The Newtown bee., 1901-06-28

them. Tempera nee, fortitute, prud. ence, justice, all the soclal and moral virtues which insure the real success and happiness of life must fail of their full fruitage in us save as the wisdom and love of the Father quicken us.
 Freemasonry is not a religion but it is an outgrowth of religion, and a means for the application of the prin- ciples and spirit of Christianity to the social and moral wants of mankind. And in this particular its position is unique. It is pre-eminently a social institution and adapted to promote the universal brotherhood and fellow | ship of all mankind. It is based upon the simple, common elements of reli- zion. It recognizes the unity of our race, as so aptly expressed by St Paul: 1 "God hath made of one blood all na- l tions of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determin- ed the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habita tion: that they should seek the Lord; if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being." ( The science of morality based upon faith in God is the common heritage of all religions, among all the nations, races, and peoples of the earth, and therefore ancient craft masonry is divinely adapted to
 PROMOTE AND PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE UNIVERSAL FELLOWSHIP
 and unity of all the children of men. Taking the world as it is, this institu- tion may we'll take up the call of St John Baptist, who is believed to have been patron of this order, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight
 The lodge does not propose to take the place of the church in any sense. It has its own special work to do, and when that work is we'll done it is ever a helper and promoter of the universal religion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot be otherwise That this i'm stitution like the church itself is sometimes perverted and abused, we need not deny; but the truth remains and abides forever, and all common good is from the same divine source. and works to the same eternal end. For man to ignore the church, or to neglect it, for the sake of the lodge, would be like ones deserting his mother for the sake of his brother. AS the light of the moon is borrowed from the sun, so the light of masonry is derived from the Word of God, and it all belongs to him who gave it.
 Our order is not essentially different from hundreds of other fraternal or ganizations which out of the same inn pulse of the heart for the service of God in the service of man are by one method or another striving to do some portion of the work of the Master bv means of which the living Temple of life is being built in the social and moral relations of this earthly proba- tion.
 When their work is done in the di- vine Providence they will all cease; and even so will the church, the moth- of them all, when her divine mission is accomplished. For the church, too, was made for man, not man for the 
 Truth is the wide, unbounded air;
 The varied mind of man
 Is but bubble which contains
 A breath within its span.
 The bubble breaks, its round Is lost,
 Its colors fade and die;
 But truth remains, as infinite
 As our eternity"