An Oration Fifty Years Ago.

ing of the scope and design of the institu

tion . Before the invention of letters , the knowledge of important events Avas preserved from generation by oral tradition . But the manifest danger that facts might be distorted , and concomitant

circumstances embellished , by the fancy or prejudices of those through Avhom they Avere transmitted , pointed out the necessity of some more precise and restricted method for their communication .

Hence the use among all rude nations of symbolical figures . In the first daAvnings of civilization , those representations Avere usually taken from the simplest and most common objects Avith Avhich savages are conversant . As nations advanced in

improvement , v * e find move obvious principles of science , and the implements for their practical use made subservient to the design of perpetuating the knoAvledge they possessed . Thus astronomy , agriculture ,

and architecture , have afforded materials for the most copious symbolic languages . From this latter are mostly draAvn the hieroglyphics of Masonry , Avhich constitute the most perfect system of the kind , of

Avhich any knoAvledge has been preserved . Their design is two-fiold ; through them has been transmitted to us the important occurrences in the history of our Order

and they afford besides the most beautiful illustrations of the precepts it inculcates , and the duties it enforces . Whence may be seen their intimate connection in one of their uses Avith the

mysteries , and the other Avith the princip les of the institution . The former can be knoAvn to Masons only ; the latter is ably explained in most of the numerous publications , Avhich have treated of the

subject . Of the mysteries of Masonry it is necessary to say but little . Their design must be known to all . They are the cord which binds us indissolubly to each other . It is by them that every Mason must

vindicate to himself the rights and privileges of the order , and the peculiar immunities of each particular degree , Avhich he may claim to possess . It is by their agency that we have been preserved ,

as Ave believe , from the foundation of the Avorld , but as can be clearly proven , from the days of Solomon , a distinct and peculiar class . They constitute a science the most varied and beautiful , each degree complete in itself , yet the union of all

An Oration Fifty Years Ago.

forming a symmetrical whole . They resemble the union of every colour in a ray of light . When Ave reflect on their importance to the Craft ; on the millions of human

beings of every generation , who have been members of the Order , and on the strong communicative propensity of the species , Ave may be surprised that greater interest and anxiety are not evinced by the Craft

generally , Avhen the strong probability of their revelation is urged . This apparent apathy arises from the conviction that such suggestions are vain and false . The disclosure of the minutest mysteries of the

Order Avould exhibit a degree of desperate and short-sighted villany but rarel y to be found in the history of mankind . There is also another consideration Avhich tends to produce the same effect . Mysteriously

as our secrets have been presen ed , and important as it certainly is that the IUIOAVledge of them should be confined to the members of the institution , its gradations of distinction and skill Avould render the

disclosure of them much less ruinous than is generally imagined . He who is possessed of the mysteries of one , or even of several degrees of Masonry , is no more a Mason than an acquaintance Avith a feAV

of the simplest mathematical axioms confers a knoAvledge of the stupendous operations of that boundless science , or than the smattering of a few sentences of unintelligible jargon can give a just perception of

the rich and exhaustless beauties Avhich the stores of classical literature unfold . There are few inquiries more interesting in their nature than those institutions , which have occupied much of the

consideration of mankind , or Avhich could exert much influence over their happiness . Nor can Ave in any way more readily effect the object of our research , than by an examination of the principles by which their

actions have been directed . For though the consequences of our actions may be frequently unknown to us , and are generally beyond our control , a scrutiny of the causes Avhich have operated to produce them , and of the rules by Avhich they have

been directed , will supply us Avith some idea of the general result . Fortunatel y , in the present instance , the object of our attention is not of difficult attainment . The principles of Masonry are as widel y diffused as the extent of creation . They