Masonry And Christianity.

MASONRY AND CHRISTIANITY .

THE following is the substance of the Oration given at the consecration of the Earl of Warwick Lodge a few months back , by Bro . the Eev . H . T . Armfield , M . A ., F . S . A ., and which has been reprinted by desire , and is now transferred to our pages in the hope that it may prove of interest to our readers :

The Consecration of a new Lodge is always a distinguished occasion in Masonry . But even among such occasions our present solemnity is eminent , because it is the first time that the Bight Worshipful Provincial Grand Master has appeared amongst us as a Peer of the Eealm

and under that title which it has pleased him to confer upon the Lodge that is to be consecrated to-day . May the- Great Architect of the Universe long spare him to direct the affairs of our Order in this Province over which he has hitherto presided under another title , to the universal satisfaction of all the Brethren of tbe Province .

I would direct your attention to some considerations about Masonry which have arisen in connection with my own special studies in the Ancient Languages of the Sacred Scriptures . Masons have always been proud of their antiquity . For the moment I am thinking of the

New Testament simply as a monument of very " ancient literature ; " and I would point out some affinities which are traceable between Masonry and the Now Testament Sometimes , indeed , we have been amazed at tbe

attitude which has been adopted towards Masonry by religious authorities—in former days in our own country and at the present time elsewhere . One of two conclusions seems to follow from this—either there has been

some local and temporary perversion of Masonry ; 01 there has been a disastrous mistake on the part of the authorities as to what the principles of Masonry are . I must not stay to consider where the fault has lain . But . fault there unquestionably was . For there is an

absolute identity between the principles of Masonry and those of the New Testament . Those principles of Virtue , of Truth , of Fidelity , of Loyalty , of Peace , and Charity which are the lifebreath of our Order , are precisely the principles of which the most is made in tbe New

Testament . For example , take such a rule of life as that which is laid down in the New Testament , " Honour all men . Love the brotherhood . Fear God . Honour

the king . " ( 1 Peter ii . 17 ) . That is so thoroughly Masonic both in . its spirit and in its phrase , that one almost begins to speculate whether it was Masonic first , or scriptural first . In the pages of the most voluminous writer in the New Testament—St . Paul—there is an element which

is possibly Masonic . The English translation indeed betrays no consciousness of it , but in St . Paul ' s own language it is clear enough . In one passage \ 1 Cor . iii . 10 ) he describes himself as " a wise master-builder . " He had been speaking in language drawn from agriculture—planting , watering , husbandry , and so forth ;

but suddenly this new figure breaks in , and speaking of himself as " a master-builder" he uses the very word which in that language stands for " Master Mason . " He had a strange fondness for speaking of bis Bevelation as a " mystery , " which we do not find in other writers

of the New Testament , though they had the same message to convey- And in one well known passage be almost goes out of his way to drag in ( as we might say ) an expression which belongs to the same field of thought . He has to describe the self-possession which ought to

distinguish the Christian character , and he says ( Phil . iv . 12 ) : " Every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry . " The translation " I am instructed " is perfectly sound ; but he uses a word , which to a Mason possesses a colour that others will not perceive , and he says , " I have been Initiated "—a phrase

which occurs in no other passage of the New Testament . ( A ) Yet once more . There is a passage in his writings which contains an idea that is throughly Masonic . When he is . writing to the Komans , he insists on his desire to visit

Masonry And Christianity.

them in person ; and he says ( i . 11 ) " I long to see you , that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift . " So long ago as the time of St . Clement of Alexandria ( A . D . 200 ) , this was understood as a reference to something which it was not permissible to write , ( B ) Masons will understand the allusion .

But still further—when we remember how common these sodalities were among the Ancients , it may fairly be asked whether we can detect any traces of a similar kind in the personal history of "Jesus Christ himself as recorded in the Sacred Volume . First of all , then , notice

the frequency with which a " sign" was demanded of Him , and His refusal to give a " sign " when it was not proper to give it . In the non-masonic world , indeed , it is commonly assumed that the demand for a sign was

equivalent to the demand for a Miracle to be wrought before their very eyes . But there is no proof that this was so : and Masons may fairly recognise in it a demand which under similar circumstances they would certainly put themselves .

On His arrival at Jerusalem His first care was to

cleanse the temple of King Solomon I St . John ii ., 14—17 ) —an act whose significance Masons will be able to appreciate . The Jews who witnessed it uuderstood

that it indicated a something beyond itself , for this was one of the occasions when they demanded the " sign" of him " What sign showest Thou unto us , seeing that Thou doest these things ? " ( ibid . 18 . )

It was upon a Masonic charge that He was ultimately condemned to death . The false witness against Him failed until there " Came two false witnesses , and said , This fellow said , 1 am able to destroy the temple of God , and to build it in three days . " ( St . Matt . xxvi . 60-61 ) .

And lastly , it is quite possible that we have a trace of the same idea in the strange word with which Jesus Christ met the traitor ' s kiss . " Friend , wherefore art thou come ? " We need not quarrel with the translation " Friend : " but it is only fair to observe that it is not the

ordinary word for " friend . " The word indeed in the original Greek rather connotes such ideas as we connect with " mate , " " companion , " " brother , " among Masons ;

and it is in point of fact the actual word which the Greeks adopted for a member of those fraternities , societies , or sodalities , which are well known to have existed among the ancients .

Is it possible that these considerations throw some light upon one of the most troublesome words in Masonry—the word Cowan ? It has been thought to defy all attempts to explain it . In an accredited work on Masonry we are told that it is " a most difficult word . "

We may reject at once the hypothesis that would connect it with the Greek word for " dog . " Whatever may be the motif oi the word in this connection , " Cowan " is simply the ordinary Hebrew word for " Priest . " But then how came it to pass that Masonry adopted such a

word—which generally is respectable enough—as the designation of the opponent and the spy ? The New Testament emphatically declares that the Priest was the cause and the instigator of the Tragedy that took place outside the walls of the Holy City . So when Masonry

chooses Cowan as the description of the Spy , it is in exact accordance both with the Spirit and the phrase of the Sacred Scripture , where the very same word

designates the enemy and the betrayer of Him who is recognised as the most perfect Model of the Truth , the Loyalty , the Peace and the Charity , that ever was displayed in the mortal life of man .

The Grand Master of England is expected shortly to pay a brief visit to the Grand Master of Essex and the Countess of Warwick at Easton Lodge , Dunmow . Mentioning this the " Eastern Daily Press" says "the

Earl and Countess appear disposed to continue their residence at Dunmow , although the family mansion is in Warwickshire . Probably they like Dunmow because it is within such easy distance of the Metropolis . Both the Earl and Countess are people of wido sympathies . "