Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

Masonic.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. O.Z. —Wo regret that spaca will not permit of your suggestion being adopted. _ Mark —The danger is purely an imaginary one. The objections put forward aro very weak, and will not bear inspection by any mind clear of selfish instincts. FAVOURS RECEIVED. London Freeipasou (2). MASONRY DIVINE. At the close of the annual Provincial Grand Lodge of Suffolk, held on 31st July at Thornham, England, the brethren inarched in procession, headed by the band of the Suffolk Artillery, under Bandmaster Harris, to St. Mary’s Church, where divine service was held. Bro. Rev C. E. Barnes read the prayers, and Bro. Rev W. T. Corfield proaehed appropriately from a text taken from Eccles. iv., part of the 12th verse : One might almost be excused for wondering whether the writer of the book from which I have taken my text knew aught of the great body of which so many of us in this church this afternoon are members—for there is, my brothers —I say it with all reverence —a truly Masonic ring about the words. As we think of them wo cannot but be struck by the marvellous way in which they apply themselves to every branch of our dear old Craft. No matter where you turn you find the threefold cord. In the charge to the newly-initiated our duty to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves is clearly impressed upon the very threshold of our Masonic life. Figuratively, by the pillars of Wisdom, Strength, and Bsauty our lodges are supported. Faith, Hope, and Charity are the strands of the threefold cord by which wo hope 'to attain the mansions above. The distinguishing characteristics of a good Freemason are virtue, honour, and mercy. No motive whatever must make us swerve from our duty, violate our vows, or betray our trust, and once more the threefold cord on which I wish for a few moments to dwell, a throefold cord consisting of the grand principles on which our Order is founded brotherly love, relief, and truth. Love, an attribute of God himself, the greatest thing in the world, the chief corner-stone of our Order. Love, we often speak of it, we are often using the word, but wliat do we know of it? We know that it is the sunshine of our life here, we know that it is the very bond of peace which links one another together, overleaping difficulties, outliving delays and disappointments, healing wounds, preventing and repairing quarrels, increasing joys, the parent.of every virtue, the comfort under every ill. But, my brethren, do we think what it is, and whence it comes ? Sometimes our thoughts rise upward as we hear the words ‘Love is of God,’ sometimes, thank God, we remember that there is a love far exceeding the greatest love which we can have for one another, ilia love of Him who said * Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ But beyond even this there are thoughts of truth and wonder indicated to us by the words ‘ God is love.’ We see love here on earth, as the holy bond between members, but we wonder bow ‘ God

is love.’ And as we wonder there begins to open light upon us, and we see iu creation a proof that God is love, love which would frave an object, aud found that object in all the beauty of the universe, and in man made after his own similitude. When you look into your own hearts, and ask yourselves in some mnmeat of sincerity, what there is in them which you would really wish to be eternal; what of you and in you you could really wish to be conscious of for ever and ever, surely there can be but one answer—that which you have of love, the love which is in you, which is Godlike, nay, which is God in yon, for God is love. Oh, if love be this noble, this grand, this Godlike thing, and if a man who loves God must Icve his brother al3o, then wo see the beauty and necessityof our chief corner-stone, then w Q see why the first of the three great principles of our Order is brotherly love. What would the world ba without it ? What more tends to sear and sadden this world of ours than the lack of it ? O’.i, seo to it that your Masonry brings forth fruit, see that the first strand of your cord is well woven together, see that you love one another. Brotherly love, relief, or Charity is another strand of the threefold cord, a virtue forming one of the most marked characteristics of our Order. We as a body of men give liberally to the relief of our poor and distressed brothers. Wo each year provide an enormous sum of money for our Masonic institutions. Outwardly, whatever the world may say of us, we aro members of a Charitable Order. Outwardly, indeed, we seem to qualify ourselves for the reward of One who said * lusomuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto mo.’ But we are apt to degrade this glorious attlribute of Charity. Wo are apt to look upon this giving of our means as a duty merely. Is there not great need for each one of us to bear in mind that, to exercise this virtue both in the character of Masons and in our common life, we must forget every obligation but love, or otherwise we shall confound Charity with duty ? The feelings of the heart must direct the hand of Charity, and for this purpose we must be divested of every idea of superiority, and estimate ourselves as all equal in the scale of brotherhood. Compassion, romember, is of heavenly birth. It is one of the grandest characteristics of humanity, and that relief, that Charity, is the Charity which springs from an intense love of man as man. Oh, we have great need to bear this in mind. When we feel iuclined to look with satisfaction on what oat united efforts achieve, let us look individually into our hearts, and see whether we contribute our quota from a feeling of pride, from a feeling of duty, or from a heavenborn love and compassion for our poorer brothers. Brotherly love, relief and truth. Truth is the great foundation stone of Freemasonry. At our initiation we were exhorted to be ‘good men and true.’ It is by the dictates of truth that we must endeavour to rule and govern our lives and actions. Truth is the central strand of our threefold cord round which the other two twine themselves. Time will not permit mo to dwell as I should like to dwell on this great virtue. You all know the absolute necessity of truth ; without it there can be no satisfactory intercourse between man and man ; without it, as a foundation-stone, all tho virtues inculcated by Masonry would lose their mainspring. What a power it has, what an influence it wields over our lives. Let us nourish, let us cultivate the virtue of truth ; so that, being true to the Great Architect of the Universe, and moulding our liyes on tho advice given to us by our Poet—‘To thine own own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou can’st be false to no man.’ Wo may when all is over here find ourselves, by the use of our threefold cord, drawn, for ever in to the mansion ol eternal rest. Brotherly love, relief, ar.d truth forms indeed a threefold cord, which, in the words of our text, is not quickly broken. Oh ! let each one of us see that we cling to this cord ; let each one of us be certain that it is guiding him over the sea of life. It is a safe cord ; it will never fray, it will never break ; wo who cling to it shall gain virtue and help and guidance from it, but we shall in no wise strain or weaken it. Let us be practicil —are we using this threefold cord, and so are we true to our Masonic vows—are we ? What is the end and aim of us clinging’to this cord, what i 3 the end and aim of our Masonry ? Not the exercise of so much liberality only, nor the enjoyment of so much convivality only, blit—you will forgive my reminding you of this, for I know I must be speaking to many hero who have grown grey-headed in the service of of the Craft they love so well—the aim and object of Masonry is to make us better men, truer workers, more obedient to the orders of the Great Architect, whose plans willingly, or unwillingly, we are each one of us working out. Oh. if our Craft is helping us towards the attainment of this end, may God bless it. Lat us then in our lives show forth its reality. Let the world ba obliged to say— c There is something more in Masonry than we thought, for a Mason i 3 only another name for a good man.’ There is the ideal you must set beforo you, my brothers, an ideal made possible by the use of that threefold cold which, in the words of our text, is not quickly broken.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZMAIL18911016.2.28

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1024, 16 October 1891, Page 9

Word Count
1,573

Masonic. New Zealand Mail, Issue 1024, 16 October 1891, Page 9

Masonic. New Zealand Mail, Issue 1024, 16 October 1891, Page 9

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert