-
Articles/Ads
Article SCOTTISH FREEMASONS AND THE BURNS ANNIVERSARY. ← Page 2 of 3 Article SCOTTISH FREEMASONS AND THE BURNS ANNIVERSARY. Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scottish Freemasons And The Burns Anniversary.
insp iration which suggested that tho principal meetings of the Scots Lodge in London should be associated with the prominent national anniversaries of onr native land , and of these I know of none more worthy to arrest onr attention , or moro calculated to cause the tire of onr patriotism to burn clear and strong , than tho anniversary in special honour of whioh we are assembled to-night . For it was in
this month of January 132 years ago that there was born in a lowly cottage in Ayrshire , and of humble parents , a man child who , by the fire of his genius , kindled anew tho perfervid ardour of Scottish national sentiment , and , seizing the banner of patriotism , bore it hig her and higher , until at last he planted it npon an eminence never previously reached by even his most gifted predecessors . The
subject matter of this toast is well known to most of tho brethren present , and while I cannot hope to say anything regarding the poet whioh haa not already been expressed by those who have on former occasions assembled to celebrate his immortal memory , I cherish the hope that I may be able to stir in your minds recollections which may bo moro or less dormant , and , by reference to facta with which you
are all more or less familiar , and the expression of sentiments whioh yon regard as precious , to revive , and , it may be , intensify , those feelings of admiration with which you regard his immortal memory . If , at the same time , I can convey to the minds of English brethren present , to whom his writings are not so familiar , some idea of what it is that so strongly appeals to us Scotsmen when wo recall tho
memory of onr national bard , I shall consider that my task has been well accomplished . In recalling the salient features of the lifo and writings of our national bard , we cannot but he struck , in the first place , by the fact that he forms one among many instances of a higher law , a law for which we are unable to account or to follow in its workings , a law in virtue of whioh our greatest men spring from
the ranks . It is as though the great Architect of the Universe , out of His mere good pleasure , in order to demonstrate that all our boasted learning and culture form bnt a mere film or orast—in order to startle us out of our conventionality , and win ns from a soul , destroying affectation back to nature and truth—had decreed the sudden apparition from time to time of a Saul among the
prophetsa man bom of the people , bat head and shoulders abovo hia so-called educated co-temporaries . Such a man was oar poet , and as suoh he burst npon tbe astonished gaze of his countrymen , resplendent as a comet , and destined , alas ! to an orbit as eccentrio . Of individual incidents in his life , I propose scarcely at all to remind yon , not even of those more delightful , because less conventional , passages in the
earlier period , before he was , to use his own phrase , dragged into the glare of polite and learned observation . " What I prefer to recall , in order to get a proper appreciation of the man , are the broad lines of his character , the mainsprings and motives whioh actuated his conduct , and the measure in which his life and writings were in . llaenoed and modified by the circumstances of the times in whioh he
lived . And in the composition of such a portrait I assert , without fear of your disapprobation , that the nobler qualities * are alone those whioh should appear prominent , and that only as a background or foil should any use bo made of references to tho regrettable incidents of his career . The pages of history cratain only too frequently tho record of excesses committed by great men . Poets , statesmen ,
monarohs , warriors , philosophers , nay , oven the founders of religions , have beon hurried into snob . But posterity has agreed that it is not by these that noble characters are to be gauged . To speak of a man ' s virtues , to cone ml his iofirmitios , and if wo can say no good to Hay no evil of him , is a golden rulo of conduct with regard to the living , lb is an obligation with respect to the illustrious dead . Canonisation is
a process necessarily slow . Bit by bit and generation by generation alone can the cleansing fire accomplish ita loving work , and so in tho ond tho pure gold of tho dead man ' s character bo drawn from the crucible . Oi no man more truly than of our national poet can it be said that he lives in his writings . Yon may search all literature without finding an instanco of one whose life and character , whose
