The Van Buren press., 1871-01-10

OR Me occasion ~ He uoHe Ats'oet"sso'
Of tie Officers Of Van Barren Lodge,
No. 6, December s7h, 1870.
,. Published by rote of
e4 div en' the Lodge.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN = .,.f
We have met this day to Install the
Officers Of VAN BUREN LODGE. No. 6,
FREE AND ACCEPTED MAsoNs. Much ol
this ceremony will doubtless appear
meaningless to the profane or uninitiated,
but to tile Mason its every feature is full
of solemn significance. To-day we enter
upon new Masonic year and at the al
tar of our common devotion, renew ouI
VOWS Of fidelity to the grand and emo.
bling principles Of our Mystic Order
This is our spring time, when the sacred
tenets of our order put on a new life, and
blooming again inspire us with renewed
energy to push on in the fulfllment Of our
glorious mission. BY it, we are remind
ed that another year has passed away
forever with its record of good and evil
deeds. A record that can never be open
ed or corrected in this life, and tho wages
we have earned cannot be known until
the Great Author Of A!l--the Grand
Master Of the Universe calls US from
"labor" to eternal refreshment. ''iirl
In the contemplation of Masonry as
an institution, dispensing light and
charity to all, F" we are at once struck
with its antiquity and .universality. We
find the order. firmly established in all
civilized countries; its fundamental dog
mas have existed since the creation of
man, and, as an organized order, it dates
1000 years prior to the birth Of Christ.
Other institutions, with the same avowed
ends and desires, have been founded by
great and good men, grown into magnif-
cent proportions, shed a steady light up
on the path Of nlightenment and civil
zation, run their race of usefulness,
crowned their authors with undying glo-
ry, but, are now buried in the wreck OF
the past Meteor like they shot into the
armament, and, for time, were the ad
miraton orthc world, but their existence,
like that of this their prototype, was
brief, and they have gone out in dark
ness forever The salutary results Of
their teachings to the world are still felt,
but their existence as institutions are on
ly known in the pages Of history.
have said the fundamental dogmas
of-0ur order are as old as man. When
the Great Architect saw the beautiful
world that had been called into existence
by the eternal power Of His word, He
thought fit, in his mighty wisdom, to
create man in His owl likeness, and to
endow him with a knowledge of the True
G cd, and Inspire him with belief in the
inn rtality of tho soul th"e G od had
breathed into his inanimate form. These
two truths, the basis of all true religion,
are likewise the basis Of Masonry. AZ
ter mans fall from his high estate, and
he and his help-meet were driven from
the sacred haunts Of Eden, sacred histo
ry Informs us, that great wickcdness
came upon the earth. That God doter-
mined to destroy man and all living
things by great food. Man had for
gotten those mighty truths, and had
learned to despise their Author. Noah
and his family alone, of all the human
family, were saved from the terrible de-
struction. Among these were preserved
the knowledge of God and faith in the
Immortality of the soul. After the sui :
sidence of the waters the earth was re
peoplcd, but these again forgot the Liv-
ing God and on the plains of Shinar re-
belled against their Maker. Confusion
oftongues was sent upon them, insomuch
that no man understood his ncighbor,
and those vain men, who presumed to
defy their God, were driven from their
cherished work ut Babel, and became
wanderers upon the face Of the earth
The Patriarchs, however, still preserved
the priceless knowledge and transmitted
it to their descendants. "Thc Gentle Ma
tions, on, the contrary fell rapidly from
one error into another, and losing sight
of the one Great ] AM substituted in
his place tho names of heroes and dis
tipguished men, whom by a ready
apotheosis, they converted into the thou
sand deities, who occupied the Calendar
of their religious worship. The sages
and philosophers still retained or dis
covered by the dim light of nature some
traces Of these great doctrines of Mason.
ry,---the unity Of God and the immortal
ty Of the soul. But these doctrines they
dared not teach in public, for history re-
cords what would have been the fate Of
such temcrity, when it informs us that
Socrates paid the forfeit Of his life for
his boldness, in proclaiming these truths
to the Athenian youth. The persecution
met with hy those who taught these great
truths, compelled them to resort to sc.
crct assemblages, and this gave birth to
what arc known as the "Ancient Mystc-
ries. " AS far as we can learn, by the
aid of the pen Of history, the ceremonies
practiced in these Ancient Mysteries,
were. in many respects, similar to some
Of the ceremonies now peculiar to Ma
sonry. To avoid detection the utmost
caution was exercised in the examination
into the qualifications Of candidates. The
ceremony of initiation, like ours, was
strictly secret. We are informed that in
all Of them, there was, in addition to the
instructions in relation to the existence
ofa Supreme Being, a legend, in which,
by the dramatic eprescntationofth thcvio.
lent death and subsequent restoration to
life Of some distinguished parsonage, the
doctrines Of the Immortality Of the soul
was emblematcallv illustrated Among
thoan wnro fl,o 81 niopvaan Mvstorio, .,