A Lecture.

The doctrine of the immortality of the soul was among- them all , and in all countries taught and inculcated , not only directly but by legends and allegories , the doctrine remaining the same , while the legends and illustrations used to impress it on the mind of the candidates , have varied almost endlessly with time and place . The rising- and the setting of the sunhis departure from the northern

, hemisphere in winter and his summer return , the symbolical loss and recovery —or death , resurrection , and apotheosis—of various real or mythical heroes , have each and all been used for the purpose of symbolical instruction ; and from no form of initiation in any country , from the most ancient times to the present day , has such instruction conveyed in such a manner ever been absent . The writer I have mentioned would assign to our origin a date coincident

with that of the erection of various noble edifices built for Christian worship in the middle ages , simply because he can trace no written record or mention of us as Freemasons beyond that time ; but I maintain that when the pyramids of Egypt and its temples were erected , toe were there ; when the rock-hewn palaces and temples of India and Arabia were carved , we were there ; and we were also the buildersnot only of the Temple of Solomonbut of all the

, , temples of Greece and Rome . In all these ancient countries we used the local religion itself , however superstitious or polluted , as a means to an end , making those of its votaries , who were fitted to receive the truth , use their own creed and its ceremonies , but as a step towards something more noble and more true .

The only ancient creed which openly and unreservedly proclaimed the one true God of the Freemasons was that of the Hebrews , although even these at times , like other men , polluted their religion with superstitions as gross as those of other countries . What wonder , then , that Hiram and his Masons should fraternise with those whom they found to be so much in advance of other nations at the time , or that the temple then , raised should have exhibited a more elaborate design and a greater beautthan any other fane of ancient

y days . Is it not natural that enthusiastic Masons should lend to the work their utmost ability , and that the first temple ever erected avowedly and solely for the worship of the one true God should have drawn together , not only the persons , but the hearts and souls of men . What wonder , either , that its erection ( coupled with the circumstances connected therewith ) should have taken such a hold upon the imagination of the fraternity that it has ever since

formed such an era in our traditions , that , together with its introduction into our ceremonies of legends not before in use , it has become a common belief that we date our birth from the building of King Solomon ' s Temple . I have already said that our ancient brethren always from the beginning- inculcated the doctrine of the immortality of the soul by some legends or symbols ; it matters little what such legends or symbols werewere they but riate

, approp , and fitted to make a lasting impression on the mind . Isis and Osiris , Noah , and others have at various times , from the commencement of the world till now , been made to illustrate this truth . Death , resurrection , and apotheosis have been ascribed to gods , demigods , and men by persons of all creeds and languages , but ever with the same object .

I think I have now said enough to let you see , my brethren , that my ideas of our origin and object are very different from those of the writer ' i have mentioned . While repudiating- all obligation on the part of mankind to accept , or subscribe to , any religious dogmas whatever , our fraternit y has ever held to the pith and marrow of true religion ; and while so doing , and thereby hiying to elevate and improve mankind , our skilled brethren have in all ages exemplified in stone the characteristic aspirations of the in which they

age lived . In the infancy of our race , when the childlike hearts of men were filled with wonder and admiration at the tremendous power of the Almi ghty Architect , the oyclopean architecture of the time , emulating in some cases the mountains themselves in vastness , and in others the columnar structure of