Freemasonry's Fruitage.

King , having attained his majority , " not only permitted tho Order to hold their meetings without molestation , but even honoured the Lodges by his presence as a brother . Before ho was initiated , however , into the mysteries of the

Order , he seems to have examined with scrupulous rare the nature of the Institution , and to have pernsed the charges and regulations of the Fraternity , which had been collected from their ancient records . "

We are informed , also , that Honry VU ., in the fifteeuth century , became a member of the Order , and its Grand Master , to which office he was succeeded by no less a personage than Cardinal Wolsey . Under William III . the Order again began to show considerable life , and Sir Christopher Wren was confirmed as Grand Master .

Thero is also a strong fact , although of a negative character , not to be overlooked . Up to comparatively recent date , Freemasons had the encouragement of the Boman Pontiffs and potentates of all Europe . Upon the Fraternity were conferred most important privileges , which

" allowed them to be governed by laws , customs and ceremonies peculiar to themselves . " Early in the eighteenth century this encouragement was withdrawn by

the Pope , and the Order fell under the ban of the Roman See prior to A . D . 1737 . The reason assigned was " tbe spirit of Freemasonry was hostile to the principles of the Church of Rome . "

Two important conclusions are forced on the mind by this act of the church : 1 . The Masons , so early as 1737 , must have been a body of men considerable in numbers and in influence , to have attracted the notice and invited the adverse favour of the Romish Church . 2 . If tho

Operative Masons had no esoteric teachings , but were , up to 1737 , only a practical school to learn tho art of hewing timber and squaring stones for buildings , what object could the Roman Pontiff , Clement XII ., have had in fulminating

his edict of excommunication , 27 th April 1738 , against simple artizans , humbly following thelaudab ! e occupation of dressing and manipulating stones and material to be used in the construction of cathedrals and churches ?

The fact is , the Order " was composed of peoples of all nations , Italian , Greek , French , Germau and Flemish artists . They were everywhere known aud received as Freemasons . " The edict discloses the reason : Their assemblies are

particularly composed of persons of divers nations and conditions , worship and degrees of morality , admitted without distiuction ; they cannot free themselves from the gnspicion that their assemblies are gotten up to arrange the destruction of not only thrones and governments , but

even religion itself . Not the work of the hands , but the wisdom , the esoteric work of the Order , its rituals , symbols , and ceremonials , its philosophy , its freedom of thought , its grand moral

lessons—these were the objective points at which the church hurled its anathemas . We see , therefore , the esoteric teachings wore in esse anterior to 1737 , as they exist to-day , in all their force , power aud beauty .

SPECULATIVE MASONRY . —WHAT DOBS IT TEACH r

Speculative Masonry teaches how the grander temple is to bo erected . With the trowel in his band , governed by the plumb-line of rectitude , the Mason is taught to spread the cement of brotherly love , relief and truth . Actuated by these principles , bow grand is the Mason ' s

mission ! Very much has been accomplished , and yet the work has just begun . All tbe nations of the earth are to be taught—What ? Practical lessons in which love to God and love to man are the underlying princ ' ples . It tefiches

ihat the happiness and dignity of man depend more on his © wn merits than on the merits of other ? . Masonry , therefore , teaches that the man is to acquire merit for himself . It is in this direction , in this way , the novitiate is taught to place the foundation of his Masonic Temple on the firm

rock of Truth . While the Operative Mason builds for years , the Speculative Mason builds far eternity—the works of the Operative Mason in time- will crumble and decay ; tbe Speculative Mason shall carry the materials of his moral temple through tho eternities . To be well

builded the whole moral structnre should go up , column , wall and spire , the perfection of symmetry , grace and purity . God should dwell in him , not in the form of dogmas , but as the Father-God , the God of humanity and of use . Thus is interwoven in Masonic live 3 a religion , so to speak , of working habits . In such healthy mental soil fine

Freemasonry's Fruitage.

purejthoughts will take root and grow , and multiply and produce hig her thoughts ; ore long such mental and moral gardens will be overspread with living green , and studded

with flowers of the loveliest tints and sweetest odours . The love of God is visible everywhere , operating most potently in that grandest parterre in nature—the human mind .

To aid in pushing forward this great work the army swells to grand proportions , when we contemplate tho number of Masons in the civilised world—counted now by themillions . What has already beon accomplished is written on the pages of the world ' s history , extending to the period

when force held the p lace of right , and truth was permitted only to appear veiled in tbe garments of raystory . But tho work before us is none the less important . There are yet mountains of errors upon the face of the oarth , made visiblo by the shadows from the sun of heaven .

I pass over , without specific data , the large sums annually spent by Masons in charity . The sick , the destitute , tho widow and the orphan throughout the world are the living witnesses of tho Mason ' s usefulness in this great field . These shall testify of them when '' faith is lost to sight and hope ends in fruition . "

I am cot unmindful of the fact that the Institution of Masonry has its enemies , who would destroy it ; that these enemies are sleepless and vigilant . But it stands upon a rock and cannot be shaken . As it is the oldest organisation iu the world , and for centuries has stood the test , the

judgment of the best of men in all ages , and is to-day moro firmly established in the hearts of men than at any time in its long history , it would seem idle waste of energy to attempt to pull down and destroy this grand tmple , dedicated only to the best needs of humanity .

Blot out the sun in the heavens , darken the moon , drive out all that is good from the face of the earth ; while there is one human being to be benefited , Masonry will remain on the earth , a power and worker to complete its great

. An institution that has had upon its roll , and counted among its supporters , a Wren , a Warren , a Franklin , a Putnam , La Fayett , a Marshall , a Patrick Henry , a Clinton , a Jefferson , a Clay , a Madison , a Monroe , a Livingstone , a

Locke , a Wellington , a Jackson , a Garfield , and a host of others too numerous to mention , cannot be successfully assailed . Each one of the witnesses named herein will outweigh armies of such as would attempt to batter down

the walls behind which , for so many centuries , Mas mry has been safely entrenched . One witness I may here introduce , for we know of him as the enemies of Masonry cannot . He was one of us .

It is a common saying that great occasions call forth great men . They rise when the needs demand them . If born amid the throes of revolution , they become leaders and founders of government . Such men surprise us by their serenity iu storms and dangers ; captivate us by

their moderation , displayed amid the allurements of passion or the tempting prizes of worldly glory . We realise they are men like ourselves , but of truer instincts , and more wisely constituted than we . We recognise in thera the

serene intellect , the impassioned energy , the self-reliant spirit , the inspiring genius , guided by integrity , moderation and patriotism . These are they who write their name on the scroll of

fame" Poets and sages , and stern heroes who , In the grand temple of the builder , Time , Do covenant for niches of their own . " Is it fitting for u = s as Masons , when our grand Institution is assailed , to put forward one of such men to testify as to the value of Masonry ?

Pre-eminently did the one to whom I allude exemplify the qualities of true greatness by his splendid life , and ere his death prepared for us and left with us the evidenco of his love and veneration for Masonry and for its great moral and religious principles . Not that Washington stood

alone in his love for the Order , but from the greater fact that he stands out on the pages of our country ' s history , its grandest figure ; and that hi « life history is so interwoven with our . national existence that , like the great Emperor of Germany , he splendidly illustrates the nation and enlarges the boundaries of Masonry .

Not with a deeper sense , hut from a sense which touches the Masonic heart , we bring him here in this sanctified presence to testify of us . He was our frater , one of our number , and by his life exomplifie'l the preceptive and moral , grandeur of oar noble Order .