The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1862-07-30
a LECTURE
addressed to the Craft at Prairie du Chien
o" the Ftstioa! Of st. John, June 24th,
1862. Lu
BROTHER JOHN r STONEMAN

| III ah ayes vi tllc WOTlu nave Deen aCCuS-
toned to celebrate the leading events that
have transpired in their history. The re-
membrancc of these events constitute the
traditional history of the human race, with
| out which, by far the most interesting
part of our knowledge of mankind would
| be mere rude conjecture and unsatisfactory
hypothesis. In fact our whole knowledge of
antediluvian history, is the somewhat unsat-
isfactory record which tradition has handed
| down of those prominent events.
What do we know, except from tradi-
ton, o. the every day experiences of the
race three thousand years ago; of their
hopes, their cares, their joys, and their sor-
| rows? The whole history of their welfare
| is ;s Though it had never been, while the
deeds of heroes live only as sung by Homer,
or the memory Of an otherwise forgotten
| people lives only as narrated in the simple
story of Herodotus
1t is one of tn Sc leading events in Mason
ry, one Of its traditions, that we have to-
day met to celebrate. Masonic tradition
informs us that lodges were dedicated to
King Soloman until after the Crusades. -
That among the various orders of Knights
engaged in those chivalric wars, none were
more conspicuous than the magnanimous
order of the kni shts of St. John; that
many ancient Masons also went forth to aid
in recovering the Scpulchre of tn, Savior
from the hands of the intidel; that between
| them and the Knights of ST. John, there
arose reciprocal esteem and brotherly
| love, so much so, that on the fields of Pal
e>tine they entered into compact of friend
| ship, and 1t was then and there agreed that
hencefOrth all lodges who acknowledged the
divinity Of Christ, should be dedicated to
St. John the Baptist, and st. John the
| Evangelist, who were two eminent patrons
of Free Masonry. This is one of the facts
! which tradition has rescued from oblivion,
and which Masonry has perpetuated. Ira,
dtion thus becomes the mother of history
to US, as it was the repository of wisdom
to the ancients.
| Let no one infer, that because their wis
dom was drawn from traditional archives,
that their knowledge was therefore neither
mysteries Of the Egyptian Priests, the
carefully guarded secrets of the Budhsts of
India and the magi Of Persia, lie rich mines
Of human knowledge; from whose mex
haustibie depths the brightest intellects of
modern times have enriched every depart
ment of science and literature Indeed it
has been said that all the valued inventions
OF these modern times, are but the exhulned
mummles OF an early civilization. That
the shrIl scream Of the steam whistle, in
the by gone ages, reused thl lazy crocodile
on the banks of the Nile, and that the tel
egraphc wire flashed its startling messages
from the Pyramids to India, from the Pill
lars of Hercules to China and Japan. Ger
| tam 1t IS that among the long buried
archives Of Herculaneum aud Pompei, are
! tiacerles OF art as rare as modern times can
| boast. From out the catacombs of Egypt,
where generations of her Pharaohs have
slept these thousand years in regal state,
speaks the dead philosophy of the past !;
It's wisdom often eciipses, and its teachings
anticipate the boasted progress of these
modern times.
Amid this cid time order of things was
born the institution of Free Masonry
Clothed in the hoary grandeur of the an
| Gent world, it stands among the institu
tons of man like old Mount Blanc among
the modern palaces of Europe. do not
mean TO say, as some Jealous Masons some
| limes do, that the Institution of Masonry
Is unchanged, or Interchangeable in every re-
spect, or that it can be traced back before
the flood, through Noah TO Adam, or that
the first lodge was planted in the bowers of
Paradise. | say, however, that its origin
| antedates authentic history, as we'll as all
| authentic traditions of the order Like all
things else, SO too has Masonry changed
The arts and sciences have changed man
has changed; language has changed; tn
globe itself has toss d and changed with.
inward fires; its mountain peaks have
emerged from the oceans depths, while the
mouutan ranges of the ancient world are
the play ground of the levathans IF the
new. In one sense Masonry is unchanged
In one sense it is the same as when worthy
KING Solomon laid the Temples corner
Stone. Truth has ever been its foundation,
Faith In God Its covering, and Charity to-
wards mankind its adorning.
Free Masonry doubtless, in some form,
existed long before King Solomon's time.
In the writings Of Herodotus, the discern
ing Mason will discover illusions to the
Mystic Order, and among the priesthood of
Egypt, Masonry was taught and practiced
before Moses led the lSraelites through the
wilderness. Indeed, Moses himself was
probably initiated into its mysteries while
he was yet trusted officer of Pharaoh's S
household, and he reared it's lodges on hill
top and in valley, while the pillar of cloud
and of fire stood sentinels at their entrance
gates.
Every well instructed Mason, who has
taken the higher degrees, feels convinced
from reading the SCRIPTURES, that Moses was
familiar with the rites Of Free Masonry,
for they entered into and became part
OF the Mosaic law, and no man can so in
telligentiy read the Scriptures, as he who
reads them by the light of Free Masonry.
Many of the rites and ceremonies that to
the common reader seem to be idle fancies
of the law giver, are to the Mason possessed
Of an interest of the most thrilling character
Yet Masonry. as We now know it, is not
the same as that taught prior to King Sol
omon's time. w hile its inherent principles
are the same, it has clothed itself in new
garments, kept pace with the progress of
mankind, and adapted itself to all the vari,
ed circumstances Of life.
What We now call Ancient Free Masonry,
dates only to the time of the building OF
the first temple at Jerusalem. Prior to
that time, Masonry had been rather
school philosophy than human institution.
1t dealt with the subtle metaphysics of the
schools, rather than with the arts of every
day practical life. The ancient Jews had
for many years looked forward to the time
when they might build to the Lord holy
temple, whose glories should excel any
thing the world had then seen. TO build
such structure had been the ambition Of
many of Judea's kings. Before Solomon's
time thousand obstacles were in the way
Judea was surrounded on all sides by hos
tile tribes who looked on the Jews as inter
lopers and vagabonds in the land. They
were continually harrassed by foreign
and domestic wars. Their fields were con
unnally desolatcd and their people slain in
battle. 1t was not till David had hnniat
ed his cnnmilS and taIl"ht them to resnnct