Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry: Past And Present.
FREEMASONRY : PAST AND PRESENT .
OLD institutions , like grey hairs , are venerable and honourable , if they be found in the way of righteousness . The golden locks of childhood that elision in the splendour of youth ' s life moru , have not that solid aud substantial charm that appertains to old age , whose hoary locks are silvered by the hands of time , before whom the summer winds pause in their airy flight , the sunny locks to fondle , kiss and toy . Institutions , like ourselves , have a
period called childhood , another called maturity , and another called old ago . When the rosy buds of childhood ' s spring-time burst into bloom in the midsummer shine of our maturity . then , as becoming men , we put away childhood ' s follies , with childhood's feebleness , and act as men . The growth of childhood and the maturity of manhood , were periods in which we ploughed ancl sowed ,
the periods of follies and failings , labour and anxieties , it is the springtime and seed-time of life , and not the harvest-time of old age , when autumn flings in our laps the ripened and accumulated fruit of three score years . Freemasonry , like all other institutions , has had its childhood and maturity , but unlike all other institutions , it has its old age . It was , doubtless , as puny
as other societies in its childhood , but it had a good constitution , and is as likely to live four thousand years in the great infinite future , as it has survived four thousand in the profound and stupendous past . If the stability and utility of anything is to be known by its age , then have we reason to congratulate ourselves that we are free and honourable Masons . As Masons ,
we make no ostentatious display of our good works ; we have not , as yet , turned our mouths into trumpets to sound our own praise , much less havo we boasted and advertised our peculiar excellence to the outside world . There is an unspeakable merit in that unpretending charity that shrinks from the vulgar and impertinent gaze of a selfish world . It ' s that quiet charity
that cneth not , " Lo I I am there ; Lo ! I am here , that challenges our admiration . We have said that Freemasonry has had its childhood and maturity , and that we live in the age when tho luxuriant fruits of a great and wonderful past are filling our too limited laps with a profusion of goodness that is unequalled and unlimited . Our forefathers have done
wonders ; they have laboured , and we have entered into their labours , and to-day we stand on the centre of Truth with relief and Brotherly love surrounding us . We arc now sitting in the lap of a kind and indulgent parent , who , although in the yellow and sere leaf of old age , has more vigour
and vitality in its constitution than the most active and energetic of all his contemporaries . And what is it that has given to this Society its wonderfu l vitality and endurance , if it be not that truth which is both immortal and immutable ? " Truth , though crushed to the earth , will rise again , " and live the eternal years of God . Reason is strong , so is prejudice , so is love , so is
Freemasonry: Past And Present.
malice , but truth is stronger than all . If truth bo the foundation on which we build the great temple of virtue , the gates of holl cannot prevail against it . We are in the school of experience—we have Jacob ' s ladder in our midst ; consequently the truth we seek is not at the bottom of a well , but at the top of a ladder . The truth we seek is not earthward bnt heavenward . It is not
enough for us , however , to lie clown at the foot of the ladder and dream of heaven , not enough to be led from darkness to light by taking one , two or tea steps on this ladder ; he , and he only , will be crowned Master of Ceremonies whose motto is " Excelsior "; who continues to rise higher and higher through the atmosphere of tangible signs and symbols , until he reaches that climax whero Moses stood , and basks in the full blaze of that splendour that
surrounds the great Architect of the Universe . Truth , like its author , has no beginning nor ending , it is eternal ; it can never be exhausted , nor will it ever die . In the sohool of Freemasonry wo learn truth by degrees ; it is line upon line and precept upon precept , here a little and there a little . The hidden mysteries of nature and science are so plainly taught that " a wavfaring man ,
though a fool , need not err . By the Compass and Square , and the great moral truths of the Bible we accomplish two objects , we teach the honour of labour and the beauty of truth . We aro not of that class who think hard work to be a crime . We do not think honest labour to be a disgrace . Far from it . We honour labour as God has honoured it . It is not to labour , but to laziness , that a curse is attached . Freemasonry is a school in which the
