The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1865-01-27

' VIZ "iSeiicViVe badges and tokens
OF the operative workman, have
passed over into symbolic Mason
ry which employs all these things
for their moral significance, and to
impress generous maxims, enforce the
principles of virtue, refine the mannrs
and improve the heart.
The symbols of Freemasonry are not
only ancient, they have an intrinsic
propriety, derived from one of the
noblest of arts-sacred architecture.
Always men have connected the sub
lime in architecture with the sublim-
est object of human generations; and
through massive and symmetrical
structures cathedrals and temples
erected to God and devoted to his
service, have sought to enkindle and
express their alteration; and they
have brought into use such external
helps AS appealing TO the senses by.
l their grandeur and beauty, and.breath-
ing tranquil thoughts and inspiring
awe and reverence, contribute to life
the soul above low and sensual pleas
ures, raise it into communion with the
Deity and fill it with a Just sense of
his power, wisdom and beneficence.
That Freemasonry should seek to
teach truth and impress maxims of wis
dom and virtue by symbols, is no new
or strange thing. Not to go back to the
eleusinian mysteries or to the allego-
ries in which Egyptian priests sought
to veil Divine Wisdom, or the purer
but no less mystical, system Of Moses,
we find symbolic instructions recog-
nized among all nations, and almost
equally among the most refined and
the most rude. The use of symbols,
as one writer has said is rs old as
creation, and has certain power of
emancipation and exhilaration for all
men. The mystery which enwraps all
nature drives men of every class to
the use of emblems. The schools of
poets and philosophers are not more
intoxicated with their symbols than
the populace with theirs. In the
political parties. compute the power Of
badges and emblems See the great
ball which they roll from Baltimore to
Bunker Hill at the opening OF the
presidential canvass. In political
professions Lowell goes in loom,
Lynn in n shoe, Salem in a ship
Witness the cognizances of parties
See the power Of national enblems.
Some stripes and stars, lilies. leopards,
"a crescent, lion, an eagle, or other
figure, which came into credit nobody
knows how, an old rag of bunting
blowing in the wind from the mast
head or on fort at the ends of the
earth, shall make the blood Jingle
under the rudest of the most conven-
tional exterior. The people fancy they
hate poetry and mystry and they are all
poets and mystics." r.. w. Emerson.
But symbols suggest thought an1
awaken sentiment according as Sey
are understood The Jewish High
Priest, in his robes of Office. would be
-, az ,,o,,oor+ 10 a, ignorant be-
holder: but how different to deYout
Israelite To tie uninitiated, our
forms NAV scem without meaning,
for what Is more natural than that
what is mot understood should APP
pear frivolous or absurd For in
stance, a lady once said to me, on be-
holding Masonic procession on st.
Johns Day, that she thought the
display was very silly. But on
the following week there. was patri-
otto celebration, on Temperance plin.
ciples, of the 4th of July, when the
Sons of Temperance and the Cold
W dtel ARMY Wclc QUIZ III lOlCS VIII
banners aud badges; and this lady
understood very well what it all meant
These emblems served to inspire en-
thusiasm in the best of causes, and
spoke to the understanding and heart
of the good woman in significant
language Every device and motto,
every little bit of ribbon tied to the
button-hole, served to impress some
valuable sentiment, We do not ex-
pect the uninitiated to admire what
they do not comprehend. But surely
the Holy Bible lying open in the
centre Of a Lodge, speaks IN no am
biguous tones. The square, teaching
morality level, equality the
plumb, reetitude--the compasses re-
minding us to circumscribe our desires
and keep our passions in due bounds
: do not seem very reconcile or far
; fetched; and SO of the rest.
e CHARITY OUR OBJECT