Masonic Gleamings.

No doubt many , watching the work in the various degrees of Masonry , have discovered deeper and more interesting allegories beneath the mere words and symbols of Masonry than have I . But at the same time it is only as we exchange our thoughts , by putting them into words for each to haan that the Masonio world learns what we may have deemed ourselves to have learned by careful attention to the everyday work of the Masonic bodies .

To-night we have seen a complete exemplification of certain parts of what are commonly known as the Royal Arch degrees ; and while I have watched this same ceremony at least several hundred times , it has never before occurred to me . nor have I heretofore been informed , that there lay

hidden beneath the ceremonies which we have watched an allegory whioh may , to some extent , account for the origin of this one of our mysteries , and may at the same time revive in' our minds something of the workings of the mind of those originators who perfected our beautiful ritual and gave to us the degree of the Royal Arch .

To say that there are allegories hidden beneath the ritual of Masonry is but to say what Masonry is . And it is not strange thafc a beautiful allegory , so hidden , may be discovered , not for the first time , but for the first time to the one who then discovers it , at almost any meeting of our Ord ? r . And so to-night there has come to ms for the first time this allegory , which may perhaps be conveyed to some of my hearers for the first time in their Masonic

experience . The allegory which I have seen pictured to-night as plainly as though from a stereoptic lantern in large illustrations cast upon fche canvas before my very eye , cannot be pictured to you as it has been pictured to me ; for my words are incapable of expressing the thoughts which have hurried themselves , one after the other , as I watched tho exemplification of our ritual . I can but give you a brief synopsis of the myriad of illustrations , and allow you , from the views which I select , to complete the picture for yourselves .

I have seen the whole history of human life from its conception to its end . I have seen its spiritual existence completely pourtrayed . I have seen death , the grave , the resurrection and life eternal ; and what the pen of a Milton and a Dante have failed to adequately express , you will not expect me to explain in an after-dinner speech .

I have seen man coming into the world supported only by faith and trust , without knowledge of that to which he came ; meeting at his very entrance therein with such labours , struggles , pain and suffering as compel him to give way beneath the effort . I have seen him passing along the

pathway which leads through childhood , and listening to fche instruction of his elders , being taught to put . his- faith in God and to live an honest and upright life if he would meet with rewards in this world and enjoy even the hope of immortality .

I have seen him passing over the little difficulties of his youthful days until , as he approaches fche period of manhood , rough and rugged rocks and unforseen obstacles of every day life have confronted him and made his future seem well nigh an impossibility .

I have seen him , as he advanced into manhood , beset on every aide by dangers of which he was never forewarned , meeting at every turn of his pathway ruins of his own past conduct , which seemed completely to block his onward march ; and yet I have seen those difficulties overcome by honest , upright conduct toward his fellow men , and by an earnest , sincere faith in his Creator and in the destiny which it was intended his life should fulfil .

I have seen him , even in those days of manhood when his constantly increasing strength might have given him courage to labour alone , meeting with that constant advice and admonition which called upon him to turn always to better advisers , wherever they were to be found , and not trust too much in his own ability , but more upon those God-given qualities which enable him to reap strength from the experiences of others .

I have to-night seen man in the full strength and blossom of manhood still stumbling along fche rough and rugged path which this life marks out for every creature ' s existence ; always expecting a reward to come , and ever finding his expectations unsatisfied , until at last , by the assistance of that great Guide , which is given to every man who will accept His assistance ,

he has been able to approach , as he believes , at least the first entrance to the chamber in which may be found the reward for his life work . I have seen him , by careful attention to all that life has taught him , pass the guards which Nature has established about the secrets of the future , and approach , as it seems to him , the final reward for his labours ; and there , with that

reward almost within his grasp , I have heard the terrible announcement made to him which is made to every man who has sought to gain happiness , peace and prosperity on earth , that the happiness , peace and prosperity he sought can now be attained only by beginning the work once more at the very base of the foundations , amongst the rubbish .

