The Russellville Democrat., 1877-07-12

the arches of eternity, Ill the temple of our God.
 We speak with reverence and awe as we humbly bow before Him, who planted the germ ofimmoFality in man, and praise His great name, that not withstanding He clothed our souls with dust, yet he illuminated that frail tenement with the light of reason, and sowed the seeds of yearning desire III every breast for the eternal and glo- rious beyond; those possessing not, are dead while they live, and we trust no dead souls are to be found in or about Russellville to-day. The Grand scrip tural tenets to which Masonry holds does not constitute it a Church or bring it in conflict with any sect. Founded on the everlasting truths Of God, re- vealed to us in his word, it recognizes great Jehovah to whom allegiance IS due by all created intelligences; as the maker, builder and preserver, the Grand Architect of the universe, who made all things and supports all things, the ruler of worlds, the omnipotenf AM, as Lord over all, blessed forever more. Oar souls, the breath of God, are inlmortal and must live forever in bliss or in perdition. Our bodies, the workmanship of His hands, endowed with the light of intelligence-beams from His presence. will not, cannot eternally perish; they may moulder, decay and be forgotten by man, but He watches over our dust, and what He casts down, He can, and will raise again by His mighty power. Masonry is the science of man, taught by the Great Teacher; it would be well there fore, if all her lessons were well learn- ed Its mission is to elevate man in this life, and by enlightened reason 1t points him to the source of strength that can elevate him in the life eternal. Masonry makes no pretensions to being a soul saving power, but the true Mason at heart stands in full view of One mighty and able to save even unto the uttermost; and we are inclined to think that the soul that falls fl om her eleya- tion, will go deeper into the abyss than he who pever beheld her mystic lights. But while our religious tenets are true and profitable for mans study, we would have no soul to stop here and cling to a system of morals however good. We find man prostrate, the child of ignorance, the dupe of super stition: Masonry raises him up, enlight- ems his reason and points him to the broad expanse of Gods universe, that he may behold the order and system of nature and let his mind range the fields of science and harmonize with the revolving spheres, in obedience to the laws of the One great and grand Maker, who created all for His own glory. When man does this he has but to turn his eyes within to see if there is no yearning desires within his breast, and ask his soul why? From this ele- vated position man can look with no darkened vision and see the narrow pathway that leads from where he stands to the celestial gates Of the New Jerusalem.
 To define briefly what we understand to be the difference between Masonry and the Church. One is moral insti- tuition founded on eternal scriptural truths held in commonly all religious creeds, the other is a body of believers quickened by the spirit of God and sanctifie1 by His grace, made alive by regeneration, new souls walking in newness of life, occupying a plane higher than any human institution car place it's membership by it's own strength.
 To sects and parties we say cease your strife. We are all brethren; from one Father we sprang ,'one protecting power extends over all, before one Judge we musW all appear. Man is frail and short sighted, every mans ways appear right in his own eyes, each of us are liable to err and do wrong. The time is coming when all our wrongs will be righted, and all our rights be ylndicat- ed {; hence, we collect together in one h nF nI rt der one banner, and our souls are cemented together by brotherly love in warm and lasting friendship. Broth- CTS may differ without, but around our altars with hands clasped in hands and hearts united to hearts, in one united band, our invocations for mercies to come and praise for blessings past, ascends the hill of Jehovah's mount as the voice of one man, fervent and true as ever went up from the altar of any sect. But l hear it repeated, ''In your Lodges you have no Christ, you reject the Savior whom christians adore" To this charge we will briefly say, our ill- stitution was founded or rather per fected by the temple builders fro n the ancient mysteries, long before the christian era. It is a system of science yelled in allogory and taught by sym bols. On the same proposition, those fault finders might reject the Old Tes- lament scriptures; but you say, not so, "they point to Christ with an uuerring finger; in prophecy and symbols, they abound, and He of whom Moses and the prophets wrote is to be looked up- on, on almost every page" As chris tian, we grant you state what we be- lieve, and will now inform you that Masonry abounds in symbols also, wherein the Christian Mason has no difficulty in beholding the ''Lion of the tribe of Judah." In some of our de- grees we look upon the blood of the substitute shed, that we may enter into the Holy of Holies. In lines of light so brilliant that all who runs may read, the Christian Mason beholds his Savior and wonders that all do not; but as our institution is of Jewish origin and our Jewish brethren still look for Messiah to come, and in the symbols sees what he believes, continues to lay out in the dim future, we raise no quarrel, and await the rending of the veils to dis close the truth or falacy of our faith. As Knight Templar, l have no hesi- tancy in declaring to you that l find Christ in Joseph's tomb. 1 see Him rise triumphant over death, hell and the grave and salute Him as the mighty conqueror, and bend to him as my risen Savior. I believe Jesus to be the "Lion