Helena weekly herald., 1889-11-07

ern gale; the oak arose like slumberlng
giant from the bosom of the plain, and
in it's strength bid defiance to the storms;
the pine tree flung it's green banner to the
winds and stood on solemn duty guarding
the portals of the north; the crash Of
avalanches. the rumbling of mighty tor
rents, the cyclonic whirl of ocean storms,
the songs of birds, the chants of rejoicing
angels, and the voice of man proclaimed
the mysterious" power and the goodness
of God.
AS it was mystery at the beginning so
will it be mystery at the ending; my
brethren, man born of woman is as prone
to mystery as smoke to join the clouds, "as
the heart thirsteth for the water brooks"
so imam has an Unsuitable thirst for the
mysterious.
When the Almighty sent the first pair
out into the world to wiring from an nm
willing soil the bread to sustain physical
life, He gave them two particular blessings
which have cluDg to them through all the
ages, as only Divine tavors can cling to
man; one was cOnnubial love, designed to
people the earth with multltudes like unto
the stars of the armament and heaven with
angelic hosts.
The second was a love for the mysterious,
designed by the Great Architect to be the
Archimedian lever which should lift man
kind from the clay of sensual depravity and
the mire of ignorance to the high grounds
and pure atmosphere of spiritual and in
tellectual excellence.
Man in his willful blindness may fail to
see the trail, but the instinct, the desire, is
firmly rooted in the bed rock of
his nature, and like the 'untutored
savage" he may "see God in the
trees and hear him in the Winds" if he
will only read the mysterious characters
that his Creator has strewn with lavish
hand all along his pathway.
To ancient imagination, all nature was
peOpled with invisible beings, who in mys-
terious power governed all objects. The
armament of heaven, the earth and the
waters under the earth were in the vas
salage of some spirit or diety of higher or
lower degree. The husbandman scattered
no seeds; the wOodman entered not the
sacred forest; the mariner refused to "smite
the sounding furrow;" the hunter Joined
not the chase or bent the supple bow; the
warrior planted his spear in the earth and
refused to try the hazard of arms, and the
most ardent lover sought not the bower of
beauty till by ibations, sacrifices or hastily
muttered prayer they had sought the favor
of their guardian deities.
Surrounded by such influences we find
little reason to wonder that the mysteries
of Freemasonry were more than thousand
years old when the star of Bethlehem
arose and angel choristers sang Peace on
earth, good will toward men,"
Co. he ,o he rhrsc
tian's vital breath" To study the mystery
of theology the scholar burns the midnight
oil, forsakes the world and its transient
pleasures to dwell in an atmosphere Of
purity and love.
To study the source and history of the
mystery of ancient craft masonry, Robert
Morris, of blessed memory, left home and
native land to dwell among strangers. The
dangers of ocean travel, the heat and dust
Of arid plains and sandy deserts, the angry
glance Of Bedouins, or the threatened vio-
lence of infidels awakened no alarm in his
faithful breast, and sent not tremor of
fear to heart dedicated to God. and devoted
to the mystery of Masonry.
If the mystery of our order had no other
plea for its existence than that its heroic
and christian disciple, Robert Morris,
Joined the East and West to each other by
fraternal bond of affection, which time
cannot corrode, but which will abide until
empires crumble into dust and are for
gotten: it would be young thousand
years hence.
Every useful art and science; every COM
fort and convenience; every prayerful
thonsh; or reverential emotion that has
made life worth living, and advanced man
to nearer walk with his Creator, is the
direct result of his restless desire to drop
plumb line into the depths of the ocean of
mystery which surrounds him.
It is said that the return of the seasons;
the beauty and variety of mans natural
surroundings; the wondrous display of plan
etary systems, each particular planet held
in it's orbit by a mysterious power utter
ly beyond his comprehension, gave man his
first idea of order and symmetry. 1t did
far more than this. 1t fired his heart with
a noble ambition to study the mysteries of
his surroundings and improve his opportu-
mites He had only to cast an observing
eye about him to see that an ALI Wise
hand had scattered blessings innumerable
all along the path of his mortal existence,
and left him only the task, sometimes SIM
pie, more often complicated, of divesting
them of some portion of their mysterious
character and adapting them to his use.
1t took Franklin with silken cord
more potent than bands of steel or ham,
mered gold, to draw the mystery of elec-
tricity from the clouds and adapt it to the
use of his fellows.
Watts, in silent reverie at his mothers
"a
power of steam, and its benefits to man
are beyond the computation of mathema-
ticians. saSakAt sE. q -.
Newton studied nature till in an un-
guarded moment she allowed him to catch
3 glance at the secret of gravitation, and
then dropped the curtain to her mysteries
forever.
The mystery of navigation charmed Col
umbus from the marts of trade to the
courts of kings; mystery lent maglce!
charms to his arguments; mystery hlled
his sails, stood at the wheel and guided his
frail craft over her own mysterious and un-
known sea, till continent arose with
majestic sweep across his bow and
millions of men who enjoy freedom
divested king-craft of and bigotry freedom
from which the chaff of persecution and
abridgment of personalities has been win
moved by the zephyrs of liberty-will speak
his name with grateful lips through all the
coming ages.
Had this love for the mysterious been
left out of our nature, this land of freedom
had been unknown; the inspiration Of lib
erty had never been felt; the patriotism
which renders this country invincible in
war, and noble and just in peace, respected
abroad and revered at home, had been an
unknown quantity.
Al. v~o:clkr 80 ~ of ho