Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1870-02-08


truth he presents o corpse, soulless,
Inexpensive, vain and void.
But now am going to disclose to
the unnitiated, and to the brethren
too, some Of the ways by which the
good and true Mason may or can
disclose some of the secrets of Ma
sonry. The life OF the true Mason
is a constant disclosure Of the secrets
OF the craft-they live in his life
they express themselves in his ac-
tions they glow in his written or
spoken words the widow and the
orphan, the distressed and the needy,
the erring and the repentant, can in
terpet them. Virtue, by its ever
blooming loneliness, dscloses to the
world the secret of the true Mason.
better than can any traitor to the
solemn obligations of the order, gift
ed as he may be with impossible
memories. Ever bear this in mind.
my brethren, and live the life of the
good and true Mason. Preston in
his Antiquities of Masonry has this
beautiful passage in speaking on this
subject, be says: at would be
strange indeed if in in the lapse of
thousands of years, some waits from
the ritual forms Of the craft should
not have doated out upon the sea OF
popular knowledge as Indian corpses
tloated from westward Of the IN
known ocean to the feet Of Column
bus awakening him to sublime am
bitlon but in the lower intelligences
by which he was surrounded, excit-
ing only bauefu visions Of lust and
power, Of blood and gold and slaves"
And be assured, my friends, there is
life in lands whence those forms have
fioatcd. Of which you can know moth
ing, except by actual visitation
There are lovely islands and vast
continents, great rivers and capac-
ious harbors, mountains aud forests
and prairies, whose position and
structure you may never know until
you have spread your canvass freely
to the wind and storm, and yourself
have travcrsed the before untrodden
waves
The present period is one Of peculiar dan
ger 10 Masonry. Opposition. unpopularitv
and persecution, IT can well afford 10 despise
Ia tie darkest hour it has ever seen in this
country, there has not been a moment when
he who stood apparently alone in defence CT
our great lights and ancient affairs could not
say with as strong faith as he of oldea time,
"There are vet seven hundred men who have
not fl,a iss,.
wblriwind had swept past, leaving. as some
supposed, utter ruin in IFS path the old chafters
and jewels Of the order We're found unspotted.
unstaned. They had been shrined among the
penates of the hearthstone. Like as the Sun
"Tho doth permit the base contagious clouds
10 smother Up his beauty from the world,
That when lac please again 70 DO HIMSELF
Being wanted, ne may be more wondered al
~ break as through the foul and ugiy mis,g
" vapors that DID seem 10 strauge in,
so Masonry has bounded at once from an
parenty the death of adversely, to the very
noontide OF popular favor. Herein rests the
great danger so many seek admission for the
promotion of selfish purposes; the qualification
Of mere curiosity or idle Whm. that unless the
outer door is we'll guarded, perpetual stran-
gers may be introduced among the workmen
Look we'll TO the outer door; it is far easier
10 keep that well tyled than 10 expel the in
tr1der
My brothers, Masonry is living thing no;
fossil dug up from the relics of a remote
antiquity; as you have had its Arcana un-
folded 10 you, II has not been as an anatomis.
conducts POST MoRTEM examination. LAYING
bare IFS bones and muscles, its veins and arte-
ries, to your curious or injurious gaze: but
rather as one of our number has well sand.
"Freemasonry is a buoyant, living production
OF eternity. II walks abroad in tie highways
and byways of the world, moving, breath |
ing, thinking, acting thing, not only with the |
poor present boon of life, but with that higher,
nobler, holier attribute, immortaIity.o Il is |
spiritual and moral light, raging on, from our
great central principals, which confers tins |
vitaIity,sthls perpetulty. Philosophers tell us |
that it is necessary and insurmountable fact |
in speculative science, as well as a truth of
revelation that, before light dawned upon our
earth, all nature was void no voices could
have broken the awful silence, neither the
song of bird, the howl of the wild beast. nor
even the whispered plant OF the lowest insect
The oak, the elm, the lofty pine, the humble |
grasses, the flowers of the globe. the very H.
chens and MOSES were yet unborn they were
yet but parts OF the rocky crust of the earth. !
upon which darkness-thck, rayless, oppres-
slve darkuess--rested like funeral pail. But |
when morning broke upon the long night Of |
the first eternity, with light came life in all |
its torms-not only ''the morning stars sang |
together, and the sons OF God shouted for ioy.' /
but the whole earth became vocal with the |
rejoicing Of human beings the aforetime dead |
elements crept into life through MOSES and |
ferns, grasses, shrubs and stately trees, and |
thence, ever onward and upward, they sought |
the companionship of higher vitality, anon |
floating through The arteries Of man, the high |
est product Of light, the chosen magi Of the |
Great Creator.
My brothers, it is proud thing to reflect
that II Is orr chosen duty to carry the torch IF |
mora and spiritual light. in the vanguard of /
the worlds onward march. To MS is commit /
ted high and holy trust The individual |
Mason ought ever TO show to the world such |
work as will convince that the Gayel the |
Plumb, Square and Level of our mystic craft, /
have wrought upon the rough Ashlar, and |
have converted Il to suitable shane 10 occupy |
space IN that magnificent moral temple cf |
which we toim part. To overlook the obi |
cations OF the individual, and TO rely upon the |
mass, IS not Masonic. Masonry seeks to ele- |
Vaie the mass by inspiring the individuals TO |
personal acton. Without this, forms and |
ceremonials tail. The beautiful array of en- |
blems, and tie sober majesty Of symbolic rep |
resentatives, are shorn of their power to |
impress the heart and instruct the head. The |
true dignity add efficiency OF the Royal Craft |
can then only be properly felt, when each |
brother, for himself, exhibits such work as |
vii secure tie Supreme Grand Masters APP |
probation. h this view it is peculiarly true |
that ito him Sho bath shall be given, but to |
him who hail not shall be taken away even
that which he seemeth, BY his Masonic appar-
el and membership, TO have.o He who most |
literally disp'nses the light which he has
received from our order, shall freely receive
ever increasing supplies from Him who laid
the foundations of our temple, Whocommand-
ed light itself hto being, Who spalse, and the
solid earth stood fast Do there not come
with these thoughts, deep toned emotions, ell
eVated aspirations afte: nobler, truer life |
20 what Clay doth this world put on
FOR him who, With a feryent heart goes forth i
Inder the bright and glorious sky, and looks
On duties we'll performed, and days wen spent
5or him, the Wind, ay and the yellow leaves
small have ydce, and give him eloquent teachings
Meshah sohe,r the solemn hymn that Death
Has lifted up Or all, that he shall go
10 MS long resting place without tear
--------zszs .
Gs- Dir. Gleeley says of George d. |
Prentice: "He was man of signal
ability, great facility OF expression.