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SATURDAY , 14 TH JANUARY 1893 .

Masonic Ideal Of Manliness.

MASONIC IDEAL OF MANLINESS .

An Oration by the Rev . Robert W . Hill , D . D ., Grand

Orator of the Grand Lodge of Indian Territory . EROM the constitution of man it is impossible for any association to long continue with the forms ancl dogmas which contented those who have passed before . Instability , rather than stability , is the peculiar

characteristic of humanity . Fortunatel y for humanity , however , the instability , ig along the line of progress and betterment , rather than along the lino of retrogression . From tbe nature of the human mind there is a constant grasping after more of the truth and power of which we have had a

partial taste . Our efforts are to develop and expand so that in time we may finally reach to as much of perfection as it is possible for any of our race to attain ; and this desire for development and expansion , this grasping after more of truth , and this discontent with presentsnrroundings

aud possessions is a happy augury for the future of oar race . Fortunate are we to live in the nineteenth century , but happier far will they be who will live to see the advancement of humanity in the centuries to come . Onr a » e has

made much progress , ancl we have come into possession of many of the secrets of nature . By tbe marvellous workings of the human mind we have approached to some degree of mastery over what to our ancestors were the

most stubborn of the elements , and ifc is nofc too much to prophecy that the children who shall come after us , and to whom we shall bequeath our possessions of knowledge and power and spirit of inquiry , will work out in their day many of fche problems which now confonnd us . This

mastery , which is so marked in many things , which gives us a controlling hold upon the thunderbolt , and which harnesses for our mills the mi ghty cataracts , which renders no longer the ocean a way of danger and darkness ; this

mastery of nature ' s forces is attended by a mental expansion which keeps paca with every conquest in the realm of material things . It is nofc to be wondered at , then , that the same spirit , which has made the nineteenth

century marvellously fruitful in invention , which has made it a reading and a writing age , should have found its way into our Lodge rooms . It is not to be wondered at that the investigators who have looked upon the symbols of Masonry and examined its teachings , should have been

startled to find that there is in the system much of lio-ht where heretofore darkness only has beeu thought ° to prevail . The greatest Masonic scholar and writer of this century was Albert Pike , he whose name has been as a household word wherever Masonry is known , and who has

added so much to the splendour of the Masonic character by his scholarship and ability ; he whose devotion , to truth , and unswerving faith in it , has commanded tho admiration of the entire Fraternit y . He was not content to say thafc Masonry as a system had reached its full development and

expansion . To him Masonry meant a progress in the knowledge of Divine truth . Ifc was not merely a symbolism which had no motive , and our knowledge of which is perfect ; to him Masonry over represented a body of dogma necessary to the perfect development of essentiall

humanity , y moral and reli gious in nature , but containing much that lies outside of these two categories , and ^ much not always understood . Hence , when we consider Freemasonry we are impressed with the fact that it appears different from different standpoints . As Albert Pike

well said : " Every one will see in Freemasonry that which the faculty has been given him to perceive . What others may see in it and I do not see , ifc is not to the purpose to say . . I do see in it a comprehensive system of the-highest ethics , wise expositions of the old truths of Jrhilosophj and Raligign , and a code of tho honoured

Masonic Ideal Of Manliness.

precepts of chivalry . I see in it the true interpretations of tho ancient symbols , of the enigmatical words and phrases , and of the ceremonial incidents , and ritualistic work , so far as they are symbolic . I see in it ono of the wreat instrumentalities of the Deitv to make men wiser

and better , and to fit them for and to secure ( o thorn civil and religious liberty . It appeals to the moral sense of men , to their intellects , and to their religious instincls alone , seeking little aid to make its degrees attractive and impressive . If Freemasonry is in any sense the successor

or heir or legatee of the ancient Greater Mysteries , ifc is essentially philosophical and religious . If ifc is a mere development of the German associations of workers in stone , it has no need of intellectual resources , and has inherited no symbols from them , bufc only some working

tools which came to ifc from them without symbolic meanings , to have trite explanations invented for them afterwards . The Greater Mysteries—I think we may take for certain , from what little information has come down to us in regard to them , aud much more from the high

estimation in which they were held by Cicero—tanght the old philosophic religious truths which have reappeared in all later religions , but which wero in the ancient days , foolishness to the idolatrous common people , and which it was thought unsafe to entrust to their keeping . "

To the thoughtful students who investigate the mysteries there are possibilities of enlightenment , and to us there ia a certainty that they will not come to the final conclusion that our mysteries " are but solemn fooleries which may soothe the fancy and add nothing to the dignity of human life . "

By all such it will be found that Masonry haa played and is destined to play a large parfc in fcho drama of human life . In the past ifc has effected the architectural development of the middle ages , and ifc has also profoundly

affected the philosophers and the thinkers who gave form to the present mental trend . Ifc is also certain that ifc has played a large part in the introduction of customs and habits which have done mnch to mould for fche bettor

society and individual life . As the churches and palaces and cathedrals , with all their ornamentation , bear the print of the Masonic workmen , so , too , all of those non-ecclesiastical institutions which set forth kindly feelings and teach brother-like treatment of hnmauity have the distinct

impress of the sublime teaching which enlightens tho Masonic Fraternity . Wherever the brotherhood of man is practically recognised , and wherever tbe close association which binds together in one common and fraternal band those who are of different races aud blood , is seen , we may

be sure that the principles which give life and vitality to Masonry have exerted the powers which have broken clown the barriers of prejudice and distrust . Wherever Masonry has lifted np its banner ifc has spoken words of peace and illustrated its sentiments by deeds of charity

and pure beneficence . As a natural consequence wherever these have been observed they have attracted to the halls of Masonry those who love humanity and desire to extend the influence of whatever makes for the betterment of tho race . No wonder , then , that in ages past Masonry has commanded the confidence and affectionate esteem of tho

wise and fche great ; no wonder , then , that the lowly have recognised it as a beneficent friend , or that from it the afHicfced have drawn in their sorrows solace , as well as support in the hour of trial .

Civilisation and the progress of the race have been the natural consequence of the presence of ideals in the human mind . Throughout the ages nations and peoples have had their estimate of the greatest attainable good , and have endeavoured to reach the same . The ideals of

different times and of different people havo been varied by their surroundings , by the circumstances of their times , and by the extent of the knowledge which they possessed . The development of character has been marked strongly in the different races in consequence of tho peculiar ideals

which the races have held . In modern day ? , as well as in times of old , a physical standard of excellence has been held by muiy tribes and peoples to represent the ideal to which they should strive . W hen in the gymnasia of modern times efforts are made to develop the muscles and bring

out into perfect harmony the strength of the body , ifc shows the existence of the spirit which moved the Athenians of old to train their young men to manly

excellence by daily exercises under tho directions of masters . The gatherings of the people to witness the straggles of the athletes is a tribute to the presence and power of the ideal of p hysical excellence . All the remains