Masonry And Its Use.

MASONRY AND ITS USE .

An Oration by Per . Pro . James G . Dougherty , Grand Orator , before the Grand Lodge , of Freemasons in Kansas , 17 th February 1891 . IT ia onr fortune to live in an age and in a nation whoro all Fraternities must offer some justification of their

character , and give a reason for their existence . Persons insolent or persons curious may question Masonry aa to its charaoter and utility . The insolent are left to gness their answers in the mocking echoes of their foolish questions . The curious may be entertained by the recital of imaginative

doings sufficiently mysterious to satisfy their curiosity . Such persons as denounce Masonry on the ground that it is a secret society need not bo answered by Masons . If it seems best to say anything to check tho torrent of their abase , a gentle hint that they try their powers on the

Grand Army of the Republic or on the Farmers' Alliance , may be sufficient to suggest that Masons are not alone in their belief that men may rightfully form a society for

certain objects which aro not tho concern of all ; and may within that organisation have special , peculiar , secret ties binding them to each other , separating and distinguishing them from those who aro outside .

To such as make pretended revelations of the secrets of Masonry , either in books , or in lectures , or in public exhibitions of alleged initiatory rites , no Mason need ever make answer . Every moral and intelligent person who

reads , hoars or sees then * revelations , perceives at once that oither they have been misled , and so are mistakon in their assertions , or else that they aro retailing the assertions of perjurers , if they bo not perjurors themselves .

Passing in silence the msolont , and tho foolish or perjured , there remain those , not Masons , who have no objection to keeping certain matters private , in their families or in a wider yot restricted fellowship ; those who ask , What is the character of Masonry , and of what use is

it ? Those two questions , asked by reasonable mon , desorvo from Masons a serious and reasonable answer . Indeed , every Mason needs to havo a very clear view ,

both of the ossential character and of tho nso of Masonry , for his own usefulness , both as a Mason and a citizen . To defend Masonry is unnecessary . The person who makes tho attack is allowed to take as much exercise in that form

as he may choose ; no resistanco is offered to him . No Mason either asks him to bocome a Mason or to approve of Masonry . If he offors us a sorpent wo do not receive it , sinco we ask nothing and take nothing , either good or ill , from him . Every Mason rests in tho undoubting assurance

that Masonry has nothing to apprehend from attacks from without ; that only a Mason false to his principles can ever hurt Masonry . So , not for needless defence of our Order , but simply for clearness of apprehension of our own privileges and duties , we may now consider first , What is Masonry ? and second , What is its use ?

In answering the question , What is Masonry ? there are several points to be noticed : First . —Masonry is an anoient and honourable Institution . Anything of which it can be said , " It is ancient , " has this in its favour—it has stood the tost of time . Of course ,

there are old delusions , old iniquities . Yet even delusions and iniquities that have age in their favour have , by that mark , a greater admixture of truth and of right than delusions and iniquities so transparently false and wrong that they cannot persist through a generation . But

Masonry is honourable as well as ancient . In our own land Benjamin Franklin and George Washington are at tho head of a long list of distinguished men whose names have

illumined its rolls of membership , and whose deeds have added glory to its history . In Europe , kings , princes , and honourable counsellors have united in its work , or directed its assemblies .

Second . —Masonry is beneficent . Every local Lodge cares tenderly for its sick members , buries its dead , provides for -widows and orphans . Its beneficence is also

seen in homes for aged Masons , such as that recentl y dedicated in Michigan ; in hospitals and schools and orphanages , such as those founded and sustained by the Masons of London , England .

Third . —Masonry is religious . It is not true that Masonry is Christian or that Masonry is Jewish . Just as little is it true that Masonry is infidel or agnostic

Masonry And Its Use.

Prayer , an open Bible , reverence for the God of the Bible , for His name and for His word , are a part of the necessities of Masonry—those things in the absence of which Masonry ceases to exist . In this broad senso Masonry is religious .

Fourth . —Masonry is a fellowship . It is not a church , It invites none . It selects from those who offer themselves unsolicited , and unites them in fellowship . It has no propaganda and can have none . It rejects from its fellowship all women and children and several classes of men .

Unlike the church , which invites all , of all classes , ages and conditions , Masonry calls no one , and has no room for many who ask for fellowship . It receives some men who are members of churches , but not because they are members of churches . It receives some men who aro

not mombers of churohes , but does not offer to stand to them in place of the church . To those whom Masonry receives it offers a fellowship peculiarly intimate , but never competes or attempts to compete with a church of any name . Its fellowship is religious because Masonry is

roligious , but tho fellowship is between men whose particular religious views are most diverse . Fifth . '—Masonry is cosmopolitan . This characteristic is secured by having a fellowship that is not universal . Some men of clear and poaitivo views on matters social ,

political , religious , can fellowship other men of equall y poaitivo but diverse views . Such men can bo Masons . Some men can learn to respect tho aincore' convictions of other mon , when those convictions are diametrically opposed to their own ; other mon can regard only aB

a knave or a fool tho person whose views of life confliot with their own . The latter class aro not at home among Masons . Tho tolornnco which is joined with personal convictions too deep , too woll founded , to bo shaken b y the differing belief of a brother ; the openness of mind

which is ready to accept gratefully from a brother the correction of false viows , even when long sincerely cherished , this is that cosmopolitanism which unites men of various . social positions , of various religious beliefs , of differing political parties , even of different race , language and nations , in tho strong bonds of Masonry .

Sixth . —Masonry is conservative . It does not love change . It is inclined to identify the good wny with tho old paths . It bows down to what is ancient . It asks many questions of every new thing before it consents to recognise it as a worthy thing . Reform movements ,

affecting church or state , never will arise in a Masonic Lodge . Masonry is not inclined to disturb what is . The membors of every Lodge havo various other relationships . Their being is not absorbed in their life as Masons . Tho man who attempts to bo only a Mason is not fit to bo a

Mason , and is a failure as a Mason just to the extent that he pursues his foolish undertaking . Among Masons aro men who shako church and state as heralds of many-voiced reform ; and also their opponents , men of most opposite convictions , whoso opposition is as intense and persistent

as is the advocacy of the others . These reformers and opponents of reform may be members of the same Lodge . Whatever either may be outside the Lodge-room , both within the Lodge ask after the old paths ; both as Masons , are conservative .

Seventh . —Masonry is radical . It is only when one or the other is false that radicalism and conservatism aro set

in opposition . Masonry sets itself against that false radicalism that despises the lessons of history , that radical barbarism that seeks to begin each day as if there had never been a day before ; that , under the cry of reform , would repeat in ceaseless experiment old failures . Masonry

refuses to accept the word " old" as the synonym of "false , " or the word "new" as the synonym of " true . " This is genuine radicalism , the holding on to truths tested by long experience , and using these long tested truths as a guide to and a test of all other

truths . That which roots itself quickly may have no depth of earth , because on shallow ground , and so endure only for a time . That which roots itself permanently requires time , and so genuine radicalism is patient , that is

conservative , holding on to the good things that are while waiting for better things to grow . This seventh point in the character of Masonry is illustrated in tho other six . Ancient and honourable—the

former of little worth without the latter—beneficent , religious , a fellowship , cosmopolitan , conservative , Masonry stands for those good things which are the roots of all good things for mankind . Radical is only another way of