The Morals Of The Human Ear.

THE MORALS OF THE HUMAN EAR .

MOUTH to ear is an impressive attitude in Masonry , whose mystic significance is well known to the brethren . He who has not the attentive ear is but a mutilated member of our Order ; since for him the instructive tongue speaks in vain , and the repository of the faithful breast remains empty of those precious secrets in which all the beautiful uses and hidden wealth of our

anoient Craft are garnered . The ear is the sentinel of the soul . Unlike the eye it has no power to close itself and shut out the reports addressed to it . It is more universal and automatic , less individual and volitional , than the eye . There are creatures who have ears but are not yet developed far enough to have the supplement of eyes . Before the inhabitants of

the light arose , the spawning earth teemed with life , and ears were evolved in the darkness . And , thus older and deeper than our visual orbs , they still continue to have this advantage , that they act as well in the night as in the day . Sleeplessly open at their post , which connects the circumference of the garrison of life with its centre , they can neither exclude from their own perception the tidings revealed by

vibratory bodies , nor withhold their signals of gnidance and of warning from the mind enthroned within . The ear is the deepest inlet of sympathy and antipathy , through the revelations made to it by the voice , alike in the words articulated and in the tones and inflections employed . The ear is the door , while the eye is only the window , of the soul . Deafness is well known to shnt

its subject up within a wall , hardening the egotism , and , unless neutralised by an extraordinary native sweetness and generosity , filling it with suspicions , dislikes and resentments . What an immense significance there is , therefore , in the words of the Master , " He that hath ears to hear , let him hear . " By hearing we learn directly a prodigious proportion of all that we

learn . By hearing we receive indirectly a vast part of the influences which control us , change us , and make us what we become . By hearing we enter most profoundly into communion with our fellowbeings , to give and take good and evil . By hearing we are brought most effectually into that weird realm of spiritual suggestion , whose bodiless entities claim kindred with our spirits , and touch us with

wondrous intimations of immortality ; for , when we hearken to sounds so fine that nothing lives between them and stillness , the ear leads the soul forth upon the outermost confines of materiality , where , in mystic listening it feels that silence itself is the infinite language of God . In short , wherever we look with apprehensive thought on our natnre and position , we shall discern that the ear plays a most momentous part

m our training , in our experience , and m our fate . He that hath ears to hear , then let him hear . It is well , it is well often to hush every wish and sound of our own , and go forth and listen to things which are not ourselves nor belong to our poor evanescence . Sometimes to steal away from the cares and noise of the city's bustling traffic into the still and holy recesses of natnre , and

there recline in the great mother s lap , surrendering the soul to a religious mood of rapt and happy listening , where the thick moss of ages covers the rock , and no profane step intrudes , where a glimpse of the distant ocean peeps through the foliage of the waving woods , and a sound of the mighty murmur of its surge faintly reaches , while the harsh scream of the hawk sailing overhead contrasts with the

sweet chirp of the ground sparrow that hops by yonr foot ! Sometimes to pause amidst the thronging multitudes of the city itself , and listen to the dread or joyous tramp of events , and gather up the deep lessons they drop as they pass ! Sometimes to retire into the lonely chamber , and , shutting out all the earth , listen to the solemn talk of the heart , hear what the soul says , and in prayer and aspiration be

closeted with God , to catch the mystic councils His presence gives , whilst the spirit and the bride say , Come ! Sometimes , at evening's russet hour , or midnight ' s solitary vigil , in a hush of reverent meditation and love , to send out our yearning sympathies over the wide world , and brood in hallowed and listening imagination on the innumerable sounds that mingle in tbe eternal babel of life , and think of

ONE who high over the jewelled firmament , with mercy to prompt and omnipotence to dispose , distinguishes every tone , from the sigh of the penitent sinner whose heart is breaking within him , to the shock of embattled nations , from the widow ' s cottage lullaby , sung where evening shoots its parting radiance across the peaceful village , to the oath of the pirate , shrieked as he besmites his victim to the

slippery deck when tempests are hiding the moon and rending the sea ! Sometimes , in thought ' s chastened mood , to lean over the dizzy verge of death and listen to the mysterious roar that rises from the unfathomable gulf where time falls into eternity , and attempt to wrest from the supernatural obscurity some secret of the crisis at the end of earth , some clue to the unforeshadowed destinies beyond

To such things as these it is useful for ns to listen . He who l ' stens well to their varied tones will perforce grow wiser and better . Take heed how ye hear ! This exhortation is so impressively enforced by one incident in the career of the Master , that I will conclnde my utterance by narrating it , and then leave you to listen to tho worthier voices ever speaking to sensitive souls in silence and

solitude . On the brow of a hill in the outskirts of Nazareth sat the greofc Teacher at the close of the day . A throng of hearers , astonished at his celestial doctrine , and entranced by the divinity of his air , stood around . " Blessed are they who do the will of my Father , for theirs is the kingdom of heaven , " says the voice whose tone 3 must for ever haunt those who have ouce heard them . Two thieves at this moment

approach and catch the words . Ono of them is of a milder mion . IIKI younger than the other , whose rugged and brutal face seems to mark a long career of crime . The former listens intently , and is strangely moved and melted . The latter , indifferent to all , rudely jeers rit him . The Teacher rises to depart , and as He passos the robbers , bends a pityiDg look upon them and says , " We shall meet again . " Months roll on . A dense crowd sways around Calvary , on who .-o summit the crucified Jesus is dyiug . And lo , lifted up iu execution

The Morals Of The Human Ear.

one on each side of him , the two thieves who were his auditors afore , time ! The one who had listened and understood , turns up hi 9 face , streaming with penitent and trustful tears , and exclaims , " Lord Jesns , remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom ! " The other , who hearing , had heard not , defiantly taunts the Saviour ,

saying to that bleeding pieoe of divinity , " If thou be the Christ save thyself and us ! " The circling hours had not closed the day when the spirit of one who was walking with his Lord in Paradise and the spirit of the other—had entered its doom . Take heed how ye hear . — - Liberal Freemason .

