Oration

monies , nay , every jewel and ornament , every article of furniture , every emblem and hieroglyphic , tend to this point . Bnt more , the lodge is consecrated to the memory of St . John the Baptist and St . John the

Evangelist ; and it is proper we should shortly recall to our minds their lives and labours . Sight , too , that their names should have been linked together , not that they were like each other , but but just because they were widely different in

their temperaments and teachings . They were the exponents of the two extremes in human character—the Baptist being the representative of fiery boldness , the Evangelist of shrinking love . The one was a sturdy Doric column , the

other a graceful Corinthian pillar . The one was the complement of the other ; united together they combine strength and beauty . The Baptist was a truly heroic character . The last of all the prophets , he was the greatest of all .

Of his life we get only a few glimpses , but these show us what sort of man he was . The first picture is that of an ardent youth among the solitudes of Israel ' s deserts . Saddened by the

hollowness of life in Israel , and perlexed with the controversies of Jerusalem — the wrangling of Sadducee with Pharisee , of formalist with mystic , of the disciples of one infallible rabbi with the disciples of another infallible rabbi—he fled for

refuge to the wilderness , to see if God could be found by the earnest soul that sought Him alone . For thirty years he lived in the desert ; then came the time when the qualities nursed in solitude burst forth upon the world . The people felt that

a king of men stood before them . The desert swarmed with crowds— -warriors , profligates , publicans , the heart-broken , the worldly , the disappointed—all came . Even the king ' s attention is gained ; he is taken away from the simple life

of the desert , ancl placed among- the artificialities of the royal city . And now comes the question , " Does the stem prophet degenerate into a sweet tongued courtier ? " Is the rough ashlar of the forest broken into pieces in the process of

polishing ? Verily , no . He stands in Herod ' s court , the prophet of the desert still , preaching boldly the truth . When Herod would ally himself with his guilty mistress , - * he at once said , " It is not lawful for thee to have her . ''' ' Now he is struck

down like an eagle in its flight . The last picture is that of this earnest , strong man cast into a dungeon by the guards of the king . There he

wears out his restless soul , until sacrificed to a courtesan ' s whim . May his name ever remind us of courage in the hour of trial , and inspire us with fortitude to reprove sternly all departures from Masonic rule .

None have ever had more of the essential spirit of Masonry than St . John the Evangelist . He was the principle of love personified . Love was the secret of his religion , the burden of his teaching , the substance of his life , and the promise of

his heaven . Whether we behold him leaning on his Master ' s breast , or wandering as a teacher among the nations of the East , he was the living illustration of his constant theme . His , too , was a love not easily quenched ; he was persecuted ,

imprisoned , banished , tortured ; but his love survived his trials . His life was love . Hear hini when old and feeble , writing to his disciples , " He that loveth his brother abideth in the light ; he that hateth his brother walketh in darkness . "

Such was the man . May his name inspire us with his spirit , so that our labours in the lodge below rnav prepare us for

the rest m the temple above . Brethren , the service in which we have this day engaged and the symbols upon which we have gazed must have brought vividly to mind the hi gh antiquity of our Order . And this thought let us

cherish ; it will add dignity and lustre to our pursuits . Itis impossible not to feel the spell of long prescription in some degree . The Jew cannot but feel proud that the blood which fired Abraham ' s bosom still runs in his veins ; the Greek ,

wandering among the beautiful groves of his native land , cannot but reflect with pleasure on the time when the fathers of philosophy assembled there their pupils , and the poet's song waked rapturous

applause m the neighbouring theatres ; the modern denizen of Rome , when he sees the eager strangers throng its streets and spoil its temjdes , feels the emotion of pride as he reflects that the time was when the queenly city , seated securely on her seven

hills , gave laws to their barbarous forefathers ; the representative of Great Britain , gazing upon his country ' s flag in the land of the stranger , feels it all the dearer to his heart when he remembers that for a thousand years it has braved the battle and the

breeze , and numbers up the many hard fought battles over which it has floated ; the worshipper in an ancient church has all the more attachment to it when he considers that the walls of its cathedrals are now grey with years , and that for cen-