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Article MASONIC PHARISEES. Page 1 of 2 Article MASONIC PHARISEES. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Pharisees.
MASONIC PHARISEES .
UNFORTUNATELY it is not necessary to go far beyond the limits of the Craft to find men who pose as the Pharisees of old are reputed to have done—not , perhaps , praying ostentatiously at the corners of the streets , but
blessing their stars , in season and out of season , that they are " not as other men are . " That even Freemasonry , within whose pale the most absolute equality is recognised , should be leavened by the presence of this Pharisaical
element is no matter for wonderment , for is it not insinuated into every sort and condition of social and public life r And if the grandiloquent displays of oratory
and pretension made by these modern " shining lights " are too frequently thrust upon the unwilling ears of more sedate and involuntary listeners , it is painfully evident that the inflated-actors in the scene are oblivious of the
discomfort they so often create , and of the disdain they unwittingly draw down upon themselves . The term " busybody" is capable of almost infinite manipulation , and we know that in social life it is the synonym for a
person to be most studiously avoided . A chattering neighbour , a supercilious acquaintance — in short , a Paul Pry in any guise—is regarded as a bore , if not an abomination ; and the parasite is as
difficult of being stamped ont as are any of our loathsome household pests . We have no hope that any words of ours or any application of moral disinfectants will stem the current of that egotism and boisterous love
of display which , though hapily rare , is nevertheless to be detected in certain members of our Fraternity . Actuated possibly b y ; sincere and honest intentions , they go about their work in a rough-and-ready , clamorous way , to the
utter disregard of the good old dictum , " Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth . " Instances now and then crop up of deeds of charity and benevolence .
most commendable in spirit , being marred and stultified by the loud proclaiming of them from the housetops by those who are their self-constituted instruments . Best of
all the golden actions that are done by the Ancient and Honourable Institution to which we are so proud tobelonoare those in which the "going about doing good" is carried on in the quiet spirit of reserve , and with the subdued
consciousness of performing deeds of dutiful beneficence . How many a poor and distressed brother , in the thaldrom of difficulties from which he could foresee no loophole of escape , has found himself relieved from the baneful burden
which bore him to the dust , by some kindly considerate , though unseen , instrumentality on the part of the brethren to whom his distresses may have been whispered—not snouted ! And could we notif we chosepoint to
, , others who , in similar straits , have appealed to the hand of chant y only to find the benefits received have been nullified and rendered almost not worth the having by the ostentatious manner in which thev have been bestowed ? io
the credit of our Order be it said " the latter case is in an insignificant minority compared with the real good that js ever being carried on in genuine earnestness and secrecy y various sections of the brethren , who are prompted uieiy b
y the grand tenets that are promulgated by reemasonry . But , painful as it may be to say it , there he i occasionally times when favours are conferred and Jp given . in such a way as to show that the motive power Q tQecpa rt of 'those who undertake the work is at the
Masonic Pharisees.
bottom merely a love of self-aggrandisement and vain glory . Not only is this apparent in works of charity , but also in the ordinary avocations which are included in the Masonic category . The loud talker in the Lodge-room
and at the banquet-table is every now and then a bugbear of which the more retiring and sensible brethren would be glad to be rid . " Borabastes Furioso " is very well on the boards of burlesque , and the quaint brusqueness of the character is ever sufficient to
provoke a laugh . But when that role is assumed by men who have struggled through the intricacies of Masonry with a single eye to bedizen themselves with jewels and regalia , the burlesque is changed to dolorous inconsistency .