hand and tho heart are taught their respective duties . Here they are blended and wedded together in the most solemn and sacred manner to the end that they may adorn manhood with the evergreens of industry , sobriety , and every good word and work . We are not to suppose , however , that he is a Mason who is one outwardly , but it is he who is ono in spirit , truth , and Brotherly love . There are those who come in among us and go out from us ,
because they are not of us . A true Mason is not a creature of man ' s making , but one of God ' s creation . When the great Architect of Heaven has set up in the temple of the soul the two great pillars of honour and truth , you may shake that temple from centre to circumference , and though heaven and earth may move , that temple will stand for ever . Shaken that temple will be by the cold and wintry tempest of human scorn and indignation , but like
the gigantic oak of the forest when shaken with the mighty winds , it will tako deeper root in the earth and spread its mighty branches up to the very gates of heaven . Freemasonry , like all other institutions , has had its sunshine and its shade , but unlike all other societies , it has weathered the tempest and the gale ; and to-day , like a staunch bark , rides proudly on the crest of tho troubled waters of this world , without starting a timber or losing
a splinter , and all because she has had the Great Architect of Heaven for her captain and pilot . Boasting is not our business ; we do not arrogate to ourselves perfection ; we have not said that we can count our kings and princes by hundreds , our earls and dukes by thousands , our knights and ministers by tens of thousands , our Officers and Brethren by millions . We do not prosper by pride , nor lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes on the golden fields of vanity and vain-glory . — " Keystone . "
Ad01102
White Sewing Machines ARE STILL THE BEST . MACHINES . gpajnJjjA « L NEW FROM " ^^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^ "' PATENT TERMS M ) r > Jl ^ M YEARS " OF ^ fc ^ fa ^^^^^ j WARRANTY . 3 , 000 Agencies in Greu ' . liri . ' aiii , and more wanted . WRITE FOR PRICE LISTS . WHITE SEWING MACHINE Co ., 48 Holborn Viaduct , London , E . C .
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RIDE A WINCYCLE AND WIN EVERYTHING . WRITE FOR 188 CATALOGUE AND SCENTED BOOKLET DUNLOP PNEUMATIC , CUSHION OR OTHER TYRES EASY PAYMENTS . A Few Agencies still Open . WHITE SEWINCTMACHINE CO ., 48 Holborn Viaduct , London , E . C .
Ad01103
The Theatres , & c . — : o : — Covent Garden . —Italian Opera . Drury Lane . —8 , The Ducal Court Company of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Avenue . —8-15 , Dandy Dick Wbittington . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Terry ' s . —8-15 , A woman ' s no . 9 , The Passport . Matinee , Saturday , 3 . G lobe . —8 , The Journey ' s End . 9 , Charley ' s Aunt . Prince of Wales ' s . — 7-50 , A Woman's Caprice . 8-30 , Gentleman Joe . Matinee , Thursday , 3 . Haymarket . —8-15 , Fedora . Gaiety . —8 , Tho Shop Girl . Matinee , Saturday , 2 . Daly's . —The Railroad of Love . St . James ' s . —8-20 , The Second Mrs . Tanqueray . On Thursday , The Idler . Criterion . —8-25 , The Home Secretary . Matinee Wednesday , 2 . 30 . Adelphi . —8 , The Girl I left behind me . Savoy . —Madame Duse . Court—7-45 , A near shave . 8-45 , Vanity Fair . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Comedy . —8-20 , The Prude's Progress . Lyric—8-30 , The revised version of An Artist ' s Model . Vaudeville . —8-15 , Between thc Posts . 8-45 , The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown . Alhambra . —8 , Variety Entertainment . Grand Ballets , Living Pictures , & c . 10-0 , Ali Baba . Empire . —7-45 Variety Entertainment . 10 , Faust . Palace . —7-50 , Variety Entertainment , Ballets , & c . Oxford . —7-30 , Variety Entertainment . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Royal . —7-30 , Variety Company . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Crystal Palace . —India in London . Varied attractions daily . Egyptian Hall . —3 and 8 , Mr . Maskelyne's Magical Entertainment . Moore and Burgess Minstrels . —St . James's Hall . Every evening at 8 . Monday , Wednesday and Saturday , 2 ' 3 u also . Madame Tussaud's ( Baker Street ) . —Open daily . Royal Aquarium . —Open at 10 ; close at 11-30 . Constant Amusement . Empire of India Exhibition . —Earl Court . —Open daily .
