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 WASHINGTON 
 A MASON 
 
 ,^^VvV>3for6.e^^ 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED BY BROTHER JOHN CAVEN. 
 ITS FIRST WORSHIPFUL MASTER. BEFORE 
 MYSTIC TIE LODGE No. 398, F. & A. M.. 
 INDIANAPOLIS, IND.. DECEMBER 14, 1899, BEING 
 THE CENTENNIAL OF THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON 
 
WASHINGTON: A MASON 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED BY- 
 BROTHER JOHN CAVEN 
 
 ITS FIRST WORSHIPFUL MASTER 
 
 BEFORE MYSTIC TIE LODGE No. 398. F. & A. M.. INDIANAPOLIS, 
 
 IND.. DECEMBER 14. 1899, BEING THE CENTENNIAL 
 
 OF THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON 
 
 INDIANAPOLIS 
 
 PRESS OF WM. B. BURFORD 
 1900 
 

 IN fiXCHANOfl 
 
 ?5 0'05 
 
WASHINGTON: A MASON. 
 
 Washington was a Mason. And it is fortnnate he was; 
 for npon this fact depended important consequences; the 
 success of the American Revolution, the union of the States 
 and the formation of our government. He became a Mason 
 in his twenty-first vear, and thus early, imbued mth Ma- 
 sonic principles- — -which had much to do in fonning his 
 character and making him that which he became, the 
 Father of His ( ountrv, the founder of n nation and the 
 Colossus of all time. 
 
 One hundred years ago to-day he died, and upon this day 
 Masons held memorial services at his tomb; and one hun- 
 dred years hence, on the return of this day, Masons now 
 unborn will gathei' again at that shrine and render homage: 
 and thus every century whilst the centuries come and go. 
 Washington at first belonged to America, and his name 
 and fame to the American people. He now belongs to the 
 world, and his name and fame are in the keeping of all 
 mankind. 
 
 Washington and Masonry— a grand combination. Wash- 
 ington belonged to the world, and Masonry is a world insti- 
 tution. It had much to do in making history, and its influ- 
 ence on other Avorld-institutions, progress, civilization, lib- 
 erty and religion was gi-eat. 
 
 Masonry, it is claimed, is an ancient institution, and so 
 indeed it is; one of the oldest in the world, and in its origin 
 
 . (3) 
 
was a religion. A religion collected and combined from 
 the great natural religions of antiquity. A religion in which 
 our ancient brethren were seeking for truth a.;? best they 
 might, and from and all, and the only light they had — the 
 light of nature. And these tiiiths when found, as they be- 
 lieved, they formulated into a system of i-ules for their 
 government here, and a declaration of faith, hope and be- 
 lief in a life to come. And hence this ancient religion was 
 an attempt to define man's relation and duty to some power 
 above him, his felloMTuan and himself here and hereafter. 
 Before the light of Revelation, the most earnest seeker for 
 truth could only, and but slowly and dimly, learn from ob- 
 servation and experience, from the material world around 
 him, in which all seemed to end at the grave, and there was 
 but a skeleton, and even that skeleton mouldered to dust; 
 and if beyond the grave there was aught but nothingiiess, it 
 was a realm so dark that mortal eye could not pierce it? 
 gloom. And though looking up into heaven from whence 
 all light seemed to come, to the questioning spirit from the 
 stars by night or the sun by day, came no answer, no answer 
 to hope. Above, about, around, beyond, all and everj'^where 
 seemed buoyant and teeming ^vith life, but all seemed only 
 born that it might die. The eagle on broad, strong, brave 
 wing rose up — up — up — to an eyrie in the skies till lost 
 beyond the clouds, but soon with folded, palsied pinions 
 fell again to earth. Lifeless the sweep of that once mighty 
 wing; blinded that bold eye that gazed defiance at the sun; 
 and that once proud messenger bird of Jove himself 
 brought indeed a message from tlie empyrean to earth ; but 
 that message was the same, still the same as the epitaphs 
 written bv man for ages on the tombs of his fathers; and 
 
that message was death ! death ! death ! But the wonderful 
 manifestations of even inanimate nature led the wise and 
 thoughtful to a belief, that there must be some higher, and 
 that, too, an intelligent power above and beyond, and out of 
 this was evolved the conception of a god, a creator and 
 ruler over all. And to this Creator they attributed omnipo- 
 tence and omniscience, but invested with the nature, mo- 
 tives and passions of their own humanity, so that the gods 
 of the ancients were but mighty men; men with the powers 
 and attributes of gods, and gods with the weaknesses and 
 passions of men. 
 
 But this observation and experience had taught them, 
 too, that this human body is but dust and must die; but 
 there was something stirring and speaking from within 
 wliich longed to live and felt it could not die; and out of 
 this longing sprang a hope, and out of that hope a belief, 
 that the spirit of man would live, and live forever, and 
 thence came dreams of an eternal spirit home, and faith 
 and hope looking through the portals of the tomb, beheld 
 far away and beyond apocalyptic visions of a celestial city, 
 its gates of pearl, its streets of gold and jasper walls, and 
 the glory of God did lighten it, and the name of that cele-?- 
 till] city was Heaven, Paradise, Elysium. 
 
 But this ol)servation and experience had taught^ them, 
 too, there were widely vaiying conditions around them, and 
 ill the lives and conduct of men, conditions which they 
 called right and wrong, good and evil, of pleasure and pain. 
 to be desired or avoided, and human actions Avhich some 
 intuitive sense told tliem were worthy of regard or deserv- 
 ing of punishment; but realizing how imperfectly justice 
 \\aR administered here, they taught there was a fate which 
 
6 
 
 would follow each one into that spirit world, where reward 
 and pimishnient would he meted out by an infinite and un- 
 erring judge ; and thus in the human imagination took form 
 the conception of two spirit w^orlds; one of light and happi- 
 ness and reward for the good, and one of darkness, doom 
 and punishment for the mcked; and tliese spirit worlds they 
 called Elysium and Tartarus, Paradise and Gehenna, 
 Heaven and Hell; and thus from nature's light alone was 
 ev^olved a creed of natural religion, sublime too in its teach- 
 ings, for it taught the existence of one God, the immortality 
 of the soul and a future of rewards and punishments. It 
 taught, too, the great Fatherhood of God, and was the iii'st 
 to teach the universal brotherhod of man. It taught, too, 
 there is an all-seeing eye continually searching every 
 human heart, and a recording angel recording every wicked 
 thought and deed for the day of judgment. A sublime 
 creed indeed, from nature's light alone; a creed bom of a 
 search for truth, out of an attempt to build an altar for the 
 worship of the Good; a creed fitting man 1>etter to live, 
 though death ended all, and better to die, though dying he 
 should live again; a creed accepted almost unchanged by 
 the most advanced religious and philosophic thought of 
 to-day. 
 
 Masonry has been charged with a mission; a grand mis- 
 sion; a mission of love and mercy, liberty and peace; on 
 earth peace, good will toward men. Many great organiza- 
 tions have Avaged wars of ambition and conquest, for power 
 and spoil; and many great and bloody wars have been 
 waged even in the name of religion. Masonry battles only 
 for right, truth, justice and libert}', and ever sends in ad- 
 
vance the white lambskin banner of truce proclaiming tol- 
 eration and peace. 
 
 Washington was a soldier. A soldier's business is to kill 
 and destroy; but Washington drank inspiration from Ma- 
 sonry, and fought only for freedom, only for the rights of 
 man ; and Masonry has ever been the world's great evangel 
 of liberty. 
 
 JSTot only Masonry, but Free, Free Masonry its name. 
 That word free is a grand word ; there is music in the sound. 
 It tells of limbs unshackled, thoughts unfettered; and that 
 name Free JMasonry is a grand title to a grand order, de- 
 rived from, and commemorative of, two great epochs in the 
 world's history of freedom. Free, Free Masonry its name; 
 its very name derived from freedom's own baptismal font. 
 
 Masonic historians declare that the origin and meaning 
 of the word Mason is exceedingly obscure, but it can be 
 traced through the ancient natural religions, at once prov- 
 ing both its origin and its great antiquity. 
 
