Oration

Architect has laid out for us a plan and richly covered the earth with material , but man must work it to its end . Even Paradise had to be dressed , aud though tho earth were all to become as feir and fertile as the primeval abode , the

neglect of a single generation would throw it back to a weary waste . God has sown in society the seeds of government , of science , of art ; but man must develope and apply them . The laws of taste , for instance , are innately planted within us , but it

is the chisel of the sculptor and the pencil of the artist that give embodiment to these laws in the noble , temple and the magnificent picture . In everything man ' s labour is the complement of the Creator's bounty . " 'Laborare est orare . " Work

is truly religious , nay , labour is life . "Nature lives by action ; Beast , bird , air , fire , the . heavens and rolling world , All live by action ; nothing lives at rest But deatli and ruin ; man is cured of care , Fashioned and improved by labor . "

These truths are too often forgotten . They have in some measure been slipping away from the present generation—that looks upon work as degrading . To look upon our platforms ancl our exchanges where men most do congregate , one

might think that the chief end of man was to talk , to buy and to sell—not to work . In the midst of all this does Masonry assert the dignity of labour . Originally a fraternity of practical builders , in later daj ^ s the work is of a speculative nature ;

still , however , the motto is " a fair day's wage for a fair day ' s work . " Honours are given to the diligent , the drones are discouraged in the busy hive , ancl in many ways she asserts the dignity of man ' s primeval duty . Your presence here also asserts the harmony of union . The lodee is the world in miniature .

From east to west is its length , from south to north is its breadth , from earth to heaven is its height , and from the surface to the centre of the terraqueous g lobe is its depth . And in few places can this conception be realised so well as here .

At the ends of the earth we draw material from all the earth . What a variety of races , nationalities , creeds and religions are hero represented ! We Lave the Jew , long identified with Masomy , forgetting his exclusivencss in communion with

his brethren—the Italian from the sunny south , joining hand with the exile from Old Caledonia , the " Ultima Thule" cf his forefathers—the Saxon from the good old German stock , sitting in fellowship with his sprightly neighbour from the joyous

land of France . The Englishman and the American forgetting each their jealousies , ancl rejoicing together in liberty , equalit }' , and fraternity . Nor are the colonists awanting . Here the Canadian meets the Australian , ancl here Nova Scotia and

Vancouver Island intertwine their branches—all living stones in the building , bound together by the cement of charity , all forming a fit symbol and type of the time .

" When man to man the warld o ' er , Shall brithers be for a' that . " Furthermore , we assert the wisdom of organisation . There maybe a union which is not a unity . The atoms in a sandpit are close enough together , but they do not farm a unity . There is no unity

in a flock of sheep , it is simjily the repetition ox so many things similar to each other . In an organised unity all the members are properly subordinated each to another , and the parts harmoniously arranged in their suitable relations .

The body of man is an organisation where all the different parts , head , heart , fingers , fibres , and limbs severally conduce to a common good , and depend on each other . Now , Nature has not intended us to be like a flock of sheep , near each

other and yet distinct from each other ; we are to be organised . A common interest is to flow as the lifeblood throno-h all . As men rise in

civilisation , there appear the higher and finer developments of combined relations . In savage life men are slightly organised . The tribe is simply likea flock of sheep . The kingdom or the empire is the result of experience and refinement . It

says much for . Masonry that its common name has become " The Order . " To quote from an illustrious member , whose memory is deservedly dear on this Pacific coast—the manly and largehearted Thomas Starr King : — " How Masonry

reflects to us or rather illustrates the wisdom breathed by the Great Architect through all nature ! It is said that order is Heaven ' s first law ; it is no less true that it is Earth's first privilege . It is the condition of beauty , of liberty , of peace . Think how the principle of order for all the orbs of heaven is hidden in the sun . The tremendous

fiower of Ins gravitation reached thousands of millions of miles , and hampers the selfwill—the centrifugal force of mighty Jupiter , of Uranus with his staff of moons , and of Neptune . There ' s a Grand Lodge for you , iu which these separate Masters are held in check by tho Most Worshipful Grand Master ' s power . Nor is it any