Right worshipful Grand Master, and ye, my much-esteemed Brethren, - The appearance of so numerous and respectable an audience, and the infrequency of the occasion upon which it is assembled, induce me, before our ceremony commences, to say something of our art itself: a task the more pleasing as nothing can be truly said, - notwithstanding the ridiculous surmises of the ignorant and uninformed, - but what must redound to her honor; for being born of Virtue, like her amiable parent, she need to be seen only, and she will rise our admiration: to be known, and she will claim our respect.
The antiquity, extensiveness, and utility of Masonry, are topics too curious for so incompetent a speaker, and too copious for so short a moment as the present opportunity affords. You will suffer me, therefore, to waive these points; and as we derive the origin of our craft-though coeval with the Creation* -- more immediately from the building of Solomon's Temple, to moralize some circumstances attending it, which I am persuaded will not appear unsuitable to the occasion of our present convention.
(*See Proverbs, vii., 22-30.)
We are told by the Jewish historian,* that "the foundation of Solomon's temple was laid prodigiously deep; and the stones were not only of the largest size, but hard and firm enough to endure all weathers; mortised one into another, and wedged into the rock." What a happy description is this of our mystical fabric, the foundation of which is laid in truth, virtue, and charity. Charity, like the patriarch's ladder, has its foot placed upon the earth and the top reacheth unto heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it! - so deep and large is Our eternal basis; and the superstructure, which sages and legislators, princes and potentates, have not disdained to assist, no trials, no persecutions will be able to shake it, The rains may descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat vehemently against it, yet it will stand firm and impregnable; because, like the wise man's house, it is founded upon a rock.
(* Josephus,-the translation of which by L'Estrange is gene rally quoted, except where it is particularly faulty.)
The next emblematical circumstance in Solomon's temple was the order of the fabric. The same historian tells us that "There are several partitions, and every one had its covering apart, independent one of another; but they were all coupled and fastened together in such a manner that they appeared like one piece, and as if the walls were the stronger for them." It is just the same with our society, which is composed of different ranks and degrees, with separate views, separate connections, separate interests; but we are all one body, linked and coupled together by the indissoluble bonds of friendship and brotherhood; and it is to this concord, this affinity, this union, that we must ever be indebted for our strength and consequence.
A third particular remark in Solomon's temple
was the beauty of it. "The walls," says the historian,
"were all of white stone, wainscotted with cedar, and they
were so artificially put together that there was no joint to be
discerned, nor the least sign of a hammer, or of any tool, that
had come upon them." Is it, I would ask, in the power of
language those I would ask who are informed in Masonry - is it
in the power of language to describe our institution in fitter
terms than these? Integrity of life and candor of manners are
the characteristics, the glory of Masons; it is these that must
render our names worthy of cedar; it is these that must immortalize
our art itself. Adorned and inlaid with these, it has withstood
the corrosion of time - that worm whose cankering tooth preys
upon all the fairest works of art and nature - nay,* Gothic barbarism
itself, whose desolating hand laid waste the noblest efforts of
genius, the proudest monuments of antiquity - even Gothic barbarism
itself was not able to destroy it. It was overcast, indeed, for
several centuries by that worse than Egyptian darkness which brooded
over all Europe, just as mists and clouds may obscure the sun,
and the whole creation may droop for a while under his pale and
sickly influence; but nothing can impair his intrinsic splendor
- he will again burst forth with bridal glory, and, as our immortal
poet speaks,
"Bid the fields revive,
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings."
(* Alluding to the ravages of the Visigoths in the 5th century.)
Accordingly, since that disgraceful era,
Masonry, to use the words of the same poet,
"Has rear'd her drooping head,
And trickt her beams, and with new spangled ore
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky."
To speak without metaphor, we now behold it, as this beautiful edifice testifies, in its fairest and most flourishing state; and may justly cry out, with the Roman orator, Behold a sight which God himself, intent upon his own work, may regard with pleasure! - a society of men formed to support the interests of science, virtue, and benevolence, so closely cemented together, without compulsion or violence, that no flaw, no joint, can be discerned; but, as our historian speaks, "All things are so adjusted and accommodated one piece to another, that, upon the whole, it looks more like the work of Providence and Nature, than the product of art and human invention."
