Masonic.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 994, 20 March 1891, Page 7

Masonic.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. S.C.—Yes, the Mother Kilwinning Lodge has

no number. V.T. (Hastings).—The prefix V.W. should bo used.

FAVOURS RECEIVED. London Freemason, Canadian Craftsman, South African Craftsman, Sunday Times, Hebrew Leader, El Taller, Rivista della Massoneria Italiana, Revue Maconiqne, and Report of the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Cuba. TARARUA LODGE. An emergency meeting of Lodge Tararua, N.Z. Constitution, was held in the lodge-room at Paliiatua on Wednesday, the 11th inst. There was a capital attendance of members, and among the visitors were V.W., Bro. George Robertson, Past Grand Secretary N.Z.C.; Bro. James Patterson, P.M., 469, N.Z.C., and another Past Master from Palmerston North, whose name we have unfortunately forgotten. The business of. the evening consisted in initiating a candidate into the mysteries and privileges of Ancient Freemasonry, and the ceremony was performed in a most able manner by the W.M., Bro. A. Black, assisted by Bros. W. Sounness and T. W. Warren, S.W. and J.W. respectively. The Working Tools were presented by the W.M., and the charge was delivered in an impressive manner by the J.W., Bro. Warren. Before the lodge was closed the visitors tendered hearty good wishes, and V.W., Bro. G. Robertson, expressed the pleasure he felt at being present, and congratulated the W.M. and his officers on their admirable working.

STILL HARPING. Wo mentioned some few weeks ago that the London Freemason, which has persistently decried the Grand Lodge of New Zealand in order to pander to certain brethren who shall be nameless, is beginning to change its tune, and has in a measure moderated its language. In one of its recent issues it favours its readers with an article on the Craft in New Zealand, which winds up as follows :— * However, in the midst of all this gloom, there is just one ray of light. It is good news that Bro. the Earl of Onslow, P.S.G.W. of England, who is Governor of the Colony, and would have been Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Zealand had the brethren been practically unanimous in their desire for its establishment, has taken steps by calling a meeting of the leadiug Masons of the four Constitutions, with a view to putting an end to the present disordered state of the Craft. What will be the result of the Governor’s action remains to be seen, hut we liopo it will bo possible to discover a plan by which Freemasonry in this flourishing Colony can be. freed from its present discord/ We admit that as far as the English and Scotch Constitutions in the Colony are concerned there has been considerable gloom, in fact, perfect chaos, thanks to the incomprehensible actions of District Grand Masters, but the New Zealand Constitution has been above the fog all the time, in spite of what the London Freemason may have to say. If Bro. the Earl of Onslow takes the Grand Mastership the London Freemason will no doubt suddenly turn on the lime light, and give the Grand Lodge of New Zealand as much jam as it can 6crape together. If not we shall, according to that papei*, remain in total darkness. Our contemporary forgets that the Grand Lodge of New Zealand was constituted by a majority of lodges in accordance with Masonic law, and that, therefore, it is on a sound basis. We are quite as anxious as the London Freemason to see the Earl of Onslow accept the Grand Mastership, because if he does so a great many more lodges will join the National Grand Lodge, and District Grand Masters, who have been hampering the movement in every possible way, will in all probability lie low. But we are not going to admit, to please the London Freemason or anybody else, that tbe Grand Lodge of New Zealand has not progressed because the Earl of Onslow refused the Grand Mastership twelve months ago. Members of the N.Z.C. willnevor forget the timely assistance given by the W.M., Grand Master Bro. Henry Thomson, whoso indomitable perseverance and constant energy have placed the Grand Lodge in a prominent position recognised by the Australian and other Grand Lodges throughout the world.

