In True Acclaim.

renowned military men—General Sherman . I said to him that I believed the plan of his military movement from Atlanta to the sea , abandoning his base , burning the bridges behind himself and severing all lines of communication between himself and his government , was an act condemned by all former historical

warriors and by the then adopted science of warfare . He replied that that was correct . I asked him then to explain to me if he would , what line of reasoning led him into so bold an act . Said he : "In crossing the plains , years ago , I observed the many

bands of emigrants marching in a hollow square , defending themselves on all sides , carrying their base of supplies with themselves . I simply expanded the tactics of that movement of a few hundred men into the manceuvers of an army of many thousands . "

So does the studious Mason expand the lesson taught by symbol and allegory , within the protecting walls of the Masonic Lodge room , into the broader thought , in fact into the firm belief , broad as the universe itself , that in it all , over it all , and beyond it all , is God—its author and protector , and the preserver

of all things material and spiritual therein ; and so he recognises God as possessing the attributes of infinite power , wisdom , justice , mercy , and love . Equally , too , does the thoughtful Mason expand the duties of Fraternity and fellowship here taught , into a respect and regard for the conditions and welfare of the whole family of mankind .

While , therefore , the Masonic Lodge has no fixed curriculum as applied to educational institutions , it is , nevertheless , an instructor in the rudiments of those moral themes which are of the highest value to the world—indispensable factors in the progress of civilisation .

Masonry has no religious creed , but if it had , I imagine it would mean this : "I believe in God , the creator of all things and the Father of all human beings . I believe in this moral law : Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you , do ye even so unto them . "

But I hear the distant murmur of disapproval , the mutterings of a malediction . It now has a far-away sound , like distant thunder , for it comes to our ears all the way down through the centuries . Now and then , however , its dying away reverberations are echoed back to our ears with renewed

boisterousness from the secluded and otherwise unobserved grottos of an imitative and ambitious theological functionary . When that denunciation was uttered , it was with such a loud voice , and so authoritatively , that the entire Christian people of the world trembled with fear of perdition , and a vast number of

non-Christian people trembled from fear of loss of their liberty and possessions . Freemasonry was wholly condemned . It was declared to be sacrilegious , inimical to state and society , and destructive of religious authority and discipline . We know the frailty of the foundation on which that unreasonable edict against

our Fraternity rested ; and we know the effeminacy , the inconsistency , and the falsity of those who in our own day and times of intelligence , would assume the authority to sit iu judgment upon our Brotherhood and denounce it as unhallowed and vicious . We have a most eminent Christian order , the Knight Templar , which has bound itself to us by a Masonic pledge , and whose

career contributed most abundantly toward making the existence and continuance of the Christian church possible . While we are represented in the Christian court of judgment by that Masonic friend , we need have no fear that either the Christian church or the power of any other religious system will ever successfully condemn us .

But I hear still another murmur of disapproval—an Intruding query . It is this : "You are going too far ; do you not seek to displace the church ? " Nay , not so . I know that there are some men who believe that the principles of Freemasonry will one clay become the foundation of a universal

church I am unable to agree with them . Certainly , it seems to mo , if such an occurrence shall ever take place , it will be many i ct ; ries , many ages hence . It will be when the present univers . il lendemy of the human heart to worship has been subjugated b > the present universal prompting of the human

mind to reverence . The Lodge reverences , the church worships . The spirit of worship and the spirit of reverence are equally well fortified in the nature of man ; neither can successfully invade the stronghold of the other , neither will attempt to do so . Man will cease to be man when he ceases to worship , when he ceases to reverence .

A belief in the latherhood of God , and a recognition , at least to some extent , of the Brotherhood of Man , is fundamental with every religion of the world . It is peculiarly so with the Hebrew church , the foundation church of our Christian civilisation . Without that basal doctrine in its fullest extent

there could be no Christian Church . This fundamental doctrine cau be and of course is taught and learned outside of the Masonic Lodges , but Masonry inculcates it through its own peculiar methods and ceremonies as its primal lesson . With this special training , is not the man who has become a Mason the better

In True Acclaim.

qualified to comprehend and accept the rational requirements of the church ? Is he not the better equipped , at least mentally , because of it ? If he desires to enlarge the structure of his religious nature , by adding the beauty and utility which his church membership

is intended to provide , may he not find himself the better prepared to build securely , by the possession of those fundamental principles which were lain for the Craft by its wise founder , Solomon , and upon which so largely rests the doctrines of the church , as a rock which cannot be prevailed against ?

