Masonry Abroad.

MASONRY ABROAD .

THE catholicity of Masonry , as is well known , carries it into every civilised country upon the face of the globe . It is not the attribute of any one race , language , or religion , but extends to the uttermost corners of the earth , and is found among men of all nations , colours , and creeds .

There is but one requisibe qualification for the dissemination among a people of the tenebs of Masonry—enlightenment , as we know it ; a belief in the existence of a Supreme Being—the Great Architect of the Universe . But wherever the seed of

Freemasonry is planted in fertile soil it takes root , spreads , and bears the fruit of its teachings—charity and the brotherhood of man . Whether its followers be of Caucasian , Turanian , or Semitic origin , Masonry embraces the earth in a girdle of humanity , benevolence , and brotherly love . From pole to pole , in every

zone , even to the isles of the South Seas , are found Masons , and wherever found the objects for which they strive are the same . The rites of the Order are practically the same everywhere , and its secrets have but one key , which needs no spoken language to interpret .

To the naval officer and the mariner , members of the Craft , more than to any other class of men , opportunity is afforded of studying the universality of Masonry . The enjoyment of this privilege often results in a most interesting record of Lodge visits for the Craftsman whose wanderings carry him into distant

foreign lands ; and in places where there are no Lodges , even , the " tie fraternal" is sometimes the means of aiding our country ' s naval representatives in establishing an " entente cordiale" with the inhabitants , who otherwise might be disinclined to receive them kindly .

A Brother Officer and Mason once informed the writer that

during a visit of his vessel to the Island of Tierra del Fuego , the extreme southern point of Patagonia , near the Straits of Magellan , he was enabled , after all efforts towards lingual communication wibh bhe natives had failed , to make himself known Masonically ,

and open up a system of sign manual by means of the secrets of the Craft . The governor himself , a half-caste Portuguese , was a Mason , although the native inhabitants , who are of a very low order of savages in the ethnological scale , were , of course , ignorant of the truths of Masonry .

Another incident illustrates in a practical and striking manner the universal spirit of brotherhood and humanity inculcated by the Order throughout the world . Years ago Captain Whiting , a masber mariner and Mason , visibed bhe Porb of Batavia , on the Island of Java . Here he was striken down with a low fever , and while lying on shore almost

at the point of death , with none but strangers bo care for him , he was visibed by a Parsee native of rank and wealth , who in some manner had learned thafc the captain was a Mason . Opening the door of the sick man ' s room , the Parsee approached under the due guard and sign of a Master Mason . The token was feebly but gladly responded fco by the sufferer , whose hands were grasped by his new-found friend in the strong grip of

fraternal greeting . Seating himself by the bed , his Brother , not a Christian in religion , but a Samaritan and true missionary of God , soothed the captain ' s fevered brow and assured him that he was not a stranger in the land to die alone , but a Brother and a friend . Under kindly ministration and with careful nursing , Captain Whiting recovered , returned to his ship and sailed for home . If a touch of humanity makes the whole world akin , how much more do the truths of Masonry make mankind Brothers ?

It is well known that after the battle of the Alamo the Mexican General Santa Anna ' s life was spared by the Texans , when , at the moment of capture , he gave the grand hailing sign of distress ; and ifc is believed by some thafc Marshal Ney , the commander of Napoleon ' s rear guard , and the " bravest of the brave , " escaped the execution which history records as having

ended his life through the fact of his being a Mason , which was known to Wellington . After the mock execution , when he fell before the fire of a platoon of soldiers , he is said to have been smuggled on a sailing vessel at Brest , and landed in Charleston , where he settled as a school-teacher under the name of Peter Stuart Ney , and died many years after .

These , of course , are but few of the many proofs known of the benefit and advantage of being a Mason , to the mariner and to the soldier .

To the seafaring man , especially , do these benefits accrue . Space forbids the writer recounting the many interesting facts in relation to Masonry abroad which he has personally gathered during the course of his voyages at sea in different parts . In the course of the present paper he will attempt to touch but generally on the subject of the Order in the Orient .

In referring to Masonry in China and Japan , it musfc be understood that only the white or European population—foreign residents—is meant . It is true that there is known to exist among the Chinese a secret organisation which is curiousl y like our own in many of its symbolic rites , and bears another analogy

Masonry Abroad.

to Masonry , which opens a fruitful field for speculative archaeological research ; but the heathen character of their religion of course puts them beyond fche pale of all regular Masons , and there exists as yet no sufficient evidence to suggest a common origin .

Ifc is known that the removal of Cleopatra ' s Needle from Egypt brought fco light certain disclosures which indubitably established the fact that symbols of Masonry were known to the ancient Egyptians , and used by them similarly .

This would seem to strongly corroborate the belief in an analogy between Freemasonry and the mystics of Osiris and Isis and be a link in the theory of the identity of the Masonic tradition with astronomical allegory—the progress of fche sun through the zodiac .

Whatever doubt may rest on the origin of Masonry , or obscurity exist as to the people among whom it was first established , it is certainly bhe mosfc venerable and ancient of all existing institutions organised by man . The very obscurity as to its origin , which is lost in the shadowy mists of bygone ages , testifies to its real antiquity . Its Lodges exist in all lands , and the sound of the Master ' s gavel , calling the Brethren to labour , following the sun in his course , encircles the globe .

Its principles are as universal as its diffusion . No difference of race or colour , country , clime , language , or religion excludes any worthy and moral man from our Order . At our assemblies meet in harmony the Christian , the Hebrew , fche Mohammedan , the Buddhist , the Brahmin , the followers of Confucius , and tha disciples of Zoroaster . At the Masonic altar all these may offer

their adoration to the same Great Being , thus presenting a sublime spectacle of universal Brotherhood , " the parliament of man and the federation of the world . " In its true as well as its symbolical and figurative sense the East has always been revered as the birthplace of knowledge—power . The veneration which Masons have for the East confirms the theory that it is from the

East that the Masonic cult proceeded , and this bears a relation to the primitive religion whose first degeneration was sun worship . Throughout the far East—China , Japan , India , and the Malayan archipelago—Freemasonry , as an institution , flourishes and makes itself felfc in silently doing good . Though the

membership is principally confined to the enlightened community , which is necessarily small in proportion to the bulk of population , it wields a potential of inestimable good in the cause of truth , human kindness , and moral progress . —Lieut . Marrast Perkins , in fche " Minstrel . "

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