The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1916-01-13

| ity it means only that belief which
is vital, which is worthy a name, Is
one which has its positive influence
upon our being. Applying this test
to ourselves, is the belief in God
which we, as Masons, hold, having
an effect on our lives? Here, my
brothers, is the lesson for Masonry
to teach, not only one to another
but to mankind-the abiding pres
ence of Almighty God.
For today men are forgetting that
presence, they are blind to it. They
have relegated God and confined
Him to the church, to the pulpit
and to the altar. They see His hand
in the sky as it touches and illu-
mines with an almost unearthly
glow the dying day. They hear His
voice in the restless moan OF the
eternal seas. They know that He
decks the lily and marks the spar
rows fall, yet they forget His abid-
ing presence in the heart of man.
Do YOU remember, my brethren, that
most wonderful picture in the book
of Genesis where our first forefather,
having sinned, fled away that he
might hide himself from God?
What mattered all the glories OF
Eden, what mattered all the JOY OF
life, if God could read his guilty
heart? Francis Thompson, young
English poet, in THE Hound of
Heaven" described how he journey
ed day and night, night and day,
over hill and beyond the valley,
seeking always to escape the One
who ever pursued. At last, wearied
of his flight, he discovered that the
Presence that was ever with him,
that unacceptable Presence, was the
Almighty, the loving God, his Faith
er. Let us verify so live as though
we know, we do know, we are day
by day, year by year, ever in His
presence.
And that the high God was their
redeemer. =" We have read in that
same book to which we have just re-
ferred how that God created man in
His own image, the image of the Di-
vine. God is spirit, man created in
His image is spirit. Man. earthly
and material as he is, clad in most
perishable garb, yet has that about
him, that imperishable quality-the
spirit of the Divine, Will you ever
forget my brethren, the lesson of the
third degree-I know that you never
will-that solemn and unforgettable
able lesson? Most vital and most
solemn, for it teaches the freedom Of
the spirit. 1t teaches that man is
mortal and yet imperishable.
They remembered. " Ii one is
ever tempted to over exaggerate the
individual side of religion-not that
religion is not an individual thing,
for surely it is-let him read of
Gods dealing with His people, Is
rael. Let him understand something
of the religious solidarity of the
people Israel ,and let him learn from
that something of the solidarity of
the human race. Let him study
democracy. For since God is our
creator and we are His children, the
brotherhood of man is not a phrase,
but a fact. Man has been long
learning this lesson. There have
been men who have learned it, and
who have sought to teach it to their
brothers - figures who stand out
above the flow Of humanity. Men
like Savonarola and Francis Of As
sissi and that yet more tragic figure
of our own day, Tolstoi. 1t is an
age-iong lesson, that the spirit OF
man is imperishable, that the spirits
of men are imperishable, that all
souls are valuable in Gods sight. 1t
is the democracy Of the spirit.
My brothers, Masonry seeks to 50
stamp its impress upon you that
YOU can never forget the lessons you
have learned. Men will Judge Ma
sonry, its vitality, its principles, by
your lives. If your life has been in
tiuenced permanently, you have
learned the lesson. Ask yourself
these questions: Have you heard
with the ear and not with the soul?