 ]\lason is from a Hebrew word found in the Bible ; but as 
 spoken by us, slightly changed in the pronunciation. After 
 the Children of Israel escaped from the land of bondage, 
 they wandered forty years in the wilderness. And the 
 Lord said unto Moses : Let them make me a sanctuary, that 
 I may dwell among them, according to all that I show thee, 
 after the pattern of the Mascan or Mishsan, a word trans- 
 lated to mean tabernacle. And this pattern God gave to 
 Moses on the mount, together with the tables of stone; and 
 the tabernacle was made of boards set upright and separated 
 by a veil into two sanctuaries. The outer was called the 
 Holy Place, or the Sanctuary; and the inner was by God 
 Himself called the Mascan or Mishsan, the Holy of Holies, 
 
8 
 
 or tlie Sanctuary of Sanctuaries; and into it no one was per- 
 mitted to enter except the High Priest, and he but once a 
 year; and in it was kept the Ark of the Covenant, the Ta- 
 bles of Stone, the Holy Cherubim and the Mercy Seat. It 
 was set upright and anointed with holy oil; and the first 
 syllable of the word is the same as the Mas in Massiah, 
 which means to anoint, or the Anointed, and the last syl- 
 lable of the word means to erect or set up, so that Mason 
 applied to an individual means one pure and upright in 
 character; and applied in architecture means a tabernacle, 
 set upright, anointed with holy oil and dedicated to sacred 
 uses; and after the building of King- Solomon's Temple it 
 is the word always, and especially used to mean the habita- 
 tion or the dwelling of the Most High ; and every Masonic 
 temple and every Mason's heart should be true to that 
 name— a temple dedicated to liberty, a tabernacle, a habita- 
 tion, a dwelling, a Holy of Holies, a Sanctuary of Sanctu- 
 aries for the Most High. 
 
 While in the wilderness the Mascan was where al)ode 
 the pillars of cloud and fire when at rest; and from thence 
 went out to their wondrous stations in the sky to lead the 
 Children on in their journey towards the Promised Land. 
 
 In the Hebrew language, the last syllable also means a 
 nest, the nest of a bird; and especially the nest of an eagle — 
 the lofty habitation of the greatest and most jwwei'ful of 
 the birds, built among the rocks or on the mountain 
 heights: As an eagle stin-eth up her nest. And the Lord 
 said unto Job, doth the eagle mount up at thy command, 
 and build her nest on high? She dwelleth on the rock, upon 
 the crag of the rock, in the strong place. Though tbon 
 build thy nest high as the eagle, tlience ^vill I bring thee 
 
9 
 
 down, saith the Lord. Though thou exalt thyself as the 
 eagle, and bnild thy nest among the stars, thence udll I 
 bring thee down, saith the Lord. 
 
 Masonic historians trace Masonry through the religions 
 of Egypt, India, Persia, Chaldea and Ethiopia; and in the 
 Ethiopic language Mas, the firet syllable in Mason, is the 
 word which means a man; and not merely a man generally, 
 but a strong, healthy, and especially a virile or procreative 
 man; and in the ideographic or picture writing of that lan- 
 guage, a man is represented by the Phallus or Lingam, the 
 male organs of generation; and slightly modified from the 
 nude in art, is the same in Hebrew. It is also the s>nibol 
 of the seventh sign of the Zodiac, the Libra, the balance, 
 the reins, which the ancients who named it believed to be 
 the hidden fountain, source of life- — the seat of the affec- 
 tions and passions; and in the body, the central home of 
 the mind, the intellect, the soul, the governor and controller 
 of the human will. 
 
 Ramesides was the title of a royal dynasty, and Rameses 
 the names of fifteen of the Pharaohs or kings of Egypt, 
 among them the Pharaoh of the Jewish bondage and exo- 
 dus. The Egyptians worshipped the Sun, and they called 
 it Ba : and Mas, a man; and so Pameses meant the snn or 
 god-man, or one who was both god and man. 
 
 One of the names of God in Hebrew is Jah — the great 
 and terrible name by which he rideth upon the heavens; 
 and in that language Messiah — or more accurately Mas jah, 
 as the Sanskrit has it — also means a man of God, or one 
 who is both god and man. 
 
 The English language traces its philology through the 
 Indo-European into the Aryan — the language of ancient 
 
10 
 
 India, the cradle of the human race, and that language was 
 divided intt) tAvo great idioms, one called Prakrit, the com- 
 mon or natural language, and the other called Sanso-it, or 
 the sacred language — the language of the priesthood, and 
 in which the sacred books were Avritten. Ln the Prakrit, or 
 common language, Manis is the word which means a man 
 generally, and means one who thinks; and from it comes 
 our word Man; vrhile in the Sanscrit, or sacred language, 
 Mas is the word which also means a man, and from it conies 
 our word ilf asculine; and this word Mas, as in the Ethiopic, 
 means a strong, healthy, virile, procreative man, and San 
 means sacred or holy; so that Masson means a perfect and 
 holy man. 
 
 Sansci'it is the name of the sacred language of India, 
 and in that language Sa7i means sacred, and Skrit means 
 writing; so that Sanscrit means sacred writing in the same 
 sense in which we use the ^vords Sacred Scripture. Indeed 
 our word Script comes from this Sanscrit Skrit, and from 
 this Sanscrit word San comes onr words sane, sanity, sani- 
 tary, saint, sanatorium, sanctuai'y, sanctum sanctorum, san- 
 hedrin, meaning holiness and holy places, soundness of 
 body, sanity of mind and sanctity of heart; and also the 
 adjective prefix San in many Italian and Spanish names, 
 meaning holy places and sainted persons, as, in English, 
 Saint Peter's, Saint Paul's, and Saint John's. 
 
 In the Ethiopic, the Sanscrit and the Araltie the wMord 
 Mason means a sacred temple; and in the Hebrew, the pre- 
 cise word Mason spelled in letters equivalent to our Macon 
 means the habitation or dwelling of the Most High: And 
 the Lord will create on every Macon ^dwelling place) on 
 Mount Zion a cloud and a smoke bv day and the shining of 
 
11 
 
 a flaming fire by night, ^^'^hen same of the chiefs of the 
 fathers came to the house of the Lord, which is at Jeru- 
 salem, they offered freely to the House of (iiod to set it up 
 on His Macon (His dwelling place): Thou wilt bring them, 
 O Lord, to the Macon place which Thou has made for Thee 
 to dwell in: Hear Thou in Macon Thy dwelling place: 
 Hear Thou their prayers and supplications in Macon, Thy 
 dwelling place: From the Macon, the place of his habita- 
 tion. He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth : And 
 the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest and I will con- 
 sider in My Macon, my dwelling place. 
 
 In our language hero, giant, despot, tyrant, monarch, 
 emperor, sultan, the anointed, are all and each but one 
 word, and each meaning a man; but impliedly nmeh more 
 than an individual man. And in those ancient languagCvS — 
 the Ethiopic, the Sanscrit, the Arabic and the Hebrew — 
 Mason is a comprehensive word, requiring many words in 
 our language to fully express its meaning. Mas meant a 
 strong, healthy, virile, procreative, anointe<l man; health, 
 strength and virility being regarded as the great essential 
 element of true manhood; and San meant perfect or holy. 
 So that Mascon applied to an individual meant a strong, 
 healthy, virile, procreative, anointed, perfect man. Only 
 one word, and meaning a man, but not tlie common man of 
 the common language, but the sacred man of the sacred 
 language; impliedly emljracing in its meaning tlie highest 
 possible conception and embodiment of the powers, attri- 
 butes and perfections of a perfect physical, mental and 
 moral, almost spiritual manhood; and in architecture meant 
 a tabernacle set upright, anointed with holy oil and dedi- 
 cated to sacred uses — a tabernacle, a habitation, a dwelling. 
 
12 
 
 a holy of holies, a sanctiiaiy of sanctuaries for the Most 
 High. 
 
 This was the grand meaning of Mason in the sacred lan- 
 guage of Ethiopia. This was the grand meaning of Mason 
 in the Sanhitas, the sacred books of India; and this was 
 the grand meaning of Mason in the Koran, the sacred book 
 of the Mohammedan ; and this is the grand meaning of Ma- 
 son in the Bible, the sacred book of the Christian world; 
 and this should be its grand meaning to every man who 
 bears the name of Mason to-day. 
 
