Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-08-02
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE.
ST. Iobn.s Day at memphis.

Il was our intention long age to have
noticed and extracted passages from the
very excellent and forcible address of
Bro. 4. j. Wheeler, delivered on St.
Johns Day last, at the Masonic picnic
at James Park. We found IN it, as We
listened to It with great pleasure, moth
ing from which to dissent and much to
admire and we now make the following
quotations from it, commencing them to
the careful attention Of our Masonic
readers
Eighteen hundred and sixty-eight
wears AGO to-day. there came into this
world a child whose birth we this day
celebrate. Born in the land of Judea,
Of the tribe of Levi, of humble and de-
vOut parents, nothing remarkable per-
tanned to his advent, if we ignore the
Christian theology, save the remarkable
age of his parents at the time Of his
birth. Elizabeth was delighted that her
- repruach among men had been taken
away, and Zachariah no doubt rejoieed
that he was again permitted to speak.
In early life this child, now grown to
boyhood, being deprived of his parents,
retired to the solitude Of the wilderness,
depriving himself Of strong food and
drink his meal was lOcusts and wild
honey. At the early age Of twenty
two years. he commenced the preaching
of a new doctrine. His singularly alb
stemious habits, his moral and correct
life, his fearless truths and condemna-
tion Of the wickedness of that day, drew
unto him the lsve, the fear, and the
veneration Of all that country. His sin
gular dress, manners, and habits. his re-
marksble life and conversation, revealed
many Of the mysteries that Masonry
taught, and by the consent Of ages it is
admitted that John was an Essenian, or
Mason, and represented the Grand Mas
ter Of the Order at that day. Be that
as il may, our Institution has made him
patron saint, and in conjunction with
St. John the Evangelist, succeeding
Grand Master, we draw our parallels,
prescribe the circle, and make them the
boundary line Of our conduct. Their
eminent virtues and correct habits make
them worthy of the position they hold
among US. Not as saints. but as good
and true men not as teachers Of reli-
giOn, bat as bright exemplars Of all
those virtues which Masons are taught
70 reverence and practice. jew and
Gentle are alike willing to dedicate
Lodges TO their memory.
Perhaps it is no depression to imagine
the rude and awkward appearances our
Brother John would make as Mason
among us at the present day. A nan Of
the wilderness, humping at our door.
clothed with camers hair, with beard
longer than that Of the Junior Warden
Of one Of our Lodges, grit with white
apron or lesthern girdle, seeking admis-
sion on examination The spacious
committee appointed for his benefit
imagine, reports him as an intelligent
old fellow, but not acquainted with the
ritual.
That venerable old man, John the
Evangelist, that uncertain history in |
forms US, at the age Of ninety years.
when all was chaos and confusion IN the |
Order-the lights gone Out-darkness
from every point-was called
to preside over the Lodge at. Jerusalem,
aad as Grand Master religbt the lamp of
Masonry. He would not pass the ordeal
Of the present day, and the poor old
gentleman might turn Disguised from
our Lodge away. Even Solomon, our
great great-grandfsther, as it were, in
Masonry, could be behold the sharpness
Of some Of our examining committee. the
brightness Of some Of our Masters, and
The wisdom and intelligence of some of
his successors as grand Masters, fear
he would forget his God, his country.
md his wisdom, and curse the institutions
of his founding. The least that he
could do would be 10 take dimit. II
Masonry has become so universal an
,rdsr that it now embraces millions of
initiates our own little State counts its
10000 Of contributing members. II
5olas communion With every grade Of