Genius Of Freemasonry.

GENIUS OF FREEMASONRY .

BT THE BUV . WM . B . ALGER . FREEMASONRY is a series of traditions orally preserved and dramatically enacted ; it is a body of Mystic science growing out of tho very roots of the creation ; and it is a system of morality , inculcating on its

disciples , in tho guise of emblems and allegories , the duties they owe to their God , their fellows and themselves . Grasped in its inmost genius , it wears a triple aspect , at once scientific , religious and ethical ; for it seeks to unfold the mysteries of natni'e and art in precise form and

measure and number , and to train its votaries to an intelligent fulfilment of their destiny , in the light of the great principles which preside over the origin , method and end of all things . It teaches that the objects , relations , and motions of the universe , both in matter and mind , " are

manifestations of the attributes and purposes of the Creator , and that the direct interpretation and obedience of his will , as thus recorded , is the true religion for universal man , free from the assumptions of arbitrary king or priest . Earth and moon and sun and comet and star , gravitation

and cohesion and magnetism and light and heat and sound , point and line and surface and solid , square and compass and gauge and level and plumb , are didactically scientific when proving the exact relationships of nature , profoundly moral in their application to the duties of man ,

unutterably mystic and religious as instant revelations of the presence and power of God ; and it is not in any mere signals of fraternity , or claims for help , as the vulgar suppose , but it is in a knowledge of the constituent laws and cabalistic secrets of the creation , that the chief dignity and significance of our ancient Craft reside . The real genius of Freemasonry , hidden far beyond the intention of

its founders or the consciousness or its members , is to be gathered by a clear comprehension , not so much of any of its special tenets or ceremonies , as of its general scope as a whole , and tbe ultimate aim implied in all its procedures .

One of the most striking characteristis of our Institution is its system of mystical instruction . There is nothing in Masonry , from cable-tow to taper , which has not a practical moral . The Institution is vocal all through with allegorical narratives , setting forth noble examples ; pictured all over

with impressive symbols exhorting to wisdom , to virtue , aud to piety . Its regalia and forms are not the puerile display or empty ceremonies which they might seem to an ignorant spectator . Each particular is alive with meaning and use .

Every point in the Masonic Lodge , every act in its ritual , is loaded with a moral which ought to be carefully pondered and practised . By our symbolism every Masoa should be led to feel something of the poetic beauty and religious solemnity of the duties of daily life .

There is need of speaking emphatically on this subject , both because ot the great intrinsic force and beauty of these symbols , and because they are so often neglected and

forgotten . Many of our brethren slur over them without any appreciation of the fact that herein resides the very soul of j Masonry . This is doubly disgraceful . For example , the Mason who fails to cultivate bis mind by that pursuit of j philosophy , literature , art and science to which he is so :

ounces . Indeed , at the earliest stage of his progress , "e is told to learn , —from the fact that the Lodge which he ua 3 entered metaphorically rests on three great pillars , called Wisdom , Strength , and Beauty , —that there must be ^ telleetual insight to contrive , moral power to support , and Sectional loveliness to adorn all ercat and imnnrtanf ,

persuasively urged in his initiation , and who neglects to refresh his conscience , and confirm his better vows , by frequent contemplation of the solemn monitors there hung up before him , is the more inexcusable because he sins directl y m tho li ght , and against the immediate exhortations of his

undertaking ^ uur ancient Brethren , who wero practical Masons , while f- ' HiT ' i theoretical , it must bo confessed , ' were more atul to their datios than xvn nvn to ours . For thnv

gmae . . No Craftsman can pa 3 s the Middle Chamber of king Solomon ' s Temple , without being introduced to Philosophy through an analysis of the five senses , and being mstruoted in the lofty claims of the seven liberal arts and

Pioceedcd with the utmost solicitude to erect their tcmj l'al bmldingy exactly according to the rules and designs mod I ™ by tLe Master ou hk Trestle-Board , or book of eIa ; but we , carelessly overlooking the symbolic

Genius Of Freemasonry.

