Masonic Character Building.

by-paths , we may stop upon the way and loiter in adjacent orounds , we may even retrace some steps , wisely or unwisely , but still we after all continue in the main course

and have in prospect the one determined destination ; and this trending , this general continuity , constitutes our character as usually accepted and considered by us all . What this character may be , whither this trending , is

ftll important to us , and very important to our fellow men . On it is based our happiness and that of those around us . Indeed , it is what there is of us in our relations to the world . It is our identification wherever we

undertake to draw upon the race for good will or assistance , and it inscribes our epitaphs in the memories of those we leave behind us , if not indeed upon our tombstones , through falsity . Its firm tension at times , its considerate elasticity

at others , adjusts us to the difficulties of the world—adapts us to the unchangeable and lifts us over and around the obstructions of life . It is ourselves in operation , the expression of our identity , the pulsation of our soul ' s

circulation , and by its exhibition we rise or fall in the estimation of our fellow men , and , finally passing away , leave our " footprints in tho sands of time . " What is most interesting to us , however , is to know how much of this character we

are responsible for—how much of it we may build , and how we may build it . We come into the world and in a few years , arriving at a capacity for understanding simple statements , but not

yet having even thought of self-construction , we are told that we are thus and so . In a very homely but mo ^ t expressive p hrase the boy is told that he is " a chip of the old block . " Thus early is announced to us tbe great and

wondrous fact of mind aud soul quality hereditament . Thus early do we find ourselves partly written down in colours whose indelibility our greatest effort and latest day do not entirely erase , and thus early being chips are we interested in hunting up reminiscences of the old block .

Later , we still being , as it were , but little showmen of what we find within us , a mother ' s affectionate pride and a father ' s proud affection speaks to us of gifts and graces , and we begin to cherish the pleasant but disastrous

thought that we have been talent , charged and grace mantled in the mystic recesses of embryo and that we have nothing to do but poise and exude . Nevertheless , however , the birth , quality , quantity and force mav be magni .

fled and throngh sheer indolence improperly relied upon , it cannot he denied that a certain percentage of what we are to-day was born when we were . It could not be otherwise . All created thing- ! , although they may be variously

diverted , associated and applied , have certain essential properties and adaptation . And all life must have impulse . The varied directions of this impulse give us the wondrous variety of the earth ' s fruits , flowers , trees and

grains ; give us all the families of the animals with their instinct habits . And the same born impulse , unequal and diverse in every man , gives us au individuality that all our cultivation , conventionality and self-discipline cannot

conceal . But this original impulse , this birth-gift , is not after all necessarily , without our approval , the weight and force of our characters . It may give aroma , it may strike notes of harmony , it may decorate the corridors of our life or

precipitate shadows and introduce discord and confusion , but without our assent , without our adoption , without our free rein , it cannot be our guiding force and cannot constitute our characters . It is fortunate if birth forces and

qualities impel some in a measure along the lines of virtue fl"d in consonance with the moralities of that divine government to which we all owe a responsibility , but that , 1 , 1 tho main , we must build , must cultivate , must stimui i ' /

- 'ate , must repress , yen , must fi / jlit , if we would stand up " worthil y before our fellow-men and with the least toleration before God , cannot be denied . A good character—one that will last through the

vicissi' 'ules of time aud form some sort of an initial point for eternit y—must be achieved . We are not projectiles , that can be fired by force of blood and early circumstances to ¦

' pinnacles of fame and into heaven . Tho rocket is sent hir sk yward , it is true , and yet not far ; briefly brilliant , it soon falls and expires . Only the strong , well-directed , per ''" stent eagle ' s wing attains for its possessor the lofty heights

, a « d sustains him there . Effort is the lam . Were we not a > le to conclude this by our own reasonings , had not experience taught us , we have the teachine-s of the Great Master

n * U . niversal Lodge to instruct us . ; Uut of Sinai ' s awful thunders the race long since heard thou shalt " and " thou shalt not . " These words could

Masonic Character Building.

nofc be consistently addressed to irresponsible beings ; and who will charge God with inconsistency ? These words leave no room for a mere sort of instinct man ; they are addressed to those that are expected to be authors of a

career . Free accountable beings , who are recognized by these very commands as capable of selections and adoptions , repulsions and rejections , and through these , capable of a

growth and development which shall produce that conservative integer we call in the highest sense a man , noble before his fellows and beneficently regarded by his God .