There are some who , like the pigmy of the fable , standing on the Alps fancies himself bigger and a mightier man than the giant whom he espies in the valley below him ; and there are some Masons who in the same ratio glance
from the pinnacle of their consummate egotism disdainfully upon those who , though doing good and useful work in the Craft , are not blessed with the " gift of the gab " or the inclination to make a pyrotechnic exhibition of their
own exalted virtues ! Have we not knowledge of men who , having ceased from doing any active work in the Craft , even if they ever made any beginning at all , vaunt of their proud association with Freemasonrv , whose emblems they
flash on their persons , and of whose excellencies they prate in public and in private as though thoy were really and indeed solid pillars of the Masonic faith ? It is vain to hope to curb the impetuosity aud ill-timed exuberance of
such individuals , and the only way to treat them is to allow their vapid utterances to blow off through the safety valve of their own verbosity . Then , again , we sometimes
come across men who , under the guise of an assumed Masonic apostleship , glibly and profusely declare what they are readv to do to assist a fellow-man in the attainment of
any object—socially , commercially , or otherwise—which he might be desirous of securing . In nine cases out of ten this " bunkum" is all gaseous , and promises vouchsafed by such men are like the proverbial pie-crust—made only
to be broken . Of course , it is upon the young and credulous that such vagaries can best be foisted , but there are not wanting records in which disappointment and regret have followed the too implicit reliance by older
Masons upon the assurances of these Pharisees of whom we speak . In the Lodge-room we occasionally find—as is the case in many other an assemblage of persons in public and commercial life—men who , unless they can "have
it all their own way" become petulant , peevish , and arrogant , to the utter discomfort of their compeers , and the disarrangement of the whole of the internal machinery . These irrepressible gentlemen lose no possible opportunity
of vaunting their own superiority , the infinity of their wisdom , and the overwhelming breadth of their intellectual achievements . Should any question arise with which they cannot entirely coincide , their motto seems to be " Nay , an '
thoul't mouth ! I'll rant as well as thou ! " And thus , whereas the matter under consideration might and should have been settled in harmony and peace , the apple of discord is thrown , and possibly the whole
thing is relegated to the pigeon-hole of abeyance . The Masonic Pharisee is as objectionable an object as an intruding wasp into our dining-room ; there is no peace so
long as he keeps buzzing about . Rapt in the ragis of self complacency , he orates at painful length when responding to a toast , interlarding a meaningless harangue with ful-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Pharisees.
MASONIC PHARISEES .
UNFORTUNATELY it is not necessary to go far beyond the limits of the Craft to find men who pose as the Pharisees of old are reputed to have done—not , perhaps , praying ostentatiously at the corners of the streets , but
blessing their stars , in season and out of season , that they are " not as other men are . " That even Freemasonry , within whose pale the most absolute equality is recognised , should be leavened by the presence of this Pharisaical
element is no matter for wonderment , for is it not insinuated into every sort and condition of social and public life r And if the grandiloquent displays of oratory
and pretension made by these modern " shining lights " are too frequently thrust upon the unwilling ears of more sedate and involuntary listeners , it is painfully evident that the inflated-actors in the scene are oblivious of the
discomfort they so often create , and of the disdain they unwittingly draw down upon themselves . The term " busybody" is capable of almost infinite manipulation , and we know that in social life it is the synonym for a
person to be most studiously avoided . A chattering neighbour , a supercilious acquaintance — in short , a Paul Pry in any guise—is regarded as a bore , if not an abomination ; and the parasite is as
difficult of being stamped ont as are any of our loathsome household pests . We have no hope that any words of ours or any application of moral disinfectants will stem the current of that egotism and boisterous love
of display which , though hapily rare , is nevertheless to be detected in certain members of our Fraternity . Actuated possibly b y ; sincere and honest intentions , they go about their work in a rough-and-ready , clamorous way , to the
utter disregard of the good old dictum , " Let not thy right hand know what thy left hand doeth . " Instances now and then crop up of deeds of charity and benevolence .
