Custom Of Laying Corner Stones.

CUSTOM OF LAYING CORNER STONES .

NO index to the character of a people can be more distinctly set forth than their buildings and habitations . Building for man is an early ambition , and when and were a people thrive there you will observe the pathway of their success marked by the erection and improvement of buildings and edifices .

This is true as to private enterprises and private undertakings . The citizen delights in announcing his success by erecting , extending , and beautifying his home and habitation , and seeing such improvements the observer , with the feeling of pride

for his neighbour , joins him—the owner—in feelings of satisfaction for his comforts and pleasures of home life . Neighbour sees neighbour thus succeed , and all look upon each other's success with delight and pleasure ; as in fact the whole goes to make up a citizenship which indicates thrift , intelligence , progress and

prosperity . This fact of home life is the fabric and foundation of all the superstructure that makes us a great people and a great nation , and the same ambition that prompts the citizen to see himself surrounded witb the comforts and pleasures of rich habitations , leads him to foster a kindred ambition for the success of his city and state .

He joins with pleasure in efforts to build up and beautify his cities and surroundings ; he watches -with intense interest the growth and upbuilding of churches and edifices , and feels that he is a part of the whole . Following in the wake of this thought . comes , as if by natural instinct , an ambition that those that may come after him may learn the spirit of the age , " the energy , industry and culture of the time in which we live . "

So it is that from ancient times to the present the mode of preserving and perpetuating a record of our existence and doings is accomplished by resorting to the corner stone of buildings and edifices as a fitting and proper receptacle for such record . Hence it is that the ceremony through which we have just

passed is but the repetition of what has been performed and observed through a long period of time , at the commencement of important buildings . To the Masonic Fraternity has been delegated , if not of right at least by common consent , the privilege of laying corner stones to all public buildings and edifices . The term corner stone is one of ancient origin , being first

Custom Of Laying Corner Stones.

adopted by the patriarch Job . Chapter thirty-eight , verse six , he says ; " Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who laid the corner stone thereof ? " Although I do not desire to enter into a theological discussion sufficient to prove a date of this early saying , yet I may safely place it seventeen hundred and fifty years before the Christian era , now over three thousand , six hundred years ago .

The hearer may have already become impressed that the saying , and the connection with which it was used , in no wise is connected with the thought that we are considering here to-day , but is rather au appeal to the world , admonishing them of their

ignorance of God's great plans and the inability of the human mind to grasp the great scheme of His handiwork . But so it is that' the term has , from that time to this , been used and interpreted as the foundation , the substantial support , of all that was noble , great and good .

These thoughts , so early instilled into the human mind by the great lawgiver , never fail to be observed ; and were , in fact , seized upon as expressive of the foundation of every virtue . However , ages passed before the mind of man was led from the spiritual to both the spiritual and practicable observance of ceremonies commemorative of the special event of laying' the corner stone of an edifice by ceremony . ,

It takes great occasions to bring about great results . It is when a whole people or nation is aroused that we find progress of what before remained unnoticed , and but for them , would have long slumbered undeveloped . It was after Israel had witnessed the rise and fall of their

nation , after they had enjoyed God ' s blessing and received His punishment , after tbey had suffered for seventy years in captivity , and at a time when there was before them the opportunity of being restored to His favour and permitted to return to their

native country and rebuild their city and temple , and when exerting their effort to manifest their thankfulness , and to praise Him for His greatness and goodness , that the ceremonies attending tbe laying of a corner stone were first inaugurated . So to Holy Writ we go for the first public ceremony of the laying of a corner stone .

The writer Ezra , chapter three , eighth to eleventh verse ' s , inclusive , says : " Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem , in the second month , began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel , and Jeshua the son of Jozadak ,

Ad00302

- Co-operatiue Cruises , and Cours , ORGANIZED BY HENRY S . LUNN , M . D ., B . Ch ., F . R . G . S ., and CONNOP F . S . PEROWNE SPECIAL MASONIC CRUISE TO THE HOLY LAND . AMonth 's Cruise for Twenty-five Guineas , visiting Athens , Constantinople , the Holy Land , and Egypt . Chaplains : Retf . Canon Child , G . C ., and ReV . Canon BullocK , P . G . C . Wednesday , January 11 th - - - Leave London , via Dover , Calais , Paris . Thursday , January 12 th - - - Leave Marseilles . Saturday , January 14 th - - ¦ - At Naples . Tuesday , January 17 th At Athens . Wednesday , January 18 th - - - At Athens . ' Saturday , January 21 st - - - Arrive Jaffa , for Jerusalem . After landing passengers , the vessel will proceed to Sunday , January 22 nd - - - Arrive Port Said . [ Port Said , Tuesday , January 24 th - - - Depart Port Said . Wednesday , January 25 th - - - Arrive Jaffa to embark passengers from Jerusalem . Thursday , January 26 th - - - Arrive Alexandria for Cairo . Tuesday , January 31 st - • Depart Alexandria . Friday , February 3 rd ... Arrive Malta , afternoon . Saturday , February 4 th At Malta , leaving at midnight . Monday , February 6 th Arrive Naples , mid-day . Tuesday , February 7 th - - Depart Naples , mid-day . Thursday , February 9 th - - - Arrive Marseilles . Friday , February 10 th ¦ - Arrive London . The fare includes a second-class return ticket from London to Marseilles , via Dover and Calais . First class , £ 2 12 s 6 d extra . Those who start from Marseilles will pay £ 5 5 s less . Special arrangements will be made for those passengers who desire to travel from Naples via Borne , Florence , and Venice to England . Full details of Land Excursions , with plan of Steamer , on application . £ 10 10 : £ 13 13 : and £ 18 18 : ROME TOURS . £ 10 10 s Skating and Tobogannmg Winter Parties . For full particulars , apply Secretary , 5 Endsleigh Gardens , London , N . W .