An Oration Fifty Years Ago.

are drawn from the operations of nature , and the injunctions of nature ' s God . Formed at first by that reason , which so peculiarly distinguishes man above all other creatures , and perfected by the

successive revelations Avhich the Almighty has been pleased to make us of His will , they constitute a system of the purest and most perfect morality . The hallowed volume of inspiration is the depository of

our faith , our principles , aud our hopes . By its light Ave hope to be directed through the gloomiest dispensations of life ; to be cheered by its influence in "the dark valley of the shadoAV of death , " and

covered with it , as Avith a mantle at the judgment bar of God I The effects of such an institution upon society at large , and upon the individual happiness of men , cannot avoid being

permanent and useful . That Avhich exists only by system and order , cannot encourage confusion and insubordination , unless by the vilest species of moral suicide . That which seizes hold on the strongest

and tenderest sympathies of the human heart , and Avields them through a succession of years and of honours by the most poAverful impulses Avhich are knoAvn to our nature , must , by the plainest laAv of our

intellectual constitution , strengthen our virtuous affections , and vastly increase the desire and faculties of knowledge . If this be to dupe and degrade mankind , then were our revilers right to spurn and despise

us . But if Ave direct you to all the lessons of the past , and show you that government itself has derived its firmest support from those virtues Avhich we most especially inculcate ; if Ave point you to the smiles of

the helpless , the benedictions of the AVICIOAV , and the rich tribute of the orphan ' s tears cheering us on our Avay , then may Ave contemn the ignorance Avhich derides us , and look forward Avith confidence to the

track of glory Avhich will illuminate our course , Avhen the childish virulence of Robinson , and the learned malice of Barnel shall be buried amid the rubbish of a barbarous antiquity . Masonry , the depository of virtue , of

arts , philosophy , and freedom , enlightened out- continent in the days of its barbarity , and noAv sheds its benign influence around the risin g glory of another . Every part of created nature is the subject of its contemplation and its influence . From the

An Oration Fifty Years Ago.

minutest ingredient of an atom , up through all the gradations of beauty and of being , to the spangled myriad of glories Avhich surround and light us , it traces and reveals the Avisdom and benevolence of the

Creator . Its principles , commensurate as Ave may say , Avith the existence of man , have survived the shock of time , and the decay of empires . Nations have arisen , and have triumphed , aud have passed aAvay , leaving

scarce a fragment on which the eye of philanthropy might repose , or Avhence history could trace the story of their fame . The land of Maro , and Tacitus , and Tully , exists only in the decayless empire of the

mind . Their descendants , standing amid the monuments of their country ' s freedom , and the decaying tombs of those at whose froAvn the nations trembled , in unblushing corruption hug their gilded chains , and

smile over their infamy ! The canvas gloAved beneath the pencil of Apollos , and the marble breathed under the chisel of Phidias ; Athens Avas mute

at the eloquence of Demosthenes , and the Avaves of his rocky Chios Avere still at the sound of Homer ' s harp . Yet the land of Aristotle is now the abode of ignorance , and the descendants of ttiose Avho fell at

Marathon and Salamis live—and are slaves ! The shade of Hercules no longer dwells on the top of Mount CEta . The heights of Olympus , the banks of the Peneus , and the vale of Tempe no longer

resound to the Muses' song , or Apollo s lyre . The glory of Achilles has departed from Larissa ; Thebes has forgotten the martial summons of Cadmus . Mycenje no longer chvells on the fame of Agamemnon ,

and Philippi could not learn from Brutus to be free ! The altars of Ida , and Delos , and Parnassus , are crumbled into dust ; Platcea has forgotten the triumphs of

Pausomus , and the sea of Marmora that the Avreck of an invader once rotted on its Avaves I Thus has it been not only Avith man , but with all those subjects Avhich Avould seem from their nature less liable

to change or decay . Learning , arts , and accomplishments , have changed Avith successive generations , or perished beneath the weight of remorseless barbarism .

Not so Avith Masonry . Race has followed race , as Avave chases Avave upon the bosom of the deep until it dashes against the shore , and is seen no more . Thus our Order has withstood the concus-