About Our American Scotch Rite Cranks, Once More.

than once said . " ( See Proceedings of the G . L . of Tenn . of 1883 , p 407 , and of 1885 , p 113 ) .

After administering a few more lashes to the benighted Grand Lodge and Grand Master of Ohio , and after expressing an earnest hope that the Ohio Masons will become

wiser , freeer , and better than they are now , the Committee of Correspondence presented the following resolutions , which wero unanimously adopted .

" Whilo earnestly deploring that such a condition of affairs should exist , we cannot but feel , after carefully studying tho Correspondence , that tho Grand Master of

Tennessee has truly reflected tho sentiments and wishes of the Masons of this jurisdiction , in insisting that ho who shall bo commissioned as our Representative shall bo one

who is willing to ignore outside organizations , and to proserve unbroken the integrity of peace and goodwill , which should , ' and we trust will ever , prevail in the great brotherhood of ancient Craft Masonry .

" The three degrees of our beloved Fraternity . . . comprising all over which the Grand Lodge claims jurisdiction , . . . embrace within their triple lines all which concerns our welfare . Let us not be drawn into disputes which may arise between organizations of which

wo have no legal knowledge , and in which , except as reluctant spectators of their trouble , we have no interest . " In Tennessee , God willing , we are determined that no such strife shall disturb our Councils . . . We are of opinion that those who may be selected and commissioned as the Representatives of the Masons of Tennessee , even in those Grand Jurisdictions where that unfortunate controversy may exist , shall be of like conviction with ourselves . This being so , and the Grand Master of Ohio being

unwilling thafc any but parfcizan in fche struggle , in which his jurisdiction is unfortunately involved , shall hold our commission , and receive courteous fraternal reception from

the Grand Lodge of Ohio , it would be undignified that we should insist , and still less true to our convictions and self respect , that we should consent to the appointment of one , however otherwise worthy , who would on so important an issue hold opinions at variance with our own . " I have given sufficient extracts from the Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee to provo thafc Tennessee at

least is not infected with tho high degrees mania , and I have reason to believe that the unvarnished rebuke given to the perverfcors of Masony in Ohio by the Grand Lodgo of Tennessee , will eventually tend to bring the whole system

of the so-called " High Degrees" into well merited contempt . Indeed , if I am not mistaken , tbe leading men in the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts are now sorry for having suffered themselves to become the tools of a high

degree faction , aud even Bro . MacCalla , though ho is in duty bound to the high degree Pennsylvania pervertors of Masonry , to expel some unfortunate Cerneauites for sticking to the Cerneau faction , yet , in an article , reprinted in this paper of 13 th April , from the Keystone , he says :

" Three and only three degrees are ancient ; and whatever more than these is an excresconcy , a superaddition , and ultimately and surely a seed of conflict and evil . " Putting aside Bro . MacCalla ' s notion , that "Three

degrees are ancient , " I heartily endorse the remaining part of the above paragraph , thus showing , whafc I intimated above , that the warning he issued to tho Cerneauites in his jurisdiction , was not in harmony with his own common sense . BOSTOM , U . S ., 26 th April 1889 .

Ever Sacred.

EVER SACRED .

An Oration by Bro . Thomas Henry Laine , before the Grand Lodge of California , F . and A . M ., 10 th October 1888 .

CCONVENED in this sacred place , surrounded by the ) mystic symbols and emblems of our Order , and having constantly before our eyes the whole insignia of the Craffc , all vocal with lessons of wisdom and beauty , the mind ,

intoxicated with their perfume , is loth to wander from Masonry to any other subject . For Masonry , as a theme , like unto the Holy Writings as a book , is always new , inspiring and cxhaustless ; a fountain , for ever pouring forth the pare waters of wisdom , love and truth—the true

waters of tho river of life that flows from tho throne of

Ever Sacred.

God . Our loved Fraternity is hoary with ago , yot full of the vigour and beauty of youth , knowing no decay .