every aspiration , hope , fear , joy or sorrow aro moro accurately limned in his works . Every passion of the human heart , every incident in a painfully-choquered career , you find them each and all forming tho subject of his muse , each and all distilled in the alembic of his genius , and crystallised in undying song . And not only do wo find this record of the man as he lived , bnt we can distinguish clearly all the
leading influences which went to mould his character and shape his career . Chief among these must be placed his early religious train , ing , a training of the good old Scottish kind , which , however much m his day or since it may have erred in the direction of doctrinal subtlet y and refinement , had in it the stuff on whioh great men are reared . Our poet ' s books were few , but of those to which he had
access in his early years he was a diligent student , and we can picture to ourselves with what keen delight ho must , for example , have pored over that most magnificent of proso poems , the Book of Job , or how tbe grand old rngged tramp of the metro of the Psalms of David must have gone homo to the heart of tho youthful poet . As an illustration recall tho "Cottar ' s Saturday night , " a picture of tho
Scottish life of the period among the class to which oar poet belonged , so true in its every lino that it needs no hall-mark to attest its perfect genuineness . Is ii possible that any ono who had not himself come powerfully under the influence of the deep , stern piet y of the times could have drawn a portrait of such absolute fidelity ? Well might ho
say—From scenes like theso old Scotia ' s grandeur springs , That makes her loved at home , revered abroad : Princes and lords aro but the breath of Kings , An honest man is the noblest work of Cod . -lime will not admit of reference to minor influences . Such , for itistance
, as the effect upon hia imagination of tho tales and songs of Bett y Davidson , who was remarkable , as he tells UR , for hor gnoranco , credulity and superstition . " From her came all his fairy lore , and information about wariocks , wraithf , dead-lights , cantraips , and supernatural things in general , each and all of which stimulated "is fancy and developed his poetic vein .
Scottish Freemasons And The Burns Anniversary.
One influence , however , claims our attention in an especial manner this evening , namely , his connection with Freemasonry . I have not been able to satisfy myself as to when he became a member of the Craft , but in 1 T 84 he waa elected Deputy Maater of St . James Lodge , Tarbolton , a Lodge in which he
Oft honoured with supreme command , Presided o ' er the sons of light . In 1786 ( after his removal to Mossgiel ) , he waa affiliated to tho Kilwinning Lodge , Kilmarnock , and there , that year , he sung , " Ye sou .- * of Aul * Killie . " In 1788 he became affiliated to St . Andrew ' s
Lodge , Dumfries . In 1786 we find records of his presence at various Edinburgh Lodges , and it appears to have been at these meetings that ho made the acquaintance of many noblemen and gentlemou who afterwards befriended him , notably tho Earl of Glenoairn , in honour of whom he wrote one of the most beautiful and pathetio of his poems . On a memorable occasion in 1787 , at a meeting of tbe
" Scots Lodge , " Kilwinning Canongate , now known as St . Andrew ( No . 48 ) , a Lodgo a special greeting from which I havo had tho honour of conveying to yoa to-night , tho whole of the Grand Lodge of Scotland being present , tho toast of Caledouia aud Caledonia ' s Bard , Brothor Burns , was given by the Grand Master , received with multiplied honours and repeated acclamations , and responded to by
tho poet . His appointment as Laureate of Ciuougate Kuwiuuiug College is the subject of a painting by Bro . Stewart Watson , woll known to Scottish Masons . He held that office during his life , after which it remained in abeyance until its restoration in 1835 in the person of Bro . Jamea Hogg , tho Ettriok Shepherd . Clearly , there , fore , the tenets of Freemasonry mast have been well known to him , and there is ample evidence in his writings that they were highly
esteemed . Well can wo understand that his hand once given was a sure pledge of brotherhood , and often and often mast he have sought the solace of his own distress by extending relief and consolation to his fellow creatures in tho hoar of their affliction . If prudence did not always direct , or temperance chasten , a love of justice was ever tho guide of his actions . Tho very essence of Masonry breathes in tho verso : —
Within this dear mansion may wayward contention , Or withered envy ne ' er enter , May secrecy round be tho mystical bound , And brotherly love be the centre . No man ever entered more heartily into the mysteries of the
" fourth degree . " Rare nights must have been spent with him when tho Lodge had passed to refreshment , and we can imagine the genuine gusto with whioh he wrote—Then fill np a bumper and let it o ' erflow , And honours Masonio prepare for to throw ,
