The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-25
JOINT INSTALLATION
LOCAL MAsoNs ENJOY. A NOT
 ABLE OCCASION.
Notable Address on Free Masonry Delivered by Rabbi A. J. Messing. Thanks Returned and Re-
 treatments Served.

il, and Andrew Lodge, No. 1iS, A. F. and A NJ. of this city proved to be a most interesting occasion.
 The ceremonies took place last night in the lodge room of those lodges in the Masonic Temple and were largely at tended sby the members of the two lodges
 WorshIpful Master Chaffee Of Montgom- cry Lodge presided at the opening cere- monies, and the lodge was opened in due form.
 Grand Secretary c. A. Beauchamp in- stalled the officers, who were introduced by Grand Marshal D. w. McIver.
 The ceremony of installation was most impressive and performed in most att tractive manner.
 After the installation an address on Free Masonry was delivered by Rabbi A. J. Messing in able and eloquent words.
 Worshipful Master Chaffee presented pr. Pessing as one eminentiy capable of presenting the truths and tenets of Free Masonry, which had encouraged research and provoked discussion since. the days of the building of King Solomon's Tenn pie.
 Dr. Messing acknowledged the high anl complimentary terms of his introduction and expressed fear that he would not come up to expectations. He said:
 My Brothers-There can be no doubt
 that Masonry is very old. A study of
 it's origin takes us far back into that
 age where the torch of history fails us
 and the paler light of archaeology fades
 into the dimness of prehistoric surmise.
 Long anterior to the advent of Chris
 tianity, the mountains of Judea and the
 plains of Syria, the deserts of India and
 the valley of the Nile were cheered by its
 presence and enlivened by its song.
 The proudest royal houses are but of
 xryffh ho ino nf
 Worshipful Masters. The craft was
 great and respected before Saxon set foot in Britain before the Frank had passed
 the Rhine, when Grecian eloquence still
 fiourished at Antioch, and when that
 splendid civilization once lighted the
 shores of the Erythran Sea, the banks
 of the Euphrates and the plain of Shi-
 mar with glory inconceivable, of which
 there is now naught to tell except the dumb eloquence of ruined temples and
 buried cities.
 There can be no doubt that Masonry is ervy old; let us not make fetish of its antiquity. Alas, most people reverence the old simply because 1t is old. They think a man is better for being dead, es- pecially if he has been dead long time. Thoughtful people will not fall into this spacious error. They will not accept doctrines simply because they are ancient
 
 | beard.
 New occasions steach new duties Time makes the ancient good uncouth | They must upward still and onward "Who would keep abreast of truth" Mere antiquity does not explain this
 wonderful tribute from so many thought | full men tonight, nor is 1t sufficient to ac- count for the wondrous spell which the | mysteries of the craft forever weave | around their hearts.
 Freemasonry was originally fraternity | of practical builders-architects and arti- | ficers. This is conceded by all who are to any extent acquainted with it's history
 or it's traditions. More than thousand years before the coming of the Son of i Man" a little company of cunning work men" from the neighboring city of Tyre l were assembled on the pleasant Mount of Moriah at the call of the wise King | of Israel. and there erected out of their great skill mighty edi.ice whose splen-
 dor and unrivalled perfection. whose gran Il deur and sublimity have been the admi-
 ration and the theme of all succeeding
 ages. 4s,..
 Having filled all Judea with. palaces and
 walled cities, having enriched Azor, | Gozarra, and Palmyra with the results of l their genius, these "cunning workmen | in the Middle Ages, under the patronage of the church. produced those splendid
 monuments which set at defiance the highest attainments of modern art. The | Masonic fraternity is called Free be- ! cause in the sixth century one of the | Popes promulgated an order that all
 their possessions should be free from i taxation. To the church, then. the l Masons devoted all their skill, to the l church they gave their sacrificing toll. | and by their hands the cathedrals were
 reared which are the glory of Europe and
 the admiration of the world. Little bands
 under wardens going forth and toiling in | this land and that, they built those gems | of beauty which seem inded like frozen | songs transfixed in air."
 | But today Masonry is no longer an 1 operative association. Very few of us, accomplished Masons as we may be,
 would willingly undertake to erect ] another temple on Mount Moriah. Per | sonally I doubt whether I could build a
 pig sty so that a pig could lie down | in 1t and go to sleep. And ever since the erection of our new synagogue my opinion as to the skill and building capa- city of many of the brethren has been l considerably shaken. l would not dare say | this of course in my own pulpit, and only whisper 1t "entre nous' in the hope that | you will not tell 1t to any member of my | congregatioIi. No, if MasonryN Is an op- | erative fraternity it is a distinct failure | and it surely cannot be this to which so many thoughtful, representative men. such as I see about me, have come to pay allegiance tonight.
 At this point I will he reminded that
 Masonry has long ago laid aside it's opera | tive character and with it all pretensiOn | to skill in architectural science. So far | back as TIT, I will be told by those who | have delved into our history we became | a purely moral and benevolent associa- tion keping stIn it is true our working | tools, the plumb the square-but using l them now only in spiritual sense to teach us to subdue the passions, to act upon the square, to maintain a tongue | of good report. maintain secrecy and | practice charity.
 And yet even in this respect, as a secret organization formed for the purpose of | cuItivating the moral sentiments there cannot be the appeal to win the devotion | of thoughtful men. As regenerating
 force for morality the lodge cannot com pare with the churches who are doing
 the same work publicly. And as bene- voIent organization any student of socio- | logy knows that the Salvation Army is better equipped for the practice of scientific philantrophy than any secret assembly now in existence. And so our question remains still unanswered. Whence the wonderful charm, the potency and power that Masonry has always had over it's adherents?
 One reason l think Is that wherever | ,.o,, drd E'rnarnasons you find a cartain