A Type Op Great Reform.

A TYPE OP GREAT REFORM .

WHY MASONS HONOUR ST . JOHN THE BAPTIST .

IN our progress through the graud circle of the seasons we bave passed once more that interesting point which the piety of the Church has consecrated to the memory of St . John the Baptist—a saint whom Christianity reverences as its first hero , and Freemasonry

honours as it patron genius . It is fitting , therefore , that we should pause here a little and contemplate this imposing figure , which occupies so large a space in sacred history and Masonic tradition . I am the more disposed to dwell on this subject because , first , I believe it is good for

us frequently to meditate on the virtues , and invoke the presence of tbe wise and good who have preceded us ; and because , second , I see a remarkable analogy between tho mission of John tbe Baptist and that of the Masonic Fraternity ; and the development of the ono will help us to understand the other .

First : All festivals which commemorate the virtues of historical characters are a kind of worship that a grateful world offers to their genius—a recompense awarded them for their toil and suffering on earth . The significance , indeed , of all such festivities is , that the saints , and all thc

good and great who have been tho benefactors of their race , are still , though unseen , intelligently present in spirit , observing all our thoughts and deeds , and presiding over and carrying forward all those benevolent enterprises which tend to improve the condition of mankind .

Death does not affect any of the relations which God has established between man and man . They remain for over the same . Religion from the first has taken note of this fact , and asserted the unbroken continuity of life and the unity of the race—an idea which Paul teaches when he

says : " For as we have many members in one body , so we , being many , are one body in Christ , and every one members one of another . " The Church at the beginning , seizing on this great truth—which , indeed , is the basis of our Masonic Fraternity—earnestly proclaimed that

individual men were members of a common brotherhood ; that this law of brotherhood is eternal ; tbat death does not , and cannot , break the continuity of the life of humanity ,

nor dissolve the ties of consanguinity , affection , or fraternity ; and that those whom we call the dead are yet objects of interest and love to us , and that we are still objects of interest and love to them .

It follows , therefore , that the great , the wise , the good , of the past time , the illuminations of men of all nations and ages are still moving among us , fulfilling each day their various ministries of beneficence and love . Being dead in

the flesh , they are alive in the spirit , the true apostles and benefactors of man , and are unceasingly present , and helpful divinities in the examples they have set , the truths they have written , and the lives they have lived .

They fell devoted , but undying , Tbe very waves their names seem sighing , The waters murmured of their name , The woods are peopled with their fame , The silent pillars , lone and gray ,

Claim kindred to their sacred clay . Their spirits wrap the dusky mountain , Their memory sparkles o ' er eaoh fountain , The meanest rill , tlie mightiest river Rolls mingling with tbeir fame for ever .

By these great festivals , which recall and in a manner reproduce the events and personages of the past , we are brought into direct communion with the intelligence and life of the heroes and saints of olden time ; and , by this communion , there life is transmitted to us , and we are

regenerated by their virtue . We should , therefore , remember the history of their trials and conquests , and keep outspread before us the bright picture of their glory When in sorrow , perplexity and distress of soul , we should ask them to come to onr aid ! And they will come ; they

will come in the might of their pure examples , the omnipotence of their holy lives , the saving virtue of their beautiful disposition , and in the almightiness of their

philanthropy and love ! They do come—angels of mercy —to defend and preserve us ! By their goodness we become good , by their strength we become strong , by their wisdom we become wise !

Thus the good and honoured of other times have left a thousand brilliant traces on earth , a thousand memories which are to us a perpetual ministry of love aud light and

A Type Op Great Reform.

life—they are so many Pharoses which a kind Providence has kindled upon the sea of time , to show the rocks and quicksands we aro to avoid , and to direct us to the haven of security and peace ; and high in this category of saints , in honour of whom the Church appointed public

festivals , and conspicuous by his stern rigid virtue and the majestic authority of his words , appears St . John the Baptist , whose memory Masons delight to honour ; and worthy is he of our reverence , as well by the force of his character as by the wonderful circumstances in which ho was placed .

He [ stood upon a point of time between two grand epochs , and belonged himself to neither , behind him were the judicial systems of religion and politics founded by Moses , and the Polytheistic systems which divided the rest of the civilised world . Both of these systems had

grown old , were struck with mortal decay ; had fulfilled their respective missions , and were destined to fall . The spirit had departed from the body of Moses , and the glory of the oracle had faded ; tho votaries of the law—Pharisees

and Sadducees—were only whited sepulchres—hypocrites —and the temples and altars of . Paganism were nearly deserted ; and one day a voice was heard crying , " Como , let us go hence ! " It was the religious sentiment bidding adieu to the ancient world .

At this period of religious indifference , scepticism and cormption , n new prophet appeared in Judea , proclaiming the advent of a new age , and announcing a new revelation of truth and duty ; loud and stern , and with supernatural powers , like a republication of the laws of Sinai—his words

fell upon the hearts of the multitudes who followed him , and they bowed before him as the forests bend before the advancing storm ; their souls were touched ; penitence true and sincere followed , and on the banks of the Jordan they received at his hand the mysterious sign of faith ;

hence the prophet was called St . John the Baptizer . With one hand he pointed to the past , with the other to the future , while to tbe listening present he addressed hia prophetic word : " Repent ye , for the kingdom of heavon is at hand . I indeed baptize you with water unto

repentance : but He that cometh after me is mightier than I , ... He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire . . . And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees : therefore every tree tbat bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down , and cast into the fire . " Here we discover the nature of the work and mission of St . John the

Baptist . In the midst of profound corruption , scepticism , ancl egotism , he was to proclaim the approaching reign of purity , faith and love , the coming of the Greatest , and to prepare the way . He was an instrument , a means ; and

this leads me to say that I see in him the type of progressive reform . His mission was to introduce a new Church—to warn men that a new order of life was to be established , a new law imposed upon the world , a new faith to descend from heaven to earth .

Second : Here I see a remarkable analogy beeween tbe mission of St . John the Baptist and that of the great confrerie of charity towhioh we belong , witb this difference , however : the mission of John was religious , and aimed at the spiritual regeneration of man , while the mission of

Freemasoary is social , and seeks the regeneration of society ; as the voice of St . John resounded through the wilderness of Judea , proclaiming tbe advent of a new

religious law , so has tho voice of Masonry been heard in dark or despotical epochs , those wildernesses of society , republishing the laws of fraternity and announcing the downfall of tyrannical governments .

To say nothing of the antiquity of our Institution , nor of its influence on the life of the past—to observe only its workings within the last two centuries , we shall find that bhe social influence of Freemasonry has been immense . Long before the first French Revolution , its presence ,

though invisible , was felt throngh Europe . Essentially republican in its nature , and aiming to establish political and social equality and freedom , it constantly presented to

the initiated the picture of a new social order , nowhere found on earth—the ideal of a society opposed to , and at the same time far more perfect than , any existing civil organisation .

From this point of view , as a propagandum of political freedom , Freemasonry is worthy of a profound study , and also entitled to the gratitude and reverence of all good and benevolent men . It has contributed largely to the social improvement of our race , and to the establishment of civil liberty . But with us who , under institutions which are