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The Seasons Of The Lodge.
blossoms of October , or the roses of December ; to the other with the odorous breath of May , the leafy garniture of June ! How numberless the poems in prose and verse , which have celebrated the wonderful and beneficent changes of the seasons ! Bnt which of them speaks as though the world knows any other than our own of the North ? Only
one line of their procession seems present to the minds of men . If a single cycle of one hemisphere calls forth the admiration and gratitude of the poet and philosopher , the praises of pious Christian and pagan , in unending strains ;
why not much more the dual , parallel and reciprocating cycles of the year entire , ever and ever proceeding in the order of their cause , the alternate courses of the sun ? For the changes of the seasons are in all their complexity far
more wonderful than poets and orators appear to dream . of ; more admirable in their order than sages aud scientists take thonght of ; aud incomparably moro proper to incite ascriptions of praise to Him who ordains them than " all
good souls have hitherto discovered . Indeed , all who should bo among the first and most persistent in making known to men the wonderful order of the march of the years show little appreciation of these things ; like the Masons of modern times , who long ago suffered the southern course of the sun , and consequently the tine order of the seasons , to be lost to the Craft throughout all the Lodges , not only in the north but in the southern hemisphere also , in the vast regions where " the sun at high meridian is the beauty and glory of the day , " high in the sunny north . How easily do mankind lose sight of the cardinal points
and princi p'es of the very scheme or design in which they may be zealousl y engaged ; whilo they cling to mutilated foinn or details after the substance has been left among Ihe rubbish ; however absurd the result , or however slight
the oversight which may have produced it ! How one lapse makes place for another , until the hoodwink which the lencher withdrew from the eyes of the ignorant , his _ •ucc ?_ sor places upon his own , and wears complacently !
Yes , December is to us the midnight of the year ; that ia of oar northern year ; and dwelling in its darkness our cent acted vision discerns not the bri ghtness and life of summer , which stream from the flame-locks of the re * al
> un , through all tho vast spaces of tbe ground-floor , whence man never saw our pole-star , but looks upwards to the s uthern cross : for we have not pursued our explorations fave upon ono line , and the others are to us like some
unieahty of tbe abyss of space ; or the vanishing forms of a dieam ; and we even now scarcely so much as suppose tl at thousands of cur brethren who are binding on their aprons for the noonday march in honour of St . John tbe
i _ . vni . g _ . ist , never think that we look southward to sec the rooiuhiy s-uu : or connect aught of winter with his tropical fires on this their midsummer festival . And as they hail the summer ' s splendour and profusion , and we retire from
the chilling blast of winter ' s ni ght , to tho Lodge-room lighted nnd warmed for the cheery festival , neither they nor wc consider the two Great Pillars erect on their proper lines ; one a " pillar of fire " and li ght and life , and one of
cloud and darkness ancl clouth to all the natural order .-, of being ; through two great zones of the terrestrial sphere but wc thii k of one , the " pillar of cloud " tons ; and > . vc heap flo faggots of the sparkling yule-fire of our pagan
ancestors , nnd bind the holly and fir and pine boughs of their ancient festival , to walls ancl roof , and smile at the pelting snow without , and the sobbing and booming of tho midwinter gale . Perhaps the farewell song of Burns "oes
round ; perhaps " The Level and the Square , " and older f ; tra ' ns th ^ n these- and among them recitals from that jir . cient Scottish gem , which would be a part of Masonry if there bad never been an organized Lodge on earth :
" Keen blaws the blast round Donach Head ; The snaw flies snelly through fche dale ;" r . nd we think not at all of the lands where now glows the pillar of light , nor of the realms of the palm and cocoa and
mango vo , wh ' ch spread between them and our own ; nor of the Fun and moon going round from ri ght to left , and shining ut h gh meridian , squarel y into tho northern windows of the Lodge-rooms ; nor in what degree the
•-ouLh in the place of darkness . Nor do we often think of the earth as a sphere , and that tall-masted ships are now bearing some of our brethren across glassy seas , at almost high noon under the midsummer sun ; and that if we had ;! :.: ' •. - ¦ •: ¦ •of I / iH . kcns . we micrht look clown an I sec \ lv
The Seasons Of The Lodge.
