The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-05-22
JOHN NEsVLAND MAEFEE-s
OHgATORN.
Extracts from His Sublime Ora
ton on Masonry.
From the ST. Louis Globe.

b pronounced the wholesale gossip affecting
2 his reputation to be untrue. and in the ab.
sence of proof we take the fiat denial Of the
p gifted preacher IS conclusive.
T 1t would be impossible TO convey to the
4 reader, who never listened to his eloquent
: utrerauces, an adequate idea ofhis peculiar
delivery. There are thousands Yet living
who remember him well, for be displayed
, his wonderful oratorical gifts, in the flush
pl his manhood. in their presence The
tones of his voice and his gesIiculat1on
were in admirable harmony with his eX-
prrsSiOns OF thought.
lie possessed the strange power of fIsci-
mating his audience into silence, or moving
them to tears. There was AN iudcscribable
charm. a passionate earnestneSs about the
man which none Who saw and heard him
can ever forget.
We give below an extract trora an Grafton
delivered by Matiitt ar Masonic celebration
in Missouri II is w4if. gathered from
the sea of the D9St-the ornate and tcauff-
fuI tribute of one who was worthy and well
qualified to speak OF so grand subject a
that Of
MORAL MASONRY.
''MoraI Masonry has pictures the prouaest
and most sublime on the canvas oI the
worlds history. Oh. might | sketch them
Might thrill this mixed audience With the
symbolic lectures of moral Masonry >
Might | throw aside the wells and omen be
/ fore your wondering visions the glorieS of
/ the inner temple! Might | breathe iu your
/ hearing the seraphic harmonies Of that
heaven, not made with hands. typed in the
beautiful outlines that our great Grand
Master has drawn upon the magnificent
pile that Is destined to survive the wreck OF
matter and the crush Of worlds
| ''Never-never-until my tongue shall
/ glow with the fires of the upper Sheknah,
/ and the great Master of Eternity shall take
/ the finger of silence and secrecy from nv
/ lip. may | show to an assembled world the
| emotions that have rolled their grandeur
! over my soul as the curtains of the lodges
! rose upon the great moral pictures Of all
/ timei
Human nature is grand even in ruins.
/ The soul is temple of angelic and s8per-
human proportions. Age cannot bronze it
over with its years. Death cannot dim the
outlines Of Sublimity and beauty. Forever
shall its proportions swell upon the eve of
the spiritual world, developing more fully,
while the yOung eternity sweeps towards
the unapprOachabie goal of endless being.
! the majesty of its powers and the spendor
of its moral achievements.
81 leave untouched the vast picture of.thc
crusadcs. | pass by the age OF chiva'ry. I
take a hasty leave of the great ge of i'm
prOvemeOt and action, on each of which the
sun of Masonry shines with undying etiul-
gence and glory.
Il falter under this part ofmy subject
the moral dignity OF Masonry. | am lull ct
its intense beauty-ravished by its iueflable
brilliance. The broad, wild and holy pig
lures of its glory cluster on my heated
spirit, and | seem TO seize one OF the grand
est representations that ever hung out a
banner of Illuminated stars on the outer
wall of heaven. Like the wing of an angel
half-seen and then withdrawn. it is gone
its harmonies die away on my ear, aud its
cloudy and far-reachlug SplpndOrs die to
the eve of imagination like faint penciingS
of twilight on the tablets of the west
''Oh, how Masonry has suffered scOrn.
cOntumely and reproach, and the faggot and
the rack and the chill, countless year. of the
dudgeon's gloon, What i fiery trial has
Masonry passed through of late years
throughout the weird! The demon that
would drag upon the iron bed of Proc uStes
all mankind to cut them shorter if they
were too long, or to stretch them with cruel
tente-hoOks if they We're too shOrt-thiS
maddening impule has often dashed against
the foundations of the Masonic Temple like
an enraged and mountainous sea : bat the
serene rock has beaten back the surgeS.
How oft were the Lodges suppressed their
charters taken awaV--yet all the 0atbs and
iuquiSitious OF the enemies of our order
could nos worm cut the secret, or make the
fraternity recreant TO their principles
Their attitude was no. unlike that OF the
man who undertook to destroy a massive
diamond by daShing il to pieces--yeJ every
scattered fragment was equally perfect and
in itself a fortune.
Break up the Lodges ana scatter the
members from Nova Zembla to Peru, and
still each Masonic bosom would be a lodge
in itself-still would it hold in It's sacred
Companions of the Orderi knights
Tempar, ROYAL Arch. l asst, Mark and Mas
ter MaSOns, Fellow craftsmen ana Appreu-
tees: Thousands OF your most honored
members have heard already the call OF the
Grand Master above. They have entered.
we trust, through the gates of the city they
are before the throne; they are wearing tie
cincture of Heavenly Masonry, and attend
ing to the instructions of the Great Am
We SHALL soon follow them; one after
another Will We 90 the way of all the living.
You viii leave your places IN the lodge.
and others viii till up your ranks, The |
procession viii be iuTmed--it will walk /
silently aud sadly to the grave yard. There |
YOU viii be laiG ny brothers hands gent
ly and softly with the silent dead. The /
solemn services will be pronounced over /
your cotfiu-the sprig OF acassia win fali
lightly on your cold remains. significant of /
your rising on the last great day.
Il cannot raise my hand or voice to adj |
dress, to initiate, to install or to admonish |
brother without remembering Jesus Christ /
IS the chief cornerstone OF free and accep
ted Free Masonry and the keystone of the |
topnOst arch.
Il look around to read your thoughts
Infidelity is not here. You will, therefore,
sustain me when l say, in Gods name. |
through the Son of His love, we will this
day conSecrate ourselves to the sacred and
sublime principles OF our order till each
member of the fraternity becomes tenn pie
sacred to VII tue and the unstll.iel elements
of goodness.
This. brethren, is to be Masons indeed,
bringing up not evil report to the disgrace
of our order-that when we receive the
summons from the Grand Lodge above, we
may hasten with gladness, clothed IN the
regalia of the skies, TO meet our brethren in !
the Holy of Holes TO 20 out no more for
ever.
There is a signal known only TO the fra
ternitY at which the breath of every Mason
is hushed, and deep silence pervades the
lodge; so when God rises in the magnificent
His hand. sleeping millions will start from
their graves, and they shall stand before /
Him a multitude no man can number.
There we shall meet our dead again, aud
give them the signals of our immortal love
again, the same mysterious vision comes
booming across the sea OF my Imagination /
as before, but more palpable and distinct.
1T is too big picture for my sodl--yet /
must grasp il, while my ear trembles with |
strange music, aud my ewes behold beings |
of terrible beauty standing before me and
take in the flashing banners of an inn9mer-
able multitude.
Il see the Christian Masonic procession
as it marches through this to the upper
world-thoGsands upon thousands. millions
upon millionsi Have the Crusaders come
again, that they direct all their hopes to the
East and travel towards the Holy Land |
See! they will go back the way of Moriah
and Calvary-and yet the procession goes
onward still and rises high above the pima
cleS of earth.
81 see the hierarchies of soul and intellect.
the Sovereigns of the Order, the knights of
the Sun, of the Red Cross. of the Brazen
Trumpet, and of the East and Vest see
the Princes of Mercy, of the Tabernacle, of