 In the Ethiopic and the Hebrew On is the name of the 
 Sun; and this is also the word which in those languages 
 means strength or power; but not merely ^dsible or apparent 
 power, but the unseen, primal source from which all power 
 comes. This power they called The On, and it is trans- 
 lated into our language by such significant words as "first- 
 born," "firstlings of strength;" impliedly embracing in its 
 meaning the conception of the beginnings of strength, 
 might, excellency, dignity and power. And Jacob lay sick 
 upon his bed; and he called unto him his sons, and said unto 
 them: Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might and the 
 Oni, the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dig- 
 nity and the excellency of power. When a man maketh 
 his sons to inherit that which he hath, he shall acknowledge 
 the fii-st-born by giving him a double portion of all that he 
 hath; for he is the Ono, the beginning of his strength; the 
 right of the first-born is his. This word on, like many other 
 Hebrew words when used in the plural or the intensive, is 
 i-epeated or doubled. Lift up now thine eyes on high and 
 behold who has created all these things, who bringeth forth 
 the hosts by their numbers and calleth them all by their 
 
13 
 
 names, the Meroh onon, the greatness of his strength, for he 
 is strong in power. And from this scripture source comes 
 the custom or law of primogeniture, which then, and ever 
 since, and yet prevails in many nations of the Old World, 
 by which the first-bom son of the king succeeds to the 
 throne of his father, and the first-born sons inherit the prop- 
 erty, rights, dignities and prerogatives of their fathers; out 
 of v/hich grew up an aristocracy, a privileged or ruling 
 class, a nobility; and this was the great bond of England's 
 U-ni-on or On-i-on ; and it was this class distinction sustain- 
 ing thrones and despots, crown aud monarchies, at which 
 our Constitution was striking when it twice ordained that 
 no title of nobility should ever be granted. 
 
 1)1 the Ethiopic and Hebrew, then, On was the name of 
 the Sun, and was also the word which meant strength or 
 power, and especially that virile, manly power in man 
 which procreates life. This power they called The On or 
 Sun power, as they l)elieved it to be derived directly from 
 the Sun, which they believed to be the great central source 
 of all power, and from this On comes the Un in our word 
 sun, and also the oni in that awful god-name Aum before 
 which the Brahmin trembles — that unknown, unseen, dread- 
 ful somthing, that power high over and above all other pow- 
 ers, the creative power; and from this Hindu Om, meaning 
 all-powerful, comes the om in our omnipotent, meaning the 
 all-powerful. The heathen Hindu, to whom we now send 
 missionaries, gave to us this grand omnific name; and our 
 missionaries now but bear it back with a grander meaning 
 to the land from whence it came. In the Ethiopic and the 
 Hebrew, this word om and on is one and the same, the m 
 and n, or their equivalents, being so interchangeable that 
 
14 
 
 at the end of words one stands for the other; and so in the 
 Ethiopic and the HebreAV, Mason doubly, first in each sep- 
 arate syllable, and again in the compound name, when ap- 
 plied to an individual, means a strong, healthy, virile, pro- 
 creative, aiioiiited, pei'fect man; and applied in architec- 
 ture, means a tabernacle, set upright, anointed with holy 
 oil, dedicated to sacred uses, a habitation, a dwelling, a holv 
 of holies, a sanctuary of sanctuaries for the Most High; a 
 building which the Great Builder, the Architect of the Uni- 
 verse, has builded on the Macon — the heavens — a, dwelling 
 place for Himself. And this is the origin and meaning of 
 the A\ords Mason and Masonry, 
 
 It is also an interesting inquiry why, and why it is en- 
 titled to be called. Free IMasonry. After the death of Rom- 
 ulus, the first king of Rome, seven hundred and thirteen 
 years before the Christian Era, the people of Rome were 
 divided into bitterly hostile factions, and the selection of a 
 neA\' king aroused these factions to the ^'Cry verge of civil 
 war. The greatest division of faction was between the 
 original Romans and the Sabines, who- had been admitted 
 to citizenship. But both realizing the necessity of a iiiler 
 to protect them from anarchy, it was agreed between the 
 Sabines and the Romans that each of the factions might 
 designate a (candidate for king, but such proposed king- 
 should be taken, not from the faction jiroposing him, but 
 from the other; and the Romans designated Numa Pom- 
 j)ilius, a Sabine, at that time only a private citizen, but dis- 
 tinguished for virtue and intelligence and exevy great and 
 noble quality of mind and heart, a character standing out 
 then in solitary, heroic, peerless grandeur; peerless then 
 and peerless since; and this selection was univei-^ally recog- 
 
15 
 
 iiized as so eiiiincntlv the wisest and best that all these dis- 
 cordant elements joined as with one voice in proclaiming 
 him their king. He at first refnsed to accept, bnt the de- 
 mand being continned, nrgent and nnanimons, he finally 
 accepted, and so great, wise and good -was his inflnence that 
 jealousy, discord and faction vanished, and the people of 
 Rome became one, and his entire reign of forty-three years 
 was a reign of peace, order and harmony; no war, not an 
 insnrrection, not a sword drawn, not a hand uplifted, not a 
 voice raised against his jnst, wise and beneficent rule. And 
 so widespread and benignant was his inflnence and example, 
 that even the hitherto warring nations aronnd him laid 
 (]()\\i\ their arms, and they too were at peace. 
 
 At that time there was in Rome certain societies or or- 
 ganizations or fraternities of artisans or craftsmen called 
 colleges. The most important among them was the Masons, 
 or Colleges of Bnilders. They were governed hj a code, 
 which was not merely rnles for their government as arti- 
 sans, bnt Avas also a moral, or rather a religions, code, and 
 that. too. one far in advance of the pagan religions of that 
 day. They tanght the purest morality, and whilst all others 
 worsliij^ped idols, they w^orshipped an unseen or spirit god. 
 Admission to these colleges could only be gained by the can- 
 didate passing through an initiation so severe that only the 
 very iittest survived the ordeal. These initiatory ceremonies 
 consisted of several degrees, embracing the learning in arts, 
 science, mythology, astrology, philosophy and religion of 
 the Egyptians, Hindoos, Persians, Chaldeans and Ethiopi- 
 ans united into one grand system called the Greater Mys- 
 teries, sacredly kept and brought down from the remotest 
 ages. The highest and onlv test of admission was, Is he 
 
16 
 
 wortliy and well qualified? They received the g'ood, the 
 wise, the learned, the brave, the true, from every blood, 
 race, tongue, people, language, nation or clime, and rejected 
 the ignorant and bad, come from whence they might. They 
 were skilled and learned in all the higher useful arts, and 
 their mysteries were but the possession of great truths gath- 
 ered and garnered from the -wisdom of the ages. They as- 
 sumed the most solemn vows of brotherhood, and to the prac- 
 tice of all the virtues, and to abstain from all vices. And a 
 college of men thus chosen, thus skilled, thus learned, with 
 such principles, and banded together for one purpose, and 
 that a holy purpose, became of right a mighty power for 
 good, and such a power it was, and so made its record, which 
 is found in all that is best in all the sacred books of all the 
 great religions of antiquity. It is found in the philosophy 
 of the Magi and Sophi of Persia, the Hierophants of Mem- 
 phis and the Gymnosophists of India. Homer, Lycurgus, 
 Thales, Solon, Herodotus, Democritus, Orpheus, Epicurus, 
 Plato, Apuleius, Plutarch, and St. John the Evangelist, had 
 all passed through its ordeal and survived. And the story 
 of the descent of Orpheus into the Shades, the story of the 
 Isles of the Blest, of the Elysian Fields, of Elysium and 
 Tartarus and the Apocalyptic Visions, are but veiled al- 
 legories from its dreadful drama of initiation. To the 
 greater mysteries there was a sacred password, and when 
 this v.'ord was spoken by one who had passed the ordeal, 
 before him the doors of the great arcanum were 0]3ened by 
 unseen spirit hands. 
 
 The three great religions through which Masonry has 
 come down to us had each a Supreme God, and each a sa- 
 cred name; and that talismanic word was these three god- 
 
17 
 
 names combined into one, each separate, and the combined 
 name, full of occnlt, awfnl and supernatural meaning. And 
 it was believed tliat when spoken by one without sin would 
 raise the dead, unbar the dung-eon doors of Tartarus and 
 hell, release imprisoned souls, and at that magic name the 
 gates of Paradise and Elysium would open wide. 
 
 And these Masons, or Colleges of Builders, were builders 
 indeed, for thev builded Rome; they quarried its marbles, 
 carved its statues, Imilt its protecting walls, its monuments, 
 its palaces, its temples, its pantheons and coliseums. They 
 builded a temple to Fides, or Faith, the Goddess of Honor, 
 or Good Faith, and in this temple the Masons worshipped, 
 ;ind on this altar Masons with clasped right hands took the 
 oath of brotherhood and made their vows to that imseen 
 spirit god as the most sacred oath and vow that Mason, man 
 or mortal could take. TTnder the direction of the peace-lov- 
 ing King Nunia they built a temple to Janus, the God of 
 Peace. That temple had two great doors. In time of peace 
 these doors were closed; in time of war, stood open, indi- 
 cating that the god had gone forth to the cani]> of war; for 
 when Rome was in peril every Roman must defend her, 
 and even her tutelary god of peace himself must go forth, 
 and that, too, as the leader of her legions. During the en- 
 tire forty-three years of the reign of the good King Numa, 
 the God of Peace remained in his temple, the great doors 
 unopened, while during the centuries which thereafter 
 came these doors stood almost continually open, Rome be- 
 ing almost continuously at "war. 
 
