Mohave County miner., 1889-07-13
MEMENTO MORT.

Jackson Comansmdery knaEhes
TcmplsP NJ ysclsseas Miehigan
Graves or Deceased Brsthcss
Decked with Flswers-A Bsi1.
lisnt Grafton by Sir kaight J.
w. Dlakely. .s--.... ........ ..
In Masonic lore there are two festival
days in each year, one June ~ and the
other in December. Both are designated
sts. Johns days, but one 10 dedicsted TO
st. John the Baptist the other 10 st. John
the Evangelist. .'. .... @.... ~. ..''. 1917. -..,.
"For years." says the Jackson Courier,
at has been the custom of jackson COM
mandery Knights Templar, to observe
the June festival by decorating the graves
OF deceased brothers with flowers, nc
companied by appropriate and always
impressive exercises" . .s.E ..1i .".
The address ut the memorial service
delivered at Mt. Evergreen cemetery by
Sir knight J. W. Blskely, is spoken Of
by the Courier and several Michigan
papers whose reporters were present, ss
zone Of tho best delivered on similar
occasion. II has merit Of condensation
aud smoothEess rarely attained. The Sir
Knights expressed themselves delighted
with it, and the reporters heard many ex-
carnations OF pleasure from the vast con-
course Of people in attendance" As the
speaker il well known in this county, We
subjoin a few extracts from the address
as illustrating the teachings Of Masonry,
and the oratorical ability Of our young
friend. ...-.. ...
After brief introductory remarks and a
glowing tribute to the patron, s.. John
the Baptist, the orator said:
There is more TO Masonry than form
and pomp and empty ceremony. How
ever others may think, We consider
Masonry the best institution, in its Or
iginal principles, that the reason and in
tellectual development Of man has ever
conceived. 1t had its basis in the rights
OF man, the liberty Of the individual, the
dignity Of labor, the recognition Of the
unity OF the race, and its aim was and is,
thorough progressive education, enlight-
eminent and civilization, TO promote the
elevation OF man TO a higher status Of
manhood, and bring him to purer, truer
conception Of the divincly formed human
being, and the divine unfolder Of the
universe. - ....1
In progressive education and civiliza-
ton man is a co-worker with Deity; but
he can be useful only as he is intelligent
The more intelligence he possesses the
greater his capacity for usefulness. We,
therefore, should exercise our moral fac
ulties--expand them in increasing knowl
edge-that We may more ably cooperate
with, and assist in fulfilling, the design
of the Creator in advancing civilization,
and add to the comfort and happiness oI
our fellow men. 80
The moral doctrines OF Masonry ar,
dependent on, and spring out Of its char
acter as a social institution. "There are,
says the charge 10 an entered apprentice
"three great duties which, as Mason
you are charged to inculcate-to God
your neighbor and yourself" And thu
duty to our neighbor is said to be tina
We should act upon the square, and d.
unto him as We wish that he should d.
unto us.
The religious doctrines OF Masonry arr
very simple and self-evident. They arr
darkened by no perplexities Of sectarial
theology, but stand out in the broa'
| light, Ineligible and acceptable by al
minds. They ask only for belief il
God and the immortality Of the soul
The neophyte no sooner CROSSES tn
Threshold Of the lodge than he is calle'
upon to recognize, as his first duty, a,
entire trust in tie experimenting car
and love Of the supreme being. And tn
series Of initiations into symbolic Mason
ry terminate by revealing the awful sym
Dol of life after death, and an entranc,
upon immortality.
No, man, however blunted his sensibil
tiles, or hardened hls heart, can stan
where We to-day are gathered, within
this silent city Of the dead and feel him
self unmoved. The question, "Is this tn
end?" inevitably forces itself upon hi
consciousness and demands an answer
Not from his material nature, not fron
his physical being, but from the ma
himself. And as he ponders on it NOR
and more he finds but one reply. On
winds his life about another life, hi
heart strings are twined and interlace
about the object Of his devotion, and
dies-is this the end? Every nerve an
fibre Of his being answers "No."
1t is said there lives in Central Africa
a tribe, Of low mental development
whose custom it is, when q man dies,
take the body silently, by night, to som
desolate spot, and there lay it away
covering deeply the inanimate form
stamping down the earth and then care
fully and skillfully obliterating all trac
OF the fact that the soil has been di,
turbed. They then return home and n
mention is ever made again Of the dea
man. He is blotted out Of their outwar
lives and their conversation as though h
had never been. For that people dealt
is the end.