaven-born impulse that compels him to seek companionship with his fellow man ; and if he finds it not among those he was taught to recognise by the endearing title of brother, he will leave Masonry. The ritual with all its beauties will in time fail to attract, independent of anything else. The following old Latin maxim is a good one,,and applies to Masonry as well as Borne other societies: «Ridontem dioere verutn, quid retat.

ULTRAMONTANISM AND MASONRY. That excellent Masonic journal the Bauhiitte, in an artiole entitled‘Why the Jesuits and the Ultramontanists are the enemies of Freemasonry.’ written several years ago, seems to answer the question for us equally well to day, it says 1 Like the morning -star, Masonry slowly and majestically arose over the darkness of the intolerance and the priestly yoke of the middle ages, and it was : the dawn that announced the approach of a brighter day. At the beginning of its career, about two centuries ago, it could teach only in secret its dootrines of toleration, of universal fraternity, and of moral emancipation, for at that time the laical as well as the clerical power viewed the people onljraa snDjects, as chattels, and as unconscious; instruments of their caprice, and humanity was a thing then unknown, but in our day all this is changed. The ideas of Freemasonry Have become very common, our ora recognises the frnifcs of pro. gress ; Freemasons are no longer the only apostles of humanity, theixddeas and their objeots are not now covered in - mystery, they have come ont of the Masonic Lodges to spread themselves orer the whole world snd to become the spirit of the age. It is this spirit of the age that condemns the intolerance of the priesthood, whether it speaks in the name of Luther or of the Pope. It is the spirit of the age that demands that every citizen shall be permitted to serve God in peace and in his own way, that no person shall be favoured or condemned on acoount of his religions belief, which, in short, proclaims that education ennobles man, and that truth makes him free, and that to attain these results, schools released from the shackles of the confessional shall become the centres of light and truth. ’ These great Humanitarian ideas are not to be found in the teachings of Loyola, nor in the articles of the syllabus, but as they are the doctrines of Freemasonry, we must not wonder that there is strife between the _ light of our order, and the darkness of Jesuitism and Uitramontanis m.

REFORMERS. In the wide world there is full work for all Who wish to benefit their fellow-men, With eloquent tongue, 0* with well-prac-tised pen, Or deeds of charity, which even fall With greater force than either on mankind. Let us not quarrel how it shall be done, So long as men from error can be won, Who now are slaves to ignorance in mind And meanly wallowing in the sloughs of sin; But buckle on onr armour for the fight, To bravely battle for what seems the right To our calm judgment. The brave are sure to win If they in God will firmly put their trust, And see their weapons and their use are just.