Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Parable.
He passed by a fresh green field , Where the heart of childhood played ; nd he sowed a little and went his way , But the beautiful growth was stayed . He sowed in the field of youth ,
That was blossoming snowy white , And the flowers drooped and hung their heads , And shadow swept out the light . In a field where the standing corn Was tall as a bearded man
Ho sowed again , and the withered leaf Hung a sorrowful sigu of the ban . The last of his bitter seed He sowed in a ripened field , And a blight crept over the golden ears , And the promise was more than the
yield . Then this was plain , though I learned in pain , That trouble to none was kind ; That the pleasant fields were the joys we seek , But the salt the woes we fiud .
Address Of P.G.M. Bro. Hon. Richard Vaux, At Centennial Of American Union Lodge.
ADDRESS OF P . G . M . BRO . HON . RICHARD VAUX , AT CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN UNION LODGE .
( Continued from page 256 . ) IT is not then difficult to understand how the atmosphere from which tradition takes its vitality was surrounding or common to the highest intelligence of these nationsand intercommunication made the
, possessors of these mysteries associates , for thus they were identical , or nearly so , in all nations which celebrated them . To attempt to describe with any degree of accuracy the process , or method , by which the oral teachings of these mysteries
or mythologies were conveyed from Persia to Egypt , or to Greece , or Rome is now impossible , but may it not have been by a symbolism which needed but little spoken language to do more than explain them . This acquisition was possible fc 0 the Cele-. bants or Hierophants , or Kerux , or Basileus , who performed parts iu the ceremonial at the
Address Of P.G.M. Bro. Hon. Richard Vaux, At Centennial Of American Union Lodge.
altar . What has been transmitted to this day of these mysteries was doubtless the exoteric knowledge which was acquired b y those heathen philosophers and sages , who communicated as a philosophy the wisdom of the mysteries , as enough was imparted
in concurrent investigations of the " Divine essences " of the mythologies to justify their own conceptions of them . Socrates was charged with atheism or disrespect of the gods for not having been initiated . IsocratesPorphyryEuriides
, , p , Plato , Herodotus , Plotinus , Pindar , Macrobius , Pythagoras and Sallust , not to mention many other of the philosophers , all liave discoursed or written , on the mysteries of the mythologies and established that they were the concrete essence of the
religions of the ancients . The singular conformity between what is known of these mytholigies and Freemasonry as we now celebrate it , is more than strange , unless the one has been derived from the other in its essentia ] and marked characteristics .
It surely will not be denied by the exact student that Freemasonry is a cult , a mystery , which teaches faith , courage , hope , secrecy , death , resurrection and
immortality , and these by the symbolic method , that in a far greater measure it is true , was employed by the ancients . The student will not assert that the history of King David and his son Solomon , who built the Temple , indicates they were either the authorsor originatorsof
, , Masonry . The question " when was either initiated into a fraternity which they assembled fur special labour , of which a knowledge was pre-acquired if it had no prior existence ?" ends the theory of King Solomon having
originated or instituted it at Jerusalem , in Judea . Long before King David there was "the fellowship of the mystery , " " which from the beginning of the world had been hid with God , " as St . Paul wrote to the Ephesians . Out of the confined and
restricted circle of this " fellowship of the mystery , " grew the larger circumference of a fraternity , which accepted Truth taug ht in secret by symbols , signs and allegory . These were languages all could understand . The exoteric teachings of Truth in secret association constituted and cemented a brotherhood , as stones set b y skilled hands and cemented by unifying ties in temp les
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Parable.
He passed by a fresh green field , Where the heart of childhood played ; nd he sowed a little and went his way , But the beautiful growth was stayed . He sowed in the field of youth ,
That was blossoming snowy white , And the flowers drooped and hung their heads , And shadow swept out the light . In a field where the standing corn Was tall as a bearded man
Ho sowed again , and the withered leaf Hung a sorrowful sigu of the ban . The last of his bitter seed He sowed in a ripened field , And a blight crept over the golden ears , And the promise was more than the
yield . Then this was plain , though I learned in pain , That trouble to none was kind ; That the pleasant fields were the joys we seek , But the salt the woes we fiud .
Address Of P.G.M. Bro. Hon. Richard Vaux, At Centennial Of American Union Lodge.
ADDRESS OF P . G . M . BRO . HON . RICHARD VAUX , AT CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN UNION LODGE .
( Continued from page 256 . ) IT is not then difficult to understand how the atmosphere from which tradition takes its vitality was surrounding or common to the highest intelligence of these nationsand intercommunication made the
, possessors of these mysteries associates , for thus they were identical , or nearly so , in all nations which celebrated them . To attempt to describe with any degree of accuracy the process , or method , by which the oral teachings of these mysteries
or mythologies were conveyed from Persia to Egypt , or to Greece , or Rome is now impossible , but may it not have been by a symbolism which needed but little spoken language to do more than explain them . This acquisition was possible fc 0 the Cele-. bants or Hierophants , or Kerux , or Basileus , who performed parts iu the ceremonial at the
Address Of P.G.M. Bro. Hon. Richard Vaux, At Centennial Of American Union Lodge.
altar . What has been transmitted to this day of these mysteries was doubtless the exoteric knowledge which was acquired b y those heathen philosophers and sages , who communicated as a philosophy the wisdom of the mysteries , as enough was imparted
in concurrent investigations of the " Divine essences " of the mythologies to justify their own conceptions of them . Socrates was charged with atheism or disrespect of the gods for not having been initiated . IsocratesPorphyryEuriides
, , p , Plato , Herodotus , Plotinus , Pindar , Macrobius , Pythagoras and Sallust , not to mention many other of the philosophers , all liave discoursed or written , on the mysteries of the mythologies and established that they were the concrete essence of the
religions of the ancients . The singular conformity between what is known of these mytholigies and Freemasonry as we now celebrate it , is more than strange , unless the one has been derived from the other in its essentia ] and marked characteristics .
It surely will not be denied by the exact student that Freemasonry is a cult , a mystery , which teaches faith , courage , hope , secrecy , death , resurrection and
immortality , and these by the symbolic method , that in a far greater measure it is true , was employed by the ancients . The student will not assert that the history of King David and his son Solomon , who built the Temple , indicates they were either the authorsor originatorsof
, , Masonry . The question " when was either initiated into a fraternity which they assembled fur special labour , of which a knowledge was pre-acquired if it had no prior existence ?" ends the theory of King Solomon having
originated or instituted it at Jerusalem , in Judea . Long before King David there was "the fellowship of the mystery , " " which from the beginning of the world had been hid with God , " as St . Paul wrote to the Ephesians . Out of the confined and
restricted circle of this " fellowship of the mystery , " grew the larger circumference of a fraternity , which accepted Truth taug ht in secret by symbols , signs and allegory . These were languages all could understand . The exoteric teachings of Truth in secret association constituted and cemented a brotherhood , as stones set b y skilled hands and cemented by unifying ties in temp les