The Antiquity And Ubiquity Of Masonry.

t the great Pyramid into a Masonic Temple , on a scale of grandeur unra lleled in the wide , wide world . P -j-he delineation in the writer ' s mind is as follows : The Sp hinx—this watchman of the desert—is called by the Arabs i . bool-hol , "the father of terrors . " It is referred to under the name of Aker or intelligence . In hieroglyphics it is named Hor-em-koo , the sun on

, i horizon . It faces the cast where light comes from . This marvellous monster with luiinan head , and a body like a lion couchant , is not an inapt type of the i durability and unchangeableness of Masonry . [ it has been silently watching the seasons change , the years roll by , the 1 centuries recede .

i It has watched with stony indifference the rise and rum of empires . ' There it sits like a majestic apparition above the flow of the fertile Nile , ibove the surging sand of the Sahara or Great Desert that gather round it like the billows of a petrified sea . Mutely tranquil , immovably serene . You never weary gazing upon the stony calm of its attitude , the weird beauty of lis repose , the unutterable meaning of its eloquent countenance .

It sits upon the selvage of that Ly bian desert like some mystcrous pre-Adamite monarch . Its wide well-opened eyes have gazed unwinkingly into vacancy , while mjcrhty Pharoahs and Hebrew law-givers , Persian princes , and Greek nhfiosop hers , Antony with marble brow , and Cleopatra with matchless beauty , Arab warriors , and Europeans of scientific research have come in

rotation , through the unpausing ages , to look into those eyes so full of meaning and yet so fixed . There it stands to-day as it has stood through the waning centuries . The symbol of intellect and strength . Throug h the unnumbered ages it has borne upon its head the royal helmet , or rams horns , indicative of courage and power , dignity and immortality . Its curious combination of the lion ' s body with the human head

symbolises intellect and strength . Between its fore-paws there was once , there is still , a temple to which the travellers climbed by a long flight of stone steps , there to begin the mystic journey to the heart of the Pyramid , and the study of the occult science which they became familiar with amid the science and solemnity of Chufus' chamber . Immediately under its breast stood an altar from whence smoking incense went up into those vast and well-formed nostrils .

That face , though weather-beaten for many thousands of years , is still majestic , those features , though worn by the waste of circling centuries are still in a most marked degree expressive . The temple in the chest of the Sphinx was in my opinion the ante-room lo a Masonic lodge , from whence the man of proper principles , pure practice and upright life was led through the solemn shadows to the lower

chamber in the very heart of the Pyramid . This chamber is lined with stones very highly polished , symbolically engraved , carefully finished and fitted , and artistically roofed with huge blocks of granite leaning against each other in the centre to resist the pressure of the mass above . There is a niche in the eastern wall of this chamber some 15 feet in height , the object of that niche is to many hidden in the haze of obscurity .

As I held my flambeau up and scanned it with interest intense , I concluded that the light that fell upon the face of the newly-initiated one flashed from this niche . Brethren of the mystic tie , don ' t you thing so too ? Here the solemn vows were made that mocked floods and flames , faggots and fires , sword and death . Here the first steps were taken , here the earliest obligations were assumed , here implicit trust in the Infinite One was acknowledged .

Here the token of friendship and brotherly love was g iven , here the right angles , horizontals and perpendiculars , came into perfect play . Here the E . A . was taught the use of tools . Here the journey began in gloom that ended in meridian splendour . Here life ' s precious jewels were brought forth in mental form , with all the advantages that flow out from them when properly used , and when called into fullest play . Here the ear was couched to hear the cry of distress , and the hand was taught how to help the needy .

Here obligations were assumed that led in due course of time and study to all the ri ghts and privileges of the ancient Order of Masonry . —Iowa Masonry .

Placing The Cap-Stone.

PLACING THE CAP-STONE .