 In such high estimation Avere the Masons held by good 
 King ISTuma, that he granted to them a charter of freedom, 
 
 (2) 
 
IS 
 
 unlimited inid perpetual. Aud thus free, the Masons 
 carved and Iniilded until Rome heeame the capital, queen 
 city and proud mistress of the world. And still the Masons 
 were free. Free during the reign of the kings. Free dur- 
 ing the periods of the republics. Free during even the ty- 
 rannical empires of all the Caesars and all of their succes- 
 sors. And thus the Masons continued to be Free Masons, 
 and Masonry a great moral poM^er when Rome itself had 
 ceased to be a power, and Rome itself was no longer free. 
 And thus for Twenty-seven hundred years the Masons have 
 continued to be Free Masons, and Masonry a gTeat moral 
 world power, and still teaches the same grand gospel of lib- 
 erty our Mason fathers taught^ — liberty of action, thought 
 and conscience; teaches that all men are and of right ought 
 to be free, free to think for themselves, free to worship Clod 
 according to the dictates of their own consciences. Its 
 teachings inspired the Magna Charta, the Declaration of 
 American Independence and the Constitution ordained by 
 Washington and the fathers of the Republic to secure tiie 
 blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity for- 
 ever. It teaches, too, that there is a higher realm of free- 
 dom where truth alone makes free, free from ignorance, 
 bigotry, superstition and sin. It teaches, too, that "They 
 who would be free themselves must strike the blow." Its 
 teachings of the rights of man huve caused tyrants to trem- 
 ble, thrones to totter and despotisms to fall, never ! never ! 
 never ! again to rise. 
 
 Masonry was a potent iiifliienee in guiding our nation in 
 its evolution from a British dependency to a great, free re- 
 public, in inspiring sentiments of liberty, in firing the 
 hearts of men who would be free, in devising practical sys- 
 
19 
 
 terns, congresses, declarations of independence, articles of 
 confederation, constitutions, and, sword in hand, fighting 
 freedom's battles. 
 
 In the year 1754 a congress of the colonies was held in 
 Albany, New York, and Benjamin Franklin, a member and 
 a Mason, introduced a plan of perpetual union; and on the 
 fourth day of July, 1754, herald of a more glorious Fourth 
 of 'Inly yet to come, that plan of union was adopted, and 
 only failed by one ■vote of being ratified by the colonies. 
 That great man and good Mason, Benjamin Franklin, with 
 a prescience almost more than human, read the stars, the 
 portents and omens of the future, but was in advance of his 
 age. Yet his work was not lost. It was good seed sown on 
 good ground, the germ and forerunner of that constitution 
 which later came — the glorious constitution under which 
 we are living to-day. 
 
 One great influence which fired the American heart and 
 hurried on the Revolution, was the throwing of the tea over- 
 board in Boston harbor. Three British ships lay in that 
 harbor laden with tea. On the night of the thirteenth day 
 of December, 1773, a great town meeting was held in the 
 old South Church in Boston, at which th(^ question 
 was discussed whether that tea should be permitted to be 
 landed. The discussion, continued far into the night, but 
 finally came to a decision, and that great meeting of seven 
 thousand unanimously decided that the tea should not be 
 landed. And the historian relates that when the decision 
 was announced, vSamuel Adams, the great patriot, rose and 
 gave the ivord. Witliout a seeming band of soine fifty Mo- 
 hawk Indian warriors were waiting and listening; and an- 
 SAvering to that ivord a shout, a war-whoop, went up, and at 
 
20 
 
 a signal from John Hancock, the Mason, Panl Revere, the 
 Mason, standing by his side, that band of Indian warriors 
 marched single-file to Boston harbor, cast the tea into the 
 ocean, and vanished in the darkness of the night, none 
 knowing whence they came or whither they went. That 
 seeming band of Indian warriors was a band of patriot 
 Masons. A Boston Masonic Lodge had met that night, but 
 were called from labor to refreshment; Panl Revere, the 
 Mason, afterward Glrand Master of Massachusetts, succeed- 
 ing General Warren, superintending them during the hours 
 thereof; and during those hours of refreshment they re- 
 paired to Boston harbor, refreshed themselves by casting 
 the tea overboard, and thus refreshed they returned to the 
 lodge and were called on again in due season. And so well 
 was the secret kept that not until long after the war was 
 ended was it known to any but the actors who it was that 
 composed the famous Boston I'ea Party. 
 
 On the night of the eighteenth day of April, 1775, the 
 British General, Gage, sent a detachment of British troops 
 from Boston to Concord to arrest Samuel Adams and John 
 Hancoek for treason, and to seize a quantity of ammuni- 
 tion stored at that point; and Joseph Warren, that vigilant 
 sentinel ]\Iason on the outposts of liberty, rang the alarm 
 bells of Boston, and Paul Revere, the Mason, rode in the 
 darkness of midnight like a thunderbolt of war to Lexing- 
 ton, and called the minute men to arms; and before the daAvn 
 of that fateful nineteenth day of April, 1775, at Lexington, 
 the embattled fanners stood and fired the shot heard around 
 the world; and there was shed the first blood of the Revolu- 
 tion, and freedom's great battle was on. But O, what an 
 unequal contest! On the one side a few almost unarmed. 
 
21 
 
 undisciplined farmers without a leader; on the other a well- 
 armed, well-disciplined great army of the greatest militar;^ 
 power in the world, with a despot for a king. And there 
 was f ought the first battle of the Revolution; and there 
 American blood was shed; and there American lives were 
 laid down upon freedom's altar. But that blood was not 
 shed in vain. That day w^as not lost. That blood was 
 martyr blood, and each martyr drop cried from the ground 
 unto Heaven, and Heaven heard and answered the cry. On 
 the nineteenth day of April, I78e3, eight years to a day 
 from the battle of Lexington where the war was begun, 
 Washington, the Mason, Commander-in-Chief, issued a 
 proclamation to his victorious armies, proclaiming that the 
 war was ended and a treaty of peace had been signed be- 
 tween, the Kingdom of (Ireat Britain and the free and in- 
 dependent United States of America. 
 
 The battles of the Revolution were fought and won un- 
 der the administration of the Continental Congresses, and 
 Peyton Randolph, a Mason, was President of the First Con- 
 gress, that of 1Y74; and that Congress adopted resolutions 
 declaratory of American rights, and also a resolution of 
 commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain. And J ohn 
 Hancock, the Mason, was President of the Second Conti- 
 nental Congress, that of 1775; and that Congress ap- 
 pointed George Washington, a Mason, Commander-in- 
 Chief of the armies. And John Hancock, the Mason, was 
 again President of tlie Third Continental Congress, that of 
 1776; and that Congress, thank Heaven, was nearly all 
 Masons, for that Congress adopted the Declaration of 
 American Independence. On the seventh day of June, 
 1776, Richard Henry Tee, a Mason from Virginia, intro- 
 
22 
 
 duced into that Congress a declaration declaring tliat these 
 united colonies are and of right ought to be free and inde- 
 pendent states; and that declaration was referred to a coni- 
 uiittee composed mostly of Masons, among them Robert 
 Livingston, Grand Master of ISTew York, and Benjamin 
 Franklin, Grand Master of Pennsylvania, and that commit- 
 tee reported the full text of that declaration, and on the 
 fourth day of July, 1776, that declaration was adopted. 
 And of the fifty-six signers of that declaration of Ameri- 
 can Independence fifty-two were Masons, the first and bold- 
 est signature that of John Hancock, the Mason President 
 of that Congress. And that declaration was ^vritteu upon 
 a white lambskin, a Mason's apron. Some years ago I saw 
 the original parchment on which that declaration was wa-it- 
 ten, in the archives of our government at Washington, 
 sacredly kept as were the tables of stone in the ark of the 
 covenant at Horeb, the only signature yet legible being that 
 of John Hancock, the Mason President of that Congress. 
 And as the sons of freemen look upon that blank parch- 
 ment, with that one immortal Masonic name, what sacred 
 memories it awakens ! What hopes and glories of the future 
 it foretells ! Only a blank parchment, only a white lamb- 
 skin, yet it was a sacred thing to patriot millions dead. It 
 is a sacred thing to patriot millions living, and will be a 
 sacred thing to patriot millions yet unborn. Only a blank 
 parchment, only a white lambskin, yet it was the charter 
 of a nation's liberties. Only a blank parchment, only a 
 white lambskin, yet the grandest page the muse of history 
 has ever read or written, or ever will. 
 
