The Principles Of Freemasonry.

mason enable him to reduce rude matter into due form , so these symbolical or spiritual tools , when correctly applied by the speculative Mason , assist him in correcting his natural imperfections , land teach him to prepare himself for a higher station with the ¦ sons of immortality , in bright ethereal mansions , not made with lhands , eternal in the heavens . Ladies , again we thank you for your presence ; we trust it may tend to raise our noble Order in

your highly valued estimation , as it proves that you practise largely the virtue we so strongly commend— ' charity . ' Yours . the charity which ' snffereth long and is kind , is not easily pro-• voked , hopeth all things , believeth all things , and thinke th no evil . ' Continue , we beseech you , to exercise this charity towards us , and though our ancient brethren have precluded us the happiness of a Masonic sisterhood here , ive trust you will join us in the fervent aspiration that we may all m

The Year 1860.

THE YEAR 1860 .

: [ lae following lecture was recently delivered at the Lodge Akazia , iin the Orient of Meissen , by Bro , IMJIISCH , member of the Lodge Minerva in the Orient of Leipzig ] , IF I now draw your attention , dear brethren , to the end contemplated by Masonry , it will not be to treat you with any new or fanciful descriptions , hut to impress upon j'ou the fact , so often repeatedthat our holtemple can onlhe forwarded and

com-, y y pleted by every brother Mason , let him be high or low , Master or -Apprentice , fulfilling in a worthy and workmanlike manner the 'duties allotted to him by the Grand Master ; when every one Vorings his individual work to the spot , there to labour to the utmost extent of his Masonic knowledge and with those instruments with which he is furnished in relative capacity as a Frcenijason .

if we look on the east and the west , on the north and the south , we be " u ° ld on all sides Masonic temples ; everywhere we hear the nan ^ c ° f brother and witness the hearty shake of the fraternal hai > d of unity . This is a great and happy truth for every one of us to experience , as it proves the existence of that great chain or bond of Freemasonry connecting millions of men together ; thousands of ch . ferent tongues , but jet one language intelligible to

all ; millions of . brethren , and yet but one Master ; numberless workshops , but of & y one edifice , in which every one alike is engaged to his utmo . sk This seems wonderiM- 'to us , and to some mysterious ; to the profane it appears mad , ' * i but to the real brethren this experience is a truth , into the fepths ° f which we descend with apron and trowel , prepared from dny to day , so that we may at last give a semblance of form ancl beauty to the inanimate stone , and like Pygmalion , call on the D * % / breathe into our work of

art the breath of life . The win * < " Freemasonry is a secret ; it is like a beautiful blossom , whose" ' -nature and lovely proportions he alone can comprehend who has studied the germ of nature from which it has proceeded . There >* saying that " many will call Lord , Lord , but shall not enter . *« . . kingdom of heaven ;" and it appears to me , dear brethren , that "te'e will also be many who will step over the threshold of our te ^ jfe . and will still not he able is

to enter into thc spirit of our holy mysteries . How this ? " Our temple has a secret door , " says ifo & poet , " which gives us of itself , without knowledge or will , th ? answers suitable to our questions . " My endeavour will he to guMe you into thc path of . peace , if not into the comfortable haven' e £ rest , where no corruption ever penetrated or storm disturbed ' , , and over the hills on which they who long for the heavenly Cam van arc willing to die live the

, because they never till then have learnt to' on spiritual manna or vital food of thc soul . I implo re you , dear brethren , to decipher this gravestone , and to learn therefrom what Freemasonry commands ns to do , and with what qualities they must be endowed who join in the pilgrimage towards our holy temple . This is a difficult work , I must admit , but of what the heart is full of , the mouth speaks , and in my endeavour to do so , the aid and will enable to

attention of your minds mo complete the _ task I have before me . First . What are thc commands of Freemasonry ' . The disciple receives at his first resting p lace on . the road to the temp le of wisdom , a warning to " think of death ; " that is the first appeal made to his manhood , and also the first milestone win ch admonishes the traveller th velocity of timeand

on e , urges mm to expedite his journey lest the evening star on the horizon m his life should | arise . What end does Masonry contemplate in . ! ; i . ymg its symbols before the new brot :-hcr ? It is the attainment ol wisdom , that heavenly plant , which wc too often neglect in the

