Freemasonry Is Brotherhood.

FREEMASONRY IS BROTHERHOOD .

An Address hy Bro . Frederic Speed at the Laying of the Corner-stone of the City Hall at Meridian , Mississippi , February 1889 .

( Continued from page 242 . ) THUS it may be said that Freemasonry is a growth . It was not like Minerva springing from the head of Jove , brought at once into a perfect being . It was not a creation—nor was it a work—it never was made . The

germ was fonnd in the first man , springing from and taking root in his nature and as soon as there was another similar nature toward which its outgrowth could proceed it budded , flowered and produced fruit—that fruit was the

brotherhood of man—Freemasonry . It is not possible to create a true and genuine brotherhood upon any theory of the baseness of human nature , for there can bo no genuine brotherhood without mutual regard , good opinion and

esteem , mutual charity , and mutual allowance for faults aud failings . It is only those who learn to think better of each other , to look habitually for the good that is in

each other , and except , allow for , and overlook the evil , who can be brethren one of the other in any true sense of the word . Freemasonry , then , means Brotherhood .

The claim is not made that Freemasonry of to-day is identical with that which existed in ancient times as the Magi , the Essenes , the Rite of Elensis , of even that which

was established at the building of Solomon ' s Temple , but they had one origin , a similar parentage ; the inextinguishable want of human nature for companionship , sympathy and co-operation , and there is a wonderful coincidence in symbols , forms and ceremonies , so tbat they

may be said to run in parallel lines . If , indeed , the Craffc is nofc in fact the lineal successor and descendant of them ,

the spirit , the substance , remain . But Freemasonry is not only a brotherhood , it is a republic . In every age its device has been liberty , equality , fraternity , with constitutional government , law , order ,

discipline and subordination to legitimate authority—government and not anarchy . It recognises the dignity of human nature and man's right to so much freedom as he is fitted for , and it knows nothing that should place one man below

another except ignorance , debasement and crime , and necessity of subordination to lawful will and authority . Its mode of government when •Csesars and tyrants were usurping the rights of the people was that of a pure

democracy ; in recesses into which no Coasar could penetrate , it taught the freedom and dignity of man . While the world was prostrate before the emperors , Eleusis closed its gate against Nero , and Masonio priests told Constantine that

they had no expiation that could clear him from the murder of his wife . Amidst all the brutality and oppression around them the secret Lodges with their scheme of truth , wrought out with the compass and the square , the level

and the plumb , were reproving the wrong . Whatever might be the insolence of wealth and power outside , within the mystic fold all were brethren pledged to each others ' defence and support . Not all the cruelties and bloodshed

that war has produced could obliterate an institution , which , overlooking national disputes , enjoined the duty of man helping his brother man , standing by hira when persecuted , giving him decent burial after death and shielding

his widow ancl orphans from wrong and privation , and which , while holding itself aloof from the separate creed held fast to a principle broader than any of them , that man is sovereign over his mind and must deal in charity with the opinions and judgment of his fellows .

But what does ifc signify ? What matters ifc whether Freemasonry be an hundred or thousands of years old ? What if ifc had ever been ? What if it had nofc survived the commotions and turmoils of the early acres ? What if

it had not reared monuments of usefulness in marble in grand and stately buildings , and the proudest ; edifices of the old world , its magnificent churches , its vast cathedrals its massive bridges and aqueducts ? What if thore were

nothing to bear witness to the architectural genius , machanical skill and scientific knowledge which ifc displayed during the long years when it was an operative art , existing under the guise of the college of artificers ? Ifc is

easy , to be sure , to point with pride to the fact that men of the highest rank have always knocked at its doors and asked leave to enter ; to utter the one incomparable name of Washington , and to tell that fifty of the fif fcv-six signers

of the Declaration of Independence were Masons ; that Lafayette and others of the Generals of the Revolutionary

struggle were craftsmen , and that from the day-breaking of the great republic nntil the good honr in which we have the happiness to live , the greatest of our statesmen , warriors , theologians , scientists and humanitarians , have worn

the Masonic apron with pleasure to themselves and honour to the Fraternity . Still the question obtrudes itself , — What signifies ifc ? What if it were to be swept from the face of the earth ? What has it done for ns and for the

communities in which we live ? We are well aware that , viewed from the exterior , Freemasonry presents no marked excellences which are not possessed in common with numerous other associations , and that to the profane it ia

simply an organisation which professes to practice virtues which all mankind are nnder like obligations to perform , and to them it is no answer to the question to assert that to those who have entered within the most secret

apartments of the temple and beheld the cherubim whose outstretched wings shield the ark of the covenant , and who have studied its symbols and read their hidden meaning , ifc exhibits necnliarities which distinguish it from all other

human organisations , and to him who has been so fortunate as to receive the true spirit of the inspiration which it breathes in its every teaching , it must always remain without a peer in his affections .

Glancing backward over the history of an institution so old and yet so strong , so wide-spread and yet so mysterious , we cannot but feel that God has been in it for the good of our race . An institution allowed by Divine

Providence to send the first representatives to the God incarnate in Bethlehem , has , we may be sure , some mission to fulfil—some reason for existence which will be told in that day when the occult shall be manifest—when God

shall justify His ways to man . Freemasonry , we have said , is a brotherhood . How to

be brothers indeed , how in the midst of diversities of interest , diversities of condition , diversities of opinion and belief , diversities of race and nation , to be brothers still , loving brothers in a world rent hy violence ,

sundered by partition walls , full of intolerance and party feeling , sectarian strife and exclusiveness of caste , to be brothers amid the destructions of common life , where

wealth and poverty , obscurity and eminence jostle each other , where religious and political differences , soc ^ l distinctions and the exclusiveness of wealth all conspire to set men at a greater distance and to water and cultivate the

obnoxious weed of selfishness , is a problem which Freemasonry undertakes to solve . Wo do not say that other agencies cannot be equally potent , only that they have not

been as successful in combining the scattered elements of society , in recalling men to a sense of their fraternal relations , in reviving the sometimes almost extinguished faith in friendship and virtue , in opening a new temple and

setting np a new altar above all prejudices and dissensions and selfishness , above all distinctions except moral goodness—a temple dedicated to universal friendshi p , an altar at which all harmony may kneel , where brethren may seek

refuge together from the strife and storms of human passion , defence and shelter within an inviolable sanctuary of peace and love . This is the Masonic ideal , however

short practically we may come of ifc , which wins our respect and takes captive our hearts ancl justifies its existence .

But again , what does ifc signify that we are present here to-day around th- ' s corner-stono P Freemasonry is patriotic in its design ? . With politics as a system of tactics for fche advancement of a party , we renounce all

connections , bufc in that more enlarged view in which it is made to comprehend all that relates to the welfare of tho state , Ireemasonry claims its appropriate share . A bad citizen can never be a good man . He who violates the

laws of the land will nofc obey those of the Craft , and woe to thafc community which hononrs and elevates the man who keeps nofc faith with his brethren , for such a man is sure , sooner or later , to betray every confidence reposed in

him . The Ereemason is enjoined and required to be a peaceable citizen and to cheerfully conform to the law of fche country in which ho resides , nofc to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the government bufc patiently to submit to the decision of the law and constituted

authorities , to pay proper respect to thc civil magistrates , to work diligently , live creditably , and act honourably by all men . From the beginning , Freemasonry has exercised the office of a teacher , and while it has taught pure morals