 That patriot Mason Congress of 1776, John Hancock, 
 the Mason President, also prepared the articles of confeder- 
 
atioii. Jolni ]\Iortoii, a Mason, afterward Cliief Justice of 
 Pennsylvania, A\as chairman of tlie committee that drafted, 
 reported and recommended the adoption of these articles, 
 and their tinal adoption by Congress in 1778 is attested by 
 the signatures of many Masons, among them John Han- 
 cock, Ricliai'd llenry Lee and William H. Drayton, Chief 
 Justice of South Carolina and (^rand Master of that State. 
 ?vlany of the soldiers of the Revolution were Masons, and 
 a large number of its officers Avere Masons, and all of its 
 great generals, fifteen in numJ)er, were Masons, and five of 
 these were Grand Masters of Grand Lodges. And the first, 
 AVashingtoi), the C*ommander-in-Chief from the beginning 
 to the end, was a Mason, a charter member and Worshipful 
 Master of a Virginia Lodge. And General Joseph War- 
 ren, who rang the alarm bells of Boston and died upon 
 Bunker Hill, was a Mason and Grand Master of Massachu- 
 setts. And General Steuben was a Mason. Lie learned the 
 art of war under Frederick the Great, the great king and 
 great soldier, and great ^lasou, and (leneral Steuben 
 taught tl;at great soldier's art of war to the Ameri- 
 can army, winch made it an army indeed. And Gen- 
 eral DeKall), who fell at the battle of {^aniden pierced 
 with eleven \vounds, was a ]\Iason. General John 
 Sullivan was a ^Mason and Grand ^Lister of jSTew 
 Hampshire. And General Richard Henry Lee, wdio intro- 
 duced the Declaration of Independence into the Continen- 
 tal Congress, was a Mason. And General Rufus Putnam 
 was a Mason and first Grand Master of Ohio. And General 
 Israel Putnam, who commanded at Bunker Hill, was a 
 Mason. General Lafayette, the bosom friend and com- 
 panion of Washington, and General Francis Marion were 
 
24 
 
 Masons. And General Richard Caswell, the first Governor 
 of Xorth Carolina, was a Mason and Grand Master of that 
 State. And General Patterson was a Mason and Worship- 
 fnl Master of the American Union Lodge, an army Lodge 
 in Washington's camp. And it was in that armv Lodge 
 that Washington, the Mason, Commander-in-Chief, snr- 
 roiinded by his trnsted Mason generals, and tiled by Mason 
 gnards, held his grand councils of war. And General 
 David Wooster was a Mason and Worshipful Master of the 
 first Connecticut Lodge. And General Edmund Randolph, 
 Washington's Aid during the war, member of the United 
 States Constitutional Convention, first United States At- 
 torney-General, and second Ignited States Secretary of 
 State, and Governor of Virginia, was a Mason and Grand 
 Master of that State. It was through the Masonic influ- 
 ence of Benjamin Franklin, a Mason, that General I^afa- 
 yette, a Mason, together v/ith the French nation, came to our 
 aid. And it was Robert Morris, the Mason, who managed 
 the nation's financial affairs through that critical period, 
 and without which aid all else must have failed. Masons, 
 too, ever first at the cradle of liberty, were there and gave 
 inspiration to the Constitution of our countr^'. Many of 
 the members of that convention were Masons, among them 
 Richard Henry Lee, who introduced the Declaration of In- 
 dependence into the (continental Congress, and Benjamin 
 Franklin, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and 
 who did more to advance the science of electricity than all 
 the two thousand four hundred years since the day of 
 Thales of Miletus, was a Mason and Grand Master of Penn- 
 sylvania. And first and highest, the immortal Washing- 
 ton, the President of that Convention, was a Mason. And 
 
thns the Presidents of all the Continental Congresses, that 
 made Washington Commander-in-Chief, that declared the 
 Declaration of Independence, that adopted the Articles of 
 Confederation, and the President of the Convention that 
 ordained our Constitution, and the first President of the 
 United States — the first great free republic of the world — 
 were Masons, as is also our present President now at our 
 jSTation's helm. And that grand old hero-President, An- 
 drew Jackson, was a Mason and Grand Master of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 One of the great casuistical questions is. Does God an- 
 s^ver prayer ? And we may confidently believe God does 
 not answer prayer through miracles or by reversing the 
 laws of nature. But we may well believe that God does 
 carry into execution his designs and purposes, both in the 
 moral and the physical world, through means and processes 
 and natural laws set in motion, guided and directed by the 
 human wish and will. 
 
 Geology teaches us that all creation is formation and 
 re-formation. Every hour we see about us production and 
 destruction, groAvth and decay. What wonderful processes 
 are employed in the production of vegetable growt^h, from 
 the smallest plant to the mightiest forest. The rain and 
 the sunshine combine, and these again combine with the 
 unseen elements of the air, and these again ^Aath the atoms 
 of the earth, to produce verdure and forest which clothe 
 and crowm the world with beauty. 
 
 The com in the granary is an answer tO' prayer — answers 
 brought by God's own swift-winged messengers, nature's 
 laws; answers to the prayer of the husbandman's plow in 
 the furrow; to the prayer of the sweep and swing of the 
 
26 
 
 sower's arm; to the pra^'er of the thrust of the keen-edged 
 scythe in the ripened harvest; to the prayer of the resound- 
 ing flail on the thresliing floor; to the prayer of the win- 
 nowing fan in labor's hand. 
 
 The planting of a tree is a prayer, and though no word 
 he spoken it is an inefi^ahle prayer from the heart of a trust 
 in (lod. Yet that prayer must await (rod's OA\ni good time, 
 and for a time that prayer may seem unanswered; yet that 
 ansvv^er is surely on the way, for daj by day that tree is 
 striking deeper and firmer its roots, day by day waving 
 higher and higher its branohes. Years go by, and it is win- 
 ter. Each twig is white with frost and cold, and even the 
 promised bud seems dead. And yet no answer to the tree- 
 planted prayer has come. But another springtime comes, 
 and with it leaves and buds and blossoms, heralds of prom- 
 ise. And later comes another time of the ripening of 
 fruits, and lo! swaying in the autumn wiud each pendent 
 twig has brought an answer to that tree-planted prayer. 
 Robed in garments of russet and crimson and gold, that 
 ripened nectared fruit, apples from the gardens of the gods, 
 are but waiting the petitioner's hand to gather the answer to 
 that tree-planted prayer, for that answer has indeed come. 
 But from where? or whence? or how? Before the fruit 
 Avas the blossom; but wdienoe? Before the blossom, the 
 bud; but whence? Then further must M'^e seek; down 
 through the twdg, the limb, the branch, the trunk. But 
 further must we seek ; doAvn among the gnarled and knott-ed 
 roots. But deeper, further yet; down among the myriad 
 i"ootlets underground must we go. But deeper, further yet. 
 But no deeper can we go, for we are now in earth's deep, 
 dark caverns. And can it be that that o-lorified answer to 
 
27 
 
 t.lie prayer of faith and hope and trust in God came from 
 this dark cell? Where are now the gnomes and titans, 
 mighty toilers underground, of whom in the mythologies 
 we are told? Is not this rather a tomh, a grave, a sepulchre 
 of dead and buried hopes, than a treasure-house where 
 gifts of God are stored? Here naught is to he seen but 
 clods, dark, damp clods. But tear those roots and clods 
 asunder, and the clods will remain; but the roots, the tree, 
 the trunk, the limbs, the twig, the bud, the blossom will 
 wither and perish and die, and no answer to the tree-planted 
 prayer ever corners. Thus far have we traced these prayer- 
 answering messengers of God, and the last messenger that 
 mortal eyes has seen was but a clod. But clods are servants 
 of God, and that dark damp came from the clouds and dews 
 when the stars were shining, spirit messengers bearing an- 
 swers to human prayer, and other \\alling messengers are 
 waiting to bear these answers on. Above even the darkness, 
 the night, the cold, the frost, the snow, the ice and blasts 
 of winter are fellow-messengers with the dews and whisper- 
 ing zeyphrs of summer among the leaves. And the far- 
 away sun is sending on beams of light and warmth, tributes 
 of perfume for its blossoms. Ripening for its nectar and 
 dyes of crimson and gold for its robings. And thus the 
 tree-plant-ed prayer is answered. But from whence, and 
 where, and how? From out the earth, the sea and the air. 
 From out of the unseen and the infinite. Brought by God's 
 own swift-winged messengers, nature's laws, apples of gold 
 from the gardens, and wines from the vintages of the gods. 
 How wonderful, too, are the processes employed in the 
 production of animal life, from the smallest insect to the 
 leviathan and the behemoth. AYhat wonderful processes 
 
