Masonry And Its Relations To The Outer World.

MASONRY AND ITS RELATIONS TO THE OUTER WORLD .

THE following Oration was delivered at the late Sesqui-Centennial Celebration of the Pennsylvania Grand Lodge , by Bro . Hon . Henry M . Hoyt , Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : — An organisation whioh can project itself before a discerning public , confidently , modestly , and effectively , as the Masonio Lodges of

Pennsy lvania have this day done , will overbear every question of its right to exist , and will safely challenge an analysis of its " reasons for being . " This well-ordered display of external power , without blazonry or frivolous trappings , may well lead the student of social science to explore those abiding aud essential principles of human nature npon which Masonry in its esoteric philosophy is grounded .

No fraternity of snch proud , self-respecting citizens as have to-day countermarched npon the streets of this great city could be incorporated , and hold its integrity for generations , if its underlying polity was conceived in any wide or serious departure from the laws of God or of humanity . It were absurd to assume that its motive began and terminated in mere pageants or street parades , consciously strong ,

dignified and imposing as this one has been . For one hundred and fifty years , at least , thia particular guild has gone on with ita functions , overseeing and ordering an organism which has to-day , not for the first time , made an exhibit of its power outside the Lodge-room , and this Grand Lodge is only one among many , and you thousands are only part of other tens of thousands . Does any suppose that all

this pre-arranged order and adjusted co-operation is the outgrowth of whim , or curiosity or intrigue , and launched upon the public for mere vulgar display f Here ia a vast gathering of sedate , judioions , and well-to-do citizens . They come from all calling ; n ]* fe . I hazard little in saying , that seated along these aisles are the foremost of the men who are making modern life what it is , in all its besfc

phases and tendencies . They are nofc fanatics , nor are they conspirators . They pretend to no inspiration . They affect no supernatural mission . They are simply a body of plain , pract-cal men , intent upon a plain common purpose . Their ministrations lie about the home and threshold of every Brother—nay , of every fellow-being . Fraternity with them is not limited to those who sit in the Lodge-room . They

take up the first awful question addressed to the first wrongdoer . " Where is thy brother ? " They put it to every exclusive , oppressive , and corrupting person or community . They propose to reverse the melancholy philosophy of the Italian , who thought " that no man in God's wide earth was willing or able to help any other man . " They propose to gather np all the gloriona examples of their

predecessors , and the ennobling tradition of the family of man , and as best they can , illuminated by the best light of natural reason , and in gathered strength and widened experience , fulfil the new and heightened demands of human fellowship . They invade no ecclesiastical domain . They nsnrp the functions of no sectary or church , or their ministers ordained nnder other and higher credentials ,

whose exhortations are to be enforced nnder hisrher sanctions . They have no political dilemmas , except the equality of men as children of a common Father , and no theological dogmas , except only the daily prayer and precept that " we may practise out of the Lodge , the principles of religion and morality we are tanghfc within it . " Think yon , Brethren , that with yonr great and extended

membership , with your compacted unity , yonr generous enthusiasm , your indoctrination in right morals , that yonr influence and impress can be confined within tae jurisdiction of the Tylers of your Lodgerooms ? The force generated within the dead walls will be borne out by living men in beneficent streams , well typified by the stream of living men which has flowed throngh these streets to-day . The

"principles of relisrion and morality" we are tanghfc within the Lodge are not complicated riddles beyond the comprehension and solution of the plainest member . Under the government of a Supreme Being we find ourselves mortals here , with multiplied rights and duties to each ofcher . The natural man may apprehend and observe these rights and duties .

500 years B . C ., Socrates formulated the conclusion npon which the process and the expectation of final success is predicated . Man has , no doubt , strong self-preserving , self-asserting , and self , advancing instincts , which , if left without counter-action , would lead to isolation , or mutual hostility and ultimate extermination ; but

these instincts , of isolated individualism are met by stronger instincts of sympathy , love and fellowship , in the ascendancy of which the true humanity of man , as distinguished from tigerhood and spiderhood , consists . The function of reason is fche recognition ana the realisation of truth . Truth recognised in speculation is science ; truth realised in action is a moral life and a well ordered

societ y . . " -tbonfc insisting upon tho antiquity of Freemasonry , I am insist , wg upon the antiquity of tho reasons underlying it , and the identity ° » its doctrines and its methods with right humanity . There have come streaming down the central ideas of ri . htness and tbe maxim ? 0 Justice which have saved ns . In the prehistoric mists of the rce , ° 'he earliest types which blind Homer sang , anterior to the first ywpiad , amid the iealousies and struffeles antl even barbarities of of

^ Grecian chieftains and kings men before the walls of e , ° - ' , con " 3 upon the full apprehension and exercise of the same sential qnalities of manhood , whose definition has neither t _ een lost nor essentially enlarged . From that day to this ifc hns connuonsl y included honesty , courage , love of country , loyalty to ^ sons , faithfulness to convictions , respect , fidelity , and love for man , whether maiden or wife , cherished with tenderness " from