keels of the vessels turned towards us as they split tho waves , but not their decks ; nor indeed that all the natural changes which take place upon the terrestial ground-floor , are presented on the floor of the Lodge , which also has its
equator and tropics and poles , and courses of the sun , and meridian and zenith , and solstices and equinoxes , together with its boundless canopy , the sombre , gorgeous , changing ,
mist-woven curtains and banners of the fleecy clouds , —the ever new , ever familiar , beneficent clouds ; emblems of mortality , that is , life in death . And this is because we have not explored the groundfloor , throughout its orderly expanse ; nor yet the floor of
the Craftsman , still less that of the Master ; so that we dwell continually , some in the north-east corner , and some in the south-east—some in the dark forests of fallacy , some upon the bare mountains of selfishness—some in the " sleepy hollows " of forgetfulness ; and elsewhere dispersed
and remote from the hearts and sympathies and knowledge of each other ; and we think not of our brethren of the human race ; nor of this great spherical temple of the terrestrial globe , nor of its parts and their order , though we
havo its surface always presented before us on the great pillar of the Apprentice ; and on the Lodge-floor where it is reduced to its proper geometric plane , with all its lines complete . And failing to regard the form and motion and
immensity of the great Lodge of earth , as well as that which our predecessors constructed to set forth its surpassing Order , we meet and work from month to month and year to year , as we go and come in outer life ; thinking of that which we see on the earth and in tho heaven , as
constituting the world , just as it appears to us ; and so of the Lodgo as made to conform only to the things we see , and thus we fall into ignorance of its admirable design ,
and lose little by little the "Craft" of Masonry ; and tho grand effects it was intended to produce on the minds of the universal Fraternity .
How often the Caftsmen wonder why it is that tho bright and genial day of festal Jnue should be assigned to St . John the Baptist , and the day of frigid midwinter to
tho loving and beloved St . John the Evangelist . But this is not so : tbe days are equal . Each comes with summer brisrhtness and balsamic airs to those who dwell beneath
the solar course whose golden gate he opens ou the celestial highway ; and each alike with frost-shackled streams and unpitying winds in turn to those who have last shared the beneficent pi-esence of the other . So let tho yule-fires
burn , and tho Lodge lights sparkle and g low—our brothers and fellows beyond the mountains a . rd seas , under the southern constellations , will light them again for the
winter faast , when we greet with rose and lily-work garlands from our sunny fields the midsummer-tide of the north .
And this is why the Lodge has two festivals for the year , and two guardians of its symbolic gates , and two points of high meridian ; ancl two places of darkness—tho Lodge is dedicated to two , and two aro the degrees which
separate the two courses of the sun in the cycle of the solar year , ancl one the degree which unites them . In that sublime degree " tbe summit of Ancient Craft Masonry , " beyond which there is nothing possible which can bo called
a degree—which merges all , completes all , proves all , and solves aud seals all ; the transcendant order of the whole , dual , tri ple and triuual , is made manifest . There runs tho equatorial line of the one only great circle of the sphere
which is due east aud west ; on which he alone can walk svho is in equilibrium of love aud wisdom—these the festivals of the right and left , of north and south , of winter and summer , of charity ancl truth , fill all the cycle of the year , the golden age of the perfected life .
The yule-fire there is the perpetual flame of true Masonic charity , which fends off all the polar currents of selfish desire and passion , and the festal light of ... midsummer
ju ' . ilee is tho transplendcncy of truth , whicu ! ••Ives and dissipates all error and falsity—the very Skekinah . Voice of Masonry .
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_ £ 20 _—TOBACCONISTS Co ___ . .. rcisc— An illustrated guide , regd . ( I 3 ( J pp ) " How to Open Bespectably from £ 20 to £ 2000 . " 3 Stamp ... 11 . MTBBS & Co ., Cigar and Tobacco Merchant . * ., 107 to 111 Euston Road . London . Wholesale only . Telephone No . 7511 . General ShopStter _ . B .-tiniatcs free .