28 
 
 are employed in the production of a human being — this 
 wonderful human body and more wonderful immortal soul. 
 What a wondrous thing is the birdling in its nest and the 
 lamb in the meadow ! The sleeping, helpless babe in its 
 cradle I All these had birth and growth and development 
 through time and means and processes, from the lowest 
 form of inanimate matter to the highest human intellect. 
 Motives, passions, impulses, feelings of the heart go out and 
 influence the will; the will directs the intelligence, and the 
 intelligence goes out in the labors that produce results, 
 changes conditions, creates or destroys, builds up and tears 
 do\vn. And good or l)ad feelings of the heart produce good 
 or bad results, changing the oi-der of CA^ents and directing 
 the destinies. And he who rises from his knees, having sin- 
 cerely asked for aid and guidance from on liigh, Avill rise 
 with a better heart and a higher and holier purpose within 
 him, and that holier purpose will go out and influence and 
 direct the will, and will find expression in labors that pro- 
 duce good results, and these ■ results are the answers to 
 prayer; and thus the tree-planted prayer has been answered. 
 For the labor that planted it has been answered, and when 
 the labor that planted and tended is answered, the labor 
 that inspired it is answered, and thus God does answer 
 prayer; not through miracles or the reversion of natural 
 laws, but through means and processes, and directly 
 through natural laws set in motion, guided and directed by 
 liiunan wish and will ; an answer to the prayer of the heart 
 and the hand; an answer to the prayer of faith and works, 
 an answ^er to the prayer of intelligence and labor; for the 
 Mason's motto is, ''Lahorare est orare, labor is worship, 
 labor is prayer." 
 
29 
 
 One of the most forcible illustrations oi this theory is 
 fonnd in an event which occurred in the United States Con- 
 stitutional Convention; an event not only of world-^vide, 
 Init almost of etemity-wide importance. Many members 
 of that Convention warmly favored the adoption of the 
 draft of the Constitution as prepared by a committee of five 
 appointed for that purpose, while many others ])itterjy op- 
 posed it; and these dissensions culminated in differences 
 which seemed in-econcilable, and a resolution was intro- 
 duced to adjourn without day, with every probability that it 
 w^ould be adopted, when Benjamin Franklin, a member, 
 and a Mason, over eighty years of age, introduced a substi- 
 tute resolution, that instead of adjourning without day, 
 each morning l>efore conimeucing their deliberations a 
 prayer be offered up asking wisdom and guidance from on 
 high, and with majestic eloquence plead for its adoption, 
 declaring that for himself he would join in that prayer, 
 and so conduct himself as if he believed (which indeed he 
 did) that God was waiting and willing to answer the prayers 
 should they be found worthy. The resolution was adopted. 
 The first prayer was offered, and a holy hush and calm from 
 above came down upon them, and thenceforward the dis- 
 cussions were conducted with temperate zeal, with mutual 
 concession and courtesy, and resulted in the adoption of 
 that glorious Constitution under ^^diich we are living to- 
 day; a Constitution, which, together with the Ten Com- 
 mandments, the Sermon on the Mount and the Declaration 
 of American Independence will constitute a grand code of 
 goverament for the v^^orld when tlie millenium comes. 
 And thus the prayer of that good man and Mason, Benja- 
 min Franklin, was answered; and thus the moniing prayer 
 
30 
 
 of that gTeat Constitutional Convention, the gTandest san- 
 hedrin that ever sat in council, was answered. God had in- 
 deed answered with the ^andest answer the grandest 
 prayer that ever went up from the footstool to the tlirone; 
 and that nation, then composed of a few feeble, discordant 
 colonies, grew into a great free nation, the greatest, freest 
 nation in the world, the only nation trnly free, the only 
 nation in which the people govern themselves; and nnder 
 the protecting Aegis of that Constitntion is gathered the 
 lives, the liberties, the homes, the destinies of a nation of 
 eighty millions of free, happy, united people, the Ivonds of 
 union every year groA\'ing brighter and stronger; every year 
 another sister State added to the band of the free, and every 
 year anotlier star added to the constellation on its flag'. 
 Who that believes that God made and rules the world can 
 doubt that that Constitution was an answer to prayer ? Who 
 can doubt that its authors were inspired by ^visdoln from on 
 high { Who can df^ubt that their lips were touched as with 
 a live coal from the altar, as were the hallowed lips of Isaiah 
 and the other great j^rophets of old ? 
 
 And thus it will be seen that Masonry was the inspira- 
 tion, and Masons the elected instrumentality through which 
 our liberties were won. Without Masons and Masonr}', 
 the tea would not have Ijeen thro^^^l overboard at Boston. 
 Without Masons and Masonry, the alarm l^ells of Boston 
 would not have been rung. Without Masous and Ma- 
 sonry, the battle of Lexington would not have been fought. 
 Without Masons and Masonry, Washington Avould not have 
 been appointed commander-in-chief. Without Masons and 
 Masonry, the Declaration of Independence would not 
 have been declared. Without Masons and Masonry, the 
 
ol 
 
 Articles of Confederation wonld not have been adopted. 
 Withont Masons and Masonr\-, the battles of the Revolu- 
 tion would not have been fought, or, if fought, without its 
 Mason generals, conld not have been won. Without Ma- 
 sons and Masonry, the Constitution of the United States 
 would not have been ordained. Strike from the history 
 of OTU' revolutionary period this niiglity chain of events, 
 strike a single mighty link from this mighty chain, and 
 our liberties would not have been won. And thus, in the 
 very throes of our nation's birth, when freedom's battles 
 were being fought and freedom's triumphs won, Masons 
 were there in the thick and forefront of the fight, and Ma- 
 son captains, too, it ^vas that led her conquering heroes on; 
 and Masons, too, it Avas that wrote the title deeds and gave 
 inspiration to the world's great chartei's and monuments of 
 lil)erty. 
 
 When AVashington took the first oath as President of 
 the T'nited States, the oath was administered by Robert 
 Livingston, the Grand Master of IS'ev; York, on the Altar 
 Bible of St. John's Lodge No. 1; and when the corner 
 stone of tlie capitol was laid at Washington, the stone was 
 laid by Masons, and Washington was present as President 
 and also as a Alason, clothed in the Masonic regalia. Wasli- 
 ington the Great, Washington the gTeatest of mortals, 
 Washington the immortal, lived and died a Mason, and 
 Masons bore his sacred dust to the tomb and laid upon his 
 cotfin the Acacia, syml)ol of immortality, and every century 
 hereafter, for centuries and centuries. Masons will gather 
 at that shrine to render homage akin to worship. 
 
 liichard, the Lion Hearted, was a Mason; and Cromwell, 
 the Protector, was a Mason; and Garibaldi, the Liberator 
 
32 
 
 of Italy, was a Mason; and Kossutli, the great Hungarian 
 patriot, was a Mason, and was brought to light in the City 
 of Indianapolis in the old hall which stood where now this 
 Temple stands; Henrv Clay, the great orator and states- 
 man, was a Mason and Grand Master of Kentucky; Burns, 
 the great poet; Wesley, the great Eyangelist; Wren and 
 Steinhach, the great architects, were Masons — gi'eat men, 
 they shed lustre upon Masonry, but Masonry had helped 
 to make them great. 
 
 Masonry extends, too, to labor's hand a friendly and a 
 brotherly token. It teaches' the duty and dignity of labor. 
 It teaches that all labor that is useful is honest, and all labor 
 that is honest is honorable; that labor is not a badge of 
 servility, but a crown of honor. It teaches, too, that labor 
 creates all; that in the beginning labor, the labor of an Al- 
 mighty hand, created the heayens and the earth and all that 
 in them is. The Mason's motto is, "Labot^are est orare; 
 labor is worship, labor is prayer." In our ritual the Mason 
 will find a friend and monitor, for it teaches him how to 
 employ his time, how to divide the hours of the day. And 
 first, eight hours to the service of God, and eight hours to 
 labor in his usual A'ocation. And this grand precept has 
 gone out of our Lodges, out and abroad into the world, un- 
 til custom, commerce, law and humanity's great heart have 
 caught up the cry, and they too have said and are saying, 
 and will continue to say, eight hours for labor. 
 
 Yes, Masonry in its origin was a religion, and to our an- 
 cient brethren their all, for life and death, for earth and 
 sky, for time and the eternal, and might almost yet be 
 called a religion. T^pon our altars glows a Great Light, a 
 lamp to our feet and a light to our path; the same Great 
 
Light that ilhinies the higliest religious thought of the 
 world to-day. We put our trust in the same God, we ac- 
 cept the same commandments and sermons given to our 
 fathers upon the mountains, whether amid the thunders of 
 Sinai or the quiet groves of Olivet. 
 
