A Sermon

alike that a Mason ' s hope is in the immortalit y of the soul and his trust in the wisdom of the Divine Essence of an Omnipotent , Omnipresent Being , whose wisdom is everywhere , whose strength is beyond the comprehension of weak , miserable man , and the beatdy of whose Hol y Will can never be even faintly understood , till the soul of man is welcomed into the abode of the Great I Am , the Adonai , tho Alpha and Omega , the ever-loving , everlasting Jehovah . "

Brave words are these , but as noble and true as they are brave , and every true Freemason must feel their force and beauty . But what are the charms of Freemasonry ? What are the secret causes of the subtle influence which it exerts upon those who follow its teaching and obey its behests ? I believe one of its greatest charms is its antiquity . Even in this utilitarian agewhen self-constituted and self-dubbed iconoclasts are abroad in numbers ,

, ancl the hoary and antique are in danger of being sacrificed to the modern craving for change , there are still some who bow before and acknowledge the charm , with Avhich Antiquity invests all connected with it . The most ardent lover of the present will feel something of this charm , when he wanders among the ruins of some ancient noble temple . Though there be little left but ruined walls , crumbling arches , and fallen columns , yet fancy will recall the glory of

the past , and imagination paint the scenes of yore , when solemn music tones were heard swelling through arch and aisle , and incense clouds floated above its high altar ; when proud prelate sat there in state , and gorgeous priest wandered through its dimly lighted aisles ; when mailed knight kept vigil there , or hung the silken banner , won in infidel lands , above its arches , laying the spoils of the east once more at the feet of the child Jesus—so great is the charm which Antiquity invests all connected with it . What shall I say then of the charm which Freemasonry possesses for those who work and worship

withm its temples r I cannot unfold to you a history of Freemasonry to-day , for time would fail me to tell the story ; but it possesses an origin which stretches far back in the history of the world , its early annals being almost lost in the dimness of ages . Some deny that Freemasonry can be closely and distinctly connected with Egyptian initiation or Eleusinian mysteries , but from earliest times in the annals of civilized man architecture was deemed almost a sacred artand its professors treated with marked respect ; while they

, on the other hand also regarded it not only as a sacred but as secret science . Sufficient evidence have we to link ourselves on to the mi ghty builders of the past , and to prove ourselves their true successors . "Whether Egypt was the cradle of such secret associations , or merely the medium of their transmission , having originally received them from India as . some writers think , matters not ; they existed , there , and from Egypt art and civilization spread gradually

into Palestine , Greece , ancl Italy . " The epochs of our history are sufficiently marked to claim our attention . The steps from the past to the present are not so many , but they aro sufficiently clear . From Egypt to Palestine through Moses " who Avas learned in all the wisdom of the E gyptian "—from Palestine to Rome , from Rome to Britain , and the history is complete . Men have sneered at the antiquity we claim for our order—let them sneer who have studied it not . We glory in it , for no other existing order has such a noble , ancient origin .

One question to Bible students who are not Masons before I pass from this part of my subject . Why were Jewish and S yrian Masons permitted to work together at the erection of a temple to the Most High , at a time , too , when the Israelites were so markedly separated from all other nations in all matters relating to religious worship ? I leave the question with you . Masons can give you an answer ; find another if you can ! Another of the attractions of Masonry is to be found in its symbolic teaching—its teaching by symbols . Illustrative teaching , parable , metaphor , has