Freemasonry.

duties . Here they are blended and wedded together in the most solemn and sacred manner , to tlie end that they may adorn manhood with the evergreens of industry , sobriety , and every good word and work . We are not to suppose , however ,

that he is a Mason who is one outwardly , but it is he who is one in spirit , truth , and brotherly love . There are -those who come in among- us , and go out from us , because they are not of us . A true Mason is not a creature of man ' s making , but one of God's creation . When the Great Architect of

Heaven , has set up m the temple of the soul the two great pillars of honour and truth , you may shake that temple from centre to circumference , and , though heaven and earth may move , that temple will stand for ever ! Shaken that temple

will be "b y the cold and wintry tempest of human scorn and indignation ; but like the gigantic oak of the forest when shaken with the mi ghty winds , it will take deeper root in the earth and spread its mighty branches up to the very gates of heaven !

Freemasonry , like all other institutions , has had its sunshine and its shade ; but unlike all other . societies , it has weathered the tempest aud the gale ; and to-day , like a staunch bark , rides proudly on the crest of the troubled waters of

this world , without starting a timber or losing a splinter , and all because she has had the Great Architect of Heaven for her captain and pilot . Boasting is not our business ; we do not arrogate to ourselves perfection ; we have not said that we

can count our kings and princes by hundreds , our earls and dukes by thousands , our knights and ministers by tens of thousands ; our officers and brethren by millions . We do not prosper by pride , nor lengthen our chords and strengthen our stakes , on the golden fields of vanity and vain glory .

Many object to the institution of Freemasonry because ifc is to them a mysterious and secret society . For the same reason we might object to everything in the universe . Nature is full of mysteries and secrets . Man is a mystery

himself , and but little can be known of the vital springs of his own life and action . Whenever he turns his eye up to the heavens above or to the waters under the earth ; or if he look to that equally mysterious worldlie will find secrets that

, will baffle the profoundesfc intellect and the most discriminating investigator . How foolish , then , to object to a system because it is secret to those who have not availed

themselves of the privilege of investigating its nature and beauty . The question was once asked , " Can any good come out of Nazareth ? " The answer was , " Come and see . " What say the orphan children who are cared for by the beneficence of

our brethren ? Who cared for the tender plants by the wayside of life , who are exposed to'the crush of every careless foot , to the ] Dluck of eveiy cruel hand , and to the withering blast of every immoral gale ? Who smooths the path of life for

their youthful feet to tread on ; who succours with the hand of charity the tottering steps of want and inexperience ; and brings to the ¦ pinnacle of self-reliance the trembling hands of moak dependence ? Ah , brethren , this society requires no

monuments of pride , no temples of fame to perpetuate its honour and worth . Yet , have you erected , in the hearts of thousands , monuments of praise and temples of thanksgiving , monuments and temples whose altitude is inaccessible , and

whose endurance is eternal ! The children of our brethren are near and dear to us , and as such they should be : —

Ah 1 fcliey are spring flowers with wreathed smiles , Flinging the morning glories of their youth Heavenward ; unconscious of weeds and wiles , Thafc strangle beauty in her budding truth . Their mellow hearts wifch angel kisses warm , Make joy more joyful ; and the rosy rays Of their young souls vie wifch the purple morn , Nor dream they once of sorrow ' s weeping days . Life's summer drought and autumn ' s withering blight

Have not yet struck the hope-buds of their years , Ancl heart-flowers , blooming in perennial light , Are not yet moistened with their dewy tears . Mirth laughs with merry accents , blithe and gay , And starry love , bedewed with heart-throbs stray , Wifch wild enchantment charms their fear away . —

Oh I that their hearts were but for ever young I No less attention , brethren , have you bestowed on the heart-stricken and sorrowing widows of your departed brethren . Like good Samaritans , you have poured the oil of consolation on the

tenible wounds of disappointed expectations . You have wiped tlie tears from the weeping eyes of disconsolate sorrow ; and from the heart bowed down by weight of woe , have you removed the heavy burdens of grief and despair . . You have

washed and sanded the bleeding feet of family affliction ; and succoured the weak and totteringlimbs of broken-down bereavement ! - You have caused the forlorn wilderness of deep dejection , and the barren desert of poverty and humiliation to bud and blossom like the rose . And to-day there are thousands of hands ancl eyes that were