The Mason stands at the base of this Masonic fabric constructed of materials quarried from some of the best intellects of the world , for centuries past . Its fair proportions of wisdom , beauty and strength , rise up in splendour before his gaze , column

above column and pier above pier . Its foundation rests in the earth beneath and its pinnacle in the heavens above . He is taught familiarity with that winding stairway which leads him to the summit where he can certainly inhale the heavenly atmosphere of the churchly realm .

My friend stood at the base of Bunker Hill monument . He grasped with his penetrating eyes , and drank in with his appreciative perception , the symmetry and beauty of the towering column . He was not satisfied ; he went up higher . At early dawn he witnessed from its summit the birth of a summer day . At length , as he gazed away into space , the deeper shades of the

morning grey faded into a lighter hue ; the discernible clouds became fringed with a golden glow ; the fiery orb of day slowly rose in majesty above the watery waste in the eastward ; the darkness sped away ; the stars went out ; the earth looked up in gladness ; the fields of waving grain seemed to bow in reverence , and the air about him was resonant with nature ' s divinest anthems . Above him was the Infinite .

Thus my friend , in living parable , went up from the Lodge into the mansion of the church , through its central foundation column , the Masonic doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the universal Brotherhood of Man .

In this symbol he saw the rising of the Sun of Eighteousness . He observed the lesser lights of dogmatism go out . He beheld the darkness of superstitious beliefs , aud the gloom of human wrongs , flee away . He heard the acclaim of a world of mankind rejoicing in the light of the fact of the existence of a Deity of love through and over all , and in ecstacy he joined in the grand song

of peace on earth , goodwill towards men , as it burst in unspeakable rapture upon the heaven of human hopes . And so I am persuaded that the Lodge will never displace the church , and that there will never rise up a barrier in the pathway of the one who journeys from the Lodge to the church , but the great lights of the Lodge room will guide his steps safely through and keep him from falling .

Perhaps , in the fulfilment of that prophetic hope , when " swords shall be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning honks , when nation shall no longer lift up sword against nation , neither shall they learn war any more ; " perhaps in the coming of that brighter day when the lion of human avarice and

oppression , and the lamb of human welfare and progress , shall lie down iu peace together under the shadow of God ' s love ; perhaps in the dawn of that coming time when , ou the wings of our diviner natures , humanity will be lifted above its bigotry and superstition , its irrational beliefs and unbeliefs , into the nearer

presence of the Great Architect , supreme and all-pervading , then , perhaps , may the Lodge return its charter and close its labour forever , for then will the knowledge of the Masonic lesson of the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea . —C . J . Lewis , Hannibal , Missouri , in " Voice of Masonry . "

"A Sprig Of Acacia."

"A SPRIG OF ACACIA . "

THE remains of the late Brother 1 nomas Kitwood , of Messrs . Kitwood and Son , of Boston , who died at Bournemouth , aged 70 years , on Friday , 7 th inst ., were interred at Boston Cemetery , on the nth inst . The ceremony was performed by the Vicar , the Rev . J .

Stephenson , in the presence of a large number of relatives and friends of the deceased , who was a member of the Harmony Lodge , No . 272 . A very large number of members of both the local Lodges were present , and , in the course of the service , sang the Masonic closing hymn .

ON Thursday , 13 th inst ., the funeral of the late Bro . Iley took place in the Oxbridge Cemetery , Stockton . The deceased was for man } ' years one of the leading Freemasons on the Tees-side . He was a Past Master of the Tees Lodge ,

and a number of years since Provincial honours were bestowed upon him . The funeral was attended by the Mayor of Stockton , Councillor A . G . Rudd , J . P ., and many other influential Freemasons .