Masonry V. Agnosticism.*

liberty , but license and lawlessness and all that they crave . Hence , I ween , we can in great measure account for the restiveness and repugnance to restraint , if not outlawry , our age manifests , and that should be curbed and overcome for the common good . But we have not room here for longer argument and demonstration in this respect . Every student and lover of ri ght religious civilization and proper progress

, in the march of events to date , will realize that the factor for such conduct and rtiling to the canonization of good is Divine Providence overruling for human good really , and making even the wrath of man to serve Him . Out of the decalogue from God ' s word is declared , keep my sabbaths ; honour thy parents ; do no murder , nor adultery , nor theft , nor perjury , and covet not ! But , meanwhile , if the inordinate negative doctrine of such as

agnosticism prevails , and the subject ' s assumed " I dont know that God is , " suffices to excuse obeying what the Great Architect of the Universe commands and requires of mankind , then the devil doctrine succeeds to sap and supplant what is due the Divine . It is sowing the wind to reap the whirlwind ; or over again , Esau-like , but bartering one ' s blessed birthright for the paltry pottage-mess . No man , if resisting , can readily be led into such faithless condition , nor permit himself to get there , o ? floundering from all faith , afford to warp about revealed truth , and so wrest it as to wrong and mistake His

work and word , written as of God ' s hand for man ' s welfare throughout the world ' s ages , to which history , sacred and secular , testifies in time without suffering loss . And such storied statement and showing , with their logic and cumulative appeal to convince the reason of right reflection , mirror heaven ' s best gift of gospel treasure in hol y reli gion by analogy of the natural and revealed . Nature is gravid with God ' s witness , while agnosticism is but barren

ignoration . Sun , moon and myriad stars give lie to such sham stuff as this assertion of man ' s baser self being supierior to supernal belief ? We can avow and attribute implicit faith in the Almighty ! The very earth , in frame and space , within its airy orbit kept by Him who governs all , proclaims a Maker whom night and morning daily come to praise . It is not seemly , neither right nor wisefor pitiful man out of his native clay to disavow the celestial spark

, within the very soul and essence of his given form—that says of one ' s born better self , at least , I am Immortal , and not as the dumb beast . I am , and know that I am what I am , the one fixed in faith , before God , can articulate freely . For , the Infinite Supreme over all , the Great I am , self-sentient , ever existent , fashioned and gave us cognizance of our own organized being after Himself , — conscious of the highest for the creature ' s capacity communicated and inspired

to seek of the Everlasting All-wise , begotten to all eternity—in Jehovah ' s care and covenant—beyond and above the base brute kingdom . Hence the true man cultures his soul !—orients himself—unci believes , as conclusivel y Masonry conduces to express and convey our formulated belief and conviction . From the outset the Master , as of inspiration , instructs the veriest novice and t yro in the Royal Art : Remember n ow thy Creator ! Him the bard , though blind as bat , saw through faith ' s hoodwinked eyes ,

God who oft descends to visit men Unseen , and through their habitations walks , To mark their doings ! And again , from another faithful soul , of gentler mould , admitting testimony of the Omnipotent—Spirit ! whose life-sustaining presence fills / bTsOA ?~\ Air , ocean , central depths , by man untried , / % ^ ~ \ x \ Thou for thworshi hast sanctified fft /

y ppers r a A M n Vv \ All place , all time ! The silence of the hills Igf t , HAnu YA Breathes veneration ; founts and choral rillsju . ( L 0 D G E r " j Of Thee are murmuring ; to its inmost glade LA IRRA RY /*/ The living forest with Thy whisper thrills , VXJ- Lj And there is holiness in every shade . \ 0 ^_^< W ¦ / MOoH ^ c