The Ritual by Gadicke

As Gadicke commented on the subject of the ritual [pages 647-648 of Robert Macoy's Dictionary of Freemasonry:

"This word [ritual] imports how a lodge ought to be opened and closed, and how an initiation, passing, or raising ought to be conducted; this may also be called the liturgy of the lodge.

The ritual is not the same in all lodges, nay, there are nearly as many
different rituals as there are Grand Lodges. Many of those rituals are quite modern origin, especially that of the Grand Lodge Royal York, Berlin, and that of the Grand Lodge of Humburgh. The English ritual is the most ancient, and extended itself into every part of the earth...

Those outward forms and ceremonies, although they differ, yet they do not divide the brethren amongst themselves, but each lodge and its members is tolerant with the members of other lodges; and all lodges allowed to endeavour and strive to obtain their object by what way they think best.

Neither is there any real difference whether some ceremonies are to be performed in this manner, or in that, according to the different rituals, or whether the officers are called this or that.

Time and various circumstances have made those alterations in the rituals principally to produce a more lasting impression upon the mind of the candidate at his initiation, and to advance with the improved spirit of the times.

Fragments from some of the rituals have been published, especially from the old ones; but there must be more than a dozen rituals published before an uninitiated person could learn how an initiation was conducted, or how a lodge was held.

The end to which the ritual leads us is the principal object, or the real secret of Freemasonry, and it would require an adept to discover this from any ritual.

There only ought to be one ritual, as was the case in former ages; and the unlucky word system ought never to have been introduced into the Craft."

Eyesight and Light by Gadicke

"He who has been temporarily deprived of his sight is reduced to the condition of a new-born babe, or of one of those unfortunate individuals whose natural infirmity renders the presence of a conductor indispensably necessary; but when there are no outward objects to distract his attention, it is then that with the eye of reflection he probes into the deepest and darkest recesses of his own heart, and discovers his natural imperfections and impurities much more readily than he could possibly have done had he not been deprived of his sight.

This short deprivation of sight has kindled in his heart a spark of the brightest and purest flame. We must further admit, that those who have been deprived of their sight, and who have hopes of being restored to it, strive most industriously and diligently to obtain it; that they have no greater desire, and that they will most readily pledge themselves to do all that can be required of them, in order to obtain that inestimable blessing.

A man who has been deprived of his sight may be introduced into places where he is surrounded by the strangest and the rarest objects, without a possibility of his becoming a traitor. At the same time, those who are in possession of their sight cannot feel the care of their guides so much as those who are hoodwinked, and who feel that without the constant attention of their conductors they would be much more helpless than they now are; but, however many proofs of attention and care they may receive, there is still something left to wish for; and to the question, What is your chief desire? the answer will ever assuredly be, "Light.""

Johann Christian Gadicke or Gaedicke, the German masonic lexicographer, author of German Lexicon of Freemasonry. p267.

GAEDICKE, JOHANN CHRISTIAN

"A bookseller of Berlin, born on the 14th of December, 1763, and initiated into Freemasonry in 1804. He took much interest in the Order, and was the author of several works. The most valuable and best known of which is the Freimaurer-Lexicon, or Freemasons Lexicon, published in 1818. Which, although far inferior to that of Lenning; which appeared four years afterward, is, as a pioneer work, very creditable to its author. The Lexicon was translated into English and published in the London Freemasons Magazine."