Ar the moment Freemasonry fills the minds of a'largo womber of the Shanghai residents and occupies much of their time and attention; it seems, there. tis fore, not inappropriate to make our readers aware that we are probably the verge of some rather startling discoveries in connection with the mys-tio Brotherhood. A large class of persons oppose and ridicule Freemasoury. To these the whole thing is a relic of a by-gone day. The secrets are worthless, the ritual ridiculous, and the mostings mere excuses for convivial enjoyment. Weare bold to say that this is a superficial view. Those who look into the subject with any care will Gnd much to repay them in ibe examination of the Masonic ceremonies. It is pos sible, as we showed in a recent review of the latest work on Rosicraci m, to wake Freemasonry symbolize so mach that its symbolism evaporates into nothing, but it is unjust to regard the whole ritual of the aproned fraternity as foolish and frivolous, We have before us a pamphlet entitled Arcana Saitica, which consists of three essays on the Masonic Tracing-boards, and in the preface of this little publication the truth is well stated: "I believe, "says the writer "that toa large number of Masons the esoteric meaning of the symbols and ceremonies in constant use and practice amongst us is either unknown or cannot be uninteresting even as a matter of to know whence they are derived, and to see how even in our ancient and honourable society the jewel trath has become encrusted, until to the outward view it is like the pebble ignorance." Still, th one great danger in all systems of symbolism, viz., the danger before referred to of making the emblem represent so many things that it ultimately represents nothing, and the neophyte is plunged into the bewildering creed of the author of the parody on Byron in Rejeoted Addresses," where "Nought is everything and everything is nought.
We believe that Masonry contains traces of primitive worship, and that the grand truths which underlie all religions are hinted at not obscurely in its curious and impressive ritual. "We venture to write on ¢ i some reserve, and to suggest rather than to dogmatize, but it may be said that in man's relation with certain great truths there have been three epochs. Firat, vague beliefs in the necessity of an expiation and in the doctrine of a resurrection from sin and death, were shadowed in the ancient cult of Egypt, in "the descent of the Joy God into Budes" and in "the healing lustrations of Eleusis." Various religions arose, all displaying with more or less vividness a recognition of these two troths, The grandest of all religions displayed these doctrines unexampled magnificence, and added them sanctions altogether peculiar and sublime. Thus the beliefs that were the indistinct dreams of former faiths became the substantive truths and facts of Christianity. Bat Chris-y required buildings, and the architecture of these buildings represented in symbol not the truths of Christianity, which were accessory and collateral, but the main ideas, of which hints had been legible in other religious. Thus the double attitude and aspect of Masonry is explained. Its devotees were Christian workmen, brethren of the chisel and the mallet going about in guilds or fraternities, trades unions with their trade secrets. This is the spoot under which Masonry appears inthe Middle Ages; bub besides in that the buildings they erected symbolized the great root-doctrines of all religions rather than the distinctive tentures of Christianity, the fabrics they reared keep in memory the eternal underlying verities that have undying interest. The craft of the architect passed into other honda, Its sphere was enlarged by all the needs and claims of a materialistic tion, and Freemasonry shrank back into a system of symbolic morality. Its middle period was its "stone age," when ib reared the most glorious piles that the world has seen. Now it goes back to its first principles, having borrowed from Christianity, as all systems mast, its chiefest glory and most brace tical principle—Chiarity, It would be a curious proof of the antiquity of Freemasonry if it could be found in any form, however indistinct, in China, and there seems to be some reason to think that marke of it are traceable in this country. We must be very careful in receiving avy communications on this subject, as the most respectable antiquarians are apt to exaggerate the value of accidental resemblances when they are seeking to corroborate a favourite theory. For reasons which will be obvious to those who purchase the book referred to above, Arcana Saitica, it is impossible to discuss it in @ newspaper at any length. There is a strange mixture of truth and error in these eccentric pages. There is a class of sinologues who find nature-worship everywhere. Wo require fuller data before we can find Freemasonry in China and nature. worship in Freemasonry.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.