Let us see what an allegory , or what a beginning of an allegory , we have already discovered . After we have passed through the stages of life to that place or time when we . have reason to expect that we have attained afc least a near prospect of happiness and peace , is it not always thus : that , as we approach this earthly hope , we find that we must go back to our labours , beginning again in the most obscure part of the temple we have erected , and digging again the foundation of a new one . But I have seen more .

I have seen that if one with willing hand and earnest heart goes to the work assigned him , and with his past experience , and that which he has learned from the lives of others always before him , digs honestly and earnestly down amongst the very rubbish of his existence , and searches diligently for that which he has lost in his journey through life , he may hope to find the key to tbe hidden mysteries of life , which , correctly applied to the rest of the years allotted him on earth , may lead him to a life eternal .

Masonic Gleamings.

And still the picture unrolls itself upon the canvas of the imagination , its outlines drawn by fche ritual of our secret Order , and I have seen tho very implements themselves with which man must work in order to free his life from the tainted matter which he has allowed to accumulate about it . I have seen the very key which must apply to the mysteries of Nature ' s God in order to attain the right to hope for immortality . I have learned that if he delves with the crow , the pick , or the spade , his labour will be in vain unless

he carries with him at all times fche continuing signet of truth : that truth to man's life , as to everything which man has been able to turn to his advantage , must be the keystone of the arch which he springs , as well as the foundation tone of the temple which he has erected ; that truth alone is mighty above , all things , and thafc whether in an allegory drawn from the mysteries' of Masonry , or whether in the royal allegory of life , truth is both the labour and the result , the light and the revelation , the endeavour and the attainment . But yet more have I seen .

I have seen man pass the portals of the grave , and led ever by an unwavering faith in the principle of truth , attain to immortality and receive as the result of his last honest labours the reward which he could never have earned through the individual and unaided efforts to which his whole life had been devoted , had it not been that he went back to the foundation stones and by unceasing effort rebuilded the temple of his life in such manner that immortality became but fche essence of his mortal existence .

No sermon could have explained , no words have expressed so clearly , the allegory which has been revealed to-night , as it has been illustrated by the diagrams which you and I have seen drawn upon the fcrestleboard by those who have carried out the ceremony of our Order . It is true that but few words have been used and little has been dona which could in its everyday significance be said to reveal the picture which I

have attempted to explain , but as you have followed the explanation I know that each of you can for himself now see , hidden beneath that which we have to-night seen exemplified , the whole history of human existence , of human endeavour , of human faith , and of the reward which awaits that man who sincerely , honestly and with absolute truth for his mofcto , meets , battles with , and conquers , the difficulties of earth . — " Voice of Masonry . "

The Grand Lodge of Hungary has addressed a . petition fco the Emperor of Austria asking him to exercise his authority to put down the practice of duelling , which appears to be on the increase in that country .

Ad00502

GAIETY RESTAURANT , LUNCHEONS ( HOT and COLD)—At Popular Prices , in BUFFET and RESTAURANT ( on 1 st floor ) . Also Chops , Steaks , Joints , Entrees , & c , in the GRILL ROOM . AFTERNOON TEAConsisting of Tea or Coffee , Cut Bread and Butter , Jam Cake , Pastry , ad lib , afc 1 / - per head ; served from i till 6 in RESTAURANT ( 1 st floor ) . DINNERS IN RESTAURANTFrom 5-30 till 9 at Fixed Prices ( 3 / 6 and 5 / - ) and a la Carte . In this room the Viennese Band performs from 6 till 8 . Smoking after 7 * 4 : 5 . AMERICAN BAR . THE aRILL ROOM is open till 12 * 30 . PEI 7 ATE DIHIKG EOOMS POB , LAEGE AUD SMALL PARTIES . SPIERS AND POND , Ltd ., Proprietors .