Ad01104
THK Freemason ' s Chronicle . A Weekly Record of Masonic Intelligence . — : o : — Published every Saturday , Price 3 d . — : o : — mHE FREEMASON'S CHRONICLE will be ¦* - forwarded direct from the Office , Fleet Works , Bulwer Road , New Barnet , on receipt of remittance for the amount . Intending Subsoribers should forward their full address , to prevent mistakes . The Terms of Subscription ( payable in advance are—Twelve Months , post free ... £ 0 13 6 Six Months ditto . ... 0 7 0 Threo Months ditto . ... 0 3 G Postal Orders to be made payable to W . W . MORGAN , at the New Barnet Office . Cheques crossed " London and South Western Bank . " Scale of Charges for Advertisements . Per Page £ 8 8 0 Back Page 10 10 0 Births , Marriages , and Deaths , ls per line . General Advertisements , Trade Announcements , & c ., single column , 5 s per inch . Double column Advertisements ls per lino . Special terms or a series of insertions or special positions on application . Agents , from ¦ vrhom copies can always be had : — Mr . W . F . MORGAN , Belvidere Works , Pentonville . Mr . LAMBERT , Barnsbury Road , Islington , N . Mr . RITCHIE , 7 Red Lion Court , E . C . Mr . EDWARD ROBERTS , 19 Walmor Place , Manchester . Messrs . W . H . SMITH and Son , 183 Strand . Mr . J . HOOD-WILLIAMS , 33 Kingston Road , North , Buckland , Portsmouth .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry: Past And Present.
FREEMASONRY : PAST AND PRESENT .
OLD institutions , like grey hairs , are venerable and honourable , if they be found in the way of righteousness . The golden locks of childhood that elision in the splendour of youth ' s life moru , have not that solid aud substantial charm that appertains to old age , whose hoary locks are silvered by the hands of time , before whom the summer winds pause in their airy flight , the sunny locks to fondle , kiss and toy . Institutions , like ourselves , have a
period called childhood , another called maturity , and another called old ago . When the rosy buds of childhood ' s spring-time burst into bloom in the midsummer shine of our maturity . then , as becoming men , we put away childhood ' s follies , with childhood's feebleness , and act as men . The growth of childhood and the maturity of manhood , were periods in which we ploughed ancl sowed ,
the periods of follies and failings , labour and anxieties , it is the springtime and seed-time of life , and not the harvest-time of old age , when autumn flings in our laps the ripened and accumulated fruit of three score years . Freemasonry , like all other institutions , has had its childhood and maturity , but unlike all other institutions , it has its old age . It was , doubtless , as puny
as other societies in its childhood , but it had a good constitution , and is as likely to live four thousand years in the great infinite future , as it has survived four thousand in the profound and stupendous past . If the stability and utility of anything is to be known by its age , then have we reason to congratulate ourselves that we are free and honourable Masons . As Masons ,
we make no ostentatious display of our good works ; we have not , as yet , turned our mouths into trumpets to sound our own praise , much less havo we boasted and advertised our peculiar excellence to the outside world . There is an unspeakable merit in that unpretending charity that shrinks from the vulgar and impertinent gaze of a selfish world . It ' s that quiet charity
that cneth not , " Lo I I am there ; Lo ! I am here , that challenges our admiration . We have said that Freemasonry has had its childhood and maturity , and that we live in the age when tho luxuriant fruits of a great and wonderful past are filling our too limited laps with a profusion of goodness that is unequalled and unlimited . Our forefathers have done
wonders ; they have laboured , and we have entered into their labours , and to-day we stand on the centre of Truth with relief and Brotherly love surrounding us . We arc now sitting in the lap of a kind and indulgent parent , who , although in the yellow and sere leaf of old age , has more vigour
and vitality in its constitution than the most active and energetic of all his contemporaries . And what is it that has given to this Society its wonderfu l vitality and endurance , if it be not that truth which is both immortal and immutable ? " Truth , though crushed to the earth , will rise again , " and live the eternal years of God . Reason is strong , so is prejudice , so is love , so is
Freemasonry: Past And Present.
