Must Live In The Present.

MUST LIVE IN THE PRESENT .

Freemasonry now must not be paralysed by the withered hand of the dead past— . W . J . Duncan New York City .

THE antiquity of Freemasonry has always been , and must contiaue to be , a fruitful theme for writers and speakers . Men of thought have given carof nl study , and scholars havo devoted much time to searching tho musty tomes of tho far back agos , to learn something of this

mysterious society , whose very birtb and early history is as much a problem as the secrets of its ceremonials . There is something attractive and interesting about antiquity . We stand beside a mummy , and rnn back in our imagination to the days when tho Egyptian Mysteries were practised upon

the banks of the Nile . We wonder whether that brown , dried up burlesque on humanity was ever a Mason . Did he ever pass through the solemn ceremonies of the symbolic degrees ? Did he worthily wear the lambskin , the badge of a Mason ? He belonged to the age of

antiquity , and , dead and repulsive as he may now appear , after three thousand years of slumber , moro or leas disturbed by the curious gaze of living men , we feel an interest in him , bandaged and coffined though he is . Ho belongs to the dead past . Masonry is hoary with ago , but

no one has yet been able to toll how many frosty winters have added their whitening touch to its ever increasing years . Its doctrinal antiquity is cooval with man himself ,

and is as strong and powerful to-day as when from Sinai ' d mountain the Almighty thundered his disapproval of man ' s iniquity , and gave to him a moral law which haa ; been tho fundamental principle of all governments in all

ages . From out tho dead past come legends of languages that have long siuco been buried ; records in tongues to-day unintelligible , except to those few who patiently study to decipher tho mystery of tiurcadable hieroglyphics . The

earliest story of Masonry is told in this uncertain character —tho withered hand of tho dead past . We fmd tho figure oE a square and compasses graven upon an obelisk , or a mason ' s mark upon some ancient tomb , and , reading

between the lines , wo discover evidence , moro or less convincing to our credulous minds , of the existence of the society in thoso prehistoric days . Wo givo life to the inanimate figure , and clothe the mummy with beauty .

The early written history of Masonry , as given to us b y thoso painstaking scholars who have dug deep into the treasure-honse of the past , refers more to its government than to its ceremonials of initiation . What the forms and

ceremonies observed in teaching the neophyte in those early days were , we can only conjecture . It is folly to suppose that what is practised in the Lodges of Freemasons to-day is the same that was observed tben . But while there is doubt as to the particular ceremony

through whicb the candidate was conducted in those ancient times , there can bo none as to the fundamental principles taught for trooping down tho ages , gathering strength and beauty with every advanco of thought and education , every broadening and widening influence of

civilization , every forward step of scientific research , are the same sublime doctrines of divine truth . Truth , the sovereign good of human nature , is eternal . It existed before sects , is moro ancient than schools , and , like its twin sister Charity , older than mankind . From out of

the womb of history it is horn anow with every generation . There is no withered hand in its everlasting , triumphant existence . It stands the colossal figure towards which all eyes in all ages are turned . It may he seen under many lights , and the different points from

which it is viewed impresses the beholder with its many and varying interpretations . A misty atmosphere of ignorance may conceal its salient points . An impaired vision of perversion will not recognize its beauty ; a selfish bigotry distorts its real meaning ; but it stands unchanged *

inscrutablo m its greatness , rising above all evil , all perversion , all ignorance , all bigotry , and with its uplifted torcb—for Truth rejoices in the ligbt—frightens into hiding the hydra-headed enemy of the human race , Falsehood .

This great principle is found in the very foundation of Freemasonry , and no matter when in the dim ages of the dead past that foundation was laid , its creative , genial and luminous influence has been preserved in the institution

Must Live In The Present.

and remains as powerful as ever . We cannot overstate our debt to the past , but the present moment has the supreme claim . The past is for us , but it must not be esteemed above the present . It must be subordinated to the all-important , only present now .

Masonry , to bo of any value to its votaries , must be practical in its workings . The surviving elements of its organization , that come from the past , must bo used to emphasize the present . The past , like death , is unchangeable and eternal ; tho present is active , and tho

future dependent upon tho past and present . The world , since it came from the plastic hand of its Creator , never knew so active an age , so restless an epoch as this in which we live . There is more thought to-day , because thore are more people to think . There ia a greater

variety of doctrine , because men are more ready to ask the why and the whereforo of things around them . The people of to-day are not satisfied with the ipse dixit of some self-appointed censor of thought and doctrine . They

weigh assertions and demand proofs . They compare doctrines and assent to what their own sense of right , after careful study , dictates . Conscience is enligh toned by the increasing glory of revealed truth .

Any institution , to be of real use to humanity , must be abreast of the times . The withered hand of the dead past must be thrown aside , except as it may servo as a warning for tho present . It is the present that concerns the men of to-day . A tenacious clinging to tho dead past , and

venerating its hoary doctrines has a charm for all . Wo pride ourselves upon belonging to an organization that has existed from time immemorial , and we trace it through numberless forms and ceremonies . We call it "Ancient Mysteries , " "Essones , " "Roman Collegia , " " Culdees , "

" Druids , " " Operative , " " Speculative , "—all those various streams flow into and are lost in the Freemasonry of the present . Do we not often hide the beauty of tho institution in the mystery of antiquated societies ? Do we not cover up the truth with the accumulated dust and rubbish of the

ages ? Do we not curtail its usefulness by holding on to its primitiveness , and living in the past rather than tho present ? Do we not lose much of the real benefit of the golden thread of Truth that runs unbroken through its history , by relegating it to the past ?

Times change and men change with them . Times change , and societies , to be of utility to humanity , must keep pace with advanced thought and increased intelligence . Masonry has changed with the changing ages of tho world . It has gone forward , extending its

arms of beneficence and enlarging its capabilities with every enlarged demand . No Mason of to-day would recognize the Masonry of the Revival—1717—as the institution with which he is acquainted . The ceremonies are different , the language of its ritual has been altered

to suit tho changed idioms of the race of mankind . The golden thread of truth has been burnished by tho friction of passing years . The rough quaintness of a contary ago would be a comedy to the aesthetic taste of the present time . The withered hand of the dead past is a useless member .

As we walk about somo old graveyard and read upon the crumbling tombstones the names , but dimly legible , of men who were once the earnest , active members of the community , we call to mind their living virtues , but they , the men , are dead . They are no longer earnest , active

participants in the affairs of the busy world . They performed their labour well , and served their day and generation acceptably , but they were not dead then . They

were what was needed at that time , what is needed now , what is needed in every age—strong , vigorous , active , moving men , with a hand for every work and a heart for every good .

The past is dead ; all past is dead ; yesterday is in the sepulchre of memory . It is no longer an active element in the world . There is no progress in the past . Its whole work , of whatever character , good or bad , is finished . Each completed day is a bound volume , and not the Infinite

Himself can change a word of its record . Memory is tho charnel house of disappointment and shame , and there are more hideous images in its expanding halls than beautiful pictures upon its walls . We cannot live upon memory ,

nor indeed is its atmosphere at all times healthful , for the overshadowing gloom of its broken promises and heartbreaking regrets sickens and enfeebles . So in Masonry we may not prosper on the memory of the past . Masonry is an active institution , aud every active institution must experience changes . The youngest