Symbols.

Had the history of that far by-gone been written in books , like ours , it might have been , and in all probability would have been destroyed , as was that vast library of Alexandria and our modern world have never known its secrets . The

symbols cut in enduring rock could not be altogether destroyed , and they have held thoir story safe from those who would have effaced it had they known its import , and preserved it for an age when the world needed it , and then

revealed to diligent search such wonders as grow more and more astonishing at every added page of the new revelation . The single item of the testimony found to

corroborate Scripture history is enough to give value to these symbols , and pay for the long labour given to their explanation .

Then , too , there have come to us , through this channel , hints concerning mathematical and astronomical science which have already been found important as data for our present study , and their importance grows as the world

gathers wisdom , and finds here ancl there { through all its building vacant places which these old facts , ancl they alone , will fit ancl fill , and so make the work complete . Let no man then despise those whose zeal is kindled into

enthusiasm over a half-effaced inscription on some old monument , or who search for hidden wisdom among the wrappings of a mummied king who died before the rushes grew which sheltered the infant Moses .

I can conceive how such pursuits may hive a fascination for some minds , ancl I am ready to acknowledge my indebtedness to those explorers who subsoil for me the ground where my plowshare can only mark the surface .

Bufc lot us look for a moment at yet another field . Our own land is a treasure-house of ancient symbols , of which we know as yet but every little . Each year of study adds to our stock of knowledge touching a people who once

occupied the mountains , hills and prairies which we call ours to-day . Who or what they were we may not yet decide , for no key has been found to unlock the secrets so plentifully written upon the rocks of Colorado and Arizona , and more sparingly distributed through other portions of

the West . Who were the mound-builders , and what was the design of the landmarks which they have left behind ? Did the ten lost tribes of Israel find their way to this western world , and perish here ? Who were the ancestors of the red-men whom our fathers found in possession of

this land r And as we explore the caves and dens in the rocks between our bounds aud the Pacific , and study the symbols cut upon their sides , and ask , Who ? echo as yet answers , " Who ? " But , in due time the key will doubtless be found . Some western Rosetta Stone will come to

light , and a new book be opened to the world whose startling revelations may revolutionize our theories concerning the past of our country . I have gone over this field , my brothers , with a hasty

stride , only to kindle in your minds , if I may , some better conception of the length and breadth and importance of that vast field of which we are becoming comparatively familiar with one little acre . I have nofc confined myself

to the strictly defined meaning of the word symbol , for I am not aiming at an exact treatise , but only desire to place before you such hints as shall lead to thought touching what is to me a very interesting field for exploration .

Symbolism , the symbolism of the world , is a study of such grand proportions as shall employ the time and talent of generations of students yet unborn . The magnitude of the whole should give us a better and broader appreciation

of our little system of Masonic symbols , and lead us to study them as we have not been wont to do . There are mines of truth beneath the ground where we have examined but a spade ' s depth , and whole treasures of wisdom lie

stored away in the secret tills of tho chest , while we as yet are only playing upon the lid . We cannot find them all to-night , but let us look a little among such as we have found , and it may be we shall be quickened to profounder

study , which shall bring profit alike to the mind and heart . If we have no higher use for symbols than to make them the agency for political chicanery , or commercial roguery , in the line of a blind cypher which is a cloak for fraud we had besfc let them alone . Ancl there are other abuses of

symbols , besides these , and a sometimes negligence of the lessons to be found in them , which leave their marks of ill , or fail of their legitimate work upon our hearts ancl lives , through our own fault .

Let us look now at our symbolism , my brothers , ancl let the truth suggested lie down close to our individual lives . To the uninitiated the Master ' s carpet , or chart , with its

Symbols.

apparently incongruous assemblage of emblems , is a meaningless thing , and it has occurred to me that we who are within the mystic circle do not all duly appreciate the lessons hidden beneath our beautiful system of

hieroglyphics . Enshrined within these significant symbols dwell together , shrouded in mystery , the genii of poetry and music . Void and voiceless to the outer world , to us , if we indeed have ears to hear—to us , if the soul

listensthey are vocal with lessons of wisdom and melody almost divine .

To the world that rough ashlar is but the figure of an unhewn stone , to us it is a human soul , fresh from the quarry of the infinite , to be by us carved and polished into beauty . The gavel and the guage to eyes yet hoodwinked

are only the tools wherewith the mechanic plies his vocation . To us the one represents a perfect rule by which to divide and use the hours allotted to us here , and the other

suggests the myriad agencies by which the sharp angles and inequalities of our humanity are to be chipped away , ancl the rough ashlar cut to a plan laid down upon the trestleboard of God .

The plumb and the square are to the stranger without only the builder ' s implements , ancl have no significance beyond their material form and ordinary use . To us these things , so common-place , are teachers , and with a voice

which challenges attention they tell of that stern uprightness which should ever characterize a true manhood , o f that right and exact virtue which should govern the life

and mako it beautiful , and of that earthly plane along which we aro passing swiftly and surely , toward that goal where uprightness ancl virtue , obliquity and vice , shdll find their due reward .

The compasses he with the square , and to us they signify the control of bodily desires and appetites within the circumference of a pure and virtuous life . That isolated

point within the circle is impressive . It means you , my brother , and me , and that circle means the bound which we may nofc pass without sin .

The twin tangents on the right and left are holy men whose lives are worthy our imitation , and upon the boundary line above rests heaven ' s holy will revealed to man .

Therefore , we may not burst these bonds without tramping upon the example of the good and great of the past , and more than all , treading beneath our feet the authority of Almighty God .

The three steps , the pot of incense , the bee-hive , the anchor , the ark , the hour-glass and the scythe , the trowel , the spade , the coffin and the sprig of acacia , and above them that all-seeing eye , that eye of God , all these are replete

with suggestive moral lessons , and they demand from every brother not only thoughtful attention , but an earnest struggle after tbat purity of life toward which these symbols point as the climax of human excellence .

Each of these items in tbe object lesson before us might be developed and elaborated into an address quite long enough for this occasion , and merely to enumerate them as I have done is only to suggest what I trust each brother

will think out for himself , for here is food for thought which fche years will nofc exhaust . By no other channel does moral truth appeal to man more forcibly , or reach him

more readily , than by such a system of pregnant symbols . But there are conditions even here . There are men in whose souls there seems to be no poetry , no music , and the words of Shakespeare come to mind , as a fit comment just here .

" The man that hath no music in himself , Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds , Is fit for treasons , stratagems and spoils . The motions of his spirit are dull as night , And his affections dark as Erebus . Let no such man be trusted .

There is a natural refinement of soul which instinctively apprehends the lesson of a symbol . Education cannot give this refinement , but only help to develop ifc . It ia often found among the unlettered , cropping out from its coarse surroundings , like a violet from the thorn-hedge .

If ifc be in the man , study will bring it out . Therefore , our duty as those whose best moral culture is attainable by a proper understanding of symbols—our duty , I say , is

to give time and thought to the dissection and careful examination of these picture lessons which are always before us . Analyze the trowel , the sj ade and the coffin , and see what there is in them ; for , as

" The toad , ugly and venomous , Wears yefc a precious jewel on his head , "