Letting in the Light

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 39, 26 September 1907, Page 9

Letting in the Light

We take some nitrate of silver, make a solution o! ft, and pour it into a tumbler. ' It is clear and colorless, and if left upon , our , desk, the first thirsty comer (to his dire cost) might treat it. with thei same trustfulness as he woilld ' a cup of cold .water from the next purling stream'-. But we take.no risks. We setv the sparkling mixture on the window-sill whertel the morning beam shirfes strong. The physico-chemical action of God's open sunlight soon "reveals the poisonseizes every atom of the nitrate, paints it black, and

makes' *the hidden venom tell its- tale as plainly as if the glass were adorned all round with the warning skull-and-crossboiies. "- ■ * In most, if not all, dark-lantern associations, the poison lurks in like manner, in solution, in the midst of an apparently clear and candid expression" of- fine professions. .The light of day— the course of investiga-' tion— soon reveals- the .blackness of the secret guilt - that lies within. It is as. in Moore's image *of (the" beam glowing ' o'er the face "of the waters ' while ' the tide runs in darkness and coldness helow ' ; ■' So the cheek may be tinged with a warm, sunny smile While the cold heart to ruin runs darkly the while '. Thus, if we were to credit the fair professions of the -Saffron Sash Society,' its grand^object- is* to promote truth, justice, charity, brotherly feeling towards Catholics, gentleness, courtesy, compassion, temperance, »prudence, wisdom, the glory of God, .the welfare of man, and a long catalogue of other virtues sufficient to make the lodge the portsrl' of paradise. But when the light of investigation is turned* on, the limpid -professions soon become clouded, and give place to nate,' secret! rancor, tyranny, political chicanery, and all manner of uncharitableness. v In our last issue we showed how the Victorian Grand Lodge bullies and penalises the brethren who dare to exercise the» franchise as their private judgment and 'their legal right entitle them to exercise it. We quoted froir. a ritual actually in use in the Vie-" "Xorian lodges some years ago, and 'placed in our hands by the Master of a .Lodge, showing how, when a candidate kneels to place his neck in the halter of the lodge, he is admonished to the following tune :—: — ' . . . It is- also reqnired of you that, should you now or at any future period be in the possession of the electoral franchise, you will support "by your vote and interest Orange and Protestant candidates only,' and in no wise refrain from voting, remembering ■ our motto : "He who is not with us is against us." Your neglecting to- fulfil these co > ndilioris s will render you liable to expulsion '. - ? The Grand Secretary of the Victorian lodges "wrote to the Melbourne . ' Argus ' stating that the extract given above 'is practically ancient history '. He was thereupon promptly challenged, to show, if he couM, that the quotation given above is not a ° literal ' extract from the ritual at present in use in the Orange lodge. The matter was supremely simple. The Grand Secretary had only to ' submit for inspection,, "as suggested, ' the Orange ritual afid rules now in circulation and force in. the institution '. Such a course would have at once placed the matter beyond the region of dispute. 'But the Grand Secretary was discreet. He declined to accept the challenge publicly issued to him through the 'Argus ', being (as his critic fenrarked) 'more concerned about the expediency of keeping secret the ritual than with- the~ wisdom of enabling it to be made generally known '. Some slight and unimportant verbal alterations may possibly have been made in the Orange ritual since, we gave it to the light some ten years ago. But such a change, if it has taken place, is sure, ta leave unaffected the determination of the v brethren to exclude Catholics and fair-minded Protestants from all elective positions, both parliamentary and municipal, and to flail the uncompliant brother who dares to vote otherwise than he is directed by ,- the Grand Panjandrums of the Order. Some daylight will probably be let in upon this subject if, ,in connection with the Geelong scandal reported in our last issue, the Federal Government takes action to determine whether or no the law of the lodge is to supersede the provisions of the Electoral Act.