most commendable in spirit , being marred and stultified by the loud proclaiming of them from the housetops by those who are their self-constituted instruments . Best of
all the golden actions that are done by the Ancient and Honourable Institution to which we are so proud tobelonoare those in which the "going about doing good" is carried on in the quiet spirit of reserve , and with the subdued
consciousness of performing deeds of dutiful beneficence . How many a poor and distressed brother , in the thaldrom of difficulties from which he could foresee no loophole of escape , has found himself relieved from the baneful burden
which bore him to the dust , by some kindly considerate , though unseen , instrumentality on the part of the brethren to whom his distresses may have been whispered—not snouted ! And could we notif we chosepoint to
, , others who , in similar straits , have appealed to the hand of chant y only to find the benefits received have been nullified and rendered almost not worth the having by the ostentatious manner in which thev have been bestowed ? io
the credit of our Order be it said " the latter case is in an insignificant minority compared with the real good that js ever being carried on in genuine earnestness and secrecy y various sections of the brethren , who are prompted uieiy b
y the grand tenets that are promulgated by reemasonry . But , painful as it may be to say it , there he i occasionally times when favours are conferred and Jp given . in such a way as to show that the motive power Q tQecpa rt of 'those who undertake the work is at the
Masonic Pharisees.
bottom merely a love of self-aggrandisement and vain glory . Not only is this apparent in works of charity , but also in the ordinary avocations which are included in the Masonic category . The loud talker in the Lodge-room
and at the banquet-table is every now and then a bugbear of which the more retiring and sensible brethren would be glad to be rid . " Borabastes Furioso " is very well on the boards of burlesque , and the quaint brusqueness of the character is ever sufficient to
provoke a laugh . But when that role is assumed by men who have struggled through the intricacies of Masonry with a single eye to bedizen themselves with jewels and regalia , the burlesque is changed to dolorous inconsistency .
There are some who , like the pigmy of the fable , standing on the Alps fancies himself bigger and a mightier man than the giant whom he espies in the valley below him ; and there are some Masons who in the same ratio glance
from the pinnacle of their consummate egotism disdainfully upon those who , though doing good and useful work in the Craft , are not blessed with the " gift of the gab " or the inclination to make a pyrotechnic exhibition of their
own exalted virtues ! Have we not knowledge of men who , having ceased from doing any active work in the Craft , even if they ever made any beginning at all , vaunt of their proud association with Freemasonrv , whose emblems they
flash on their persons , and of whose excellencies they prate in public and in private as though thoy were really and indeed solid pillars of the Masonic faith ? It is vain to hope to curb the impetuosity aud ill-timed exuberance of
such individuals , and the only way to treat them is to allow their vapid utterances to blow off through the safety valve of their own verbosity . Then , again , we sometimes
come across men who , under the guise of an assumed Masonic apostleship , glibly and profusely declare what they are readv to do to assist a fellow-man in the attainment of
any object—socially , commercially , or otherwise—which he might be desirous of securing . In nine cases out of ten this " bunkum" is all gaseous , and promises vouchsafed by such men are like the proverbial pie-crust—made only
to be broken . Of course , it is upon the young and credulous that such vagaries can best be foisted , but there are not wanting records in which disappointment and regret have followed the too implicit reliance by older
Masons upon the assurances of these Pharisees of whom we speak . In the Lodge-room we occasionally find—as is the case in many other an assemblage of persons in public and commercial life—men who , unless they can "have
it all their own way" become petulant , peevish , and arrogant , to the utter discomfort of their compeers , and the disarrangement of the whole of the internal machinery . These irrepressible gentlemen lose no possible opportunity
of vaunting their own superiority , the infinity of their wisdom , and the overwhelming breadth of their intellectual achievements . Should any question arise with which they cannot entirely coincide , their motto seems to be " Nay , an '
thoul't mouth ! I'll rant as well as thou ! " And thus , whereas the matter under consideration might and should have been settled in harmony and peace , the apple of discord is thrown , and possibly the whole
thing is relegated to the pigeon-hole of abeyance . The Masonic Pharisee is as objectionable an object as an intruding wasp into our dining-room ; there is no peace so
long as he keeps buzzing about . Rapt in the ragis of self complacency , he orates at painful length when responding to a toast , interlarding a meaningless harangue with ful-