The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1895-06-07

are we not all but temporary sojourners
upon life's rugged plain--fellow travellers
to the journeys end?
Shall We not then be ever ready to 90 to
the assistance of brother in distress. to
make his welfare our own, even in our
own humble petitions to our Father which
Is IN heaven, holding toward him an ever
faithful breast where beats brothers
heart, supporting and sustaining him with
all the power of human aid and sympathy
and by our friendly counsel and advice.
encourage him in the right or sound the
note of warning lest he fall?
Would we be true TO ourselves. let us
not forget that though our thoughts,
words and actions may be hidden from the
eyes of man yet that all-seeing Eye, whom
| the sun, moon and stars obey, and under
whose watchful care even the comets per-
form their stupendous revolutions, per-
vades the inmost recesses of the human
heart and will reward US according to our
merits Let us remember the poets
charge:
above all, to thine own self be tue;
And 1t must follow as the night the day,
Thou can'st not then be false to any man.
Under the broad light which masonry
sheds upon the pathway of our existence,
should we as masons go forward in conf
dence and compOsure From this high
plane, which Masonry points out as life's
true pathway--from this lofty eminence,we
may gain broader and grander views of
your relations toward Goo, and our fellow
men, we may see more clearly which way
the path of duty, honor and safety lies and
more surely follow therein until it leads
us to the end of life's journey, to the
shores of the great ocean of eternity
While Masonry would teach us how to
live, it also reminds us of the great truth
that it is appointed unto all men, once to
die. 1t ever holds before us the hour
glass of time, and says:
Behold how swiftly the sands run, and
how rapidly our lives are drawing to
close Thus wastes man, to-
day he puts forth the tender leaves of
hope-to- morrow blossoms and bears his
blushing honors thick upon him-the next
day comes frost, which nips the shoot,
and when he thinks his greatness is still
aspiring he falls like autumn leaves to
enrich our mother earth"
The high and low, the rich and poor, the
learned and the unlearned must all sooner
or later be cut down by the all devouring
Scythe of Time.
The eye once so bright, with the light
and fire of human energy, or softly beam
ing in love and sympathy, perchance be-
dewed with falling tear, must be forever
closed in death
The arm which has ever been raised in
the cause of truth and justice, and in de-
fense of the right, or extended in behalf
of the weak or in aid of fal EN- brother,
must be folded forever across that faithful
breast.
The heart which has swelled with honest
pride or throbbed with enthusiasm in life's
great conflict or has been moved with pity
and compassion, must be forever stilled
who gave it. Sad, sad indeed would be
our lot, if the Lamp of Life burned out,
should leave us in utter darkness But
Masonry bids us Hope, Hope, and ever
pointing to the Anchor and the Ark, holds
out to us its own great light, the ''Holy
Bible" the rule and guide of our faith,
wherein we read the glorious words of
promise of life and Immortality beyond the
grave. May we not then well exclaim!
"Oh Death where is thy sting,
oh Grave, where is thv victory
the truth that
Life is real, Life is earnest,
And the grave is not its goal,
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the SOUL
Calmly confidently then may We look
forward to the future, fearing naught. Pa
tiently, truthfully then may we go on each
in his appointed way, spreading the cement
the tenets of our noble order, and working
out to the best of our ability our own great
destiny, having faith in the merits of the
Lion of the tribe of Judah
$50 live that when thy summons comes to join,
The nnumorable caravan that moves,
To that mysterious realm where each shall take,
His chamber in the silent halls OF death,
Thou go not like the quarry slave at night,
Scourged to his dungeon but sustained nd soothed
BY an unfalterng trust, approach thy grave,
Like one that draws the drapery OF his couch,
About him, and lies down to pleasant Dreams"
Then may we welcome the grim tyrant
death and receive him as kind meSSen-
ger, sent from our Supreme Grand Master,
to translate us from this imperfect to that
all perfect, glorious and celestial Lodge
above, where the Supreme Architect of
40 IIpiynrS, prpSilpS