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VOL. 1.
GREENSBORO, N. C., FRIDAY, APRIL 14,1876
NO 31
[From Mie Christian Advocate.
Church and State-
Hon. Jno. N. Staples, of Greensboro’,
spoke on Saturday of Centennial week,
eartii can give to control the conscience
or religion oi a man.” American great
ness is a result, in a great degree, of the
entire separation of Church ami State.
Triads in Masonry.
Freemasonry is full of triads. It has
on the above subject. The following sy- : kept separate and distinct—the former
nopsis.was omitted Ust week on account should be under the protection not the
of the press of matter. The committee control of the State. There are three
was foitiinatein its .selection of Mr. Sta- | classifications respecting the relation of
pies as one of the speakers on this oooa- ! the Church and State. 1st. That main-
sion. He is a Methodist layman, a law-1 tainej by the Jews. 2d. That prevail
yer by profession, and though a young ^ ing in England. 3d. That which is gens
man, has already acquired distinction in ! erally recognized by all Protestants in ihe
the profession by the skillful manage-jUnitedStatesandwfhichshouldheinain-
ment of causes confided to his care. He | tained throughout Christian civilization,
is a member of the Legislature and at | Civil and religious liberty have gone hand
the last session took a prominent position j in hand in the United States, each con -
in that body, and, among other efforts, | trilmting to the promotion of the othens.
the friends of the Usury Bill ranked his Human legislation can not reach hnrnan
speech as one of the most effective made
in its favor.
Mr. Staples discus.sed the question of
Church and State under, three heads.
1st. The Churh—its antiquity, tri
umphs and ultimate destiny.
2d. Civil government—the American
System, its prerogatives an 1 powers.
3d. The relation between Church and
State, in the United States
The speaker said '‘The Church is older
than the Patriarchs and the Prophets—
more ancient than the thrones of Egypt.
It has outlived the glories of the oriental
empires and the splendor of the Jewish
Courts. He spoke of the tr uinphs of the
Church over all oppo,sition, the sword,
ths stake and the p-ison ; of Luther's Re
formation and the conflict between Pope
ry and Protestantism, the progres.s of the
Church and the great revival in the time
of Whitfield and Wesley He pointed to
the ultimate destiny of the Church, its
final triumph and reign.
Under the second head, tlie speaker
defined the Amer.can system of govern
ment to be of, from and for the people—
its public officers are servants and not
masters of the people. “Every public
official should be regardful, to the strict
est degree, of the public weal, and public
scorn and condemnation should lollow
those who regard not their official ohiiga
and the sciences and the promotion of let- I in philosophy, taught that one beneficent
^ Deity rules the universe, and that He is
Under the third head, Mr. Staple.s said triune in nature, with love as His chief
that the Church and the State should be
cance.
In the beginning God devoted three
days to the architecture of the earth, and
three to the Cieation of its oeouparit,s,
and the light bearers in the heavens. He
fir.st built, and then furnished our glori
ous mansion, and each in a triad of davs.
The principle of triads runs through
all mythology, pervades every form of
ancient worship, and is well worthv of
study
The Trinity of the heathen Mystics
consi.sled of the male and female [irinci-
ples, and the sun, forming their magic
tuangle. Layard tells us the equilateral
lion. Office is a trust, not a perquis.te. j triangle was the symbol of the Babylo-
attribute.
Triads appear, too, in the earliest
known languages. In the Semitic tongues
spoken by the A ssyrians, Babylonians,
Phoenicians, Jews and Arabs, the root-
words with rarely en exception, consist
of three consonants, so that their most
fundamental characteristic is the triliter-
ality of their roots.
The idea of a Deity three in one. is, ac
cording to Gladstone, found in ITomer.
And Tort tells us that the numeral three
is a siihstanliiil norm in Teutonic mvthol-
ogy. The Scandinavians related that the
, V i - 1 , world was sr.riported bv the ash tree
Is—there must be a higher power than I V u i • i. I
,1, , .u- ‘ .-. -igKdrasil which sprang from three roots.
Three gods ruUd in their celestial system
O'lin, Thor and Frey. To descend from
things celestial to those terrestrial, the
Laplanders, and most of the northern
nations, are in the habit of using a cord
tied with three magical knots for raising
tbe wind. During the Middle Ages
three degrees, three Grand Ma.sters, three three judges were required to be present
chief officer.,, three knocks, three jewels, i„ order to hold a court of justice and
three working tools, three step.,, three each judge sat upon a chair that had
members as the minimum of a Lodge, and three legs. An anologv to the three '
many others. These usages have come judges we find in the three principle otE-
down to us from the remotest times, and cers of a Masonic Lodge ne-e.ssary to be
of themselves are marks of the antiquity ^ present to open it. An old German reg-
of the Craft, In the earliest ages of the | ulation prescribed that three members
world of which we have any history the j made a guild. In Norway possession of
number three had a mysterious signifiA a dwelling was symbolically delivered by
Nothing short of that high sense of honor
and fidelity to public trusts—that elev-a
ted spirit of patriotism, which character
ized the founders of the Republic should
satisfy the demands of an honest public
sentiment. He denounced the usurpa
tions and tyranny of party and said “it is
dangerous to liberty and perilous to our
nian trinity.
Egyptian worship w.as always in triads.