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FiJNIE _ -AL 3 properly carried , out and personally attended in London or Country by Bro . G * . A . HJJTTON , 17 Newcastle * Street , Strand , "W . O . iyto * . ument _ oroeted . Valuations made
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Seasons Of The Lodge.
blossoms of October , or the roses of December ; to the other with the odorous breath of May , the leafy garniture of June ! How numberless the poems in prose and verse , which have celebrated the wonderful and beneficent changes of the seasons ! Bnt which of them speaks as though the world knows any other than our own of the North ? Only
one line of their procession seems present to the minds of men . If a single cycle of one hemisphere calls forth the admiration and gratitude of the poet and philosopher , the praises of pious Christian and pagan , in unending strains ;
why not much more the dual , parallel and reciprocating cycles of the year entire , ever and ever proceeding in the order of their cause , the alternate courses of the sun ? For the changes of the seasons are in all their complexity far
more wonderful than poets and orators appear to dream . of ; more admirable in their order than sages aud scientists take thonght of ; aud incomparably moro proper to incite ascriptions of praise to Him who ordains them than " all
good souls have hitherto discovered . Indeed , all who should bo among the first and most persistent in making known to men the wonderful order of the march of the years show little appreciation of these things ; like the Masons of modern times , who long ago suffered the southern course of the sun , and consequently the tine order of the seasons , to be lost to the Craft throughout all the Lodges , not only in the north but in the southern hemisphere also , in the vast regions where " the sun at high meridian is the beauty and glory of the day , " high in the sunny north . How easily do mankind lose sight of the cardinal points
and princi p'es of the very scheme or design in which they may be zealousl y engaged ; whilo they cling to mutilated foinn or details after the substance has been left among Ihe rubbish ; however absurd the result , or however slight
the oversight which may have produced it ! How one lapse makes place for another , until the hoodwink which the lencher withdrew from the eyes of the ignorant , his _ •ucc ?_ sor places upon his own , and wears complacently !
Yes , December is to us the midnight of the year ; that ia of oar northern year ; and dwelling in its darkness our cent acted vision discerns not the bri ghtness and life of summer , which stream from the flame-locks of the re * al
> un , through all tho vast spaces of tbe ground-floor , whence man never saw our pole-star , but looks upwards to the s uthern cross : for we have not pursued our explorations fave upon ono line , and the others are to us like some
unieahty of tbe abyss of space ; or the vanishing forms of a dieam ; and we even now scarcely so much as suppose tl at thousands of cur brethren who are binding on their aprons for the noonday march in honour of St . John tbe
i _ . vni . g _ . ist , never think that we look southward to sec the rooiuhiy s-uu : or connect aught of winter with his tropical fires on this their midsummer festival . And as they hail the summer ' s splendour and profusion , and we retire from
the chilling blast of winter ' s ni ght , to tho Lodge-room lighted nnd warmed for the cheery festival , neither they nor wc consider the two Great Pillars erect on their proper lines ; one a " pillar of fire " and li ght and life , and one of
cloud and darkness ancl clouth to all the natural order .-, of being ; through two great zones of the terrestrial sphere but wc thii k of one , the " pillar of cloud " tons ; and > . vc heap flo faggots of the sparkling yule-fire of our pagan
ancestors , nnd bind the holly and fir and pine boughs of their ancient festival , to walls ancl roof , and smile at the pelting snow without , and the sobbing and booming of tho midwinter gale . Perhaps the farewell song of Burns "oes
round ; perhaps " The Level and the Square , " and older f ; tra ' ns th ^ n these- and among them recitals from that jir . cient Scottish gem , which would be a part of Masonry if there bad never been an organized Lodge on earth :
" Keen blaws the blast round Donach Head ; The snaw flies snelly through fche dale ;" r . nd we think not at all of the lands where now glows the pillar of light , nor of the realms of the palm and cocoa and
mango vo , wh ' ch spread between them and our own ; nor of the Fun and moon going round from ri ght to left , and shining ut h gh meridian , squarel y into tho northern windows of the Lodge-rooms ; nor in what degree the
•-ouLh in the place of darkness . Nor do we often think of the earth as a sphere , and that tall-masted ships are now bearing some of our brethren across glassy seas , at almost high noon under the midsummer sun ; and that if we had ;! :.: ' •. - ¦ •: ¦ •of I / iH . kcns . we micrht look clown an I sec \ lv
The Seasons Of The Lodge.