malice , but truth is stronger than all . If truth bo the foundation on which we build the great temple of virtue , the gates of holl cannot prevail against it . We are in the school of experience—we have Jacob ' s ladder in our midst ; consequently the truth we seek is not at the bottom of a well , but at the top of a ladder . The truth we seek is not earthward bnt heavenward . It is not
enough for us , however , to lie clown at the foot of the ladder and dream of heaven , not enough to be led from darkness to light by taking one , two or tea steps on this ladder ; he , and he only , will be crowned Master of Ceremonies whose motto is " Excelsior "; who continues to rise higher and higher through the atmosphere of tangible signs and symbols , until he reaches that climax whero Moses stood , and basks in the full blaze of that splendour that
surrounds the great Architect of the Universe . Truth , like its author , has no beginning nor ending , it is eternal ; it can never be exhausted , nor will it ever die . In the sohool of Freemasonry wo learn truth by degrees ; it is line upon line and precept upon precept , here a little and there a little . The hidden mysteries of nature and science are so plainly taught that " a wavfaring man ,
though a fool , need not err . By the Compass and Square , and the great moral truths of the Bible we accomplish two objects , we teach the honour of labour and the beauty of truth . We aro not of that class who think hard work to be a crime . We do not think honest labour to be a disgrace . Far from it . We honour labour as God has honoured it . It is not to labour , but to laziness , that a curse is attached . Freemasonry is a school in which the
hand and tho heart are taught their respective duties . Here they are blended and wedded together in the most solemn and sacred manner to the end that they may adorn manhood with the evergreens of industry , sobriety , and every good word and work . We are not to suppose , however , that he is a Mason who is one outwardly , but it is he who is ono in spirit , truth , and Brotherly love . There are those who come in among us and go out from us ,
because they are not of us . A true Mason is not a creature of man ' s making , but one of God ' s creation . When the great Architect of Heaven has set up in the temple of the soul the two great pillars of honour and truth , you may shake that temple from centre to circumference , and though heaven and earth may move , that temple will stand for ever . Shaken that temple will be by the cold and wintry tempest of human scorn and indignation , but like
the gigantic oak of the forest when shaken with the mighty winds , it will tako deeper root in the earth and spread its mighty branches up to the very gates of heaven . Freemasonry , like all other institutions , has had its sunshine and its shade , but unlike all other societies , it has weathered the tempest and the gale ; and to-day , like a staunch bark , rides proudly on the crest of tho troubled waters of this world , without starting a timber or losing
a splinter , and all because she has had the Great Architect of Heaven for her captain and pilot . Boasting is not our business ; we do not arrogate to ourselves perfection ; we have not said that we can count our kings and princes by hundreds , our earls and dukes by thousands , our knights and ministers by tens of thousands , our Officers and Brethren by millions . We do not prosper by pride , nor lengthen our cords and strengthen our stakes on the golden fields of vanity and vain-glory . — " Keystone . "
Ad01102
White Sewing Machines ARE STILL THE BEST . MACHINES . gpajnJjjA « L NEW FROM " ^^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^ "' PATENT TERMS M ) r > Jl ^ M YEARS " OF ^ fc ^ fa ^^^^^ j WARRANTY . 3 , 000 Agencies in Greu ' . liri . ' aiii , and more wanted . WRITE FOR PRICE LISTS . WHITE SEWING MACHINE Co ., 48 Holborn Viaduct , London , E . C .
