Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-03-23

last Veetge OF civilization is blotted ont and All
literature destroyed. II our civilization is
built up and sustained by the forces and infiu-
ences OF Masonry and other organizations de-
signed to teach purity of heart and rectitude
or purpose, acting in harmony with the chris
tan religion; it must follow as a logical Sc
quence that as long as these forces shall fulfiIl
their high mission, the waves of darkness and
oarbar1sm can never again bring devastation
and ruin upon the world. Allow me to ssy
right here that the physical ana mental vel
fare Of the human family depends almost en-
tirely upon Its moral and spiritual condition.
knowledge of the laws of health and the
splendid physical development of her citizens
did not save Rome. She went down for the
want Of moral and spiritual strength. Let
Phfdias and Praxiteles tell of the arts that
saved Greece. The melancholy pages OF all
past history prove that nothing but the moral
worth of the people can exaIt and maintain a
nation. 1 do not claim that Masonry alone Is
to-day sustaining the civilization of the world
but do claim that it is an important factor
therein which could not be removed or de-
stroyed without very serious results. In the
moral world the same harmony must be- pre-
served and the equal balance maintaine as in
the physical world The poet has beIutifulfy
expressed the thought in the following lines:
From natures chain, whatever link you strike,
Tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the cha in a ike
And if each system in graduation roll,
Alike essential to the amazing whole,
The least confusion but in one.
Not all that system only,
But the whole must fall.
Beloved craftsmen, the present is grand. both
in its possession and possibilities. Plaques
6iaQAapa m iuo
over entire nations and filed the land with
sickning scenes Of death and sounds of woe
are being brought under the control of medi-
cal science and the healing art. Fellow crafts
men there is intense intellectual activity
throughout the earth, and while wars and
blood-shed seem to be decreasing and the ban.
ner of Moloch trailed in the dust, the trained
soldiers of the plow-share, the anvil and the
loom are bearing aloft the iron cross of indus
try, gilded with the glow of the harvest and
the blaze of the furnace. There are other
thoughts which might be present in this con-
nection; hut my time is passing rapidly and
must now briefly consider Masonry as applied
to the various relations OF life.
First there is much being said and written in
regard to the antiquity of our order; but
whether it had its origin back of the reach of
the dim and dusty records of the past, and be.
yond tradition itself in that far distant period
which language can only family shadow upon
the mind by the expression, I'm the beginning
amid the dawnings of the great truth of
nature when the morning stars sang together
ana all the host of heaven shouted for Joy 3;
or whether 1t may be traced back through the
building corporations of the middle ages and
the Roman colleges of artifcers to the eastern
magi, and the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris
may be interesting questions for curious and
delvinR minds. But it is of more practical
Importance to know what Masonry now is,
and what it promises to be in tho future than
to know its origin or even its past history. If
it is to make its impress upon the age, it must
rely on something more than it's antiquity. 1t
must be a living institution, laboring in the
fields Of the present, and not q lifeless mummy
from the catacombs Of the past. Fellow crafts
men. our theories may reach to the stars. but
our hating feet will hardly gain the hill ton.
Therefore what the future of Masonry will
depends largely upon what the present is to a
great extent We lay it down as an axiom that
all truths are preeXsent and understandable.
Masonry bears witness to truth What ia
truth? This question was propounded away
back In the pamy day of Free Masonry, while
st. John was making sure the three principle
rounds in Jacobs ladder, Faith, Hope ard
Charity. The question comes from one his.h
in Roman authority, what is truth? Truth is
not always what we think it to be, but il is
what is, without addition or diminution. 1t
varies not the millionth part of Q hair from
what is. Take the science of mathematics
and its axioms are as enduring as the cycles
of eternity. The fact that in any right angled
/ triangle the square of the hypothenuse is
A.
upon the sides which contain the right angle,
or that straight line is the shortest distance
between two points is truth that cannot be
| changed by the mutations of time The great
truths of astronomy are unchanging and un.
dying. The earth moved on with resistless
force. though Gailileo was driven to recant
the truth, and his blind and bigoted persecu.
tors thought they had suppressed the theory
Truth is mighty and will prevail.
The order of Free Masonry is a symbolic in
| stitution, but all its symbols and all legends
| like the legends OF the ancient poets. are de-
signed to teach sublime philosophical, astron-
| omfcal and religious truths. Look upon the
Temple of Solomon, with its matchIess syme
try built up in beauty. This is the symbol of q
perfect Masonic life; but oh how few of u.
can hope to build 80 grandly. 1t is said thai
| Sir Christopher Wren was an ancient Mason
and the most renowned architect of the age
| in which he lived. The cathedral of St James
which required a period of about thirty Ave
years in building was the great work of his
life; but 1t was work that the most lofty am
bition might look upon with feelings of pride
With peculiar fitness this magnificent struc
ure was made the last resting place of the
| master builder. And his tomb in the crypt was
| inscribed with the significant and appropriate
words: IF you seek his monument look
| around" How many of us when we have fin
| ished our work and passed from the labors Of
earth to the refreshments of the Grand Lodge
above would wish this inscription carved upoI
the f1eal temple our life has builded up.
ITO BE CONTINUED