ORATION BY BRO . REV . H . W . THOMAS , PAST GRAND CHAI > LAIN , AT THE PLACING OK THE COPE-STONE OF MASONIC FRATERNITV TEMI'LE , CHICAGO , NOV . 6 TH , 1891 . The Masonic Fraternity is a great fact . That it has long been in this world is not doubted , but how long is not certainly known . It is older than Mohammedanism , older than Christianity . It was old when the soldiers of Ca-sar landed on

'he shores of Great Britain ; old when Alexander carried the civilisation of Asia 0 Europe . It anti-dates Rome and Athens , and the years of Confucius and Buddha , David and Solomon ; and our brothers of the long ago may have laid lie foundations of the Pyramids of Egypt . Side by side . through the slow centuries it has journeyed with Judaism , and

as seen thrones and empires rise and fall and republics born , but through all , its ss ential principles have never changed , and to-day , where civilisation is , there "eemasonry is . On its altars the sun never sets . ouch a phenomenon in history is worthy of study . On what foundations , ee p and sure , does it rest ? What is the secret of its persistent continuity , of its Pathless life ?

Compared vvith the religions of the world , it has built but few Temples ; unlike se i brothers have never persecuted brothers . Always loyal , its noble sons have en gone to war in defence of the flags under which they lived ; but Masonry never sought the support of armies , nor drawn the sword in its own support . r has it ever asked or received the help of Church or State , nor has it grown lch -rorn the spoils of robbery . What then is the secret and the amazing continuity and strength of such aeiitCL tiuu tlic ailia / ill uiitinuii tiii VJI autt ill

, , an O A ' . g v- -jf « on ^ . n . *> . er among men ? Freemasonry has its mysteries ; and these in their remote s'n may have been related to some occult source of knowledge in a forgotten ' "Ut if this be so , such buried wisdom has possessed little practical working th " Freemasonry , like all other organisations , has its obligations , but not in thi C ' aS SUC' 1 ' ' " explanation of its abiding power . There must be a somen S to be obli gated to , and something to make the obligations binding . Of all

Placing The Cap-Stone.

the millions of this great Order , each one has been just as free to go as he was to come , but for some reason , they have nearly all remained . There is something deeper than the forms and ceremonials of Masonry ; these are but the outer expressions of its inner princi ples ; the body in which the spirit

resides . Nor is this something , a secret . The Masonic Order has not separated that which God has joined together . It has not separated the secular from the sacred ; but has ever made of the two , one . It has united the lower to the higher ; it has shown how the higher grows up out of the lower , and fulfils its meaning and end .

Building is one of the first necessities of civilization ; without a house , man is a wanderer ; vvith homes and cities he has a settled abode ; but the construction of these requires the labour and skill of the trained mechanic ; and hence in building , practical Masonry has always been one of the largest industries . The walled cities , the castles , and cathedrals , the palaces and homes of the world have arisen through the toil of Masons ; and before machinery came to lighten the labour of man , all this hard work had to be done by the hand .

Freemasonry has taken this large and necessary occupation of dressing and laying stone and brick as the suggestive and expressive name of its world-wide brotherhood . Nor was it ashamed to do it—to be related in name and fact to brick and mortar and stone ; and in this way has our great Order for ever allied itself to the toiling millions of earth .

But Freemasonry has done more than this ; it has given to the work of man a higher meaning . The hand of labour takes the rough stone from the quarry ; it touches the marble and the granite , and up rise the homes of men ; and the temples of justice and religion . And whilst man is thus creating a body for the objective life of society , the beneficent genius of Freemasonry comes with its noble lessons to bless the toil and the toilers by transforming the hard work of

the world into a great school of morals ; a vast scene of transactional righteousness , in which the square and the compass , the plumb and the level become the symbols of that higner life in which man is the architect of character ; and each one is helping build the beautiful temple of truth and justice and love that is rising in the unseen world , and that snail stand when the temples of tune have crumbled to dust .

