Masonic Thoughts.

selfish interest may lead us away from the observance of its obligations . I do not propose to he thus cheated and deluded . I am in earnest in my own devotion to its sublime teachings and principles . If there is one thing hi our

poor human natures Avhich more than all others tends to redeem us—if there is one thing that makes me feel like bowing clown to thank Almighty God for the poor gift of human life , it is this sense and capacity for fidelity to individuals Avith

which He has endowed us . It is the strongest similitude of the divine , and I shall have strangely miscalculated if , in the final summing up , the practice of this virtue is not suffered to cover a multitude of sins . I repeat , it is

peculiarly the jirovince and mission of your Fraternity to cultivate that virtue ; nay , Freemasonry demands it , and you cease to be Masons when you cease to practice it . And as it is the crowning glory of human character , so the A'ice Avhich stands opposed

to it—treachery , infidelity , betrayal of tho confidence and trust you have invited and received , —is the basest and most odious , the most universally detested and despised of all human depravities . Treachery moreover is never a solitary invader . It brings

in its train an army of lesser evils , as if to conceal its OAVH enormit y by surrounding itself Avith gradations of infamy . As treason is the highest crime known to the law of the land , so in the moral and social Avorld , infidelity is the basest , the vilest of all vices . The one is the JBAVOI which should

always glitter resplendent in the Masons ' crown ; the other the hateful word which find no place in his vocabulary . Next to that of husband and Avife , parent and child , no merely human relation is so sacred as that of the Masonic Brotherhood . To be

false in any of these connections is to sin against ourselves and descend to the loAvest depths of shame and degradation . Yet , Ave must make the humiliating confession that Masons are sometimes false to one another and that betrayals of confidence and trust

among those who sustain that relation have been of far too frequent occurrence . I would have you , as you can do if you will , make an end of these humiliating and shameful occurences . I Avould imbue

yon Avith a nobler conception of the spirit and requirements of your fraternal obligations , Avith a more complete and unwavering devotion to your VOAVS . If you have been imposed upon by unworthy brethren , if you have been

betrayed and Avronged in the name of Freemasonry , on your OAVU heads the blame must rest ; for you hold in your hands the remedy for all those evils ; and I adjure you once more , if you Avould preserve un tarnished the lustre of the name you bear ,

be more diligent in the application of those remedies . If you are too coivardly to reject the doubtful or expel the unworthy —if you receive into your ranks the applicant of indifferent character because your treasury is impoverished and your revenues

are falling away , you have converted your trust into merchandise , and the fate of the ancient money-changers ought to fall , and Avill fall upon your heads . Reduce your

numbers , surrender your charters , let your lodges perish and seek Masonic association elsewhere , if need be , rather than degrade your profession and compromise the Fraternity by the acceptance of unworthy material . I caution you again against

making Freemasonry too popular , too common , and too cheap . I reneiv the admonition more emphatically to-day , because you are again in the midst of a season of marked prosperity , than Avhich nothing more imperils jrarifcy of character . The

danger must grOAV Avith your growth . As you increase hi numbers and . apparent poAver and influence , the shreAvd and designing , the selfish and the ambitious , Avill seek to' ally themselves Avith you , not for the purpose of becoming serviceable to

their fellow-men , but with the intent to make Freemasonry serviceable themselves . Let sleepless vigilance be the guardians at the portals of your temples .