 Many of the great religious festivals of the world are of 
 Masonic origin. The ancient Masons celebrated every year 
 four great festivals, all astronomical, the solstices and the 
 equinoxes. These notable phenomena in the sky the an- 
 cient Masons celebrated as festivals thousands of years ago. 
 They celebrated the summer solstice, the 24th day of June, 
 the longest day in the year, and yet celebrate it as the festi- 
 vul of St. John, the Baptist. They also celebrated the Avin- 
 ter solstice, the 25th day of December, the shortest day in 
 the year, and the ancient Masons commenced their new 
 year on this day. And the deity that presided in the sky 
 over the opening of this new year they called Janus, or the 
 opener of the door of the heavens, from which comes our 
 word "janitor," the door opener, and "January," the first 
 or opening month in the year. This solstice is also yet cele- 
 brated by the Masons as a festival, and intended to be called 
 by its ancient name, but slightly changed in the pronuncia- 
 tion — not Janus's day, but St. John's day, the festival of 
 St. John, the Evangelist. And the midnight hour of this 
 festival dnj they cCiobrated with feasts and songs and glad- 
 ness and rejoicings, as on that midnight hour the sun 
 seemed to stand for a moment still, and in that moment of 
 stillness cold winter died and the new year and springtime 
 were born. It is now called Christmas, and the "mas" is 
 the same as the "mas" in Mason and Messiah, which means 
 
 (3) 
 
34 
 
 "to anoint," or "the anointed," and is yet celebrated the 
 \vide world over with feasts and songs and gladness and re- 
 joicings. Onr ancient brethren called it Hied, a name 
 given to it by the Chaldeans thousands of years ago. In 
 the Chaklaic language Uhd means at tlie very beginning — 
 the instant at which order came out of chaos — the instant 
 at which light sprang from darkness; and in the Chaldaic 
 and Hebrew this word Uled means "a birth," or "to be 
 born," and is the identical word nsed by God himself when 
 he said to Eve, "In son-ow shalt tlioii bring forth children;'" 
 the identical word nsed Avlien it is said that Cain, the first- 
 born child was born; the identical Avord nsed when it was 
 said that Abel and Seth and Enoch and Methuselah and 
 Xoali and Shem and Ham and Japheth were bom. It is also 
 the identical word used when it is said that unto the sons of 
 God and the daughters of men children were born, mighty 
 men of renown. It is also the identical word used when it is 
 said that the patriarchs were born.; and again when God 
 promised Abraliam that a son should be born unto Sarah. 
 It is the identical word used when God said unto David, 
 "Behold, a son shall be born inito thee, and he shall be a 
 man of rest, for his name shall be Solomon," the sign or 
 symbol of peace; the identical word used by the prophets 
 when they foretold the birth of the Savior, saying, "A man 
 of God came out of Judea unto Bethel, and cried against 
 the altar, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold, a 
 child shall be bom unto the House of David, flosiah his 
 name." And again Avhen Isaiah utters that wonderful 
 phophecy, "Tor unto us a child is l)orn, untO' us a son is 
 given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and 
 
85 
 
 liis name shall he ealled Wonderful, (^nnselor, the Mi,ii,'hty 
 God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." 
 
 Yes, Masonry in its origin was a religion, and might yet 
 almost be called a religion. Onr pathway on earth is the 
 same, and our goal beyond is the same. Both teach men 
 better how to live, and l)etter how to die. And both teach 
 that though a man die, yet he shall live again. Our ritual 
 is a sublime scheme of moral philosophy, and outside of 
 Christianity the highest and best known to men, and well 
 worthy to go hand in hand and a co-worker ^vith religion, 
 and for centuries so hand in hand has gone, and for cen- 
 turies yet to come so hand in hand will go. 
 
 Many members of those Roman Colleges of Builders ac- 
 companied the legions under Caesar into Gaul and Britain 
 nearly two thousand years ago. They were the engineers 
 for the legions, constructing their camps and fortifications, 
 and founded many of what are noAV great cities of Great 
 Britain. And as members of such Colleges of Builders 
 they were still free; free from all laws but their owai, and 
 amenable to no tribunal but their o\\t;i. The good King 
 ]*^uma, a king chosen and crowned by the people; a king, 
 yet an apostle of liberty and peace, granted the Masons of 
 Rome a charter of freedom. To the Romans the far-away 
 land of Gaul, the sunset side of the Alps, was then an un- 
 known wilderness, its people wandering savages. Seven 
 hundred years later, in Bethlehem of Judea, arose a yet 
 greater prophet, a yet mightier king, and gave to the world a 
 yet grander charter of freedom, and that later prophet, that 
 mightier king, sent forth his apostles and commanded them 
 to go into all the world and preach the ►gospel to every 
 creature. An<l as they went, some of them came to Rome, 
 
36 
 
 then the capital, the queen city, the imperium in imperio 
 of the world. And there they taught, saying, "Thou shalt 
 not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of 
 anything that is in heaven above, or the earth beneath, or 
 in the waters under the earth. Thou slialt not bow down 
 unto them nor serve them; for God is a spirit, and they 
 that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in 
 truth. The Romans also had a worship, magnificent tem- 
 ples and a powerful priesthood and many gods, but not 
 spirit gods. Their people and their Caesars, and even their 
 Virgils and Ciceros bo^v^ed down in adoration to images of 
 molten brass and sculptured stone called Jupiter, and Mars, 
 and Bacchus, and Apollo, and Venus, and Juno, and Diana, 
 and Minerva, and a host of other gods and goddesses, great 
 and small. And those idol-worshipping Romans persecuted 
 the Christians because they refused to bow do^\ai to those 
 graven images, or worship those idol gods; persecuted them 
 with prison, stripes and death. The Masons had been com- 
 manded when persecuted in one city to flee to another, and 
 thus persecuted in the great city of Rome, then the center 
 of the world's civilization, they fled to the land of tlie sav- 
 age, to the mlderness of Gaul. But by decree of the Roman 
 Emperor, persecution followed them even there. But 
 Numa's Colleges of Builders, j^uma's Masons, ISTuma's 
 T'ree Masons were there, and there before them, and still 
 free. And when the Christians learned that the Masons 
 were thus free and above the laws of imperial Rome, they 
 sought and gained admission to the Masonic fraternities, 
 and this admission at once invested them witli the same 
 rights of freedom where the edicts of persecution and death 
 of idol-worshipping Roman Emperors could not reach 
 
37 
 
 them. And when thus admitted, to their mntnal ghid sur- 
 prise, they found that the philosophy of the Masons and 
 the religion of the (Christians in all their great essential 
 teachings were the same. Both taught the existence of one 
 God, tlie immortality of the soul, a future of rewards and 
 punishments. Both taught the great fatherhood of God and 
 the universal brotherhood of man, and they thus found 
 themselves bound together by a common tie, the tie of a 
 sworn brotherhood and believers in the same creed and gos- 
 pel of truth. And thenceforward from the Masonic col- 
 leges went out Christianity's greatest apostles and boldly 
 preached the gospel under the protecting shield of the 
 Masonic name, until Christianity became a great moral 
 power, and later, under the Emperor Constantine, a great 
 political power. For the Emperor became first a Mason, 
 and then a Christian, and then proclaimed Christianity the 
 religion of the State, A^diioh it ever since has been and yet 
 is, and able to protect itself. And then the Masons built 
 for the Christians their churches, their abbeys, their altars 
 and their cathedrals. 
 
 One Christian Mason fell a martyr. Carausias was at that 
 time commander of the Roman navy. He took possession 
 of Britain, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the West. 
 Albanus, a Christian and a Mason, Avas then Britain's first 
 Grand Master of Masons, and he conducted the negotia- 
 tions between the Masons and the Emperor with such suc- 
 cess that the Emperoi- confirmed to the Masons all their 
 ancient privileges, and Albanus then attempted to convert 
 the Emperor to Christianity, at which the Emperor took 
 such offense that he ordered Albanus to be beheaded, 
 A^^hich Avas done. And thus Britain's first Grand Master of 
 
38 
 
 Masons hecanie Britain's first Christian martyr- The place 
 'wiiere he was martyred was then the royal residence of the 
 Emperor and \vas called Venilam, bnt the name was 
 changed to that of the Martyred Grand Master, and for a 
 thousand years the name has been, and yet is, Saint Albans, 
 a town on a hill near what is now England's gi'eat capital 
 city, then but a hamlet. 
 
