Oration

that genial cry of his to the Israelites : " Sirs , ye are brethren . "Wh y do ye wrong one to another ? " This cry of attestation and protest- — " Sirs , ye are brethren . Why do ye Avrong one another ?"—is Freemasonry ' s multu ' M in parvo . The recalling of our fellow men from Avrong doing , or from Aveariuess in Avell doing , will comprehend brieflthe sum and substance of

y Masonic ethics . What Ave veil in allegory and illustrate by symbols is purely designed , and is ( according to , our persuasion ) Avell adapted to provoke men considerately to love and good works . How forcible are the ri ght words Avhi eh speak to us on this wise : — "Consider one another to provoke

unto love and good works . " These words have all the force of a lively oracle among the most enli ghtened nations of the earth . For among them these words are deemed to enshrine a saying given by inspiration of God . Be it so then that to some who hear me

descanting on Freemasonry our Masonic method of considering one another to provoke unto love and good works does not commend itself , but they incline rather to another method as a more excellent Avay . Still we must claim for Freemasonry a place of its own among the manifold ways of obeying the kindly oracle : — " Consider one another to provoke unto love

and good Avorks . " "To that most excellent way of all—the Divine Institution of the Church of God , Freemasonry is confessedl y subordinate , although the one is not incongruous with the other . ' For our Masonic assemblies are commenced and closed with solemn

prayer even as are assemblies congregated in houses of prayer dedicated to God and his service by episcopal consecration . But Avhilst candidly avoAving the subordination of Masonry to that Divine Institution , the Church , Ave must not uucaudidly maintain that , in our reckoiiing , Freemasonry , as a moral didactic

institution , is at least on a par Avith any human society whatever . Justl y is it entitled to hold co-ordinate rank Avith the greatest and best of those humanlydevised societies , the object of Avhich is to promote morality and the exercise of Godliness throughout the Avorld . Let us then , Avith a due appreciation of our

mutual preferences or ( it may be ) prejudices , accord a welcome to the using of all means , if by any , Ave may save some from the unfruitful works of ' darkness , and from the dark places of the earth , which are full of the habitations of cruelty . Before so many of our fellow townsmen , Avho have

honoured us to-day Avith their presence , I am prompted to say thus much for the sake of those who have not been initiated into the secrets and mysteries of our Order . Now , my style must pass into that of the P . G . C , who veils in allegory our system of morality , and illustrates it by symbols passing general

comprehension , as our humorous Town Crier proclaims , and to some extent truly , for there is no short cut to the arcana of Masonry . Others must approach them as we ourselves approached them , gradually aud regularly , throug h initiation . And now , brother Masons , in adapting my style of communication to you specially , would

I avow , in your hearing , my ardent desire and sanguine hope that this Masonic Hall , Avhen completed , will afford us a much needed opportunity to make our practice concur thoroughly with the principles we profess , by excluding thenceforth sundry excuses for curtailing our Masonic ritual , and halting lamely and waveringl y at Masonic labour . Here , I trust , labour

will ever so predominate over refreshment , that the established order in every lodge meeting here will be to consider all refreshment subsidiary , so that the evening may be closed as Avell as commenced with labour . Let our calling oft * from labour to refreshment at hi gh twelve , and the festive ranging of us under different columnsbe a preparative to the

, labours still before us , viz ., the expressive rearing up afresh of the lodge ' s Doric column , and the appropriate subordinating of its Corinthian column , so that , in due time , and by the combined but well-ordered co-operation of beauty with strength , Ave may all be exalted into pillars of wisdom .

The pillar of beauty , when made prominent for a season , is not set up among us to encourage the sensual purposes of dalliance . So to rear it is the forerunner of the idolatry of calf-worshippers , when they sat doAvn to eat and drink , and rose up to p lay . Masonry is not such playnor play of any sortbut

, , work ; and perpetually progressive is the work of Masonry . It is not a mill-horse round , neither should it ever come to a standstill . This I say , although I hold ( yea , because I hold ) as firmly as any of you the truth of the Masonic doctrine of a perpetual meridian solstice . The Masonic doctrine

of a perpetual meridian solstice is beautifully significant when it is applied to reflect lig ht even from the north on the Avell-timing of the ceremony of initiation in either hemisphere , or at the antipodes . But any such misapplication of the doctrine as is taking no note of time to the undue protracting of the season for refreshment Avould be to change that beauteous truth into a lie . Ill-timed , and not ilf-timed merely ,, but suicidal , is to make the pillar of beauty

blindingly prominent , so that Ave take no note of time but from its loss , the pillar of beauty being still left up to indicate what it should in due season cease to indicate . So into a binding blemish may men turn the pillar of beauty . Down Avith it—down Avith it again out of the Avay of the mind ' s eye , and let it be duly lowered to its subordinate place Avheneveraccording to

, Masonic reckoning , it is past hi gh twelve , and the time is come for the supremacy of strength over beauty to corroborate wisdom , as Hiram did King Solomon . Now , herein you know Avell the plumb should second the level in pointing us primarily to the square , and therewith to that prime great light of

Freemasonry by Avhich the square itself is rendered luminous aud telling . By moralising thus on the pungent import of our movable jewels , we prepare ourselves for further and more profound moralising on our immovable jewels . And by due regard to the distinctive sway of east , Avest , and south , our

Avellplaced tripartite will adequately form AY hat the three great p illars and supports of the lodge should signify to us . These being one in purpose , one in effect , one in substance , are then constituted our iria juncta in uno . Aud Avhen , after exercisiug ourselves as Master Masons for the set time of probation , we are exalted

to Masonry ' s climax , they foreshadow symbolically to the exalted , the grand tri-union of the Deity in heaven ' s high chapter-house above . Enabled are we thus , as on Jacob ' s ladder aud upon angels' wings , to ascend ( through preparatory secrets and Avellordered mysteries ) to the secret of all secrets , to the crown as Avell as basis of all order and all mystery , even to the very secret of the Lord manifested symbolically and verbally at the first to our Grand