Mexico weekly ledger., 1883-02-22

but a single unworthy Mason can bring
more reproach on the order than a thou
sand good ones can overcome. If Ma
acted agreeably to their professions,
none conld reproach us; but they do not
so act, and that leaves to every speaker
the unpleasant task of having to over
come Il prejudice that exists in every
community.
Now. ordinarily, / would not stop by the
wayside to remove any mans objections;
but when woman-God bless her-de-
mands an explanation, I feel bound TO
listen to her demands. They are both
reasonable and right. She sees her son,
her brother or her husband entera society
from which she is excluded, and, prompt
ed by the purest and hottest of motives,
she of course, is anxious to know that
such associations are not wrong. She
who is to share our honor, or our shame,
our happiness, or our misery, ought to be
anxious that the self-willed impulsive
nature of man does not lead him into
company hat will compromise her honor,
or je~opardize her happiness. And, ladies,
it is from no want Of confidence in your
ability to keep the secret that l do not
reveal to you all that l know about the
order. 1t is simply because l cannot, and
ought not if l could. God has created
you for a higher sphere thanthat we move
in. IT'S yours to move as angels of
mercy in a purer atmosphere than that
we breathe. Your tender nature and
your delicate sympathy fits you far better
to soothe the distressed, to comfort the
broken-hearted. As you are apart and
above the niggard work of real life, by
your encouraging smiles and tender APP
proval, you can throw a halo of love and
light along the pathway of time, giving US
as it were a foretaste of that better life
beyond the grave. We must not drag you
down to the hard labor of the quarries.
Its tendency is to brutalize, and your
higher sphere work must be to overcome
it, to refine, to ~spiritualize. Be satisfied
to know that Masonry is honorable and
ennobling, and encourage us with your
smiles and your approval to be true and
faithful to our trusts, for your honor,
your safety and your purity are protected
in our fidelity.
The world is much indebted to our an
cient order. Our traditions teach us that
when heather darkness like a pail of night
enveloped the earth, Masonic industry
and skill discovered and brought to light
the "Book of the Law" To be the guide
and the consolation of the people of God
throughout all coming generations. 1t is
the close friend of science and civiliZa-
ton. 1t makes it specially incumbent OF
the craftsman to cultivate Il love for the
liberal arts and sciences. Geometry is its
very sub-stratum. BY it the operative
Mason erects the splendid edifice-the
cloud-piercing pile which gives comfort
to a people and character to a country
BY it as speculative Masons morally WI
are taught to ''circumscribe our desires
and keep our passions in due bounds
to act upon the plumb; to square oul
conduct, and to prepare to meet, as vic
tors, the great lereler Death.
So likewise is astronomy commented
to your careful attention. Not that it i:
expected that you should calculate tn,
parallaxes of the stars, or trace Will
mathematical certainty the erratic wan
: behring's of the comet, but in order tina
you may be led to contemplate the Won
drous works of the Great 1 Am, and b.
t thereby the better fitted to accord to Hin
that praise which is ever due from crea.
t ture to Creator; that you may learn t.
: w"rship that God "whose temple is al
space, and whose altar is the sea, eartl
/ and skies.'
But if Freemasonry had no higher ain
: than its social ties, it would be well WORT
t the labor. 1t unites men of all creeds
of all nationalities and of all chimes int
: one common brotherhood with a Language
: of symbols common to the race, an,
l whether you wander "among the gloom,
D glens of Greenland's sunless clime," o
= stand where the eternal Nile sweeps tn
. Wondering base of the pyramids
whether in that mystical East wher
e humanity had its cradle, or amidst tn
5 savage wig-wams of the unciviliZed wild
!, of the West, there you may signal
brother and enjoy a rest and refreshmen
5 unknown to the world.
!, You who have mixed in the bewildering mas
querade of life.
4 yIb.ra fr;o,1. ,r,Jt- M, rn,, ,,a oo, -. r;o.,,
You who have stood amidst the booI
of cannon and the clash of arms; you VIII
have saved others and been yourselve
t saved by a single sign upon the blood
e field of internecine strife, know wha
d Masonic friendship means.
a But, my friends, there is one feature i
Masonry to me prominently more beauti
n full than all beside, and that is, charity
b An angel tongue cannot describe it
charms. The poet has undertaken to Civ
a US al idea of earth in that awful mornin
, when God closed forever from morris
r view the blissful bowers of Eden; no,
q even Hope itself took it's silent flight O
viewless wing-but Charity. pittyins
q faithful, God-like, stood amidst tn
lightnings of the curse and the ruin G
the race holding in one hand "a mantle t
d cover u frailties, and in the other
y balm to heal the broken heart.
Through the long centuries she ha
stood by the couch of human misery, an
o filed her mission of love by hunting OF
those who "sore pressed by wintry wind
have shrunk into the sordid hut of cheer
less poverty and ministered to the
e want. 1t is charity that sweetens tn
L / 20. bread of want. 1t is charity this
l. e'es from human lips the baleful Gu
ul 9 grief. Masonic charity. 1t goes O
h2"dission of love in secrecy; it pour
he lie Oil If consolation into the wounde
he heart, whee none other than that All
"a SSeilg Eye Gu behold it; it is this tn;
N'',I lead all god Masons at last by NEAR
d. o. that spiritual ndder'' to a lodge {