Freemasonry has thus united labour and morality , and made each the friend and helper of tne other . And in a task so simple , so natural , so human and divine , its creed , its inner working basis has been just as easy , as natural and divine as the wurk it has sought to do . A belief in God , and righteousness j this and nothing mure . And hence this great world-wide and time-long Order has never felt called to enter the realm of the speculative , and seek to deliue God and the relations of spirit to matter ; and thus has it escaped the turmoil ot deoate that has divided the religions of all ages .

Within its temples there are no debates about the " mistakes of Moses , " no quarrels about metaphysical theories ; nor is it in the least disturbed about what the higher criticism has to say about the dates and authorship of the books of the Bible . Its one aim is to build character ; and hence it deals with ethical and spiritual forces and principles , and seeks to concrete and unfold them in the rational and moral consciousness that they may shine forth in the beauty and power of noble lives .

And hence whilst there have been many religions and many schools of philosophy , there has never been but one Freemasonry ; and in the nature of things there can never be any other ; and for the reason , that it is centred in the unchangeable , and developed along the lines of the lower , and the higher , natural . Nor , has Freemasonry found the least trouble in the transition or evolution of

its thought and life from the law to the gospel . It has never shared in the contentions between the parties of Peter and Paul ; it is as easily Christian in its higher modern , as it was Jewish in its ancient life . It unites the two , —does not seek to separate the branches from the root . Nor does it send missionaries from the one to convert or proselyte the other . It finds that there is room in the great law of love to God and man , for all ; and they dwell together as brethren .

It is needless to say , that such a fraternity is benincent ; and that its great benevolences are not restricted to its own numbers , but flow out to bless the world ; and that its members worship in the churches , and mingle with their fellow-men in all the thought and work of life . And thus sharing and helping in all that is true and beautiful and good , this great Order has been so often asked to lay the corner stones of the temples ot justice and religion , of art and industry , for in spirit and purpose and helpfulness ' it is at one with all that looks to the betterment of men and nations .

These many lodges assembled here to-day rejoice , and our brothers in every land rejoice with us , that this great Masonic temple is nearly completion . True to the genius of the Fraternity , it will in part be devoted to other than Masonic uses ; it will be the home of business and the professions as well ; it will not be shut up all day and opened only at night , not closed six days out of seven ; but always and in all things in close touch and sympathy with the life and needs of man , but over all will be the halls and altars that look heavenward , Godward , that point to the higher meanings of life in the great beyond .

The ceremony of placing the cap-stone , though not so commonly in use , is not of recent origin . In" Gould's Early British Freemasonry , " it is said , that Gilbert Sheldon , Archbishop of Canterbury , designed the Theatrum Sheldoniamum at Oxford , and that the Craftsmen celebrated the cap-stone , and Dr . South

delivered an eloquent oration . A letter from Geo . W . Speth , of the Coronati Lodge of London , to our Past Grand Master , Bro . J . C . Smith , who presides over these ceremonies , the writer says , that Edward Strong , jun ., a Freemason , placed the Cap-Stone in the lantern of St . Paul ' s with his own hands , assisted by others of the Order . That was early in the seventeenth century .

A strange sense of sadness mingles with our rejoicings in this hour , that some who were with us when the corner-stone of this Temple was laid , are not with us to see the Cap-Stone placed . But , in the Temple not made with hands , they live ; and from the home above they look down and rejoice that the work has not tarried in our hands . Norman T . Cassette , Dr . James Adams Allen , Dr . Hosmer A . Johnson , and Bro . John O . Dickinson , are names that will always be remembered and loved , nor can the name of Mr . Root , the architect in whose brains this building took shape before the ground was broken , be iorgotten .

Men die , institutions live ; and when we are gone , when other feet shall walk these streets , a hundred , a thousand years hence , whilst the waters wash these shores ; till time is no more , may this Temple stand for the glory of God , the honour of Masonry , and the good of man . —The American Tyler .