" Involution a sweep o er fcho earfcb , Like troubled visions o ' er the breast of dreaming sorrow . " Nation rises against nation , and system rises against system , in the great work of change and destruction . Tho

world ' s arena is strown with ruins , bones and blood . But , amidsfc these mighty scones of passion , war and ruin , tho Lodges of our Craft have stood as beacons upon tho highest hills and lights in tho deepest vales , offering places of shelter and repose . In those sacred precincts there has

been for ever taught the lesson of all lessons , thafc there is one Almighty Father , tho Architect of all things soon and unseen—most holy and loving—in whose sight all mon aro brethren , equally under His protection—a Living God , who , " discerneth deep things out of darkness , and bringeth to light the shadow of death , " and of whom it is said , " PToll ia nn . Vfifl fifvfnrn TTim rtaa +. riinfinn Vint . h Tin onminrr "

•UW * . . ~ ~~ ~~ , „~„ . ~~ ~ - „ - ~ w V . VU * . g . Whence came this puissant and venerable Order ? What corner of the globe can claim to be its birth-place ? At what point in the tide of time came it into being ? Geographically considered , it came not into being in the frozen and sterile North Land , nor from the parched and burning equatorial regions , but in some temperate clime where the physical needs and strength of man gave him

the desire and power to use the twenty-four inch gauge , the common gavel , the setting maul , the square , the plumb-line , the compass and the trowel . Not only did ifc originate in the temperate regions of the earth , but at some point north of the equator . This is apparent fco tho Masonic mind without learned arguments to support it ; the situation of the Lodge and the location of its lights is enough—tho North being the place of Masonic darkness .

To narrrow further the limits , we claim that it could not have been born of atheism , barbarism or ignorance . No She bears upon her brow and in her body and spirit the unmistakable evidences of her high birth . That only hearts and minds , pure and God-fearing , laid her foundations and wrought upon her in fche beginning , is evident from her landmarks and foundation principles . Some have inconsiderately contended for an Ee-vntian

origin of our Craft , as that ancient people had much of learning and art . But such a contention is without foundation . Its grand moral and theocratic system could not havo been the outgrowth of the brute-worshipping Eervotian people . No ! Search her monuments from

Mona 3 to disemboguing Nile ; examine every inscription , statue aud structure , whether it be sphinx , temple , tomb , or mighty pyramid ; and nowhere is there to bo found the slightest trace of Israel ' s God , Who in the

beginning created the heavens and tho earth . Search othor lands , their records and monuments , and nowhere will you find a civilisation from which such an Order could spring or find nourishment in infancy , except in that land in which was erected that wondrous temple on Mount

Moriah , within whoso walls no graven image , no statue of man , bird or beast is found , but only the altar from whose brazen top there ascended the sweet-smelling odours of sacrifice to the invisible God , and where , day and night , blazed the mystic Shekinah—that fire fed by no human hand or earthly fuel . That holy temple has fallen ; over its ruins loner sinco were heard the screams of the e-odless

Roman ' s eagles . Yet neither the tread of armies , tho shock of battle , the breath of pestilence , or the tooth of alldevouring time , have been able to remove from those ruins the evidences that it was the work of Masons—of a civilised , God-fearing people . Tho foe and tho elements have dug down on its foundation , lasting as fche eternal hill of which it forms no inconsiderable part , and fonnd —¦

- i / — - the sure evidences of Masonic work that every wellinstructed Mason knows how to read . We have thus fixed the place and time of Masonry ' s birth . It is a Royal Order , brethren . Hiram of Tyre and Solomon of Israel exalted the widow's son , whose royalty was labour , wisdom and fidelity .

The Craft itself has been as well built and enduring as this mighty foundation was . The ruthless hand of man , with blast , pick , crow and shovel , May remove Mount Moriah , or cast Mount Zion into the sea ; it may pull up by tho roots the cedars of Lebanon ; but the God-planted

institution of Masonry is beyond his powers . Ifcs roots are too deep and strong to be dug out or pulled up ; they are beneath every land and clime , and tho nations rest in the shade of their great tree .