The Ideals Of Freemasonry.

I ho entire ritual , ancl all the " charges of I reemasonry may be regarded as a prophecy of a golden age to come , when justice , equality , and brotherly love shall prevail universally , and all social discord cease . Even the very structure and government of a Masonic Lodge reveal the ideal of a social and jiolitical condition , where there shall bo no distinctions but those of meritancl no rank of official station but that

, which depends au the suffrages of the community . Rub the social ideal of Freeiuasoiiry reaches further than this . It looks forward to the time when the various crafts , or iu other words , the people , emancipated from ignorance aud reinstated in their primitive rights , shall jiossess the earth . Few of us have considered how much our institution

has done to elevate the craftsmen ancl mechanics , and all labourers , and give them their rightful place in society . The time is rapidly approaching when the Masonic ideal of justice ancl equality shall be realized . The signs of the times all jioint to this result . Not the warriors who have spread desolation and sorrow through the earth , nor those who owe their social rank to the accident of birth or wealth ; but those who have toiled usefully ancl endured

patiently are recognized to-day as the sovereigns of the moral Avorld . They stimulate the thoughts , control the desires , and direct the ambitions and affections of mankind . As the sweeping ages brush off the deceitful glitter of the conqueror ' s crown , it no longer fascinates the enslaved multitudes . Already they begin to see who are the true heroes

and real benefactors of their race . The armies of craftsmen , and all labourers , exploiting usefully iu their various callings , covered with the sweat and dust of productive labour , are beginning to receive that reverence and respect they are entitled to . The princi ple of violence is about to abdicate , and the future rulers of this world will come from the sphere

of industry , marked with the honourable scars of useful toil , or from that of charity , crowned with the benedictions of the suffering ancl the poor . Yes , unity , justice and love shall prevail . From the calm and clear sky a voice falls on tho awakening nations : — " Down , ye tyrants and despots ! ye grim symbols of unprinciled grandeur aud legal violence !

p down from your throne , rooted in sweat ancl blood ! down to your graves , whence ye shall never rise again ! A new age begins to roll . The ideas of fraternity and equality shall henceforth rule the world !"

Even in the earliest times , this ideal of society—this principle of social progress—was revealed in the mystic ceremonies of the Order . The initiate , passing through his various ordeals , was considered a type or representative of the human race , marching onward through its various conditions to a hih degree of social refinementperfection and

g , enlightenment . All the ancient rites shadowed forth a more perfect social state , where virtue , triumphant over vice , ancl truth , victorious over error , would be installed on the throne of the world , and direct all human activities and relations .

Freemasonry recognizes the principle that society is progressive , and is capable of a far higher degree of perfection than it has as yet attained . All our charges , lectures , ancl ceremonies , plainly show this . Its constant and earnest inculcation of the sentiments of charity , brotherly love , truth , relief and justice , proves it . And , after becoming fkmiliar

with the teachings of the institution , who can doubt that , if its ideal were realized in universal society , much of the selfishness , and vice , and bickering that now exist , would entirely or nearly disappear 1 What great and terrible wrongs afflict society , even in this age of boasted enlightenment and perfection . In some

portions of our earth , superstition cruelly-and fatally subjects millions of our race ; in others , despotism crushes millions more under its iron heel , leaving them no rest , nor liberty , nor even the hope thereof , until " the earth , ever kind ancl indulgent , , . . receives him to her embrace , and piously covers his remains within her bosom . "

And even here , in our own highly favoured land , we find selfishness , inequality , injustice and misery enough to fill the humane heart with the profoundest grief . In every corner of our cities , towns ancl villages , do we sec honest poverty struggling with the most adverse circumstances ; everywhere do we tread in the midst of indescribable

wretchednesseverywhere open before us the dwellings of hungry poverty , where oppressed aud suffering virtue hides herself ancl weeps . Now , if the principle of Masonic charity were thoroughly applied to life—if the social ideal of Freemasonry were realized in all the laws and institutions of society—howchanged would be the scene ! The age of discord and injustice would disappear , aud the age of unity , brotherhood and peace , would be inaugurated with universal shouts of heartfelt joy !

II . —THE MASONIC IDEAL OF HAPPINESS , KNOWLEDGE AND VIRTUE—ITS FOUNDATION . We are told : — " By the rough ashlar , we are reminded of our rude aud imperfect state , by nature ; by the perfect ashler , of that state of perfection and happiness at which we hope to arrive by a virtuous educationour own endeavours

, , and the blessing of Deity . " Here Freemasonry announces its profoundest thought on human hajipiness , and the means of attaining to it . And herein is seen its adaptation to the deep needs of humanity . It is the capacity for education that raises man above the bruteand so far as he neglects the means of improvement

, , he abdicates the glorious prerogatives of his manhood . Those who prosecute physical labours as a means of living—and the masses of our order and of the people are of this class—have more need of education than their more favoured brethren , who can live without toil . Having fewer means of material comfort and . physical enjoymentthoy require other aud more

, exalted resources . True , a man may lay up a wall , drive a team , or pursue any mechanical occupation , with considerable success , who has no education at all ; but such a man is the slave of brutal instinct—the slave of ignorance , prejudice and passion ; and , in those countries where the masses are kept thus ignorantthey lose the consciousness of the nobility of

, their nature , live only as the brutes live , and are the perpetual victims of oppression , and fraud , and violence . In jiast ages , education was limited to the few . The rich and nobly born alone coulcl command the treasures of

knowledge . An impassable gulf separated the high from the low—the lord from the labourer . The latter pursued his occupation—at least all of them who were out of the pale of the collegia fabrorum , or ancient Masonic societies—without any intelligent comjirehension of it , as the beaver constructs his dwelling or the ox draws the plough . The very name of mechanic sounded jilebeianand grated harshly on aristocratic

, ears . But happily , as Masonic principles prevail , this condition vanishes . Mechanics and labourers may walk among princes , and rise to the highest places of power , because knowledge and virtue have glorified every occupation ancl invested with nobility every trade . Every physical labour is now considered honourablebecause the labourer—like Hiram

, of Tyre , the Pythagoreans , Vitruvius , etc . —has carried with him to his toil the light of science , the force of intellect , and the dignity of virtue . Every citizen—at least of our hapjiy land , where Freemasonry has achieved its most brilliant victories—whatever his station in life , has within his reach all necessary means of

intellectual progress , and inexhaustible sources of a hapjiiness as substantial as it is enduring . What happiness can . coinjiare with that of him who has stored his mind with rich thoughts ancl beautiful conceptions , and who sees the mystery of the universe vanishing before the li ght of intelligence ? He may know all the ills of poverty ; his table may bo scantily supplied ; the fire may burn low upon his hearth ; the world may frown upon him , but he cannot be entirely unhappy . On the wings of science he soars away through .