•dea 00 tn to the ripening of the grape . " Among the soundest of Pe Kotfrom all this past we may reckon the power of opinion and in " ° n as opposed to force ; tho . enso of responsibility in governo en ; the hatred of tyranny and all unlimited power ; tho recon-

Masonry And Its Relations To The Outer World.

ciliation and harmony between the spirit of freedom ou the one hand , the spirit of order and reverence on the other , ancl a practical belief in right as relative and in duty as reciprocal , and that tho rights of human nature are unitary . This body of doctrine which you hold—directed and adapted to no special calling , no sect , no clique , but to all men , energised by

organisation , and more or less perfectly developed in tho daily life of a picked body of men—selected citizens—must overflow the confines of Masonic temples . These temples become the depositories of moral capital , oub of which all drafts made by charity , morality , religion , and even death , may be honoured afc sight . They are the enacted law of the Ahiman Eezon—logically grown out of a reasonable legend

and supported by a CHUUS and a ritual which can offend neither the conscience nor the common sense . Therein the helplessness of the individual is supplemented b y the power of fellowship . Hopeless would be our condition if we struggled each for himself throngh the mazes and perplexities of life . In the whirl and attrition of the awful machinery in motion all about us , in the successes and disasters ,

in the hopes and woes , in the gladness and bitterness whioh hedge us roundabout , the individual is an inconsequential unit . Organisation and fellowship rescue him from tho unequal conflicts in which singlebanded he would go down before the Craft and evil combined against him . They are the scaffolding from which the complete harmonious social atructure can be raised .

" God lovea from whole to parts , but human soul Mnst rise from individual to the whole ¦ Self-love bnt serves the virtuous mind to wake , As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake . The centre moved , a circle straight succeeds ,-Another still , and still another spreads ; Friend , parent , neighbour , first it will embrace , His conntry next , and next all human race . "

For my part , I fully believe that mankind will finally triumph over the destiny which now seems so grievously to encompass them . They have well held their own . Step by step humanity has climbed nearer the heavens whence we came . Not alone by the maxims current with Agamemnon and Achilles , Socrates and Marcus Anrelius—nofc , perhaps , unaided from the Empyrean heights , whence Prometheus

snatched the sacred fire , and not without enduring some of the tortures with which that vicarious sufferer for bis race endured , chained to the rocks of Mount Caucasus—not without the pregnant formula of the Apostle of the Gentiles : " Now abideth faith , hope and charity , these three— but the greatest of these is charity "—not without the external and Divine help of Him who , eighteen centuries

ago , spoke the Sermon on the Mount and taught us " the Lord ' s Prayer . " The chivalry and art and democracy with whioh the Olympian games glorified the Hellenic race ought not to be anachronism to ns . Our contentions are in the arena of ethics and morals . Rewards for victory and achievements now , no less precious than the wreath from

the sacred olive tree in Olyrnpia awaits successful competitors . They are for those who can " best work in fche best degree . " Our beatitudes terminate not npon the individual , bnfc upon tho family , the State and the race . Wo shall yet reap the harvest . " And it shall come to pass in that day I will hear , saith the Lord , I will hear the heavens , and they shall hear the earth , and the earth shall hear the corn , and the wine , and the oil , and they shall hear Jezral . "

The monthly meeting of the Lodge of Benevolence was held on Wednesday , at Freemasons' Hall . The three chairs were occupied by Bros . Joshua Ntinn , James Brett , and the Rev . A . F . A . Woodford ; there was a very large attendance of Grand Officers and other brethren , for the season

of the year . Tho Board of Masters was first held , and tbe paper of business for Grand Lodge of 6 th September was submitted . The Lodge of Benevolence first confirmed grants to the amount of . 6240 recommended at the July meeting . There were twenty-five cases on the new list . The

Lodge sat nearly four hours , in the course of which the brethren deferred two cases , and dismissed one . The remainder were relieved to a total sum of £ 735 , which was composed of one - £ 150 , one £ 100 , two £ 50 , one £ 40 , four £ 30 , five £ 25 , two £ 20 , one £ 15 , four £ 10 , and one £ 5 .

Special Grand Lodge of the Province of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will be held on Monday evening next , . it seven , at the Masonic HaU , Albion-place , Southhampton , under the presidency of the Provincial Grand Master , Bro . W . W . B . Beach , M . P ., for the purpose of

giving a welcome to thoso members of the British Association who are Masons , as well u . to other visitors to Southhampton , on the business of the Association , who are

members of the Order . The same kindl y Masonic feelings was , it will be remembered , exhibited last year by the Yorkshire brethren when the British Association held its meeting at York .

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