Ad01105
RIDE A WINCYCLE AND WIN EVERYTHING . WRITE FOR 188 CATALOGUE AND SCENTED BOOKLET DUNLOP PNEUMATIC , CUSHION OR OTHER TYRES EASY PAYMENTS . A Few Agencies still Open . WHITE SEWINCTMACHINE CO ., 48 Holborn Viaduct , London , E . C .
Ad01103
The Theatres , & c . — : o : — Covent Garden . —Italian Opera . Drury Lane . —8 , The Ducal Court Company of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . Avenue . —8-15 , Dandy Dick Wbittington . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Terry ' s . —8-15 , A woman ' s no . 9 , The Passport . Matinee , Saturday , 3 . G lobe . —8 , The Journey ' s End . 9 , Charley ' s Aunt . Prince of Wales ' s . — 7-50 , A Woman's Caprice . 8-30 , Gentleman Joe . Matinee , Thursday , 3 . Haymarket . —8-15 , Fedora . Gaiety . —8 , Tho Shop Girl . Matinee , Saturday , 2 . Daly's . —The Railroad of Love . St . James ' s . —8-20 , The Second Mrs . Tanqueray . On Thursday , The Idler . Criterion . —8-25 , The Home Secretary . Matinee Wednesday , 2 . 30 . Adelphi . —8 , The Girl I left behind me . Savoy . —Madame Duse . Court—7-45 , A near shave . 8-45 , Vanity Fair . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Comedy . —8-20 , The Prude's Progress . Lyric—8-30 , The revised version of An Artist ' s Model . Vaudeville . —8-15 , Between thc Posts . 8-45 , The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown . Alhambra . —8 , Variety Entertainment . Grand Ballets , Living Pictures , & c . 10-0 , Ali Baba . Empire . —7-45 Variety Entertainment . 10 , Faust . Palace . —7-50 , Variety Entertainment , Ballets , & c . Oxford . —7-30 , Variety Entertainment . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Royal . —7-30 , Variety Company . Matinee , Saturday , 2-30 . Crystal Palace . —India in London . Varied attractions daily . Egyptian Hall . —3 and 8 , Mr . Maskelyne's Magical Entertainment . Moore and Burgess Minstrels . —St . James's Hall . Every evening at 8 . Monday , Wednesday and Saturday , 2 ' 3 u also . Madame Tussaud's ( Baker Street ) . —Open daily . Royal Aquarium . —Open at 10 ; close at 11-30 . Constant Amusement . Empire of India Exhibition . —Earl Court . —Open daily .
Ad01104
THK Freemason ' s Chronicle . A Weekly Record of Masonic Intelligence . — : o : — Published every Saturday , Price 3 d . — : o : — mHE FREEMASON'S CHRONICLE will be ¦* - forwarded direct from the Office , Fleet Works , Bulwer Road , New Barnet , on receipt of remittance for the amount . Intending Subsoribers should forward their full address , to prevent mistakes . The Terms of Subscription ( payable in advance are—Twelve Months , post free ... £ 0 13 6 Six Months ditto . ... 0 7 0 Threo Months ditto . ... 0 3 G Postal Orders to be made payable to W . W . MORGAN , at the New Barnet Office . Cheques crossed " London and South Western Bank . " Scale of Charges for Advertisements . Per Page £ 8 8 0 Back Page 10 10 0 Births , Marriages , and Deaths , ls per line . General Advertisements , Trade Announcements , & c ., single column , 5 s per inch . Double column Advertisements ls per lino . Special terms or a series of insertions or special positions on application . Agents , from ¦ vrhom copies can always be had : — Mr . W . F . MORGAN , Belvidere Works , Pentonville . Mr . LAMBERT , Barnsbury Road , Islington , N . Mr . RITCHIE , 7 Red Lion Court , E . C . Mr . EDWARD ROBERTS , 19 Walmor Place , Manchester . Messrs . W . H . SMITH and Son , 183 Strand . Mr . J . HOOD-WILLIAMS , 33 Kingston Road , North , Buckland , Portsmouth .