Workmen Wanted.

WORKMEN WANTED .

IT is an old saying that when a man has too many irons in the fire some of them are apt to get cold , from which we have always understood that it is better to do a few things well than , by undertaking too many , succeed in none . It occurs to us that thero is a homely wisdom

in this trite old adage that wo Masons may take to ourselves with benefit . But few of us , it is to be feared , are satisfied with having a single iron in the fire and devoting our zeal and attention to keeping it warm . Too many of us

aro busy with the the tithes of mint , anise , and cumin , to have any time left for the weightier matters of the law ; too many of us are ready and willing to work with a zeal instant in season and out of season on that part of the wall

of our mystic temple whero the crowd is , and where , consequently , hands are less wanted ; and too few are willing to delvo in the out-of-the-way corners and secure from the accumulating rubbish of time the gems of knowledge and the precious stones of fact that will otherwise

be lost beyond recovery . The labourer is worthy of his hire , and whenever a man works on our buildings , if he labour with zeal , and his zeal be accorded to knowledge , he will have his day ' s wages ; but the hire will be

according to the demand for labour and skill . The less theso are heeded the lower the rate of compensation and the longer it will take to lay up such a store as shall entitle tho workman to that supreme reward for all who toil in the vineyard

of the faithful" Well done , good and faithful servant . " Those who have taken Masonry to heart , with whom it

is a living , vital , actual reality , with whom it is " a spirit of love and charity , truth and good-will—flowing out from the heart into all the employments and intercourse of the

world , " will not be satisfied with the mere forms , nor ( eel that thoy have performed the duty required of them when they

have simply taken part in the outward and visible cere - monial , and then laid Masonry away till next Lodge night . They will not be content to labour for the lower wages of the unskilled workman , and spend their strength for a

reward inadequate to their own sense of devotion , energy , and power ; and yet , for want of a definite object of labour , " a well defined course of study marked out for themselves , tbey will be likely to wander like butterflies among the

flowers , sipping here and there a sweet , but producing nothing tangible , and laying by no stores for the household , " like a man in haste to bo rich , they will have too many irons in the fire , and none of them will be kept up to the proper temperature . Tbe field of Masonic study is so vast , the subjects of study and investigation are so many and flo varied , that no common mind can hope to master them all and become a skilled workman in either at will , and

therefore , as in the operative arts a division of labour seems to be the necessary and proper conclusion . If these premises are sound , and we certainly believe them so , then

there is one field lying fallow to which we can direct all who are willing to labour , not so much for self-advancement as that good may follow their works , not so much

that fame may come to them , as that the cause may bo exalted , and justice done to those who have deserved well of it , not so much for the wages known of men as for that higher reward the Father giveth in secret , and which He

will one day openly proclaim . The field to which we allude is the history of Masonry . Not , however , the general history of which so much has already been written , but the history of ourselves , of our time , and our own men , of our neighbourhoods and our Masonic firesides ; the deeds , the words , the recollections of our own men who have

passed through the times of trial , who have faced the blasts of persecution unblanched and unscathed , but who , one by one , are passing away to the final rest , and taking to the blank forgetfulness of the tomb memories and instructions that might be to us as apples of gold in pictures of silver .

" History , " says Lamartme , " is the written world , human nature in relief , evoked from its ashes , resuming soul , life , motion , and speech before us and before posterity , and affording for our instruction a lesson and example

for the future , in the eternal drama of humanity , represented in this vast arena girt with tombs , of which the dust is tbe ashes of what once was man . " History is the picture of human destiny , which

memory presents , to excite sometimes admiration and applause , at other times horror and aversion , according as virtue or crime , barbarism or civilisation aro placed

Workmen Wanted.

before us , but always with advantage to ourselves . " In a word , history is to a nation what the faculty of memory is to individuals , the link of unity and continuity between

our existence of yesterday and our existence of to-day ; the basis of all our experience , the source of all improvement . " Without history , then , there would be no social advancement , no progressive civilisation in a nation . With history we scarcely need any other lesson . " History knows all things , contains all things ; " not in

winged words which strike the ear without impressing the mind , but in greafc and striking actions . It renders us impassioned and enthusiastic sharers in the scenes of the past , filling our eyes with tears and making our hearts

palpitate with emotion . It fills us with enthusiasm or pity by our sympathy with its personations of a herd , a sage , or a martyr , with whom we completely identify ourselves ; " and in so far as our distance from the events

makes us impartial , and impartiality induces justice , we derive much more moral benefit from the contemplation of the past than even from the observation of the present . " As regards the men of other days , there is nothing to warp our consciences , " no personal interest to corrupt us , no popularity to fascinate , no acknowledged hatred to repel , " we consider , resolve , and decide with the impartiality and unerring judgment of innate and unbiassed rectitude . The ultimate result of our impressions is an

aversion to evil and a love tor good , virtue increases and becomes more deeply rooted in nations which have grown old with these historical associations and reminiscences , and we may say , without risk or error , that the country which has the most history is consequently that which has the greatest display of virtues . A series of historical biographies may , therefore , be with propriety designated

a journal of civilization . And again , the heart of man only remembers what moves and impassions it . Now , what is it in history that moves or excites the masses ? Is it things or is it men ? It is men and men only . You

cannot excite yourselt over a cnart , or be moved by a chronology . These abridged and analytic processes are the algebra of history freezing while they instruct . We want the history of mon who havo exemplified and exalted Masonry , we want the facts and memories of their

existences and experience ; we want to garner and send forth to the present and coming generations the fruits of their truth and their earnest self-sacrificing devotion . In this field workmen are wanted . Who will work !—Sydney Freemason .

Brothers' Law.

BROTHERS' LAW .

THERE is quite a difference between the forms , and some difference between the substance , of the law of the Craft as it now is and as it was two hundred years ago . Time works wonders . We have proceeded from simplicity

to complexity . In doing so we have followed the lead of the profane—followed it far more closely than we should have done . Once the statute law of the State was contained in a single slender book ; now it fills portly volumes . Once the decisions of the courts might all be ranged on a

single short shelf ; now they are so numerous and conflicting that to discover the law from them ( is like looking for a needle in a hay-stack . Masons are after all bufc men , and they mould certain exoteric features of the Masonic Institution more or less after the fashion of other institutions ;

and some Masons are lawyers , and they usually model Masonic law after the forms of profane law , giving it a part of the latter ' s complexity . The brothers' law of the Steinmeken ( stone masons ) of Germany—our operative ancestors in the Craft—was very

simple and very efficient , providing wisely and well for all of the needs of the Fraternity at that time . It is now four hundred years old , and may be read by any curious brother . The brothers' law of the English Operative

Masons — our immediate ancestors — was also brief and efficient , and was contained in the ancient Constitutions and Charges , once preserved in manuscript in every Lodge . The Fraternity was never better governed than when

subject to these simple codes . Under them it executed its greatest architectural works . Stone was laid upon stone of massive walls ; piers and columns arose to support the arches of magnificent cathedrals ; carvings of the greatest delicacy and beauty decorated their facades ; and the entire Craft was " kept in order" by the simple brothers'