But the circumstances which claim our most earnest and immediate attention are the ornaments of Solomon's temple, - so applicable to our art, and so figurative of its excellence, that I trust it will be no trespass upon your time to dwell upon them more largely. We are told by the historian, that "it was overlaid with gold, interwoven with beautiful flowers and palm-trees, adorned with painting and sculpture. Nothing is more observable in the history of mankind than that Masonry and civilization, like twin sisters, have gone hand in hand together; and that wealth, arts, and sciences, everything that could embellish and beautify human life, have followed their faithful steps and composed their train. The very orders of architecture mark the growth and progress of civilization. Dark, dreary, and comfortless were those times when Masonry had never yet laid her line nor extended her compass. The race of mankind, in full possession of wild and savage liberty, sullen and solitary, mutually offending, and afraid of each other, shrouded themselves in thickets of the woods, or dens and caves of the earth. In these murky recesses, these sombrous solitudes, Masonry found them out, and, pitying their forlorn and destitute condition, instructed them to build habitations for convenience, defense, and comfort. The habitations they then built* were, like their manners, rugged and unseemly, a prompt and artless imitation of simple and coarse nature. Yet, rude and inelegant as they were, they had this excellent effect, that, by aggregating mankind, they prepared the way for improvement and civilization. The hardest bodies will polish by collision, and the roughest manners by communication and intercourse. Thus they lost, by degrees, their asperity and ruggedness, and became insensibly mild and gentle, from fierce and barbarous nature. Masonry beheld and gloried in the change; and, as their minds expanded and softened, she showed them new lights, and conducted them to new improvements. The rustic mansions pleased no more-they aimed at something higher and nobler, and, deriving their ideas of symmetry from the human form divine, they adopted that as their model and proto-type.** At this era, their buildings, though simple and natural, were proportioned in the exactest manner, and admirably calculated for strength and convenience. Yet still there was a something wanting - an ease, a grace, an elegance, which nothing but an intercourse with the softer sex could supply. It is from this most amiable and accomplished part of the creation that we catch all those bewitching delicacies, those Dicer, gentler, inexpressible graces which are not to be taught by dull, dry precept, for they are far beyond all rules of art, but are communicated from them to us I know not how - shall I say by contagion? Accordingly, the succeeding order*** was formed after the model of a young woman, with loose, disheveled hair, of an easy, elegant, flowing shape: a happy medium between the too massive and too delicate, the simple and the rich.
(* First, Rustic, or Tuscan Order.)
(**Second, Doric Order.)
(*** Third, Ionic Order.)
We are now arrived at that period when the human genius, - which we have just seen in the bud, the leaf, the flower, - ripened to perfection, and produced the fairest and sweetest fruit: every ingenious art, every liberal science, that could delight, exalt, refine, and humanize mankind. - Now it was that Masonry7 put on her richest robes, her most gorgeous apparel, and tricked herself out in a profusion of ornaments, the principal of which were eminently conspicuous in Solomon's Temple. And, lo! not satisfied with the utmost exertion of her own powers, she holds out her torch, and enlightens the whole circle of arts and science. Commerce flies to her on canvass wings, fraught with the produce and treasure of the whole universe; painting and sculpture strain every nerve to decorate the building she has raised; and the curious hand of design contrives the furniture and tapestry. Music, poetry, eloquence; - but whither does this charming theme transport me? The time would fail me to recount half, the blessings accruing to mankind from our most excellent and amiable institution; I shall conclude this part of my subject, therefore, with just mentioning another ornament of Solomon's temple - the two cherubims made of olive-tree, whose wings expanded from one wall to the other, and touched in the midst. The olive, you know, is the symbol of peace; and the very essence of the cherubic order is said to be love. Let peace and love for ever distinguish our society! -- let no private animosities, or private divisions, pollute our walls!
