Masonry And The Age.

in their first signification given in the monitors and in the first degree . They are great and fundamental truths , suitable to be placed in the foundations and walls of the moral structure , represented by those of the material and visible Lodge building , or Temple of initiation . Ifc is because of this higher signification which belongs to the

Fellow Craffc , that they are jewels of the Lodge itself . The lesson of these ashlars , therefore , is that those truths only which are substantial and of enduring value are worthy to be first securely placed in the Temple of the mind—these are the truths of moral life—the truths which being cultivated ( wrought ) as the perfect ashlars , may be

trusted under every strain and pressure when things of wood and stubble crush and fall . Now , consider whether or not society at the present time ( including Masons and all others ) is not casting away the

great truths which the world through all time has testedthe " precious corner-stones " of all wisely ordered structures of social life ; amid the inconsiderate clamour for mere intellectual or scientific development , and that chiefly

in such special directions as shall contribute most toward what are called practical results , a line of progress which

shall allow neither time nor place nor yet a desire for my philosophy or ethics , either of life or law or government or social existence . Are we not all putting our trust too much in nervous activity , the forcing of the brains and

blood of youth into undue excitement and exhaustion in the cramming process of secular instruction ; carried on so continuously that the teacher of moral or religious principles can secure no attention from the overtaxed

mind ? Is not the real and indispensable education of the man , for the purpose of making him a man indeed , of full and noble moral stature , sacrificed to the project of making him more useful for the time being in the army

of secular sappers and miners who are hurried to tbe front in tbe service of gain and power ; not for themselves so much as for the combinations or syndicates who are taking the place of ancient oligarchies in appropriating to

their own disposal all things of earth and of man ? Is not the heart of the people being set by a thousand influences toward making headway in the general scramble for the baubles and vanities of mere wealth and station , and in

the good graces of those who have been more successful than others , at any cost of labour ancl pains , or sacrifice of sterling independence and manly integrity ? Every one knows that this is what is going on throughout the com munity at large , and through all its parts .

Of what stuff are the ashlars now being prepared ? What are the unserviceable simultations which are beinEr

moulded and ornamented by " improved machinery" to appear externally as the chosen stones tested at the quarries ancl wrought to perfect ancl orderly design , which are to maintain the integrity of the social and moral edifice ?

There is no answer ; only society calls more loudly for sticks and stucco and paint and varnish and putty , and everything which can be wrought into a sham ; and for artificers skilled in placing and using them for temporary purposes .

Science , with those who have the least of it , seems now to be regarded as the panacea for all the recognised ills of society and the body politic ; it is to make wise men of simpletons , and . moral heroes of the servile ; it will fill the

legislative halls with Roman senators , the courts with upright jurists , the pulpits and platforms with apostles of humanity and heaven , the desks of the press with champions of order , and liberty and justice ; and church find state , city and village ancl rural dwelling ., aud

Merchant palaces and boards of stock and gold brokers , and consultation rooms of speculators and caucus chambers of politicians shall be fche chosen places of justice , charity , concord and veneration of God and love of tho race . Only

give us science ancl all things shall bo added unto us . Give us science ancl good salaries ancl a chance for speculation . Never mind tho quality of tho ashlars , only hurry them up , handling with care .

, All this is " comforming to the spirit of the age " , such as it is , and such as beyond doubt ifc never was bo fore . This 13 tl glimpse at the out-door melee . What is going on in the Lod ge ? Well , a good deal that is better than . v .- seo

outside ; but the modes and processes are similar . Carelessness , hurry—laying aside the valuables to make room tor substitutes and imitations ; or else casting them entirely aside

among the rubbish ; leaving * the great lessons of the Lod ge , the fruits of long developed wisdom , to those who ^ a-y oe stupid enough to seek them out and draw from

Masonry And The Age.

their long unused sentences the golden words of Truth . And in this way it comes to pass more aud more tbat th _> lessons of the ashlars , the plumb , the level , the square , and especially of the trestleboard , of the line and rale , the

foundation stones and pillars ; and above all of the 47 th problem of Euclid , are all of them largely , and some of them totally lost ; and this tends to put them more and more in disregard , and finally in contempt ; for who will care for that in which he sees no veritable value ?

But this exactly accords with what is going on all about , in council and forum and church and school . Philosophy is pnt aside in favour of special science . The latter is

easier attained , appears as well in the eyes of the uninformed , and what is far more to the purpose " will pay better " in most cases . Thus the veritable Degrees of the

Ancient Craft Lodge go into neglect with the once garnered lore which constituted the body of their philosophy ; and give place in the esteem of the craftsmen to the modern fabrications with their unmeaning legends and prodigious array of titles and display ; and Masonry , like a great tree whose vigour is sapped by numerous " water sprouts " springing from its body , casts the fading

leaves of its crown before its time ; and its fruit withers and falls—it also is conforming to the spirit of the age . It is true we must not expect to escape entirely the influence of the whirl and rush of a transitional period

like the present ; but we may hope to do something to avert worse evils than are yet upon us . We must not suffer the great good to be obtained from the wonderful enterprise and increase of knowledge which

mark this epoch , to be overbalanced by the increase of heartliness , servility and vice ; or otherwise to be seized for the use of the grasping and domineering spirit which such a period must produce ; and which thiuks the world

well cared for when it can subject all therein to its own purposes . But it is not by reiterated assertions thafc Masonry is great and good , and exceedingly ancient , that

this can be done ; not by laborious aud bewildering attempts to follow the lost threads of ifs history , -m * -. the little known conditions and contusion-. . < f iorumr «¦ - .. .-

not by proselyting argumentations to show 1 . __ .. ;¦ excellencies , and that among tue _ . e i . its aunui * . .- ¦ proselyting ; not by parading certain liistauoe . s ot .-. _ ..

duty performed by craftsman here and there , ancl seif devotion supposed to have been performed by heroes WM would nofc have done the aam .. from u . tivt . inaniiu---- .

It h . s long been high time to reform our own modes in these respects . Neither can any help come from senseless efforts to convert the Lodge into a popnganda of special political or ecclesiastical hobbies , be ; -uise they

may be in some indirect manner connected with or linked on with Temperance or Religion or other mortal subject . Masonry cannot afford to be seen with its ante-chambers

made the " headquarters " of ward committees , with their pious modes of carrying on an election for Mayor and Aldermen ; as lias been seen iu the case of a principal church of a great denomination not long since .

Masonry asks no favours of church or state , or political parties under any disguise ; nor any odds against the few sinister and jealous minds whose love of hypocrisy and dominion instigates their parading under the ridiculous

title of an anti-Masonic " Congress . " Let them continue to advertise themselves when and wherever they can find time and space for that purpose , which they have not learned how to better employ .

But Masonry must hasten back to her landmarks , and prepare to exhibit and exert reinvigorated moral force , according to the demands of the day and hour . She must

put forth the sublime energy inliving in the vital truths to be found in her magazine of principles ; which grow ever brighter in the fires of their purification . —Voice of Masonry .

The installation meeting of the Kingsland Lodge , No . 1693 , will take place on Tuesday , the 4 th October , at the Cock Tavern , Highbury , when Bro . Snook will be installed as Worshipfnl Master .

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