MASONRY AND THE MYSTERIES. It is an oftentimo and generally accepted theory that Elias Ashmole, the distinguished antiquary, is entitled to the honour of having been the father of Freemasonry. This presumption is based upon a legend that this erudite scholar supplied the operative Masons with a mode or form of initiation in imitation of that practised by the ancient Egyptians, which, under various modifications, has descended to us as the foundation of our initiatory ceremonies. As far a 3 the Egyptianism of Masonry is concerned it can be in no wise detected in the initial degrees of the York Rite, consequently, had Ashtoole invented anything, preserved in present system, it must have been the legend of tho third degree, wherein can be recognised the cardinal emblematic teachings, not only of the Egyptian but of the mysteries of the ancient world, all of which are founded upon a religious belief in the existence ofaSupreme Deity, and of the immortality of the soul. Of these dogmas, whose existence was concealed from the profane, or vulgar, uninitiated populace, the mysteries were but symbolic exemplifications, to attain which no one could gain admission within consecrated grounds save persons of intelligence, of purity in character,

of moral courage, and of liberal views. Their teachings were groupsd under various mythotogical fables, easy of retention in the memory, but all tending to a common aim, the story of mortal life, of death by violence, of vengeance upon the murderers, of the resurrection of the victim, and of his reception into a regenerated existence. Go to ancient Egypt, the fountain head, as is presumed, of all the mysteries, and what do you -find ? A fanciful story, pregnant with religious principles, when wo come to appreciate its latent significance. Osiris is slain by the envious Typhon; Isis discovers his remains, and with the aid of Horus, the reborn man, wreaks vengeance upon the murderer. By the ignorant these mythical personages might be accepted as divinities, flourishing in prehistoric ages ; by the semiintelligent they could be deemed to have been mortals of centuries since transformed into demi-gods by reason of heroism or other virtues ; while to the initiated they were but simple emblems inculcating a belief in the dogmas of an all-powerful Deity, of the soul’s immortality and of judgment after death. Does not the legend of the third degree inculcate similar doctrines ? Undoubtedly, were our minds to be divested of an idea that the ceremonial therein enacted is a mere repetition of an actual occurrence many centuries since. This literal construction is antagonistic to the spirit of mysticism, permeating all Masonry, and destructive of appreciation of the harmonious symbolism beneath which all knowledge of the cardinal maxims of the Craft have been ingeniously concealed, so as to be hidden from the uninitiated profane. The people of Judea were acquainted with a section of the ancient mysteries, as observed by their neighbours, the Phoenicians, in which the fable of Yenus and Adonis forms the underlying basis, although it is evidently borrowed from the Egyptians. The legend runs that Venus, enamoured of the beautiful Adonis when a child, placed him in a box, carried him off, and brought him up in seclusion until, arriving at manhood, he was seen by Proserpine, who fell in love with him. The goddesses quarrelled as to his possession, and appealed to the omnipotent Jove, who decided that he should remain with them alternately for six months during each year. Adonis, a resolute hunter, was slain on Mount Lebanon by a wild boar. Yenus, hearing his cries, hastened to his relief, simply to discover his inanimate corpse, which she deluged with tears. Touched with the divinity’s passionate grief, Cocytus, disciple of Chiron, restored Adonis to life, and this incident seems to have been rendered tho leading feature in mysteries created in his honour, in which the women, after days of lamentation, celebrate his obsequies and then rejoice at his resurrection. In Judea Adonis was known as Thammuz, for whom, Ezekiel tells us, the Jewish women annually shed tears, seated upon the doorsteps of their houses. His name, Adonai, is used by the Jews as a substitute for the Ineffable name.

THE CHECKERED PAVEMENT. I of the White Square, you on the black ; I at fortune’s face, you at her back ; Friends to me many, friends to you few ; What, tbeD, dear bjother, binds me to you ? This the Great Covenant, in whioh we abide— Hearts charged with sympathy, Hands opened wide, Lips filled with comfort, And God to provide ? I in life’s valley, you on it 3 crest; I at its lowest, you at its best; I sick and sorrowing, you hale and free ; What, then, dear brother, binds you to me ? This, tho Great Covenant, in which we abide — Hearts charged with sympathy, Hands opened wide, Lips filled with comfort, And God to provide ? They in death’s slumber, we yet alive ; They freed from labour, we yet to strive ; They paid and joyful, we tired and sad ; What, to us, brother, bindeth tho dead ? This, the Great Covenant, in whioh w« abide — Hearts charged with sympathy, Hands opened wide, Lips filled with comfort, And God to provide ! Let none be comfortless, lotfnone despair ; Lo 1 round the Black grouped the White Ashlars are ! Stand by each other, black fortune defy, All these vicissitudes end by-and by. Keen the Great Covenant wherein we abide— Hearts charged with sympathy, Hands opened wide, Lips filled with oomfort, And God will provido !