directions of our Order , fail to erect our spiritual buildings as we ought , agreeably to the rules and designs laid down by the Supreme Architect of the Universe in that great volume of natnro and rovelation which is our moral Trestle-Board , or book of patterns . The true Masonic

Trestle-Board for each individual workman , whether in the quarry of business , at the furnace of politics , or on the structure of character , is his own mind ; and every Mason , at an early stage of his initiating journey , is warned to copy into it all the plana of his life only in strict accordance with the rules of the four cardinal virtues stationed at tho four

quarters of the moral compass . Although our ancient brethren wrought in operative , wo in speculative Masonry , yet we must not leave the moral princi ples , the everlasting duties and virtues of our Ordor , as mere speculations , but must carefully reduce them to

practice . The old proverb does not attribute beauty to mere looks , much less to empty profession ; bat with the powerful emphasis of truth , it says : — " Handsome is that handsome does . " There is no beanty in the world like the beauty of performance , no glory like the glory of fidelity culminating in success .

Every true Mason is a spiritual architect , required to build an indestructible house of character out of the rude material of his being . This is the fairest and sublimest of all temples . This he is taught that every man must rear for himself . It is to be built out of faith , knowledge , and

virtue , the blessings of Providence , and the disciplines of life . The heart is its altar , to burn with the incense of gratitude , overshadowed by cherubic wings of wonder , and fanned with the living breath of divinity . When the spirit-fabric is complete , death tears down the scaffolding of

flesh and bones that surrounded it , and the pure soul mounts to God , a perfect and undecaying temple , not mado with hands . Such being the genius of Freemasonry , is it-any wonder that its children love and revere it , rally around it , and swear to shield and perpetuate it , and make it co-extensive with the whole earth ?

Let us then be true and earnest in all our relations with the great Institution of Freemasonry . No one with an adequate knowledge of the facts and philosophy of the subject , and with a spirit sufficiently expansive and sympathetic , can fail to see that , as an educational aud

benevolent Institution , our Order is one of the mi ghtiest means ever devised for promoting the progress of mankind ; and that if its members will only live up to its precepts , and combine to spread them in organised action , there awaits it a more glorious destiny than has ever yet fallen to the lot of any single institution in the world .

The Church , by its verbal teachings , tells men what to do ; Masonry , by its symbolic ritual shows them what to do . Now let oar great Democratic Brotherhood , scorning merely to say what ought to bo done , not content any longer with a dramatic exhibition of it , resolutely begin ,

with one mind and ono heart , to do it in tbe actual sphere of private and public life , and Freemasonry , if not bearing off the diadem from the Church itself , shall at least be crowned with it in the forefront , as no "inferior champion in establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth . On tho

contrary , if the leading representatives oi our Order throughout tho world , reckless of the grand philanthropic and reli gious sentiments of morality and disinterestedness , so profuse on their lips , and in their ceremonies , aro

absorbed iu the pursuit of office and selfish pleasure or advantage , tho Institntion , in spite of all its chivalrous associations and delightful memories , will bo gradually shorn of its glory and justly pass into oblivion . —Freemasons' Repository .

INDUSTRIES OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND . —Kilwinning is aplaco of great antiquity , its history being traced back to the founding of a church in 715 by an Irish ovangoliat named St . Winnin . Ont of this church grew an abbey , founded in the twelth century , the buildings of which at ono time covered some acres of ground , and which drew tho tithes of twenty churches . There are still standing some interesting

portions of this ancient structure , including a line window . At Kilwinning Freemasonry is said to have been first established in Scotland . Tho practice of having a yearly shooting by archers at the papingo existed hero as far back as 1-138 , and , it is believed , at oven an oarliei' date , and it is only qnito recently that the custom has fallen into desuetude . The appearance of the town bears Homo

indication of its ancient date in its winding aud irregular main street , and tho occurrence here and there of thatched honscs of antique appearance . There are , however , in contrast to these , many modern bailding 3 of handsome appearance . It shared in the prosperity of the cotton weaving in the early part of the ceutary , haviri " at one time between live aud six hundred looms at work .