Where We Find All This.

WHERE WE FIND ALL THIS .

An Oration before the Grand Lodge of Freemasons in California , loth October 1800 , by Bro . Jacob Voorsauger . Grand Orator .

fipHE crowning glory of tho teachings of our Order is to JL make good workmen of us all . Not only men , but workmen , men who work , who labour for tho good of humanity . Wo must always hold this distinct motive in view , olso tho symbolism and tho mysteries of our Order

would be perfunctory , and our organisation would have no right of existence . Permit me , then , to recall to your mind some of the lessons taught since the days of Hiram Abiff , and to illustrate them in my own way , that I may at

least have the gratification of having added one grain to yonr store of experience , and of having expressed my own love and veneration of the principles of our Ancient and Honourable Fraternity .

Masonic tradition informs us that amongst the prerogatives of tho workmen of the Temple there was the right of meeting in the inner sanctuary . Anon wo will learn that this tradition has a symbolic value , little appreciated by the general body of our brethren . Suffice it to say for

tho present , that tho records of Holy writ are entirely contradictory of the tradition held by Masons . Wo read , that only once in the sacred year , on the day of Atonement , it was the duty of the Hi gh Priest of Israel to enter the sanctum sanctorum , there to offer up prayers for God ' s

pardon for himself , his family , and tho entire communit y of Israel . Singularly enough , during tho days of the Tabernacle , the prototype of King Solomon ' s Temple , an important exception was mado to this rule . We learn

from tho same sacred records that Moses , tho law-giver of Israel , was permitted to enter the veiled sanctum whenever the spirit of God descended upon him . Hero is already an important suggestion .

Tho spirit of man , anxious to commune with its Maker , brooks no sacerdotal officialism . The pomp and circumstance of the mysteries , the public celebration of mystic rites and ceremonies , such as were peculiar to all tho nations of antiquity , may have subserved a purpose which

we may presently discover . But tho spirit of man , conscious that a solution of the mysteries of this world lies in tho perfect communion of the soul with its Creator , breaks the fetters of rite and ceremony and constantly craves for the light that proceeds from the sanctuary of the

Supreme . Thus , m the domain of symbolism Moses represents tho free spirit , the unfettered mind , capable at all times of piercing the veil beyond which tho feet of men must not venture . The High Priest , on the contrary , represents that spirit of antiquity that sought to envelop

tho truth that humanity should understand , in the veil of mystery , appealing to the sense of awe in human nature , to enhance the simplest rules of life into a most mysterious possession of divinity . Moses represents the purified , spiritualised man , whose mind , touched by the finger of

truth , easily encompasses the principles of life and being , and the true rule of human action ; but the chief of the priests represents that very ancient principle that humanit y must worship from afar off , and that , clothed in the solemn

mysteries of a temple , the truth can be made adaptable to the conditions of a world , whose perception of the mysteries is imperfect , but which through that same imperfection can best be taught tbe harmony that should prevail in society as in nature .

This is the paradox of antiquity , descended to our own times . It was held that the mysteries , so-called , were the ingredients of the true worship of the gods . When these mysteries became concrete , when they lost the glow and glamour of deep signification , they lost their soul and

deteriorated into a meaningless , purposeless worship . This is the fate of all mysteries , the Masonic included . The symbolism of the mysteries must itself tell the truth that shall guide and stimulate men ; it must not bo merely a veil to hide or conceal the truth . Thus , if we were to

devote ourselves to a profound study of this interesting chapter of human history , we may become imbued with a desire to ascertain tho philosophy of symbolism , which , if the truth must be told , the ancients understood better than

their modern descendants . How should the truth be taught ? How should man , just emancipated from the barbaric state , become thoroughly imbued with the principles , that shall keep him , for over and for ever , separate

Where We Find All This.

from tho lower species over whom he was destined to reign king ? How can purity , honour and chastity , courage and fidelity , be best propagated among men ? How can the world best be informed of the will of the gods ; how shall man learn that his own wisdom and almost omnipotence are but an infinitesimal moiety of the Divine power ?

These important questions , which constitute the theme of Masonic inquiry , as well as of philosophy , baffle tho world to-day in no inconsiderable degree , and they certainly constituted the theme of anxious cogitation in antiquity . Tho answer given by the ancient religions is an adequate

one . Give man an opportunity to seek the truth . Ho may never solve it ; the mysteries of life , death and immortality may for ever remain a book many times sealed , but it is within the power of man to unclasp the seals one after the other . The mystery is but a method of unsealing the

truth . The principles of religion are always simple enough to be comprehended by man . But will man accept anything so simple ? Will he permit himself to be led by a

little child ? Does he not rather crave for a giant , a onoeyed cyclops , blazing with anger and passion , before whom he can prostrate himself under the fear and trembling of an overpowering mystery ?

The naked truth is an appeal to mans reason , tho mystery is an appeal to his emotions . Man learns his lessons oftener through his emotions than through his reason , and therein , my brethren , lies the key to the ancient as well as to tho modern mysteries . Do you understand

that this is an admission of the weakness of humanity ? Possibly so , but we cannot alter our natures . It seems wisely ordained that through his sense of the mysterious man shall obtain a glimpse of light . The mysteries have been the means of propagating and promoting amongst

men the principles of a natural religion , a religion , crude and barbarous at first , but none the Jess a recognition of a supremacy of Divine power , which is always the guide of man ' s moral actions . We , tho disciples of a symbolic philosophy , certainly will fully recognise the importance

of these suggestions . Our Masonry , aside from its social or philanthropic organisation , is in full reality a progressive science , taught by degrees ; that means to say , wo clothe the simple rules of life and action which are taught tho

novitiate , in a symbolic garment , or rather , we introduce him , through a succession of preliminary truths , clothed in the grandeur of our mystic rites , to the true philosophy of life . Do yon thus understand Masonry , my brethren ?

Notice how this principle was logically carried out in the rites and corenonies of the Temple . What important truth was there hidden behind the veil that separates the sanctum from the sanctum sanctorum , that could not be pronounced in the open market-place ? What precious

gift from Jehovah had the priest that was not shared by the prophet ? Yet the prophet , that grand idealist of tho past , in whose luminous mind was reflected the redemption of future generations of man , was a derided , much abused creature , whilst tho | mitred priest , clad in linen and

carrying the ephod , was an object of veneration . Here the toiling speaker of the truth , the harbinger of glad tidings , the words rushing from his lips with the vehemence of the torrent as it rushes down the mountain ' s side ; yonder the priest , in the magnificent , spacious temple ; the man of

God m the market-place with but a message , tbe prince of the house of Aaron , in the mysterious abode of the Shekinah , with its courts and palaces , its timbers and stones carried with great care from the mountains and forests of Lebanon . And when the hero of our traditions ,

the widow ' s son , daily at high twelve ventured into the holy place to give expression to his piety and devotion to the ever-living God , what could his eyes have beheld of such paramount importance that the multitude should daily gather to witness the solemn rites and worship of the

Temple ? Where was the significance of this dail y celebration , these hosts of priests , these small armies of Levites , these daily offerings , these strains of harmony , this swinging of incense , these loud shouts of worship and thanksgiving , these soft melodies of the psalm-singers , the solemn invocations of the worshipping people ? What was

the significance of the awe and terror with which the people beheld tho preparations for the atonement service , what the meaning of this anxiety and solicitude , when , as duty required , the High Priest , himself quaking with fear

lest he be stricken dead at the threshold , timidly lifted the mysterious veil to proceed into the inner sanctum ? I shall not be afraid to venture with him , nor shall yon be , for there is nothing terrible within , only the Ark of the