Masonic Oration

how shall we discharge it ? There are doubtless many who seek Masonry with no thought of its emblematical significance , of its true spirit and purpose . Many are induced to seek introduction to its mysteries by a natural curiosity in regard to

the unknown ; many by the selfish considerations of assistance or power . And many there are , doubtless , who can pass through all the stages of its progression without having their hearts or minds raised to the contemplation of hig her

ambitions or objects than these . Such have no fit place in Masonry , and such must of necessity be disappointed in the results obtained . To all who strive to walk worthily as Masons the first thing requisite to proficiency which presents

itself is , the necessity to study and conform to the theory of Masonry . He who has learned , be it ever so glibly , the ritual of Masonry , and brought even to perfection his practice of its ceremonies , yet not given heed to its spiritual

^ significance nor studied to know the teachings of those rites and ceremonies , has failed entirely of a just conception of Freemasonry , and has made

no progress toward the accomplishment of that great object which Masonry sets before us all , to fit ourselves as living stones for places in that spiritual temple , " that house not made with hands , eternal in the heavens . While he who has had

fixed in his heart those two ideas which stand as the groundwork of the entire Masonic superstructure , reverence to God and love to man , though all else be forgotten , is the better Mason , the worthier brother . Conforming to these laws ,

we will be enabled to exercise all Masonic virtues , and to adorn our profession by consistent lives . With the blessing of God resting on us , with brotherly love uniting us , we will find that all the social and moral virtues do prevail ; and in the

future , as in the past , the prosperity of Masonry and the progress of the world will be commensurate and continual .

It is only by the power of noble living , however , that we can hope to achieve this result . Each man does something toward forming the history ¦ of the world , for every one has some , even though it may be an inappreciable influence upon the

great body politic . And history has been rig htly called " God ' s discourse to men , " the medium wherein is preserved the logic of his providence , to warn , instruct , to guide . You may deny isolated statements of history , but you cannot deny its general teachings , nor resist its general

influence . So with the effect of Masonic life . Enemies may deny its claims and scoff at its traditions , but if its doctrines be exemplified by our lives , they may spend their lives in promulgating adverse theorisings and assumed arguments , and they will

accomplish nothing . The irresistible eloquence of actions will captivate the hearts ancl minds of men ; the influence of Masonry will be felt , its power asserted ; its mysteries studied lovingly ; its privileges eagerly sought . Principles never

perish ; the influence of right action is never lost . Through centuries , preserved only in tradition , Masonry has existed—not always as now—we do not commend to our friends of to-day a fossil of buried ages—but adapting itself constantly to the ever expanding capacities and necessities of man ; availing itself of additions to human science and

experience ; yet ever cleaving to the first landmarks of principle ; since principles are unchanging . It has lived on , growing with the upward growth of civilisation even until now . Nations which were once powerful in the earth

have become a name , owing the preservation of their memory , it may be , to a poet ' s rhyme . Upon their ruins other nations have risen , and these too have disappeared . Yet still our Order lives on , a monument of the ages , undestroyed

and indestructible . The unconquerable fidelity of the human heart has preserved this grandest emblem of human love . It stands to-day upon the confines of the past , guarding the present and looking steadfastly toward the mysterious future , like some tall cliff looming through the morning ' s

mists abov e the expanse of waters , at whose base the waves for ages have been murmuring their symphonies , or thundering the grand chorus of elemental wrath ; and upon whose rugged front , gray with the flight of years , the rains and winds

have left the chronicle , mysterious and worn , with a significance bub guessed at , of dead centuries . It has braved the storms of human passion ; it has listened to the murmurs of human praise . Masonry can hope for universal acceptance only when

all hearts shall have come into subjection to the great law of love . Then its office will be gone ; for charity and beneficence will have become a pleasure , needing no rites and ceremonies to commemorate , no obligations to enforce them ; and

sorrow and sighing will have passed away for ever . Until that time comes , we must expect and bear antagonism . But we may also expect the victory .