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ing lyre, and drew from its mystic chords a louder song of Love, and Hope, and Joy; recalled to the world's dead heart the Promethean Life-Spark, relumed the sacred fires on the desolate altars of Truth, and re-inscribed the law of Love, with diviner and more powerful sanctions, on a column which neither the arm of man nor the assaults of the ages can shake.

But, to lay aside all tropes and mysterious technicalities, and to speak out in plain, sober prose, the principle of our Order is no more nor less than that indestructible and all-pervading Law which has been so clearly interpreted and directly enforced by the Son of God himself;-that Law which requires man to love God--that is to say, Truth, Goodness, Virtue— above all things else, and to conduct himself toward others, in all cases, as in like circumstances he would have others deal with him. It is the law of mutual Love! of intimate and abiding Friendship! of inflexible Probity, Honor, and Truth! And this law it is well for us-whether Masons or not-to observe; this law is wide as the Universe, deep as Eternity, stern as Fate in its demands, binding all men in all places and in all times-the Past, Present, Future to the everlasting duty of charity! And woe to that soul which seeks to escape from the obligations it imposes!

CHAPTER III.

Freemasonry the Handmaid of Christianity.

IN a little work,* written by one of the most distinguished of modern French litterateurs, a work as beautiful and brilliant in style as it is objectionable in sentiment, we remember meeting with the following, or a very similar utterance: "I thought to repose me beneath the broad shadow of Christianity, but I have seen this majestic tree wither in the breath of the tyranny it had protected, and perish a victim of the poisons its own bark had nourished. I have learned that the Church is without a principle of life, that the religion of the Christ is incomplete that Jesus may take his place in the pantheon of divine men, but his work is done, his saving power is exhausted, and Christianity is dead!” Blasphemous as it is, this is the thought of not a few on the other side of the Atlantic; and its melancholy echo we have heard even in this country of puritanical faith and piety. And, when we throw our regards over Christendom-see the Church, which is the visible body of Christ, and the source of Progress, Freedom, and Life, shivered into a

* Spiridion, by George Sand.

thousand fragments, society plunged into gross materialism, given over to the brutal instincts of selfishness, and the degrading worship of mammon; and when we look on the cruel spectacle of social wrongs and the gloomy pictures of suffering which every day unfolds, it is not strange that some men of little faith should cry," Christianity is dead!” But Christianity cannot die. It may have forsaken the ancient forms in which it has been worshiped through long ages, but never can it perish. The mountain top may be clothed with perpetual glaciers, while within its heart core burn eternal fires. So beneath the fragments and rubbish of the dismantled Church, in the very midst of the apathy, indifference, coldness, skepticism, and corruption, which prevail around, Christianity works with more directness and force, and achieves mightier results than ever before. Christ is not dead. True, he no longer appears in the dusty habiliments of the cloister, nor does his majestic figure irradiate the portals of that Church, which has been false to his ideal and doctrine of love. But, a spirit of awful beauty, he walks in our midst to-day; and the mighty throbbings of his earnest, loving heart, are recognised in the philanthropic institutions, and public charities, and benevolent associations, which are the boast and glory of our age. It is this which we wish to say of our honored institution! The loving spirit of Christ presides over all its arrangements, and in

spires all its operations. Other associations for the relief of suffering are beautiful and good, and worthy of praise, and Christ's spirit is in them; but their operations and influence are limited; they chiefly address themselves to one of the many wants of humanity.

But Freemasonry has a wider influence and power, and far greater facilities for the accomplishment of its benevolent purposes; and besides, it looks out over all of life, and embraces all the possible circumstances of man. More truly here than anywhere else is realized the Christian ideas of Love, Union, and Brotherhood. The beautiful ideal which Christianity presents of a society, where men will bear the burdens of each other, relieve each other's necessities, and love one another in all circumstances, as a family of brethren, here, in our association, becomes a fact of life. There are no circumstances of want or suffering in which a brother may be placed, for which Masonry does not provide. We do not hesitate, therefore, to say, that we regard Freemasonry as the truest expression of the mind. and thought of Christ this age is destined to witness. Christianity is its central idea, and at the same time the foundation and corollary of our temple. Nay, Masonry is Christianity-Christianity applied to life-made actual in the arrangements of society-Christianity realized in man's relations one with another. Upon all the arrangements of

198 FREEMASONRY THE HANDMAID OF CHRISTIANITY.

our Order, and upon all its operations, we see the shadow of Him who loved humanity, and sought to assuage its griefs. Eighteen centuries ago, he went about doing good. The music of his footsteps charmed away human sorrows; joy brightened before him; and hearts were made bright and glad by reviving hope. Freemasonry to-day continues his ministry of love, or rather through Freemasonry, He himself still carries forward his own benevolent work, soothing and protecting the lone widow and her fatherless babes, and extending to the child of sickness and penury the tender consolations of fraternal sympathy.

We do not exaggerate, therefore, when we say that the Order of Masonry stands one of the very first among the Christian institutions of the day. Its reach and influence are of great extent, and it is destined, in the hands of Providence, to accomplish great results for humanity.

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