American watchman and Delaware advertiser. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1822-1828, 1825-10-25
Volume ~.
MASONIC ADDRESS.

on tIlc 2Sl OF september, 1922 on
occasion of the installation Of General srrnEN VAN iESs
sELAEn, Grand Master Of the Grand Lodge of N. York
Worthy and much respected brethren.
This solemn and interesting occasion, demands
from this place illustration of the principles, the
Objects and the tendencies Of free masonry. Many
volumes have been written, and numerous discours
es have been pronounced on this lect. 1t we
were to follow the grauous assumptions and fan
ciful specuations of visionary men, in attempting TO
trace the rise and progress OF this ancient institu.
ton, should be involved In the inex!ricable aby-
rinths of uncertainty and lost in the Earring hypolhe-
SEES OF conjecture. Better is il then to sober down
our minds to well established facs, than by giving
the reign to cratic Imagination mergeihe radiance
Of truth in the obscurity Of fable. History and ira.
dtion are often aduterated by Misrepresentation
beyond them the age of fable commences, when
reliance can be placed on the writings Of the an.
clients. All history, except the divine records. be-
lore Thucydides, is apoci yphal and oral tradition
| is almost entirely distorted and perverted alter the
| lapse of three generations At certain periods OF
human Affairs, and in certain stages OF society,
cupies the place of written history and There is even
end to The reign OF fable when all that relates TO
this great globe and all which it inhers" is envelo
ped in The mysterious gloom Of unexplored and inn
penetrabe antiquity
Enthusiastic friends Of our institution have done
ii much injury and covered it With much ridt ule by
stretching its origin beyond the bounds of credibi-
ty Some have given it an antedilusian origin while
Others have even represented II as toeyai with the
creation some have traced it 10 the Egyptian priests,
and others have disco, cred its vestiges in the mysl
cal societies OF Greece and Rome The erection Of
Solomon's Temple, the retreats OF the Drnids, and
the crusades to the holy land have been al different
times specially assigned as the sources OF its exs-
tence. The order, harmony, and wonders OF crea-
tion the principles OF mathematical science and the
productions OF architectural skill have been confoun-
d.d with free nnasnprV. Whenever great Dhiinsn-
pher has enlightened the ancient world, he has been
resolved by species of moral meteInpsychosis
intellectual chemistry, into a free mason: and in al.
the secret institutions of antiquity, the footsteps Of
lodges have been traced by the eye OF creduliiy.
Archimedes, Pythagoras, Euclid and Vitruvius were
in all probability, not free masons; and The love Of
order, ,hr cultivation OF science, the embellishments
Of aste and the sublime and beautiful works OF art,
have certainly existed in ancient, as they now do 10
modern times, without the agency oil Tree masonry.
Our fraternity bias thus suffered under the treat
ment OF we'll meaning friends, who have undesign-
eddy inflicted mole injuries upon it than its most
vifulent enemies. The alb urd accounts OF lis oii-
gin and history, in most OF the books that treat of
it, have proceeded from enthusiasm operating on
! cIedulity and the love Of the marvellous. An i'm.
beetle friend often does more injury than an apowed
foe. The calumnes OF Barrue and Robinson who
abored to connect our society with the illuminate
and 10 represent it as nimical to social order and
contempt, while exaggerated and extravagapt friend.
ly accounts and representations continually stare
in the face, and morlify intellectual discrimiua
ton, by ridiculous claims to unlimited antiquity.
Nor ought it to be forgotten that genuine masonry
is adulterated by sophisticatons and interpretations
foreign from the simplicity and subllmty OF its
tue. To this magnificent temple OF the Corinth-
an order, there have been added Gothic erecons,
I which disfgure its beauty and derange its symme-
try The adoption in some cases OF frivolous
pageantry and fantastic mummery, equally revolving
to good taste and genuine masonry, has exposed US
to much anmadversion but our institution clothed
with celestial virtue, and armed with the panopy of
truth, has defird all the storms OF open violence,
and resisted all the attacks Of insidous imposture
and il will equally triumph over the errors of mis-
guided friendship, wh like The transit OF planet
over the disk OF the sun, may produce momrntary
observation, but will instantly leave it in the full
, radiance of its glory.
Although The origin of our fraternity is covered
with da, kness and its history is great extent co.
scure, yet confidently say that ii is the most
ancient society in the world-and we are equally
certain that its principles are based on pure morale
ty-that lis ethics are the ethics OF christianity =
its doctrines the doctrines OF patriotism and brother
y love, and its sentiments the sentiments Of exalted
beneyole Upon these points, there can be no
doubt. All that is good, and kind, and charitable.
il encourages all that is vicious, aud cruel, and
J oppressive, it reprobates. That charity which is
described in the most mastery manner BY the elo-
quent apostle, composes its very essence aud enters
into its vital principles: and every Tree mason is
ready to unite with him in saying Though I
speak with the tongues of men and angels and have
" not charity, am become as sounding brass a
: tinkline cymbal. And though have the gift of
i prophecy and understand all mysteries and all
3 knowledge and though have all Faith so that
: could remove mountains, and have not charity, am
nothing. And though ! bestow all my goods To
. iced The poor, and though | give my body to be
burned, and have not charity, 1t prohteth me mo-