The Preston Guild.

THE PRESTON GUILD .

THE great Lancashire town has been the scene of high carnival during the present week , in connection with the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the proposed Harris Free Library , which was performed with Masonic honours by R . W . Bro . the Earl of Lathom , Deputy Grand Master of England , in the presence of the Duke of Cambridge and a numerous and distinguished company . It was , indeed , one of the largest and " most important assemblages of

Freemasons that have ever been witnessed in the North of England , and thus becomes of interest , not only locally , but to the Craft generally . Shortly before noon the Craft Masons formed their pro . cession , walking four a-breast , the junior Lodges coming first . They all wore their aprons , collars , and gauntlets , many of them having in addition various decorations . They were preceded by the band of

the 5 th Lancashire Artillery Volunteers , and the procession , whtch extended the whole length of Fishgate , was watohed by a large ooncourse of spectators . When the procession arrived at the site for the intended building , the brethren divided right and left , and faced inwards , forming an avenue through whioh the members of Grand Lodge passed . The Prov . Grand Master , the Deputy Prov . Grand

Master , the Grand Officers of England , and the Prov . G . Officers followed in succession from the rear , so as to invert the order of the procession . The arrival of the Earl of Lathom at the site was announoed by a flourish of trumpets , and the procession entered the marquee , The officiating brethren took positions assigned to them by the Prov . Grand Director of Ceremonies and his assistants , and deposited the

silver vessels borne in the procession on pedestals placed for their reception . The Mayor and some distinguished guests had previously arrived , and the latter took up their position on a dais on tbe north-west corner . The Guild Mayor , who had returned to the Town Hall , made his appearance directly , accompanied by his Royal Highness the Dnke of Cambridge

and many other noblemen and titled ladies . Cheer after cheer rent the air when all the illustrious personages had enteredthe large marquee containing the grand stand , and in whioh the interesting ceremony was to take place . The scene was truly imposing , and all those who were so fortunate as to have a good view of the brilliant spectacle will not soon forget it . On

the eastern side of the market place , where were also assembled the Dnke of Cambridge , the Earl of Sefton , Lord Lathom , the Earl of Derby , Lord Winmarleigh , the High Sheriff of the county , the Mayor and Corporation of Preston , and various Provincial Mayors . After the preliminary Masonic ceremonial , Mr . C . R . Jacson , one of the trustees of the late Mr . Harris , out of whose estate the library and

museum are being founded , delivered a short address , and presented a silver trowel to Lord Lathom , who laid the foundation stone in acr-ordance with Masonic rites . In doing so , Bro . the Earl of Lathom R . W . P . G . M . said—Men and brethren here assembled to behold this ceremony , —Be it known unto you that we be the lawful Masons , true and faithful to the laws of onr country , and engaged by

solemn obligations to erect handsome buildings to be serviceable to the brethren , and to fear God , the great Architect of the Universe . We have among us , concealed from the eyes of all men , secrets which may not be revealed , and which no man has discovered ; bnt these secrets are lawful and honourable , and not repugnant to the laws of God or man . They were entrusted in peace and honour to

Masons of ancient times , and having been faithfully transmitted to us , it is our dnty to convey them unimpaired to the latest posterity . Unless our Craft were good , and our calling honourable , we should not have lasted so many centuries , nor should we have had so many illustrious brothers in our Order , ready to promote our laws and further our interests . We are

associated here to-day in the name of Him who is the Wisdom and the Light , to lay the foundation stone of a building , the primary object of which is to impart knowledge aud sound instruction to our fellow men , which we pray God may prosper as it seems good to Him ; and as the first duty of Masons in any undertaking is to invoke the blessing of the Great Architect of the Universe on their work , I call upon you

to unite with onr Prov . Grand Chaplain in an address to the throne of grace . Tho G . Chaplain ( Bro . Rev . T . B . Spencer ) recited an eloquent prayer , and after a hymn had been sung , the architect , Mr . JHibbert , of Preston , presented a design of the edifice to Lord Lathom , who expressed his approval of it , and expressed a hope that the wors of erection wonld be duly proceeded with . A procession to the Town

Hall followed . At three o'clock in the afternoon there was a grand banquet given by the Guild and Mayor , in the new public hall at the Corn Exchange . Between 600 and 700 ladies and gentlemen were present . Amongst thoso at the banquet were the Duke of Cambridge , the Lord-Lieutenant of tho county , tho Bishops of Manchester ana Carlisle , Lord Lathom , Lord Derby , Lord Winmarleigh , Sir R . C ross , after

and a number of provincial mayors . In the course of the proceedings , the health of the Duke of Cambridge was duly honoureu . Tho Duke of Cambridge , in responding to the toast of his ^ . \ regretted the absence of the Dnke and Dnchess of Albany , and sa ^ he was himself present in response to a wish of tho Queen , who telegraphed to him from Balmoral on tho subject . Ho cam amongst them as a aoldier , aud he had asked himself whether u