May every trne brother of the compass and square Havo a big-bellied bottle when harassed with care . But nothing could more clearly show his intense interest in tho Craft than the pathetio farewell addressed to his " dear brethren of tho mystic tie , " tho members of St . James ' s Lodge , when he contemplated , " with molting heart and brimful eye , " a doparturo to foreign lauds in pumuit of " fortune ' s sliddery ba ' . " Thia ia how ho addresses them : —
May freedom , harmony and lovo Unite you iu tho grand design , Beneath the omniscient Eye above , The glorious Architect divine ! That you may keep tho unerring lino
Still rising by the plummet'u law , Till order bright completely shine , Shall bo my prayer when far nwu , ' . And again tho concluding stanza—sadly appropriate to our present meeting : A last request permit mo here , When yearly ye assemble a ' Ono round , I ask it wi' a tear ,
To him , tho bard that ' s far awa ' . No man was ever moro entirely human than ho . Of no one can it be said moro truly that be combined all the frailties of a son of Adam with a genius which was all but divine . His sympathy for every member of tho human race was positively boundless . At the very first glimpse wo get of tbo man wo find him a trusted
councillor iu all tho amorous intrigues of his native village , tho repository of tho scireta of every lovo-lorn swain of his acquaintance . Throughout his whole career , that which chiefly gives life aud vigour to tho poems whioh flowed from his pen is the eagerness with whioh he rushes to mingle in every occupation , joyons or sorrowful , whioh engages tho attention of his follows . Nothing comes amiss to him ,
whether a gospel foray or a drunken revel , a birth , a death , a marriage , a funeral , a Lodgo mooting , or an anniversary—all alike stimulate his fancy aud provoke his muse . So powerful , indeed , seom to have been individual incidents to movo him , aa distinguished from the subjects which great writers , whether of proso or verso , have more commonly selected , that we search in vain in his writings
for sustained efforts of composition . Nearly all his poems are sboit , while each and all are pithy , and to tho point . Hia variety is boundless . It is irnmatarial whether ho is gibbeting for the delectation of posterity an incarnation of sanctimonious hypocrisy suoh as , in spite of modern efforts to whitewash him , I take "Uoly Willie" to have beon , or whether ho is revelling iu the boisterous jollity of a penny wedding . Nor does the moral ever
escape him . Such a character as "Holy Willio" ho held in utter scorn . Hear what ho says * . — God knows I ' m not tho thing I should be , Nor am I oven tho thiug I could be ; But twenty times I rather would ho An athuiat clean , Than under Gospel colours hid bo , Inst fcr a screen .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Scottish Freemasons And The Burns Anniversary.
insp iration which suggested that tho principal meetings of the Scots Lodge in London should be associated with the prominent national anniversaries of onr native land , and of these I know of none more worthy to arrest onr attention , or moro calculated to cause the tire of onr patriotism to burn clear and strong , than tho anniversary in special honour of whioh we are assembled to-night . For it was in
this month of January 132 years ago that there was born in a lowly cottage in Ayrshire , and of humble parents , a man child who , by the fire of his genius , kindled anew tho perfervid ardour of Scottish national sentiment , and , seizing the banner of patriotism , bore it hig her and higher , until at last he planted it npon an eminence never previously reached by even his most gifted predecessors . The
subject matter of this toast is well known to most of tho brethren present , and while I cannot hope to say anything regarding the poet whioh haa not already been expressed by those who have on former occasions assembled to celebrate his immortal memory , I cherish the hope that I may be able to stir in your minds recollections which may bo moro or less dormant , and , by reference to facta with which you
are all more or less familiar , and the expression of sentiments whioh yon regard as precious , to revive , and , it may be , intensify , those feelings of admiration with which you regard his immortal memory . If , at the same time , I can convey to the minds of English brethren present , to whom his writings are not so familiar , some idea of what it is that so strongly appeals to us Scotsmen when wo recall tho
memory of onr national bard , I shall consider that my task has been well accomplished . In recalling the salient features of the lifo and writings of our national bard , we cannot but he struck , in the first place , by the fact that he forms one among many instances of a higher law , a law for which we are unable to account or to follow in its workings , a law in virtue of whioh our greatest men spring from
