The San Francisco call., 1896-10-15

we oft meet the crlpples, whose Mn 90 ms
bodies tell the woful tales Of oisAs'ei
| We live to CONQUER; to reach the goal IN VI, sns
mighty race for power and tame, 70 Th,s we
foot on the neck of the yanquisneIi:. meas
call success, forgetting that there Is lths mvds
ure with which all are measured sos uns ~,
that mows the ranks OF men ana KNOWS s ~ ~"
the difference between the conqueror ani 'A'
| yanouished. Death is the VlctOr. ,
Success is but the glimmer OF mon NO gu =, IL
| bright presence lighting up our nttie VIZ VIZ,
| but for brief day. We pass ON 10 MAKE sooi' VI
for others. We descend into the ocean " shore OD
! liyion: its waters engulf US, and on the snoIe
stand new generations awaiting, WOnueilIMlSii5 Ili
/ the time. when they, too, shall IonoW; "nu, ,n
remains2 Faith remains, nope apluss ;s ob aa -
charity, also-zand the greatest OF tnese Is cnai-
| fty! -,-,ao.4;o,, bnt for
humility; not for praise OF me n, Dus u snu @ to
| preme Grand Master. This is not the nour 70 70
extol our success, but to deliberate the poleilGy
OF greater effort. For, brethren, IN setlllg sn,s @
cornerstone in its socket the thougnI glo"s III ~
| us that the inmates OF the nome thas snaa. S
! here be erected are the very cripples VINO Mafe
been shot to pieces on life's battleneld. M Mneu
we think of them, the flush OF success olsap-
| pears from our countenances, Tor we DeSln "
| think not of what we have achieved, out OF
| what We owe them; not OF our own poor glory,
but of the possibility that LIES Dattie puts
| on them who have stayed IN the HsHe " "iAA
| and prevail.
! Here are to dwell orphans and widows. The
! providence of God might with unquestlone0
Justice nave W1lleQ IQdL YOUR WIVES, yOOA
dren should be cherished here. There is, IN
spite of the most unselfish humanity, touen
| of humiliation in public support. Iney VINO
need 1t are the manned, the crlpples, tne nei +
| less, the fallen. How much have we for wn1cn
| to be grateful? How deeply moved 10 gratl-
| tude must we not be when we come to reaHze
the great privileges vouchsated us, tnat we
may remove this touch of humiliation from
the hearts of all who here Will seek snelter De-
meath the wing of Masonry?
| And this inclines me to say to you. brethren.
hot Ano11 II NJ
| is the first lesson in Masonic philosophy. we
cannot wholly conquer the selfishness OF our
natures, but we can strive to infuse mercy
into life's battle. If we must war against one
| another, let us, after the manner of modern
warfare, collect the manned after the battle
and heal their wounds. We owe it to our
selves.
1t is, it should be, an expression of our hu-
mility, recognition of the fact that if the
| race belongs to the swift, God gives strength
to the one and weakness to the other. To me
the great beauty of Masonry is, and always
| has been, that it sets forth the relations be-
| tween God and man, the duty man owes 20 his
God and his neighbor. Masonry breaches the
ideal OF fraternity, and pre- aches in bold, home
spun language the theory that this warefare
OF man against man is wrong; that brother
hood is a nobler ideal than manhood, that
amity is nobler than strife, that humanity is
holier than the success OF life
Masonry teaches that there is democracy
| OF spirits before God, in which not the mail
clad warrior, but the righteous man, not the
wise learned scholar but the lover of his fell
| bowman, shall be priest and ruler. In that
| democracy, as the spirit of Masonry interprets
| it, the classes and divisions of man are as
naught in the face OF the eternal verify, that
| God hath made all men of the same dust hath
| endowed them ali with the capacity of suffer
| ingfand hath ordained for them a common
destiny, eternal rest for their weary frames,
eternal light for their beatified spirits in the
lustrous realms above, where the Supreme
| Master OF the Universe forever presides
| That thought of common origin and
common destiny humbles the Mason before
| the Great Light the East, but strengthens
his spirit to see wherein man departs from
the great wisdom of the ages. That thought
OF the democracy of spirits levels, within Ma
sonry, all classes and conditions. All are
alike before the Supreme, the master and the
! apprentice, he who sits in the flood of ORR
entail light and he who gropes in darkness, he
who wields the scepter ana he who obeys
orders, he who commands and he who tolls.
Banded and linked together by the power of
that leveling principle duty receives q differ
ent Interpretation. There may be palace
| for the one and hovel for the other, but the
denizens OF the palace must know the fate of
him who dwells in the poor mans hut; they
are responsible to one another, fol GOO has
made them alike; they share q common des-
tiny; both live, and both suffer, and both
shall die, and both shall live again.
Brethren, we are responsible to one another,
| and unless that link OF responsibility holds
us together Masonry is not worth a thought
Rich and Door, learned and unlearned, strong
and weak, high and low, these are the nomen-
clatures of life's battle, representing the vic
tor and the conquered, the sound in body and
| the manned. We know them not in NJ Masonry.
We are democracy, standing before the Su-
preme Grand Master, grit with but one arma-
| ment, uniform to all, the armament of virtue,
OF character and of good deeds
That is our creeu. He who hath a better to
offer let him step forward and improve the
ideal, which is the design of God himself.
And now, since we are thus constituted, with
| a firm belief in the justice of equality, we rem
der no humiliating service to the families of
our brethren who have departed on their last
| journey-we do but honor ourselves, we do
| but justice to ourselves, when we provide this
| shelter for them. Charity is kind, but the
word charity is not so Masonic as the word
| justice We do justice to our orphans, to our
widows, when we remove them into surround
lngs where they may witness the strength OF
our teachings 1t is justice to give them
shelter, justice to clothe them, justice to edu-
cate, justice to love theml
And now, all hail to the Grand Lodge of Cal
ifornia, mother of noble institutions, protect
ress of honorable enter0ries sacred teacher of
our Masonic manhood. All hail TO the vener-
able exponent of Masonry in California, be-
meath whose protecting hand we are per-
mitted TO consecrate this place to humanity.
In it the traditions of Masonry live again.
Called into life in the days of gold, its wisdom
soug hit permanence amid the coming and go
ing of gold loving wayfarers and secured q
home for Masonic teachings on the western
shore; its strength supported it's young ap-
prentices until they became masters, whom
California did and does delight to honor, and
its beauty attracted the noble youth, whom it
taught the grand lessons of speculative Ma
sonry.
And these lessons, are they really the
esoteric knowledge the werld may not know?
Two words constitute both its ritual and its
philosophy. To the Mason the Delphic oracle
contained no mystery. Know thyself. That
is the sum of our teachings. Knowing is act
ing, doing. Therefore we give honor to our
fraternity, our Grand Lodge, the venerable
and worshipful brethren who constitute its
leaders and teachers, for that we are per-
mitted, under heavens blessing. to illustrate
our self-knowledge by an act of unselfishness
that shall rebound not TO our glory, but to the
glory of him whom Masons worship, the Su-
preme Architect, TO whose divine care we
commit the designs of our architects, the
labor of our crafts and the success of this
noble enterprise. Most worshipful grand
master, thank you.
| The Masons ana the audience joined in
singing the doxology. The grand chap
lain offered final prayer. Then the pro-
| cession formed for the third and last time
and marched to the grove. where the big
barbecue had been prepared.
| The grove where the barbecue was held
was speedily made lively. Nearer 5000
than 1000 came who fed. The tables were
bountifully provided. but they were cleared
off rapidly and had to be repenished d
several times. Knights. Scottish Rite.
| Blue Lodge and order of the Eastern Star