Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1853-12-03
AN AnnREsS

AND PYHAGoRBAS SOCIETIES:
1 appear before youyat your request to add my
feeble contribution to the instructive pleasures OF
this your frst,annual commencement The recent
circumstances by which have been surrounded,
presented barrier which found It DIFFICULT to sur
mount yet being warm and ardent deyotee TO Mt
erature and entertaining an earnest wish for the sue
cess and usefulness of your young but fourlshIng
institution felt pleasure in entertaining your invi-
tation and finally responding to your call.
The Masonic Institute at GeTmanton owes ITS orr
gin to the benevoence and usefulness of order the
most ancient and illustrous upon carth--an order
whose grand characteristic is charity charity lar
beyond the meaning of the word in these more MOD
ern days-a charity which puts not the giVer on
HIGHER stage than the receiver nor compes scrvie
and cringing acknowledgement for Its oestoWa. oh
no; higher, purer, more widespreading ana olFliie
than the cold giving of broken meats or the scanty
donation of pittance from oveTtlowlng purse Is
that charity which distinguishes the high and hon
orabe order of Freenasons. 1t is an institution when
saw the commencement CT all the governments
and all the ecclesiastical establishments that now
exist in the world. twas great and respected
before the Saxon had set foot on Britain-bctore
the Frank had passed the -Rhine-where Grccan
eloouence still fouri shed at Antioch-when Idols
were still worshpped in the temple of Mecca. With
in this long lapse of time thousands of associations
have risen, f1ourished, died and been forgotten.
Time has been writing in dissolvng characters the
doom and destinies of statesmen and heroes hevo-
buttons have swept the earth like troubled Wis
ions over the breast of dreaming sorrow. Nations
themselves have been diSmembered and passed away.
Governments have been overthrown-carnage and
devastation have followed the footsteps OF the CON
oueror over half the civilized world. Our own bright
land has been redeemed at from the wilderness
and the yoke of despotic power. Our free lnsttu-
tionS have risen up and become as fixed stars III the
political armament to guide the oppressed OF all ma
tons to freedom and to, peace. Rome, mighty ana
magnificent has fallen from her high estate, and
nothing but her crumhling ruins now remain as nc
mentoes of her ancient grandeur. Yet all these
changes and revolutions has this institution survived
through all their perls and disasters has it passed.
and from its elevated position in the new world 1t
looks back upon the waning and changing fortunes
of the old, through which it hath made its way, and
forward to the end of time as the only consumma-
ton of it's earthly
The occasion would seem to impose the duty OF
self-examination and reflection. 1t would seem 10
invite you to the occurrences CT the past year that
have rendered successful your eXcrtonS tor the COM
mon prosperity of your institution, and your adj
vancement in literature Need bsay that has been
to you abundant source of the most rational ana
enduring cOnnexion-of the most powerful and at
the same time pleasing unlon-and that you have
advanced far in the enjoyment of those advantages
which the systematic acquisition of knowledge con-
fers 1t has pleased allwse Providence to remove
one of your number from your midst-to take home
to the spirit land, to that bourne from whence no
traveller has ever returned. This sad and mournful
ispensation should teach the vanity of all earthly
things-of the instability of human power-that
this beautiful GARTH with its fair landscapes, blue
mountains and bright flowers must pass away; and
it should teach that your first great duty is to turn
your nlNlds to him who tempers the wind to the
shorn lamb and who hath tGld you to remember
your Creator in the days of thy youth.
invoke your earnest and patient attention to the
consideration of moral and intellectual con-
trasted with physical condition as people and
of what alone will remove the evil under which we
are labouring
We live in an eyentful, in an interesting period.
Tae arts and sciences marching forward with gil
gantic strides invention after invention crowds upon
us until even their very novelty to produce
Il
space are almost annihilated, until the uttermost
parts of the earth brought together. The beney
oent author of our nature has smiled upon our hap
py and extensive country, our land overtows with
milk and honey, and abundance, and contentment
and happiness have takenup their abode in midst
while large portion of the human family in other
sections of the world have been suffering by famine
and pestilencc, we have not only been exempt from
VSitatOnS and dstresses so appalling, but have been
favored by kind providence with the means of
sistng and relieving the furnishing and the afflicted.
AS nation we occupy high and enviable position /
among the powers of the earth; our ships andvess-
els of commerce are going to every quarter OF the
habitable globe and the stars and stripes float
proudly upon every and in every port course
is onward and our progress thus far is the modern
wonder among nations. The other day, compare
lively handful of Adventures driven from the cold
and inhospitable shores oftyranny, magnificent
confederacy of States with population of twenty i
five millions of souls. How long will these things
continue? Who shall draw aside the veil that con-
century will produce? Will the fond predictions
and glorious antcipatons of many be realized? WIZ
posterity be able to picture the glory and gran
deur of the Republic of this western world when
age at least few centuries shall have taken the
flush of youth from its vigorous propOrtions-mel-
lowed matured, strengthened and dignified in its
and still be able to point to it as the model
republic, the asylum of the oppressed and refuge
for the distressed of every land and of every cline?
The Imagination falters at the contemplation-the
mind reels and shrinks back it vainly attempts to
penetrate amid the lights and shadows of coming
time.
Alas! when we behold our moral and intellectual
condition will find that Notwithstanding the many
glorious privileges enjoy, and the superabundant
of our great Creator, are far, very
far from 0ecupying that lofty ennence of moral and
greatness which will call forth the admit
ration of the world Look at education and say
whether vast and degrading change is not rapidly
taking place. 1t is here more thany any where else
Elevating ennobling knowledge moral and re-
gous instruction. purifying and enhancing compost
tons discarded; the arts, the mechanical and
arts alone looked to, and nothing
is thought of but what be Immediately converted
into money. The Church and all the institutions
with it considered not destined to
any lengthy endurance and therefore classical learn
ing secuted and abandoned; the philosophers stone
is alone sought after by the alchyInist of modern
human mind prolific of dollars. To purify the heart
and humanZe the affections, to elevate the under
standing and dignity the manners to provide not
the means of education in life, but to bear elevation
with proprety, to confer not the power of subduing
others, but the means of conquerng ones self and
finally to impress love to God and good will towards
men, are deemed the useless and antiquated pursuits
Tx s1fcO 1arve NJ, -