the ranks . It is as though the great Architect of the Universe , out of His mere good pleasure , in order to demonstrate that all our boasted learning and culture form bnt a mere film or orast—in order to startle us out of our conventionality , and win ns from a soul , destroying affectation back to nature and truth—had decreed the sudden apparition from time to time of a Saul among the
prophetsa man bom of the people , bat head and shoulders abovo hia so-called educated co-temporaries . Such a man was oar poet , and as suoh he burst npon tbe astonished gaze of his countrymen , resplendent as a comet , and destined , alas ! to an orbit as eccentrio . Of individual incidents in his life , I propose scarcely at all to remind yon , not even of those more delightful , because less conventional , passages in the
earlier period , before he was , to use his own phrase , dragged into the glare of polite and learned observation . " What I prefer to recall , in order to get a proper appreciation of the man , are the broad lines of his character , the mainsprings and motives whioh actuated his conduct , and the measure in which his life and writings were in . llaenoed and modified by the circumstances of the times in whioh he
lived . And in the composition of such a portrait I assert , without fear of your disapprobation , that the nobler qualities * are alone those whioh should appear prominent , and that only as a background or foil should any use bo made of references to tho regrettable incidents of his career . The pages of history cratain only too frequently tho record of excesses committed by great men . Poets , statesmen ,
monarohs , warriors , philosophers , nay , oven the founders of religions , have beon hurried into snob . But posterity has agreed that it is not by these that noble characters are to be gauged . To speak of a man ' s virtues , to cone ml his iofirmitios , and if wo can say no good to Hay no evil of him , is a golden rulo of conduct with regard to the living , lb is an obligation with respect to the illustrious dead . Canonisation is
a process necessarily slow . Bit by bit and generation by generation alone can the cleansing fire accomplish ita loving work , and so in tho ond tho pure gold of tho dead man ' s character bo drawn from the crucible . Oi no man more truly than of our national poet can it be said that he lives in his writings . Yon may search all literature without finding an instanco of one whose life and character , whose
every aspiration , hope , fear , joy or sorrow aro moro accurately limned in his works . Every passion of the human heart , every incident in a painfully-choquered career , you find them each and all forming tho subject of his muse , each and all distilled in the alembic of his genius , and crystallised in undying song . And not only do wo find this record of the man as he lived , bnt we can distinguish clearly all the
leading influences which went to mould his character and shape his career . Chief among these must be placed his early religious train , ing , a training of the good old Scottish kind , which , however much m his day or since it may have erred in the direction of doctrinal subtlet y and refinement , had in it the stuff on whioh great men are reared . Our poet ' s books were few , but of those to which he had
access in his early years he was a diligent student , and we can picture to ourselves with what keen delight ho must , for example , have pored over that most magnificent of proso poems , the Book of Job , or how tbe grand old rngged tramp of the metro of the Psalms of David must have gone homo to the heart of tho youthful poet . As an illustration recall tho "Cottar ' s Saturday night , " a picture of tho
Scottish life of the period among the class to which oar poet belonged , so true in its every lino that it needs no hall-mark to attest its perfect genuineness . Is ii possible that any ono who had not himself come powerfully under the influence of the deep , stern piet y of the times could have drawn a portrait of such absolute fidelity ? Well might ho
say—From scenes like theso old Scotia ' s grandeur springs , That makes her loved at home , revered abroad : Princes and lords aro but the breath of Kings , An honest man is the noblest work of Cod . -lime will not admit of reference to minor influences . Such , for itistance
, as the effect upon hia imagination of tho tales and songs of Bett y Davidson , who was remarkable , as he tells UR , for hor gnoranco , credulity and superstition . " From her came all his fairy lore , and information about wariocks , wraithf , dead-lights , cantraips , and supernatural things in general , each and all of which stimulated "is fancy and developed his poetic vein .
Scottish Freemasons And The Burns Anniversary.
