Arizona republican., 1907-10-23

onies surpassed the mother country in prosperity and science. And sculpture | in marble, the Doric and Ionic orders, were the result of their ingenuity. These Dionysians were a mystical
 fraternity and monopolized the build | ing of temples. stadiums, theaters.
 cathedrals and other buildings of the higher order. They allowed no stran-
 gers to interfere in their employment.
 and recognized each other by signs
 and tokens, and had little to do with
 other men not admitted to their mys- | teries. It was this great fraternity.
 whether caled Greeks. Tyrians or | Phoenicians, who built that temple at Jerusalem. That stupendous work. under God, was the result of their genius and scientific skill. This being
 true. from them are we as fraternity. | lineally descended. or all our antiquity | is a myth and our traditions a fable. Long after the advent of Christian | ity. the mountains of Judea and the plains of Syria, the deserts of India. and the valleys of the Nile. were | cheered by the presence. and enlivened | by the songs of the members of this | institution. More than thousand years before the coming of the Son of I Man, little company of cunning | workmenH from the neighboring city of | Tyre were assembled on the pleasant | Mount of Moriah, and at the call and | command of the wise king of Israel, erected out of their skill mighty | edifice whose splendid and unrivaled perfection and whose grandeur and ! sublimity have been the admiration | and theme of all succeeding ages. Our brethren might have answered the En- glish monarch that this craftwork was of a fraternity to whose genius and discovery and to whose matchless skill and ability the wisest of men in all ! ages have bowed with respect.
 Our brethren also might have an-
 swered that these ancient Free Masons
 having finished that great work and | having filed all Judea with temples, palaces and wall cities. with the result of their genius. in after times. passing
 through the Essenian associations. and finally issuing out of the mystic halls of the grand old buildings of Rome
 burst upon the Dark Ages like a bright star. peering through the clouds, and then produced those splendid monu- ments of genius which set at defiance the higher attainments of modern art.
 And if. in addition to all this. our brethren had said to this ancient king that in the year A D. 926. one of his predecessors on the throne of England had invited the builders and Masons from all parts of the continent to meet
 him in a general assembly at his royal city of York. the answer to his ques- ton. Who did bring it westerly" would have been complete. From that time forward. for eight centuries. Mas onry continued a real operative frater-
 nifty of builders. producing both in En- gland and on the continent. those grand and unapproachable specimens of art which are the pride of the peo-
 pie of Europe and the admiration of
 all travellers.
 But Masonry. today, is no longer an
 operative association. We, of this day.
 as a fraternity. make no pretensions to
 extraordinary skill as builders or ar
 chitects. Very few of you. my breth-
 ren. proficient and accomplished Mas
 ons that you are. would willingly un-
 dertake to erect another temple on
 Mount Moriah. feel certain that our
 honorable most worshipful grand mas
 ter. splendid. perfect Mason though he
 be. would hesitate long time before
 consenting to assume the duties of the
 erection of another St. Paul's cathe-
 dral.
 At the reorganization of the craft and the establishment of the Grand
 Lodge of England. in 1717. we laid aside our operative character and with 1t all pretensions to extraordinary skill in architectural science. We then be- came a purely moral and benevolent association. whose great aim was the development and cultivation of moral sentiment. the social principle. the be- nevolent affections. and a higher rev erence for God and a warmer love for man. New laws adapted to the chang ed condition of the institution were | then made. and England became the | great central point of Masonry for the | whole world. From this source have l lodges. grand and subordinate. at va | rious times, been established. until to- day it extends to every part of the ] entire world, in all places wherever the l geniu; of civilization has obtained a | standpoint. or Christianity has erected | the banner of the cross.
 On the condition of the institution in | our own country, I need not dwelly Judge Wells has told you the history | of our orders in the United States and | in our own beloved Arizona. Masonry here. as elsewhere. has established it. self with its broad human sympathies | and its charitable institutions.
 While there may be some men, mem | bers of this fraternity. who are nor a | credit to Masonry, yet their lives must | have been helped and benefited by oe- ing a member of such an order, and | which ever way you turn and whatever | way you look. you must recognize that | Masons, in the great majority. have lived to the full requirements of their | obligations, and have always faithfully | performed their duty as citizens and | loyal subjects. Here as well as | throughout the whole world. Masons | are recognized as of the best citizens. History does not furnish a parallel of | any such institution. Others have come and gone. but Masonry seems to go on forever It is a universal institution. | It exists where Christianity has not | gone and it's claims will be respected | even where the superior claims of re- ligion would fail.
 It is never obscured by the dark