The daily gazette., 1879-01-30
Lecture by DIR. Caldwell.

l
st, PauPs NJ. Il. Church, this city, lec-
tured in the Grand Opera House, last
evening, under the auspices of the var
ious Masonic lodges of this city, on the
following subject: Outside view of Free
Masonry, including its origin, history,
structure and design, benevolent and
social aspects, with its relation to mora
lity and religion.
The audience was large and intelligent
| occupying all the seats down stairs and
| a goodly portion ofthe gallery. On the
stage were seated Grand Master John
Tay lor, Mayor A lmond,e ,ex NJ ayor Valen-
tine, Chas, B. Lore, Esq and number
OF the officers Of the various lodges.
Grand Master Taylor presided, and
after hymn, "Come We that love the
Lord, " by a choir of ladies' and gentle
men, and prayer by Rev. G. NJ. Pegg,
pastor of Scott NJ f. Church, the lecturer
was introduced.
Dr. Caldwell opened with brief resume
Of the or gin and history of Masonry
He said there could be no doubt of the
very great antiquity of the order. In re-
mote ages there were in Egypt. PbD-
| nicia, Asia Minor, Greece, India and
many other countries of the old world
numerous orders, both philosophical and
| religious, whose mysteries wer- conduct
ed IN secret, and whose doctrines were
| known only 10 tue initiated. To betray
those secrets was held to be a sacriligi-
oils crime, worthy OF death. Horace said
he would not live under the same roof.
| nor trust himself in the same frail bark
| with one who had betrayed the secrets
| of the Eleusinian mysteries
IL is prob able that Masonry oriQi mated
rs an Improvement upon some preexst-
ing system. II is certain that ii existed
/ n the time of King Solomon. The chief
architect and builder of the sacred Tenn
pie at Jeru alem was Hiram Abif, Of
Tyre. 1t is supposed by some learned
NJ isons that be was acquainted with the
DyoDisian fraternity, which had preyi.
| ously extended itself into Phnni 4, and
that he communicated the mysteries of
that fraternity to the builders of the tenn
pie. Originally that fraternity consisted
chiefly of practical artisans ns-work-rs IN
sfone-hence the name, Mason. The at
tempt to derive this name from Magi, an
ancient order Of priests and philosophers
among the Persiaus, is purely fancful; so
also Is the notion that IL was deri ved
from musterton, Greek word meaning
mystery.
The term Accepted" which now forms
n part of the appellation of the order,
formerly signihed "initiated,' or "adop-
ted" The rm Gree Mason" originat-
ed in the tenth century, when A,h-lstan,
one OF the Saxon Kings OF Enel md grant
ed to his brother, Prince Edwin, a char
ter comforting ou Masous freedom and
power TO regulate themselves, to have
their own constitutions and bylaws, and
to hold yearly communication and a
& neral assembly.
The lecturer next described the his
tory of the order. He claimed that il
existed for al least thousand years az a
distinctively Hebrew organization, and
described It's gradual spread aud progress
through Western Europe. Some writer's
claim that IL existed among the Britous
previous to the invasion by j ulus Caesar
who patronized and protected the order
He also described the great change in the
order n 1903, when SIR Christopher Wren
was Grand Master of England, Then the
distinctive operat We feature of NJ Masonry
was departed from and the order be-
came speculative, so that persons from
the various ranks and professions could
be limited, provided they were duly
approved and initiated in proper form.
He next illustrated its sturct and de
sign, fully described its benevolent and
social aspects, and closed with an ex-
haustive reference to its RELATE ons to NOR
ality and religion. He described the
foundaton of Masonry AZ the Bible and
its superstructure as the truths of God
and religion. After amplify:ng this sub
jet in the most eloquent and effective
manner, he concluded as follows.
The education which a member of the
Masonic fraternity receives has reference
10 the future life as well as the present.
This appears in one of their most beauti-
ful and touching rites. At the burial of a
brother, each member casts into the open
grave sprig of evergreen. 1t is an em-
blem OF immortality and the resurrection.
Ii says. "Our brother is not deaf but
ssl, m
sal belief that out of this death shall
spring another life; that out ofthe human
dust deposited in the tomb shall rise
another form of conscious manhood.
If ! were asked to personlty the genius
of Free Masonry. ! would take "A lovely
female such an one as Corn liza, the
| mother of the Croft. | would take her
at that time of life when she had d-vel-
oped her rpehed charms; when being
asked by ii noble matron of Rome for
sight of her jewels, SHE presented her
| two SONS as the richest gems in the cask-
| 81 of the Republic and said "Tlese are nv
.Jewel, So / would let her personify
| Masonry and point not merely to kings,
| princes and mobiles who hav shed the
lllstre of their glory upon the order; not
| merely to statesmen, preldtes and chief
| tains, who from remote ages have & faced
| its annals not only to great scholars,
benefactors and inventors, whose names
are linked along with its history, but to
men of all ranks, professions and CO adj
tions in life, who go forth with hearts
4 full of compassion and benevolence to
re, cue the fallen, to restore the erring,
TO bef lend the needy, and to say of
such, "These are my jewels
We 10 not know that Aristides, The
,Distocle, or Socrates were Masons; we
do not know that he was a Mason who
said "The die is cast :" and then crossed
the Rubicon; WE 10 not know that he
was a Ma on who marshall,d his world
subdung arm, from Mac dona to the
Indus, who had himself proclaimed
"Son of Jupiter Ammon;" and finally
died in a drunken revei at Babylon, when
only thirt, two years old we do not
know that he was IA Mason who was
)"Grand, gloomy and peculiar" who
| played with thrones and d, nasties as if
they were foot balls, who pointed un to
the great pyramid and then said to his
soldiers, "Forty centuries look down on
you" but we do know that our own
venerated Washington, the "Father of
his country" who sleep on the banks of
the Potomac. was Mason.
| Shall i contrast with this picture the
sublime genius of Christianity? That
100 is female, and her name Is Mercy.
This is not earth-horn, but heavenly; not
sin stained. but pure a, the coronal OF
light that encir,les her brow. Imagine
this whole world to be one vast city en-
closed With high and ndilnpenetrable walls,
within dreaded pesillence RACES, and is