Masonry Religious And Patriotic.

yet may enter ; nay , more , I would to heaven that tho whole world were one great Masonic brotherhood , together practising the precepts of our Order . Then indeed would the lion and the lamb lie down together , and nations know

war no more . But , aside from this , our association is one for the cultivation of virtue and friendship , and the works of charity . Are these pursuits such as men would advertise to tho world ? I know that , in this age of philanthropic effort

and modest refinement , men have learned to improve on the practice of the ancient Pharisee ; and although they may not now , as of old be found in acts of self-adulation at the corners of our streets , they are content to give only when their names are to be emblazoned in the public prints

and they heralded forth to the world as the very buds and blossoms of charity ; and as their intoxicated vanity gloats over the sounding paragraph , in the thrill of conscious admiration dancing along their every nerve they have their rich recompense for their charitable deeds . Not so with

the MaBon in his charities . He practices them in secret ; he calls no witness to admire the teuderness of his sympathies . Instead of seeking the gaping admiration of the

multitude , hejlooks for his recompense in the smiles of an approving conscience , and in the favour of Him who , though He seeks to be worshipped in secret , has promised to reward them who worship Him openly .

But , after all , what is there so obnoxious in the idea of a secret ? Every individual bosom , as well as every family circle , is the repository of some , which it would be little less than profanity to expose to the gaze of the cold and

the unsympathising world . Societies , cabinets , governments , all have their secrets , which should be as inviolate as those of our Order . Our legislature sits with closed doors ; the convention which framed the Federal Constitution was in secret session from its commencement until its

olose . Why , then , may Masons not have their secrets ? Let those who raise the objection furnish an answer—I know of none . Does any one answer me that the seoret obligations of a Mason are inimical to the principles of liberty or the

precepts of religion r Let me ask that man from whence he derived his information ? Does he know that the charge is true ? If not , let me refer him to the testimony of a galaxy of illustrious men—the purest Christians , the most profound philosophers , the most devoted patriots , that ever blessed or dignified mankind .

Let me point him to Newton , the Christian philosopher , the father of natural science—he who weighed the planets in their spheres , and revealed the laws which sustained the order of the universe—he for whom was written the fitting

epitaph" Nature and all her works lay hid in night ; God said , let Newton be ! and all was light ' . " To Locke , the philosopher , who first resolved the human mind into its proper elements , determined its functions and

combined their action ; the Christian who , not content with the analysis of thought , became the powerful and triumphant champion of his faith , and the republican whose bold and fearless attack upon the divine right of kings drew down upon himself a long and vindictive persecution .

Or , I will point him to the illustrious of his own favoured land : To him whose voice first sounded the alarum of war in our eastern colonies ; whose own arm bore the first banner

that ever dipped its crimson folds in the blood of the foes of American freedom ; he who , upon the heights of Oharlestown—fitting altar!—offered up himself the first sacrifice for his country—the eloquent , the patriotic , the lamented Warren .

To him the proscribed of tyrants , the sworn enemy of kings , whose bold hand first signed tbe great pledge of American independence—the venerable Hancock , To him , a brighter star than ever glittered in the coronet

of Greece ; a brighter star than ever glittered in the coronet of Rome , the brightest star that glitters in the diadem of nations . To him , the first in war , the first in peace , and the first in the hearts of-bis countrymen—Washington .

To him who left the land of his fathers , the wealth he inherited , and , in the darkest and most perilous hours of our Revolutionary fortunes , sought our standard and followed it until victory rested upon its eagles , and then returned to shake the rotten and crumbling thrones of Europe with the notes of freedom—Lafayette ! To Franklin , the patriot , who ia the day of danger stood

Masonry Religious And Patriotic.

foremost in his country ' s councils . The philosopher who , grappling with the tempest , despoiled the fearful element of its destructive artillery . To the learned and venerable Marshall , the father of American jurisprudence .

To the names of Clinton , Livingstone , Rittenhonse , and a host of others .

And when I tell him that all of thoso illustrious names are inscribed as high upon the records of Masonry as they aro upon the scrolls of fame—that all were prominent members of our Order—that when Warren fell be was the Grand Master throughout the colonies—that Washington

founded a Lodge at Alexandria over which he presided until his death—that Marshall was for forty years and until his death Master of a Lodge—that Clinton was for many years at the head of the Fraternity in the Union . And when I tell him , further , that not an officer of the

Revolution , from the degree of major to that of commanderin-chief , but was a Mason , with one dark exception , that of Arnold *—that during that eventful struggle not a battle was fought , not a victory won , not a trophy gained , not a deed of fame emblazoned upon the face of the national

escutcheon , but the name of Mason mingled with the remembrance ; when I tell him all this , methinks the still living voices of those fdeparted philosophers , statesmen , patriots and heroes , as they arise from the closet council and eiisinguined battlefield , sufiiocnt to stilt the voices of

calumny for ever . What t an institution inimical to our Government , to which Warren , Hancock , and Washington , and their whole army of compatriots gave their encouragement and support ? An association immoral or irreligious , which num .

bered Locke , Newton , Franklin , Rittenhonse and Clinton among its members ? A society over which Marshall and Livingstone presided , require obligations inconsistent with the laws and institutions of our country ? Does it require my voice to pronounce such imputation false ? Does it

need my efforts to prove that perjary and falsehood are not written upon the brow of these , the purest men that ever lived in the tide of times ? Does any man now ask me to name the Masonic obligations , that he may judge for himself without the

intervention of authority ? My answer is , they are a portion of the mysteries of onr Order . If he be an honest man , if he loves virtue , let him seek our temples ; and if he does so in the true spirit , he will learn that to be a perfect Mason is to be a perfect man — true to his God , his country and

himself . He will be required to take no step , to give no pledge , of the nature of which he is ignorant ; if he sees aught of evil , aB he advances , he may return and none will prevent him . But let me say , and assure him , that not one of those steps will be other than such as heaven and just men will approve .

Brethren , members of an Order which time as rendered venerable , which virtue has consecrated , which genius has made immortal , if one who is but an acolyte of your Order may use the language of monition , allow me to address myself to you . The tongue of slander has assailed

us" Slander , whose edge is sharper than a sword , whose tongue Ontvcnoms all the worms of Nile , whose breath Rides on the posting winds , and doth belie All corners of the world . "

When hurled against the pure and sacred precepts of our Order , the barbed arrows of calumny must fall innocuous ; let us seek , by regarding and practising those precepts , to render ourselves alike invulnerable . As we look forth upon

creation" And in the vast , and the minute , behold The unambitious footsteps of the God Who gives its lustre to the insect ' s wing , And wheels His throne along the rolling world , " let us reverently render up tbe homage due to His

Omnipotence . As we look around us , and behold the great family of man pursuing their thousand devious ways , let us remember that all are brethren—having one common origin , destined to one common end—and as our hearts expand

with the unusual sympathy , let its impulses be regarded as the dictates of duty . And let us , each for ourselves , remember thnt lesson which teaches " that the path of virtue is the way to happiness . " This simple truth is the