(* Fourthly, the Corinthian Order, - the capital of which took its origin, says Villapandus, from an order in Solomon's Temple, the leaves whereof were those of the palm-tree. The Composite Order is not here taken notice of, for reasons too obvious to mention.)
"Drive off from hence each thing of guilt and sin!"
The very key-stone, as k were, of our mystical fabric is charity; let us cherish this amiable virtue, let us make it the vital principle of our souls, "dear as the ruddy drops that warm our hearts," and it cannot fail to be the constant rule of our actions, the just square of our dealings with all mankind. And, though pity may plead in more tender and eloquent terms for the distresses of a poor brother, yet let us be ready to extend the hand of relief, as far as our circumstances afford, to misfortune of every kind wherever it meets us. It was an everlasting reproach to the Jews, that they contracted their benevolence within the narrow sphere of their own sect and party. Let ours be free and unconfined, - "Dropping, like the gentle rain from heaven, upon the place beneath."
A good Mason is a citizen of the world; and his charity should move along with him, like the sensible horizon, wherever he goes, and, like that too, embrace every object as far as vision extends.
The temple, thus beautiful, thus complete, Solomon dedicated to the Lord, in a style of wonderful devotion and sublimity as far above the most rapturous flights of pagan eloquence as the religion of the Jews was superior to heathen idolatry and superstition.
"Lord," says he, "thou that inhabitest eternity, and hast raised out of nothing the mighty fabric of this universe-the heavens, the air, the earth, and the sea; thou that fillest the whole, and every thing that is in it, and art thyself boundless and incomprehensible, look down graciously upon thy servants, who have presumed to erect this house to the honor of thy name! Let thy holy spirit descend upon it in the blessing of thy peculiar presence: thou that art every where, deign also to be with us Thou that seest and hearest all things, look down from thy throne of glory, and give ear to our supplications! And if at any time hereafter thou shalt be moved in thy just displeasure to punish this people for their transgressions with any of thy terrible judgments, famine, pestilence, or the sword -- yet, if they make supplication, and return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, then hear thou in heaven, thy dwelling-place, and forgive their sin, and remove thy judgments."
With these words Solomon cast himself upon the ground in solemn adoration; and all the people followed his example with profound submission and homage. We are now going to dedicate this fair mansion to the noblest purposes - to Masonry, virtue, and benevolence; and I persuade myself, from the flattering attention with which you have heard me, that our ensuing ceremony will be regarded with becoming seriousness and decent solemnity. Whatever encourages the social duties, whatever advances the interests of benevolence, claims our respect as men; and it is no flattery to our ancient and mystical institution to affirm that it has these two great points ever in view.
There cannot be a stronger argument in favor of our society than what may be collected from the account* given us of certain solitaries, who, by secluding themselves from mankind, from friendly communication and social intercourse, lost the human figure and human sentiments, and became like beasts; they fed in the same manner with their fellow brutes, and if they saw any of the human species, they fled away, and hid themselves in caves and inaccessible holes.
(* See Evagrius, lib. i., Eccie. Hist.)
If such be the miserable, abject consequence
of retirement, whatever, like our institution, collects and consociates
mankind, has a claim to our warmest esteem, as conducive to public
and private utility. Yet let us beware lest, in the unguarded
moments of convivial cheerfulness, we give too large a scope to
our social disposition. Reason is the true limit, beyond which
temperance should never wander; -- when misled with the "sweet
poison of misused wine, we overpass this bound, we quench the
spark of divinity that is in us, we transform ourselves into brutes,
and, like those who had tasted the fabulous cup of Circe,
"Lose our upright shape,
And downward fall into a groveling swine.
One word more, and I have done. This temple
of Solomon looked towards the east; let us
frequently direct our eyes to the same quarter, where the day-spring
from on high visited us, where the Sun of Righteousness rose with
healing in his wings, and cherubs and seraphs ushered in the dawn
of the evangelic day with this gracious song, "Glory be to
God on high, and in earth, peace, good-will towards men!"
Back to Spirit of Masonry [ Previous ] [ Next ]