After the inscription of the decalogue on the tablets of stone by Moses , the great Architect of the Universe has given us , from timo to time , through prophets and kings , through the Messiah and inspired aoostles . extend d

revelations of his own perfections and multiplied precepts , by which man may advance himself in the scale of being ad develop the grand possibilities inherent in hisuitnr * . As these divine and inspired teachings—attractive schedules

of moralities with sequential beatitudes—tabulated vices with attendant infelicities and disasters , have been handed down from age to age , they have been the btsis of ofFo-i

for all discreet people who would enrich their h"i" ¦* < ' make their lifetime the augury of pure eompano '¦ "hi ;> ¦ the eternal .

But the individual man can do but litt ' e a ' one . H ' - * - acting for himself o * lv , on the most , selfi h bass , his soli , tary and unassociated efforts are of small avail . And for yrreat ends he requires the stimulus of approving n-rnb' -s

the incentive of comparisons , the insp i rit ! > n of u ¦> fi 1 diversity and tbe grand support of an ope i confession and frankly asserted aim . And yet all men cm not be constrained to one set of forms or associated under one

p hraseology . With all man ' s love of union and acknowledgment of its necessity , diversity is still a strong feature of onr association . Only certain nurabprs of men can be grouped under one banner and marshalled at one timp . The same

virtues , the same good will , the samo morality and the same hopes must be variously attuned and symbolized to meet the natural thought ancl conception that forms the grouping power for unified effort . Were this nofc so , the

whole world would to-day be groaning under one great monsfcnus monotony , call it by any name you choose . We would have no accumulated illustrations of truth , no new appeals along the lines of our civilization , no multiplied

melodies of brotherhood . Our charity would bo perfumeless and our good deeds graceless . As we are , however , and always have been , affiliating and disaffiliating , there have sprung out oftho divine revelations and precepts what we call societies and institutions .

The church , directly divinely instituted , is , although one great unit , yet at the same time the multi ple of many divisions . It stands , however , so pre-eminently above all other institutions by especial divine favour that it is not to be included arnonsr human societies and can have no

classification among them . We have , however , outside 'he church ( but not antagonizing it , certainly in the case of Masonry ) , in all civilized countries where that "God whom we as Masons reverence and serve" has made himself , His

government and man s relations to it known , aggregations of men of all kinds associated with diverse names , under every description of rules and regulations , with variously inscribed banners displaying emblems and devices ,

beautifully symbolic for some and expressionless for others , and regalia characteristic of the group it distinguishes , ail nevertheless jealously preserving traditions and zealously promoting precepts which perpetuate and emphasize some truth that conserves and elevates manhood . What these

societies have done for the world is beyond our ascertainment and our conception . As Masons we are not to underestimate any of them , and as Masons , charged with a mission such as ours , we have bufc time to say to those thafc

are not of us , God-speed yon along the lines of truth And what shall we say of Speculative Masonry ? What has it accomplished ? What is it doing to day . What will it do in the future ? What single tongue or pen can answer

these questions ? Ask if the ocean embosoms treasure . Ask if the sun illuminates the day ; if the moon ensilvers the nig ht . Ask if the stars adorn the heavens . Ask if the sands of the seashore and the leaves of the forest are

countless . Ask if the winds encircle the globe . Ask if the drops of rain refresh the parched earth . Ask if the mighty rocks form a grateful shadow ? Ask if the mountains stand firm on their foundations . Ask if the valleys and 'In hillsides y ield grain and fruitage for men . And then ask , When ,