Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-01-01


fession bccame the symbol of a moral
, idea. and the novice or Apprentice Ma
son learned their use and meaning stimuli
taneously. And here We get the explana-
ton of customs continued tn this day.
The meaning of the square, the rule and
the compass. familiar to us all, date back
To the College OF Constructors at Rome.
We NAV pass ON 1" the year 900 A. d.,
when company Of Masons departed
from England to Germany under the title
of Brothers of St. John. Here they
erected the Cathedral OF Cologne, the
masterpiece OF Christian architecture,
and on account uf It's excellence the Bro
therhood of St. John received the title of
Grand Lodge.
And now we come to consideration
OF Masonry which is full of vivid int l.
est. | mean its medieval aspect. So
parallel were its teachings with certain
fundamentals of Christianity, that So tar
from opposing the Order, the Church as
simulated it. 1t was propagated and ex-
planned by the Monks, the Abbot being the
Worshipiul Master. Throughout Eng
land and Europe arose mighty buildings,
which stand to this very day, at orce the
glory of religion and art. The Masons be-
Ing Christians, their work expressed Chris
tan IDEAS, just as the Temple OF Solomon
had expressed the ideas of Jewish and
Tyrian religion. AT this period too we OBJ
serve the rise and growth OF the military
spirit in the Church and, owing to the
alliance, in Masonry also. The history
of the Crusades. so full of the heroic, and
the romantic, so grand i'll their concep-
suits, is not within the scope of our sub
ject. Fascinating as the subject is to us
as scholars, philosophers and historians,
! as Masons we are concerned only with the
part performed by our Order. The Tenn
plars and Knights of St. John were both
Masonic institutions, combining the mill
| tary with the Christian and Masonic in
stincts.
Once only, so far as can discover, did
political feeling ever penetrate masonry,
and that was in the seventeenth century.
King Charles LIST having been murdered
by the Puritans, an effort was made for
the restoration of the crown to his son.
AS many of the members were unwilling
to commit the Order to the scheme, a new
degree was instituted called he Royal Art,
and by the aid OF its members Charles 2l
eventually assembled the throne. From
that time the restrictions of the society
were loosened. Men OF upright life were
admitted who were ignorant OF he theory
and practice of Architecture. More and
more it became speculative rather than
practical masonry, until today it is what
we know it to be.
have apparently deviated from our
text in this historical depression, but it
is seldom possible to grasp the siSnit
canoe of the present without some ac
quaintance with the past; and our bre
review of the Order willnot be unprUtita
BILE trust when we consider, as we shall
proceed to do, the position of Masonry
in our own time 1t will serve to remind
us of the ever frightening chain which
binds us to the past, a past so distant
so inspiring and so strong.
No one can hope to escape all relation
to the general spirit of the agein which he
lives. Whatever the condition ofthe period
may be, religious or irreligious, apathetie
or progressive, learned or ignorant, the
age and the personality combined make
the man; depressing or elevating him in
the ratio of his openness to influence In
like manner institutions are the product
of the times, and when an order or society
is continued through many generations,
the force of general sentiment peculiar to
each generation will leave its mark upon
it in proportion to the strength of the
ruling principle of the Order. Neither
does Masonry escape as we have secn
At one time mysterious, at another edu'
cational and constructive, and again
military in outward character, and often
all these, we yet understand that the
spirit of the Order is neither one nor the
other of these things. hut considers them
| fol ,a lie. oil ,l,p,
necessity arises.
But it is time we explained what OUT
doctrine is, and where all the Truths Of
Masonry eliminate. The ultimate object
of it's existence, the full flower of its
teaching, the point of its limitation is,
take it, Altruism. AS this is a most com
prehensive word it will be we'll to con
slider it rather more closely In the first
place masonry was witness to a great
religious Truth, viz: The Unity of God
This was formerly one of its great secrets
and distinguishing characteristics, par
ticuIarly in the dark days of Polytheistie
worship. The religious instinct probabl,
had its first awakening in many minds
by the contemplation of the marvellous
in nature. Unguided, the instinct of ad
Grafton and worship would have beer
distorted into a thousand fantastic ex
pressions; but the consciousness of Su
preme Ruler and Architect of the universe
served to concentrate devotion and exalt
the thoughts of the believers. 1t is diff
cult for us to enter into the spirit of the
the olden time. Life has become so pro,
sale, so intensely civilized, and so pro-