The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1866-12-21


bourg, and the ducal palace Of tho City Of
the Sea.
At the commencement Of the eighteenth
century, however, FreonSasnry had ceased
to be healthful and vigorous society whose
occupation consisted in building such edi.
fees as we have described. The ages
were no longer dark. Learning, emerging
as the morning suh above the hill.tops from
the gloom in which il had been hidden, was
gradually illuminating Europe. The print.
ing press was revolutionizing the world,
America had been discovered. Labor, rat.
Ting impaiiently the chains with which
guilds and corporations bound It, was strug.
Cling into freedom. Research, careless
about the mysteries Of rites, was busying
itself about the mysteries Of art, year by
year, unveihng them. Other men became
competent as archite, Is aud luilders, aud
the Masons, ceasing to be necessity as
craltsmen found themselves in exclusive
possession of their peculiar ceremonies
only. Year after year the societies became
feebler William I'll had been it's last roy al
ratron, Sir Christopher Wren its last Grand
Master in England, and, at length. some.
where about the year A. D., l7l7, four
lodges were all that remained Of the once
powerful orgaization that had built York
and Westminster and Ely aud Canterbury,
aud Lincoln and Durham, and to which the
monarch had been indebted for his palace
and the baron for his hold. This was the
lowest ebb in tho fortunes of Freemasoury.
The tide then turued The practical fea.
ture of the order was abandoned altogether.
1t became speculative in its character, and
in a little while we find the Grand Lodge of
London permanently established, and Free
masonry once more attracting to its lodges
rank and wealth and influence. But the
Grand Lodge of London was not without
it's troubles. The Masons of York, rich
in muniments, with charter dating back
900 years, disputed the authority of the
new creation, and it was not until the be.
beginning of the present century that har-
monv was obtained, and the authority oi
the Grand Lodge OF England recognized by
all parties.
Freemasonry was introduced into the
United States in 1870, and seems TO have
become popular at once. Washington was
the master OF the lodge and the greater
part of the officers of the army of the Rev.
oution were members of the fraternity
The cornerstone of the hall we are about
to leave was laid by a Governor of the
OAdtN1 tuCN NLu6NOk VI Otdhh
Lodge of Maryland, aud the building was
inaugurated by the late General Winder,
who succeeded him in the office.
There is now Grand Lodge in every
State Of the Union and the noble edifces
which are now being built for the accom-.
mediation of the order, while they do credit
to the taste, manifest at the same time the
wealth and prosperity of those to whom
belongs the duty of transmitting in all tlieir
purity 10 distaut future the principles Of
FreemasOnry.
Time does not permit to follow Freema.
sonry into Scotland and over the continent
Of Europe, Since it has assumed its
present shape it has been the subject ol
aud has survived papal anathemas, hostile
parliamentary legislation, and republican
excitement, when opposition to it was
made the shibbvletll of partya 1t has been
conloundnd with the Carbonari the Ilumi.
rati, the Rosciorusi n and yet the Islander
has not affected it. There is fashion in all
things, aud Masonry has not been without
all experience in it's mutations. Thousands
have found their interests flag with the
qualification OF their curiosity. Others again
have discovered in its observance new
motives for the performance of the moral
obliga ions and have become Jealous in all
that regards it's welfare and expansion.
Thus it is that corner stones OF stately piles
for Masonic use are being laid throughout
the land. Thus it is that Masonry keeps
pace with progress and il its members no
longer adjust the level or apply the square
with their own hands, to brick or marble,
they are at least able TO appreciate those by
whose labors ministers were builled and
who during so many ages, maintained invi.
olate the principles that have been ex'
planned.