Middletown transcript., 1868-08-01

pure benevolence with which it surrounds
the objects of its sympathies, has its prin.
ciples deeply laid in the B1BLE-a Book,
be it known, without which, rs man never
could learn the full measure of his duty
to his neighbor or his GoD, so no Masonic
Lodge can organize or work. In addi-
tion to this fact, not known perhaps to
those who are not members of our venera-
BILE order, we may mention another-that
there is no degree conferred throughout the
various modes of initiating, passing and
raising--the designs, duties and practical
requirements of which are not enforced
by precepts, rules and exhortations, from
that same inspired volume and still far
ther. that no individual, however respec-
table among men, or eminent in the world,
can become a member of the Masonic fra
ternity, who does not emphatically de-
clare his trust in God, and who does not
have the great duty of prayer to that God
enforced in the most positive manner upon
his very first entrance into a Masonic
Lodge. If any man gain admission with
out this full, and unequivocal acknowl-
edgement, it would be with lie upon his
lips, and purjured soul before God and
man. Is it not evident, then, with the
ceremonies initiatory into this fraternity
with high moral duties enforced by the
august sanctions of the Word of God,
that we have basis upon which no other
merely human association has ever stood
and that our trust evidently being In God
our faith is well founded; and that in fol-
lowing such conductor we need fear no
danger, Masonry, like patriotism, knows
no north, no south, no east, no west
and thus she unites her affiliated forces
with cords that cannot be broken She
utters the same words, she uses the same
signs, she employs the same symbols from
one end of our great country to the other !;
and the Mason, impelled by honorable ad-
venture, or legitimate business, who passes
properly accredited from his Lodge in any
of our Atlantic cities, finds himself as
much at home in California, as in New
York, Philadelphia, Boston, or Baltimore,
In courts, or in camps, in foreign lands,
however different the customs of nations,
or however multiplied the babel tongues
Of earth-like nature, she speaks an uni
versal language, and whether summed at
the tropics, or child at the poles," the
true craftsman finds ever brothers hand
to grasp in his, and q fraternal welcome
TO cheer him wherever his destinies may
lead.
The various bodies of christians build
their platforms, adopt their creed, and
run their lines of demarkation--and some
apo fNr G.
some for Appollos. The political parties
draw party-lines, adopt tests and utter
party shibboleths; and the widest, fer
cest and darkest passions of human nature
are engendered in the struggle for supre-
macy or ascendancy but Masonry teach
es her children to leave all these passions
and prejudices without the door; and
when the Mason, II he be true to her
principles and her teachings, crosses that
inner threshold, he says to his religious
peculiarities, and to his political procliv-
tiles, as Abraham said to the young men
at the foot of the Mount Of Sacrifice,
"tarry ye here, while I 60 up yonder"-
and it is beautiful sight to behold those
who perhaps outside>of her precincts have
welded the keen weapons of polemical
warfare, or engaged in the fierce tournay
in the political arena. bending in the same
act Of worship, uttering the same respon-
ses, conforming to the same rites and GER
emonies, each heart-pulse beating to the
same sweet measure, " truth, relief, and
byotherly toue. And, yet, the thought
less, the ignorant. the prejudiced, have
sought to cast peproach upon the institu-
ton, by a series Of conclusions that our
lawyers would probably term non sequitors:
First, :" that we are secret society,
and therefore, cannot be good society"
They say, "if your objects are really
good, you can have no good reason why
the public should not know all about your
proceedings" But this illogical objection
is not the only one-there is another
=" that the lives of some Masons prove
them to be bad men-therefore the insti-
tuition is bad one, and should not be
oountenanced." But here it will be per-
ceived that in violation of the commonest
rules of logic, they select particular case,
from which they draw general conclu-
Stop, or rather thy oonfound the terms of
the sylogism, and the result is, an absur-
dity. But let us examine these objections
First, 1t is q secret society-but if we
take the literal, true and obvious meaning
Of the term secret, this charge is untrue.
Oup organization, our principles of oper-
alton, the names of our members and Off
ces, our tenets, motives, designs and OBJ
jects; our censures and explosions, and
causes for expulsions; our funds and
means of raising funds and the disburse-
ments thereof, the times and places of
meeting, Of communications and convo-
cations, all the acts and doings in which
the world at large, or any particular COM
munity In which any lodge is located, have
any interest TO know, are matters of record
and are as public as the proceedings of
any laudable or HONORABLE institution on
the face Of the earth. True, our meetings
for work, for the performance of partic-
ular duties, the reception of candidates,
the inskitution of memhara Aha adxo,,o