What Means All This?

Will it then any longer be contended that this Institution is injurious , and ought to be discontinued ? Can a moral arch , the keystone of which is benevolence , be detrimental to the interests of a community ? Can an edifice contrived by wisdom , supported by strength , and adorned by beauty , offend the taste of the most fastidious ? Will the ignorant and designing , for selfish 'purposes ,

continue to aim the shafts of malice against it on account of its supposed danger to republican institutions ? The charge carries on its face its own refutation . Look at the long and distinguished list of republicans who have adorned and still adorn our Order , and you can no longer doubt . See at the head of it the sage of Mt . Vernon , the warrior of America and the patriot of the world ,

who said to his native land , "Let there be light ! " and there was light ; the man who spoke and fought millions of human beings into the blessings of freedom ; who knew how to conquer not only armies , but himself ; who would have been deified by the ancients and is adored by us , and whose monument is built in the hearts of freemen everywhere . See next on the scroll the

name of the French Marquis who adjured monarchy to fight for republicanism ; who left the ease and luxuries of the Old World to battle in the cause of the New ; and who , after he had seen the " stars and stripes " firmly planted on the ruins of Tyranny , returned to his country , carrying back with him his republican principles , and endeavouring to give to the great nation of his

birth the principles of a rational liberty . Look again and you will see the name of the bold and intrepid Franklin , who at one time seized the fiery bolt of heaven's wrath , and conducted it harmless to the earth ; at another , when he saw the " mountain wave of faction hanging over the little vessel of state , and just about to strike it into the yawning gulf beneath , threw oil upon

the threatening billow , averted impending destruction , and calmed the elemental fury of the human passions ; and yet at another condescending to teach his fellow citizens the principles of economy , and to communicate in distiches truths which have infused happiness into many an humble cottage , and which of

themselves entitle him to immortality . There , too , you will find the name of Thomas Jefferson , the friend of man , the foe of tyrants , the author of the sentiment that " Eesistanceto tyranny is obedience to God ; " the man , every event of whose life seemed to act out the proud motto of that unterrified commonwealth that gave him birth— " Sic semper tyrannis . "

Take another view and you will see the names of a Jackson , a DeWitt Clinton , a Livingstone , a Clay , and a thousand other stars of the first magnitude which adorn the republican galaxy and at the same time have been humble votaries at the shrine of

Freemasonry . Their patriotism cannot be questioned , and will a calumny be thrown out upon their memories and their names in the shape of an attack on the venerable Institution which they adorned by their virtues and illustrated by their genius ? Forbid , it , justice !—forbid it , gratitude ! Abuses no doubt have been committed under tbe sacred name

of Masonry , but it met not with her sanction . Errors will attend the progress of everything human and of every institution , however good may be its objects . Judas betrayed his Master , and yet the other eleven merit neither censure nor execration for his purchased treachery . Christians , so called , have tied to the stake and burned unoffending victims for the exercise of freedom

of thought ; and yet the religion which they professed and profaned teaches forbearance , mercy and love . The abuses of Christianity have been many and great , and as well for these causes might you proscribe the one as the other . No ! such missiles when directed against the shield and panoply of truth are

blunted , and fall innoxious at her feet or recoil upon those that winged their arrowy flight . Whatever may be the trials and tribulations of Masonry , its onward march is certain as destiny ; she follows in the wake of empire , of civilisation and of Christianity ; and wherever their banners are planted her temples will spring up at their side !

It is a melancholy reflection , my dear friends , that we must all soon pass to the cold and silent tomb . The sands of life are rapidly , though imperceptibly , passing away from the hour-glass of each and every one of us , and " the places which know us now will soon know us no more forever . " Our young and beautiful country will rise and culminate , but her sun , like that

of all other nations , must set . The decline and fall of every nation is as certain as its rise and progress ; and although every patriot may pray in his heart " esto perpetua , " yet it is a dream which posterity can never realise . But although we and nations must go the way of all living , Masonry will outlive the mutations of man and of empires ! Her existence is independent of national compacts ! Her home and country are the whole earth ! Founded

on the affections of the human heart , which are always and everywhere the same , her temple is unsubjected to the gusts of human passions , the tempest of faction , and the rage of party violence 1 There black clouds may hover around and discharge their thunders at her base , but eternal sunshine rests upon her head , lifted far above the rage of terrestial tumult ! So will it be 1 " So mote it be 1 " Christians , encourage it , for it is the beautiful

What Means All This?

handmaid of religion . Citizens , protect it , for it is the conservative of social order . Parents , revere it , for it may reclaim your beloved offspring from vice , and lead them in the pleasant path of virtue 1 Women , cherish it , for although its labours are i

not yours , yet you are , and always shall be , the chosen recpients of its bounties ! Patriots , foster it , for in the battle's front those who have been taught to wipe away the tear of the widow and orphan will not be found wanting .

As for you , my honoured Brothers , who have been initiated into the mysteries of the temple , who know and appreciate its objects , it is unnecessary for me to urge upon you their importance . I may be permitted , however , with great humility , to press upon you the necessity of strictly adhering to its

principles . This portion of Masonry ' s vineyard is committed to our keeping , and oh ! may we be enabled to give a good account of our stewardship . We are acting not only for ourselves and country , but for the cause of Masonry throughout the world . Men , as we are , and fallible as we must be , subject to a thousand

temptations , may Divine assistance enable us to avoid them all . May we live together in unity and peace , and may the endeared appellation of Brother prove to us something more than a name . May all bickerings and contentions be banished forever from our associations , and may brotherly love prevail in all our Lodges .

May our light so shine that others , seeing our good works , may receive profit thereby . The world is not only regarding our efforts at self-government with anxious eyes , but our Brotherhood everywhere view our efforts in the cause of our Order with great solicitude . Let us ; then , on this natal day of one of our

brightest lights , dedicate ourselves anew to the service of the temple : let us swear , like Hannibal to his country , unchanging fealty to her honour and her laws ; let it be a new starting place , an era in our search after light and truth ; and let us run with honour the race that is set before us . May we catch a new

inspiration from the enlivening scenes around us , the sanctity of the day , the invocation of Divine grace , and the sweet strains of music poured forth by woman ' s voice , softening and mellowing all within their hallowed influence . Heaven has vouchsafed to us these proud privileges ; let them not be " as pearls cast before swine . "— " Voice of Masonry . "

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