keels of the vessels turned towards us as they split tho waves , but not their decks ; nor indeed that all the natural changes which take place upon the terrestial ground-floor , are presented on the floor of the Lodge , which also has its
equator and tropics and poles , and courses of the sun , and meridian and zenith , and solstices and equinoxes , together with its boundless canopy , the sombre , gorgeous , changing ,
mist-woven curtains and banners of the fleecy clouds , —the ever new , ever familiar , beneficent clouds ; emblems of mortality , that is , life in death . And this is because we have not explored the groundfloor , throughout its orderly expanse ; nor yet the floor of
the Craftsman , still less that of the Master ; so that we dwell continually , some in the north-east corner , and some in the south-east—some in the dark forests of fallacy , some upon the bare mountains of selfishness—some in the " sleepy hollows " of forgetfulness ; and elsewhere dispersed
and remote from the hearts and sympathies and knowledge of each other ; and we think not of our brethren of the human race ; nor of this great spherical temple of the terrestrial globe , nor of its parts and their order , though we
havo its surface always presented before us on the great pillar of the Apprentice ; and on the Lodge-floor where it is reduced to its proper geometric plane , with all its lines complete . And failing to regard the form and motion and
immensity of the great Lodge of earth , as well as that which our predecessors constructed to set forth its surpassing Order , we meet and work from month to month and year to year , as we go and come in outer life ; thinking of that which we see on the earth and in tho heaven , as
constituting the world , just as it appears to us ; and so of the Lodgo as made to conform only to the things we see , and thus we fall into ignorance of its admirable design ,
and lose little by little the "Craft" of Masonry ; and tho grand effects it was intended to produce on the minds of the universal Fraternity .
How often the Caftsmen wonder why it is that tho bright and genial day of festal Jnue should be assigned to St . John the Baptist , and the day of frigid midwinter to
tho loving and beloved St . John the Evangelist . But this is not so : tbe days are equal . Each comes with summer brisrhtness and balsamic airs to those who dwell beneath
the solar course whose golden gate he opens ou the celestial highway ; and each alike with frost-shackled streams and unpitying winds in turn to those who have last shared the beneficent pi-esence of the other . So let tho yule-fires
burn , and tho Lodge lights sparkle and g low—our brothers and fellows beyond the mountains a . rd seas , under the southern constellations , will light them again for the
winter faast , when we greet with rose and lily-work garlands from our sunny fields the midsummer-tide of the north .
And this is why the Lodge has two festivals for the year , and two guardians of its symbolic gates , and two points of high meridian ; ancl two places of darkness—tho Lodge is dedicated to two , and two aro the degrees which
separate the two courses of the sun in the cycle of the solar year , ancl one the degree which unites them . In that sublime degree " tbe summit of Ancient Craft Masonry , " beyond which there is nothing possible which can bo called
a degree—which merges all , completes all , proves all , and solves aud seals all ; the transcendant order of the whole , dual , tri ple and triuual , is made manifest . There runs tho equatorial line of the one only great circle of the sphere
which is due east aud west ; on which he alone can walk svho is in equilibrium of love aud wisdom—these the festivals of the right and left , of north and south , of winter and summer , of charity ancl truth , fill all the cycle of the year , the golden age of the perfected life .
The yule-fire there is the perpetual flame of true Masonic charity , which fends off all the polar currents of selfish desire and passion , and the festal light of ... midsummer
ju ' . ilee is tho transplendcncy of truth , whicu ! ••Ives and dissipates all error and falsity—the very Skekinah . Voice of Masonry .
Ad00602
_ £ 20 _—TOBACCONISTS Co ___ . .. rcisc— An illustrated guide , regd . ( I 3 ( J pp ) " How to Open Bespectably from £ 20 to £ 2000 . " 3 Stamp ... 11 . MTBBS & Co ., Cigar and Tobacco Merchant . * ., 107 to 111 Euston Road . London . Wholesale only . Telephone No . 7511 . General ShopStter _ . B .-tiniatcs free .
Ad00603
FiJNIE _ -AL 3 properly carried , out and personally attended in London or Country by Bro . G * . A . HJJTTON , 17 Newcastle * Street , Strand , "W . O . iyto * . ument _ oroeted . Valuations made