A Sermon

A SERMON

Preached in St . Anctreio ' s Church , George Town , Demerara , on the occasion of the Dedication of the Mount Olive Lodge , No . 385 .

BY BKO . THE BEV . BICHAZR-D 3 VICKSDH , CHAPLAIN . " What mean ye by this Service , "—Ex . xii ., 26 IT was on the eve of the Exodus in the dead of the night that Israel stood expectant of coming deliverance . It was then in Egypt just previous to the death of the First-born that Israelwith closed doorstrembling in fear

, , , with staff in baud , loins girded , stood waiting for the signal to depart . Hearts were beating high with hope at the thought of coming liberty , and yet apprehensive of the strange unexplored future . 'Twas then that the Feast of the Jewish Passover was instituted ; aud through the long years of history which have since passed , the faithful observance of this Service has marked the advent of the Feast of Unleavened Bread wherever the dark-browed

Israelite has worshipped or Hebrew congregation prayed . At the institution of this service instructions were given for its future yearly celebration , and also for handing down to a remote posterity a faithful record of the great event it was intended to commemorate . And even to this day , on the eve of the Feast of the Passover , wherever Jewish families gather , a similar service to that instituted in Egypt is carried out ; and as the solemn

ceremony proceeds , may be heard the voice of one of the children of the household crying— " What mean ye by this Service ? " And then just as commanded in the story open before us , the ruler of the Feast tells the tale and rehearses the scenes of that strange eventful night in which was established the Passover of the Lord their God . Naturallthe same question rises to the lips of many to-day— " What mean

y ye by this Service 1 " Brought so prominently before the public as is this Service of Freemasonry to-day , the question is prompted— " What is its meaning ? " And looking out through this Service upon , the great world around us , and understanding by the term , not only our ceremonials—our symbolsbut our whole scheme of labour and effort—the entire princi ples of Free-I do not think I can do better on such an occasion as thisfor the

masonry , , benefit of the uninitiated , than to try to answer , as fully as I can , and as best I can , in the short time at my disposal , the . questions often put to Freemasons" What is this Masonry of which you are so proud and in which you delight and exult ? What mean ye by this Service ? "

I will just premise that I shall use the words Freemasonry and Masonry as synonymous terms , as also the terms Freemasons and Masons . Cyril of Alexandria says " Men are apt to deride what they do not understand , and the ignorant , not being aware of the weakness of their minds , condemn what they ought most to venerate . " The truth of this statement has been strictly verified in the history of Freemasonry . The uninitiated have ever been ready to charge it with all that

is evil and bad . The mighty weapons of ignorance and prejudice have been employed against it . Religion , too , has pronounced her anathemas against it , and from her altars has cursed it and its votaries ; but Freemasonry has still lived aud flourished , overcoming difficulty and obstacle , and living down opposition till to-day it numbers its temples by tens upon tens of thousands , and its sons of light by hundreds upon hundreds of thousands , realizing in great part the vision of the sages and the seers of the olden time , who beheld afar off the benign reign of universal brotherhood .