An Oration

pass Avith chance of safety the crisis through Avhich we are moving , and permit me to point out to you in a few Avords , as citizens moderation , prudence , respect for established laAVS , confidence in the future as Masons , passive obedience to the constitution

SAVorn to , scrupulous observance of our statutes and general regulations . It is for the purpose of repressing a possible violation of the Masonic law , a violation Avhich Avould be so dangerous in the actual circumstances , not only for the lodge Avhich

should commit it , but possibly also for the Avhole order , that the council asked of you to be armed Avith sufficient poAvers . Well , while entirely thanking the council for its solicitude , let us take hero a . solemn engagement to show by our acts that its fears

Avere needless ; that not one of us—not one —Avill be tempted to compromise the interests of our dear Freemasonry , and never , Avhatever the circumstances may be , to give grounds for the accusations of our adversaries in severin _ r onrseh'es from our

duties and our obligations . What , my brethren , have we not a field sufficiently large for our studies , our researches , and our labours 1 Do you forgot that the care of humanity ought to be our constant preoccupation , that as long as the cannon shall thunder masterfully in the Avorldas

, long as war shall moAV CIOAVII human beings by thousands , as long as there are sufferings to solace , ignorant to instruct , vices to root out , as long as the moral and intellectual level is not at the height Avhich Ave desiderateAve have to Avork Avithout ceasing .

, Is not this immense task sufficient for you , to Avhich generations of men have devoted themselves , Avhich will absorb your life without arriving at its end , and Avhich our descendants Avill continue in future generations ? Let us not go out of our oAvn

spheres , I entreat you , and if Ave chance to fight for our flag , for our principles of liberty , for the freedom of human reason , may it be equally without passion and Avithout Aveakness , may it be the fulfilment of a duty imposed on our consciences ,

nothing less , but nothing more . I am speaking of a combat . Is it not strange that Ave are reduced to pronounce this Avord of hatred , Ave AVIIO profess for humanity the most ardent love ? Yes , certainl y ! Ave have not sought the combat ; Ave have not provoked our unceasing adversaries . They are they , the opponents

of liberty and of reason ; they are they , tho partizans of subjection as the end , and of ignorance as the means , who have engaged in this strife Avith an unheard-of violence . Called by our princip les to defend the liberty of conscience , Avhich our ancestors

conquered from clerical despotism , can Ave , I ask you , steal aAvayand desert the battlefield ? Our line of conduct , is it not entirely traced out ? Have Ave not , besides , been directly challenged ? Do you not know of that burning philipp ic which has emanated

from a leading member of the party which evidently desires our overthrow ? Defence is lawfiihand Ave shall defend ourselves by all possible means ; resting , nevertheless , Avithin the limits which the civil laAvs and the Masonic laws impose upon us . We

shall join iu no religious controversy—¦ Article II of the Constitution forbids us ; but we shall explain the principles of our philosophy , of our morality , and the country—Avhat do I say ? the entire world —shall decide AVIIO they are , Avhether of them or of us , AVIIO are most in sympathy

with the ideas , in perfect harmony Avith Him who once on the shore of Lake Tiberias or Gemicsareth substituted for the law of hate Avhich ruled the old world His law of love and forgiveness . These provocatives to strife have afflicted but not surprised me . Our adversaries find in their

patliAvay , in the accomplishment of their ill-omened mission , an invincible obstacle , and before Avhich they will fatally miscarry if they do not succeed in breaking it doAvn . It is human reason ; which the philohical school of the last age has

emancisop pated , in instructing it , in elevating it , in making it understand its rights , and the part it has to play . They proscribe it ; they insult it ; they wish to annihilate it . But Ave , AVIIO profess that Avithout which everything is error ,

falsehood , or fanaticism ; Ave , AVIIO think that the clay on Avhich it is annihilated there will be an end of our dignity as men ; Ave defend it—the accursed thing—and Ave Avill defend it as long as Ave have a breath of life . Behold , my brethren , the true cause of the accusations of which AVO are

the object . To give to their accusation a semblance of justice , they pretend that Freemasonry means Atheism ; they represent us as sworn destroyers of all religious ideas . In vain have Ave proved to them that if it were so , we should be like them , R 2