One influence , however , claims our attention in an especial manner this evening , namely , his connection with Freemasonry . I have not been able to satisfy myself as to when he became a member of the Craft , but in 1 T 84 he waa elected Deputy Maater of St . James Lodge , Tarbolton , a Lodge in which he
Oft honoured with supreme command , Presided o ' er the sons of light . In 1786 ( after his removal to Mossgiel ) , he waa affiliated to tho Kilwinning Lodge , Kilmarnock , and there , that year , he sung , " Ye sou .- * of Aul * Killie . " In 1788 he became affiliated to St . Andrew ' s
Lodge , Dumfries . In 1786 we find records of his presence at various Edinburgh Lodges , and it appears to have been at these meetings that ho made the acquaintance of many noblemen and gentlemou who afterwards befriended him , notably tho Earl of Glenoairn , in honour of whom he wrote one of the most beautiful and pathetio of his poems . On a memorable occasion in 1787 , at a meeting of tbe
" Scots Lodge , " Kilwinning Canongate , now known as St . Andrew ( No . 48 ) , a Lodgo a special greeting from which I havo had tho honour of conveying to yoa to-night , tho whole of the Grand Lodge of Scotland being present , tho toast of Caledouia aud Caledonia ' s Bard , Brothor Burns , was given by the Grand Master , received with multiplied honours and repeated acclamations , and responded to by
tho poet . His appointment as Laureate of Ciuougate Kuwiuuiug College is the subject of a painting by Bro . Stewart Watson , woll known to Scottish Masons . He held that office during his life , after which it remained in abeyance until its restoration in 1835 in the person of Bro . Jamea Hogg , tho Ettriok Shepherd . Clearly , there , fore , the tenets of Freemasonry mast have been well known to him , and there is ample evidence in his writings that they were highly
esteemed . Well can wo understand that his hand once given was a sure pledge of brotherhood , and often and often mast he have sought the solace of his own distress by extending relief and consolation to his fellow creatures in tho hoar of their affliction . If prudence did not always direct , or temperance chasten , a love of justice was ever tho guide of his actions . Tho very essence of Masonry breathes in tho verso : —
Within this dear mansion may wayward contention , Or withered envy ne ' er enter , May secrecy round be tho mystical bound , And brotherly love be the centre . No man ever entered more heartily into the mysteries of the
" fourth degree . " Rare nights must have been spent with him when tho Lodge had passed to refreshment , and we can imagine the genuine gusto with whioh he wrote—Then fill np a bumper and let it o ' erflow , And honours Masonio prepare for to throw ,
May every trne brother of the compass and square Havo a big-bellied bottle when harassed with care . But nothing could more clearly show his intense interest in tho Craft than the pathetio farewell addressed to his " dear brethren of tho mystic tie , " tho members of St . James ' s Lodge , when he contemplated , " with molting heart and brimful eye , " a doparturo to foreign lauds in pumuit of " fortune ' s sliddery ba ' . " Thia ia how ho addresses them : —
May freedom , harmony and lovo Unite you iu tho grand design , Beneath the omniscient Eye above , The glorious Architect divine ! That you may keep tho unerring lino
Still rising by the plummet'u law , Till order bright completely shine , Shall bo my prayer when far nwu , ' . And again tho concluding stanza—sadly appropriate to our present meeting : A last request permit mo here , When yearly ye assemble a ' Ono round , I ask it wi' a tear ,
To him , tho bard that ' s far awa ' . No man was ever moro entirely human than ho . Of no one can it be said moro truly that be combined all the frailties of a son of Adam with a genius which was all but divine . His sympathy for every member of tho human race was positively boundless . At the very first glimpse wo get of tbo man wo find him a trusted
councillor iu all tho amorous intrigues of his native village , tho repository of tho scireta of every lovo-lorn swain of his acquaintance . Throughout his whole career , that which chiefly gives life aud vigour to tho poems whioh flowed from his pen is the eagerness with whioh he rushes to mingle in every occupation , joyons or sorrowful , whioh engages tho attention of his follows . Nothing comes amiss to him ,
whether a gospel foray or a drunken revel , a birth , a death , a marriage , a funeral , a Lodgo mooting , or an anniversary—all alike stimulate his fancy aud provoke his muse . So powerful , indeed , seom to have been individual incidents to movo him , aa distinguished from the subjects which great writers , whether of proso or verso , have more commonly selected , that we search in vain in his writings
for sustained efforts of composition . Nearly all his poems are sboit , while each and all are pithy , and to tho point . Hia variety is boundless . It is irnmatarial whether ho is gibbeting for the delectation of posterity an incarnation of sanctimonious hypocrisy suoh as , in spite of modern efforts to whitewash him , I take "Uoly Willie" to have beon , or whether ho is revelling iu the boisterous jollity of a penny wedding . Nor does the moral ever
escape him . Such a character as "Holy Willio" ho held in utter scorn . Hear what ho says * . — God knows I ' m not tho thing I should be , Nor am I oven tho thiug I could be ; But twenty times I rather would ho An athuiat clean , Than under Gospel colours hid bo , Inst fcr a screen .