daily turmoil of life , or hastily tread under foot . In the outer world , indeed , everything is turned to account that relates to thc maintenance of soul or body ; hut for the wants of the heart and the exigencies of the mind , no attention is paid , ancl hence it is that tho first pillar , on which our being exists , so often shakes , or falls asunder . Still , dear brethren , it is this mind of man which is the true test of the nobleness of his nature , and stamps him as

of divine origin ; and it is iu this heart ivhere the brother Mason must erect his Lodge , and work diligently till his stone is rendered a cube , smooth in surface and square cornered , and from which all rough edges are removed , lest they should mar the beauty of the ivhole . In this way the building is completed surface to surface , stone upon stone , aud at last becomes a living proof , the well digested plan conceived by the Master .

This individual building up of every one ' s Lodge in his own heart , upright and all square , on the plan of the Master , is , my brethren , the symbol of true wisdom , and is the secret of our Craft , which we rightly call " the true method of living ; " because it leads us to a proper use of our divine human existence , and tends to give us that enlivening freedom of spirit which is based upon the subjection of the flesh to the mastery of the spiritand gives to

, those engaged in this work the name of Freemasons . You now , I hope , comprehend the meaning of that injunction , "Think of death ; " not in thc light of fear so that we should close our career with alarm , no , the injunction is " to think upon it , " while in the enjoyment of life , as reasonable and sensitive creatures . AVhy should the Almighty have so formed and blessed the earth , except it were for man ' s enjoyment . Bo carefulhoweverdear

, , brethren , that in all the contingencies of grief or pleasure your dignity as men is never forgotten , ancl that your daily communication ivith the Almighty Creator of mankind is kept up , in which case you need not be alarmed when the watchman cries aloud "full midnight is arrived , " for you will then be prepared to leave work with a joyful cry of "Death , where is thy sting ; grave ,

ivhere is thy victory V Again , my dear brethren , you must remember that " no master ever fell from heaven . " The greatest men of antiquity , like Socrates and Plato , derived their wisdom and those theological ideas of God and a future state , from others ; those great truths they promulgated were not of their own creation . In the same way Freemasonry becomes the instructor of the truths it unfolds ,

and exhibits to the disciples the method of putting its doctrine into practice , and the right path he must take to arrive at its land of promise . And for this purpose we have recourse to the Bible , the book of books , as it unfolds to us thc source of all true wisdom and indicates the way in which we are to hold communion with the Almighty . The Bible is , to us Masons , a- mere symbol ; it may be called the Talmud , the Koran , or what else ; it is the same

in respect to thc design of Freemasonry , which is , to guide its disciples by a symbol to that fountain of happiness—his duty to his Maker ' while here , and thc realization of everlasting life . Who knocks at this late hour ? " A free man of goocl repute " is thc answer . That is all the brethren wish to know from the stranger , and it is sufficient . JMo preference is shewn in our bond of bonds to Jew , Christian , or Mussulman , but only to the upright man striving to do his utmost , in his position as workman , to complete thc design of his great Master in the three grand foundations of " AYisdom , strength , and beauty . " An exalted object , certainly ,

but one which we too often lose sig ht of when engaged with the busy concerns of life . As true modesty is the more attracting in plain attire , so the outer part of ourselves becomes the more visible ivhen removed from the unholy concourse of the world . The feeling of true devotion needs not to be developed in the highways , after the manner of the Pharisees , but in the heart of man , by man ' s communion with himself and his Maker . Thus still b

the disciple is first led by Freemasonry into that yway wherein he may contemplate the mysteries of the Craft , and examine himself as to what progress or declension lie has made in the Lodge to which he is attached . As the night closes in the day , so does our dwelling here bring to an end our timeworn and outward life . Day with its sinful delights is passed , and night is arrived . A poor brother has lost his way , ancl finds himself in

a foreign laud , and applies for help . Here we can say , AVhat benefit hast thou now , brother , from thc pride of life and the applause of thy friends ? Thy wealth has procured these ; but thou art now poor and helpless in the way to future happiness . Stop here and examine thyself , for without the brotherly hand of Masonry should now put thee in the right way , thy helplessness would become lamentable indeed . Thus , my dear brethren , we are directed by Freemasonry to the sacred column of wisdom , by which we arc guided in our duty towards mankind , anil the brethren in particular , This won !