Mataura Ensign GORE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1884. FREEMASONRY.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 6, Issue 335, 29 February 1884, Page 2

Mataura Ensign GORE, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1884. FREEMASONRY.

AMONG; tlie numerous Friendly Socie-tle^-'-tha2t J characterise this age' of co : i operation Ereemasoniy is undoubtedly | zjfaeMe princeps, both in dignity and in pretensions. It does not pretend to be a benefit society in the ordinary sensed bufc only a brotherhood within which voluntary charity is supposed to be a very tangible facfc. ' This' indeed is no BmaJl^ -objection to Order, that while it costs' about the same amount as an ordinary benefit society the revenue is squandered on pomp and t ßhow, particularly in the Grand Lodges. But as a mere arbitraxy creation of man t is the most curioas crea- * tidn of the race. It exists in some form in almost every part of the globe. or eighty. Grand Lodges now exist, beside many important branches such as those of Australasia, Turkey, : Ghina, and the like. The charm u o{ Masonry in the popular esteem is the real or supposed .-inviolability of its secrets. The real i strength;., of ■■ the body, however, consists in 1 its organisation, in the friendly it affords, in the mock dignities and powers it confers, and in the -'unfailing, excuse it supplies for being out late at night. " Fable and imagination have traced back the origin i of freemasonry to the old Boman Empire, the Pharoahs, the Temple of Solomon, or even to the times of the Tower of Babel, and of the Ark of Noah." But it really sprang into existence about the same time and for the same j reason as the crafts of Skinners, Tailors, l^ercers, and -what not, Ir the middle ages Church and Ca hedral building flourished to an amazing extent. These were in fact the later Babels by which the laithful hoped to climb to Heaven, ; Like.gungs o£ men employed on large contracts in our time, the builders I 'were' 'wanderers. One tush being 'conijpleted, ' they set off to another . "job." In those days of elaborate carving there was more scope for genius arid skill in a rog,s#n . ; than ' there is now in him who 'wterely carries out th 6 architect's plan. It was therefore very necessary that none but tradesmen should be employed. But tradesmen often found on arriving at a strange place that they had to undergo a probation and give irksome proofs of '•thtiv skill. Itbeeamo therefore aftlt want to have some Organisation, some guild of accepted masobs, who should see that apprenticeships, were served and who should give credentials to the duly qualified. The guild was formed : — perhaps a little resembling a Trades' Union— and the creJcutialaof a mason were made to coueis in certain universal signs and symbol?. These were of course kept secret, as every mason yd* iritierested in tliuir not being

mown. The craft got the prefix free from the . fact that the priesthood sonsidered the builders of churches to )e under their special care, so that when the Pope published certain bulls regulating tha condition of the working classes the Masons were exempted Prom some duties and some burdens. Ihey.^ were "free " from them and hence the name " Freemason." It is maintained by economists of the present day that trades unions and every system that prevents a man from doing as much as he can as well as be can and fixes a standard day's work, tends to dwarf the powers and production of the whole nation. Perhaps the application of the same principle will explain the fact that the greatest architectural triumphs of those ages were the work or at least the design of persons outside of the Craft — as abbots and bishops. It is, however, maintained by those who are not blinded by enthusiasm for the Order that the modern Masonry cannot even claim such an ancient parent as the Craft referred to. The real founders of the present Order are said to have been iinglishmen of the 17 th century, who amused themselves by devising a set of symbols borrowed in part from the Knight Templars of Malta, arid in part from the Continental craft of " Freemasons." Out of that system Masonry, as it now appears, grew, and in the course of nearly three centuries has spread itself very widely especially among the civilised nations iof Europe. It has now no particular connection with building or architecture, but is a high class, fashionable, social and moral brotherhood. That a real brotherhood exists is evident by the frequency with which we hear such expressions as, "O, So and so got him that place because they are both Masons ;" or, " Yes, he would have got into serious trouble only the Masons shielded him and helped him to seek fresh fields and pastures new." In Gore the Masons have started with a considerable amount of eclat, and it must be admitted that their determination not to fraternise with an impenittiit,. stiff-necked, and brass-browed sinner has given them a moral status in public estimation that they may well be proud of. «*,