Freemasonry Requires Master Building.

perfect right to bind ourselves under solemn obligation to keep the secrets of our Craft , so long as in doing so we jeopardise no interests of society and no rights of others . "But , " say our foes , "this yon do ; you are bound under

oath to defend each other in right or wroug . " My answer to this is : It is a falsehood , and every man who has taken the obligations of Freemasonry knows it . And there I let this objection rest .

Again , we are charged with pledging charity and good deeds to Freemasons aud their families only . This is not so . ' We are taught by the most solemn instruction to do right toward all mankind . We are taught to be charitable

to all , and especially toward our brethren , and this accords with tbe teachings of the Gospel : " Do good unto all men , and especially to the household of faith . " Is there any wrong about this ?

Again , we are charged with magnifying Freemasonry about religion ; in fact of making it take the place of reli gion . If we did , men of all shades of religious belief , who acknowledge the Supreme Being and the immortality of

the soul , could not become members of the Fraternity . It is true that Freemasonry recognises religion and adopts and acts by many of its tenets and precepts . Our school books also recognise it , and publish its morals , but does that put

them above it , or make them take its place ? At a recent meeting of a medical society the following resolution was adopted : " We hold that in the Scriptures of the New Testament are to be found suitable instructions for the

direction of man in relation to his duties toward his God and his fellows . " Does this make this society take the place of religion ? Freemasonry often quotes from the Bible in its ceremonies . It recognises the fact that the

Gospel " brought life and immortality to light , " but this no more magnifies Freemasonry above religion than the Scri ptural quotations a lawyer might make in his p lea would make the law profession take the place of religion .

The man who says , " Freemasonry is all the religion I want , " has not a proper understanding of Freemasonry or religion either ; and the enemy of the Craft who says Freemasonry claims the place of religion , simply asserts what he has no authority for stating .

But another objection comes to us , namely , " The Masons killed Morgan . " Well , I don't know whether they did or not , neither do our enemies ; but , suppose a half dozen Masons , or even a whole Lodge of them , were

guilty of his death , should that condemn Freemasonry for all time ? Let us try this matter on general principles . At the close of tho sixteenth century a horrible crime was committed by the English government , represented b y

Queen Elizabeth , urged on by the Church of England . I refer to the death of Mary Queen of Scots . No apology can be offered for that crime . The E piscopal Church claims that Elizabeth was not safe on the throne while

Mary lived , but the world will not be satisfied with this excuse . The act will go down to the remotest history as one of cruelty and injustice ; but would it be just to condemn the Episcopal Church of to-day because of that act ?

What would be thought of a society organised at present for the purpose of putting down the English Church , because of the death of Mary Queen of Scots ? No one can reasonably doubt that Calvin , the staunch reformer , and

one of the founders of Presbyterianism , caused the death of Servetus , because of his Unitarian views and publications . This , too , was a cruel criminal act , and justly meets the condemnation of the world , but who thinks of offering

wholesale condemnation toward Presbyterianism of to-day , because of this cruelty of Calvin and the Presbyterians of Geneva , three hundred and fifty years ago ? We all have to admit that the early Congregationalists of New England

were guilty of the most cruel and unjust conduct toward the Quakers , yet who will think of condemning me as a Congregational minister , or Congregationalist in general , of this age , for the banishment of Quakers , or the hanging

of witches , by the Puritans of New England ? I trust the celebrated anti-Masonic lecturer , Mr . Blanchard , of Wheaton , Illinois , who claims to be a Congregational minister , might see this point , were his prejudices removed . Just as mean

men as Morgan have gone from our Lodge , my brethren , to divulge the secrets of Freemasonry and to become the deadly enemies of the Craft , with no just cause for their conduct ; and they have gone scot free , not a member of

the Lodge wishing to harm a hair of their heads , or molest them in any way , except ifc may be , to collect some honest bills against them . I note one more objection and pass to something of