On the wonderful temple-island of Phi-
1®, in the Nile, Isis, Osiris, and Horus
were the sacred three, and the interior
of the great Temple is filled with their
annals And each district had its favor
ite trinity of gods, to whom the people
institutioiia whenever the best interests 1 paid reverence. The Egyptian priests
of the government are made subservient
to the advancement and perpetuation of
party supremacy.” He then -spoke at
length on the advantages of EJiio..ition in
the Church as well as State, saying “an
Jgnorant people are always easily govern
ed, but when you invest a man’s mind
with the livery of heaven, knowledge,
you m.ake him Godlike, and knowing his
rights he will dare maintain them. I
.you would make your nation mighty in
war, grand in peace ai.d great in history,
the arts
encourage with a liberal hand
were taught to belive in but one God, but
this belief was only imparted secretly to
initiates in the Mysteries, while the pro
fane world were invariably polytheists.
The land of Egypt was actually divi
ded by the number three, one-third being
owned by the piiests, one-tbird by the
king, and one third by the soldiers, An
aiialagous division obtained, centuries
after, in Peru, where the Inca owned one
third, the Church one-tbird, while the
people tilled, but did not own, the re
maining third. Plato, the greatest name
cutting three chips from the door post
and g’ving them to the purchaser. Ser
vice of a legal writ was made bv the offi
cer cutting tnree times into the door-post
of the party served and placing the sum
mons over the transom. The Welsh
Bards denominated their poetical histo
ries triad, and recorded all of their facts
in groups of threes. The Grecian god
dess Hecate, reputed tv have been a mys
terious deity, bad a triple form, and was
hence named Triformis, and she ruled
over the three [leriods of human existence
—birth, life and death, aiid the three
[larts of creation, heaven, earth and the
under-world. The first three of the
seven liberal arts and sciences fostered
by Freemasonry, w-ere also scholastically
termed the Trivium, viz: grammar,
rhetoric and logic.
Any reference to triads would be in
complete without a mention of the tripod
or three legged stool, on which ancient
prophetesses and wonder workers sat
while exercising their office, and in this
connection, we may .nention that editors
are always supposed to sit on a tripod
when they fulminate leaders that star
tie the world. Hurrah for the tripod, or
rather, to adopt the form of the triad in
giving expression to the thought, three
cheers for the tripod.
But we have traced enough analogies
to prove the universal adoption and force
of the triad. In heaven and earth, among
gods and men, three is matchless as a
number. But in Freemasonry we are
most interested in its aj.plicatioii, and
how numerous they are. Who can for
get the three degrees he has received, or
the three pillars of wisdom, strength and
beauty represented by the Master, Se
nior and Junior Wardens ; or that su-
piemely beautiful illustration of the
number three, “Seek and ye shall find :
ask and ye shall receive ; knock and it
shall be ojiened unto you.’’ These word:-,
taken from our First Great Light in Ma
sonry, not only exemplify the introduc
tion of the candidate to the Brethren, bur
also as well the whole future course of
hirt life. Every Freema.sori who contin
ues to ask and seek knowledge, that i-
“more Light” in Masonry, find.s and re*
ceives it. and no portal of truth remains
closed against his earnest knock. Let u,-:
highly esteem Freemasonry, the science
of the sacred three. Like the three magi,
or wise men, it has come from the Ea.it
to enlighten Ihe world. The cathedral
of Cologne vainly boasts of possessing tlie
bodies of these magi, and a monument i.-:
theie erected to their memory, whence
they are denominated the “three kings of
Cologne ” Among our German brethren
of the Continent this legend is preserved
in the Craft. Flowever it is no legend,
but hi.storic truth, that Freemasonry was
the first conservator of science and theol
ogy. All of the great philosophers of
antiquity were members of the Myst: ;
Fraternity of their time, which is in thc
line of ascent of o'lr Craft, and taugh'
therein the truth of religion, and the
most a.lvanced secular leaimng. We
h ive reason to believe that Freemasonrv
existed in the beginning and middle, fl
it will to the end, of the world—a triad
that covers all time. The pa.st has beet.,
the present is, and the future will be
ours.—Phil. Keystone.
While General Sherman’s army wa-
occupy ing A tlati ta, some soldier, evident
ly not a Mason, .stole the Secret a n-'sjev, -
el of Fulton Louge, No. 216, from the
Masonic Hall. Nothing was heard of
this jewel until a day or two ago, Capt.
W. Hubbard, the Ma.'*ter of this Lodge,
received a package by express from tbs
Secretary of a Lodge in Massac!,usetts,
containing the lost jewel. He said, in a
letter accompanying it, that the jewel had
only recentlv come into the possession of
a member of bis Lodge, j he expre.s-
charge.s were prepaid.—Atlanta Constitu
tion.
Hon. Peyton Randolph, who was :
member of the Contine.ital Congress tha'
met in Philadelphia in 1774, w.is a distin
guished Mason. In 1773, Lord Petrie.
Grand Master of England, constituted
him Master of the Lodge at Williamsburg.
Va. While be was Provincial Grand
Master of Virginia he presided over tin-
Continental Congress for t\vo se.ssion.s.
He died suddenly of apoplexy, while
performing his duties, in Philadelphia, on
Oct. 22d, 1775, and hi.s remains lay in
terreu in this city until the next year,
when they were removed to Wiiliam.s-
burg.—Keystone.
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