History Of The Airedale Lodge, No. 387,

be at the present time , imbued with the true spirit of Masonry ; that they have not only maintained a careful adherence to its ritual , but have practicall y illustrated its principles . Firstly , the brethren have , throughout the long career of their lodge , manifested the deepest sympathy in the sufferings ancl distress of sick and mourning members . Secondly , to the Masonic Charities the lodge has been a liberal contributor ; andowing to the zealous exertions of

, its indefatigable Charity Steward , Bro . F . W . Booth . P . M ., a large increase of charity votes has been secured . This example is worthy of imitation on the part of all lodges of the province . You are no doubt , as in duty bound to be , firm believers in the great antiquity of the Craft , and you have been taught that as regards structural science , there Avas a period in ihe history of mankind ¦ —a period darkdreary , and comfortless—when Masonry had not laid her line

, or extended her compasses ; lvhen men took refuge from storm and tempest and the attacks of savage beasts in thickets of woods and in dens and caverns of the earth ; ancl that from these poor recesses and gloomy solitudes the Grand Geometrician of the Universe in pity drew them and instructed them to erect buildings of a rustic kind in artless imitation of simple nature . This remark of the author of the Fourth Section of the Second Lecture contains the

element of a truth of Avhich he Avas probably little conscious at the time . The earliest buildings of which antiquarians have any knowledge were not of the Tuscan order , as he states , however rustic that order may be , but were structures of Cyclopean architecture , many of which in all their majestic proportions and solidity have survived through tens of centuries of civilization ( in spite of civilization itselfAvhich is not always disposed to shoAv a conservative

, reverence towards the Avorks of former times ) , ancl remain to this clay as footprints of Masonry . These rude monuments may be briefly described as constructions whose walls are composed of ponderous unquarried stones , selected with a certain amount of care and suitableness , on which are placed ,

so as to form a ceiling , blocks of far greater dimensions and wei ght , the whole being hidden from sight by an outer covering of earth or of small stones , often of considerable altitude , and constituting a chambered mound . In process of time , and from various causes , natural and regretable , Avhich need not . be detailed here , these mounds fell away , orhavebeen in many instances partiall y or wholly removed , and the denuded chambers now stand forth in imposing nakedness and grandeurand proclaim to us the mi ghty power of united action

, of the enduring nature of works undertaken with combined energy ancl resolution , even when those works have been accomplished with the aid of simjde and mean appliances . In their exposed condition they are commonly called cromlechs , Avhich are'ignorantly considered by some persons ( happily an almost extinct family ) to have been connected with the bloody rites of Diuidic worship . These constructions , which have been observed in all parts of the world , are

rude , yet , in a certain sense , skilful Masonic institutions of those natural dens and caverns in which men of the palaeolithic age lived , died , and were ofttimes buried , and were intended for sepulchral purposes only . They are , however , standing and imperishable witnesses fo truths of considerable importance , for they tell of a belief in the G . A . O . T . TJ ., the Almighty and Eternal Teacher of His peopleof the immortality of the souland of a future life . They speak

, , also of respect and reverence for chiefs and heroes , of brother ancl family affection , and of mystic rites of reli gion which have been , from the earliest ages , inseparable from burial customs . May we not perceive in this parallel hoAv the grand principles of the Craft are amply illustrated ? If the origin of Freemasonry is not lost in the mists of pre-historic antiquity as some sceptics supposeit possesses similar attributes to those possessed bthe monuments of

, y which I have spoken . It can boast of an immemorial existence . It is universal in its distribution , ancl its chief glories are reverence for the Eternal Architect and ruler of the Universe , loyalty to the throne , brotherly love , and truth , based upon a comprehensive faith . It teaches us that in our perishable frame