Freemasonry Requires Master Building.

greater importance . Our enemies say we exclude the name of Christ from our Lodges . This was told me by an expelled member of the Lodge , before I became a Freemason , and another member , who has since been expelled

and who now asserts the same thing , told me that it was a notorious lie . Since I affiliated with the Craft I have been convinced that the last mentioned gentleman told tho truth in his first assertion . Commeut on his last assertion

is , therefore , unnecessary . I am surprised that any man with due regard for the truth , could have taken the third degree of Freemasonry and then have affirmed that the

name of Christ is excluded from the ritual . Such a statement is misleading , to say the least of it . But , enough of this . Brethren , Freemasonry is a noble Institution , and , if we do not disgrace it , it will not disgrace us .

And now I wish to consider the object of Freemasonry as it now exists , and our relations to it . As I stated in the beginning , and as is shown in the working of the degrees of the Craft , Freemasonry had in view , primarily , the

mutual protection of its members in the cultivation of the arts and sciences , but it has entirely outgrown this object . It is now lifted into the higher realm of the cultivation of morals and the development of charity . Leaving the arts

and sciences with the schools of learning , understanding well that since the general diffusion of knowledge , so prevalent in the world , there is abundant opportunity for their cultivation without its efforts being made in that direction ,

Freemasonry now aims at something higher , namely , the enforcement of those maxims and rules among its members which shall , in a word , make men of them . And what in all the world is to be desired more than real manhood ? To

bo a man , in the moral sense of the word , is something to be desired . It signifies right development in the bod y , mind and soul ; and anything that debases either of these elements robs one of his real manhood to the extent of

this debasing . These elements of being are in such close relation one to another , that to injure one is to injure all . The man who pollutes his body by excess in drink , or food , dwarfs his intellect and corrupts his morals .

Freemasonry teaches its members to shun all such excess , and any use of it which does not result in more exalted views of life , and greater efforts toward correct living , is a perversion of the fundamental principles of the Craft . The

man who defrauds his tellow ; who cheats , lies , gets drunk , or gets others drunk , is no more a Freemason , in the high sense of the term , than is the church member who does these things , a Christian . There is something more in

Freemasonry than its grips , signs and passwords . These are but the outward symbols of something higher , purer and more exalted . Rob the Institution of these things , and it is then left like the pin without the diamond , the

nut without the kernel , or the empty garments after the friend we loved has dropped out of them into the grave . If no gain in right living comes to us from Freemasonry , then have we used it in vain . It teaches those grand

lessons : charity , brotherly kindness , uprightness of conduct , and reverence toward God , which ennoble the whole man , and which ought to stimulate every member of the Fraternity to continuance in a good life . Brethren , we are

too superficial in our understanding of the spirit of Freemasonry . We ought to avail ourselves of the communications of our Lodges to learn more thoroughly , and have impressed more distinctly upon our minds the lessons

taught in our ceremonies . Then ought these lessons to be practised in our lives and built up in us , as the cherished truths of science are built up in the scientist , or the Christian graces of the Gospel are built up in the discip le

of Christ , so that they become a part of our very beings . Brethren , we are builders—Master-builders—not of brick , wood and stone , but of character . The deeds , words and thoughts of life are the material with which we build ,

and the process of building is to continue through life . A character may be blasted in an hour , but it cannot be built short of a lifetime . In this life-work we need helps ; reminders of duty ; directors and guides . If we are true

Freemasons , the Holy Bible is the guide of our faith . There is no way in which we may more directly prove false to our obligations as Freemasons , as men , and as citizens , than by violating the precepts of the Word of God .

It is no trifliug thin-r with me that this Book is an emblem of Freemasonry . And then we have the square aud compasses , each with its lesson of life , and these all oug ht to do

confront every member of the Craft who is temp ted to wrong . Nominal Christianity is lamented by the Church as one of its moat serious impediments . Nominal Free-