 And thns he died. Died as the Messiah died. Died as 
 died the Masons' First Grand Master, the first grand archi- 
 tect of the fii-st grand temple to the living God. They all 
 died martyrs. All hated l)ecaiise they were good, aiid slain 
 by those they wonld have blest. The Messiah died npon 
 JMonnt C'alvar\-. llie Masons' first Grand Master died 
 npon Monnt Moriah, and England's first grand Master nj^wn 
 ]\Ionnt ^'enllam, now St. Albans. They all died npon 
 monntain tops, and their martyr blood made those monnts, 
 like Horeb and Sinai, holy gTound, sacred places, shrines 
 forever. But not to the chief priests and elders, not to the 
 Pilates, the Herods or the Gaesai-s; not to tlie crnciiiers, the 
 mnrderers; bnt to the crncified, the mnrdered, the noble, 
 holy, martyred God-like dead. And thns is good brought 
 out of evil. The cross is changed from ignominy to a sym- 
 bol of glory shining \vith the inscription, "In this sign con- 
 qner.'' And the grave where the body lays down its bones, 
 is where the spirit, too, lays down its fetters and takes on 
 its seraphim wings. It was the crncifixions and the mart>a'- 
 doms that tonched and awakened Immanity's great heart, 
 and this made Christianity and Masonry, and this again 
 made the world's highest and best civilization. Strike the 
 crncifixion from Christianity, strike the mnrdered Grand 
 Master from Masonry, and the great central fignre, the 
 
39 
 
 spirit, the divine essence, the inspiration wonkl be lost. 
 Every holy canse must have a baptism, and that baptism 
 mnst always be in blood, and that blood must always be of 
 the bravest and best, and a resurrection to a higher life can 
 only be by an angel from heaven rolling back a great stone 
 from the door of the sepulchre. The death of the mar- 
 tyred Grand Master united the Masons and Christians of 
 England in a new and holier tie and a grander purpose. 
 That holier tie a great, common sorrow, mourners at the 
 same tomb; that grander pur^wse a greater determination 
 to overcome evil with good, as good is the mighty weapon 
 with which all evil shall be overcome and finally destroyed, 
 as the warmest, softest, gentlest sunbeam not only loosens 
 but breaks the strongest fetters of ice the fiercest, coldest 
 north wind can bind. 
 
 The Masons, too, suffered persecution; persecution l)y 
 tyrants, despots and bigots, because they stood for the rights 
 of man and proclaimed and demanded civil, religious and 
 political liberty. But from this persecution they came 
 forth grander, braver, stronger and purer, as flowers yield 
 their sweetest perfume when bruised, as the purest gold 
 comes from fires that are fiercest, as the oak exposed to the 
 storm but strikes a deeper, firmer root than the oak that is 
 sheltered from the blast. 
 
 With this notable exception of the martyred Grand Mas- 
 ter, Masonry protected Christianity in England in the days 
 of its weakness, and the historian declare? that it was thus 
 better protected and preserved in greater purity in Eng- 
 land than in any other nation. And this is the source from 
 which comes the inspiration which made England what it 
 has been and is, and to this it owes the liigh civilization it 
 
40 
 
 enjoys to-day. Masoiu-y and Christianity hand in hand 
 ^xere the moral inspiration which gave to England domin- 
 ion of the sea, made it the antocrat of commerce and a 
 great center from which radiated, and is radiating, illumi- 
 nation to the world. 
 
 How wonderfully the ages are linked together. Two 
 thousand and seven hundred years ago, the good King 
 Numa granted to the Masons of the then infant city of 
 Rome a charter of freedom; and thus free, they carved 
 and builded and developed the arts of sculpture and ai'chi- 
 tecture and builded Rome, and thence carried the arts of 
 civilization into the wilderness of Gaul, and from thence 
 it spread abroad into hemispheres and continents then un- 
 known, and became a mighty influence in moulding and 
 directing the civilization of the world; then and ever since 
 until now, a mighty moral force for good, and so it will 
 continue to be until time shall be no more. 
 
 Yes, how wonderfully the ages are linked together. 
 Strike Christianity from the world, and how changed would 
 be its civiKzation. Strike Masonry from the past and again 
 how changed. But strike both Masonry and Christianity 
 and their joint work from the world, and again how 
 changed, how darkly changed would be the destiny of man. 
 The good Kmg Xuma could not foresee these grand results; 
 but Ave, the heirs of his good deeds, can look back along the 
 pathway of time and history, and read the records of the 
 epochs, and see the great links of the mighty chain binding 
 the destiny of the past with the destiny of the present and 
 all time to come. Most kings have been despots and tyrants 
 and scourges, but that one good deed of a good king, two 
 thousand seven hundred vears ago, was the fountain source 
 
41 
 
 of a stream of beneficence to the world which has flowed on. 
 broadening and deepening and ^\idening as the ages past 
 rolled by, and mil continue to broaden and deepen and 
 widen as the ages yet to come roll on, roll on, roll on 
 forever. 
 
 The reverent man cannot believe tliis was the mere acci- 
 dent of human events, the mere random cast of a die, from 
 the hand of a blind fate, but must be a design from the 
 trestle of the Grand Architect, and foreordained in the 
 councils of heaven. Yes, Masom-y is old, old as the religions 
 of Egypt, India, Persia, Chaldea, and Ethiopia, from which 
 it has come down to us. It builded the monuments of the 
 buried long ago. It laid the foundation stones of the pyra- 
 mids, standing out among the desert sands like mighty 
 toru])stones at the sepulchres of dead empires. It has 
 founded nations, and written their epitaphs. Old, yes older 
 than history. Old, yes older than tradition. Old, its rec- 
 ord may be read in the scattered leaves of the mythologies, 
 in the papyri of Egypt, and the vitrified bricks of Baby- 
 lon, and the long-buried but now exhumed tablets of Nine- 
 veh and the obelisks of Luxor and Karnak; and far down 
 under ground the explorer of to-day, by the light of his 
 lamp, may read the Masonic signets set there three thou- 
 sand years ago upon the very foundation stones of Solo- 
 mon's Temple; and read those signets again in the great 
 quarries from whence the stones for its building were taken. 
 
 And may it be perpetual ! While the stars glitter in the 
 firmament of night, while the sun rides in a chariot of fire 
 through heaven's vault at noon-day, may it be perpetual ! 
 While storm shall rage and lightnings flash, and thunders 
 crash, may it be perpetual ! While sickness, sin and sor- 
 
42 
 
 row, pestilence and death walk abroad, may it be perpetual ! 
 While brother needs a brother, while widows weep and 
 orphans moan, may it be perpetual ! While truth needs an 
 advocate, innocence a defender, virtue a protector, freedom 
 a soldier or mercy a ministering angel, may it be perpetnal ! 
 And not until the last sin shall have been forgiven, and 
 the last tear wiped from sorrow's eye, then, and not till 
 then, will it have ended its mission of mercy here below. 
 And it will be perpetual, for its great triune principles of 
 faith, hope and charity are perpetual. Faith can not die, 
 Hope is ever young, and Charity is immortal. 
 
LET THERE BE LIGHT. 
 
 BY J. CAVEN, K. T., 33° 
 
 GENESIS, CHAPTER I. 
 
 1. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth. 
 
 2. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness 
 was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon 
 the face of the waters. 
 
 3. And God said, Let there be Light: and there was light. 
 
 '•Let there be Light," Jehovah said. 
 
 Creation's vaulted dome resplendent shone, 
 Old Chaos all affrighted fled 
 
 From off his dark and gloomy throne. 
 The v\'aters rolled away, the earth was born. 
 And smiling, glowed beneath creation's morn. 
 
 "Let there be Light!" The Sun began 
 Its mighty march across the bended sky; 
 
 And then it seemed to wondering man 
 A glance from God's all-seeing eye. 
 
 As thus it flung its blazing beams abroad 
 
 And whelmed in light the universe of God. 
 
 "Let there be Light!" The Moon arose 
 And hung on high its sheen of dazzling light, 
 And myriad gleams of glory throws 
 
 Across the darksome brow of night: 
 And clouds that through the sky in blackness rolled 
 Are robed in white and crowned with gold. 
 
 (43) 
 
44 
 
 "Let there be Light!" The stars that throng 
 The sky in constellations bright and grand 
 
 Burst forth in one undying song. 
 That trembling swept o'er sea and land. 
 
 Their mighty anthem still shall grandly pour 
 
 Till time shall cease, shall cease and be no more. 
 
 The morning stars together sang. 
 
 Encircling wide the great all-central throne. 
 And Earth and Heaven together rang 
 
 With that triumphant music tone. 
 As echoing through the gloomy shades of night 
 That choral strain sublime, "Let there be Light!" 
 
 "Let there be Light!" Huge comets came 
 And forth upon their mighty mission went. 
 
 With forms of fire and Avings of flame 
 To heaven's remotest battlement. 
 
 To realms of deepest, darkest, furthest night 
 
 They bore that ei-ent coniniand. "Let there be Light!' 
 
 "Let there be Liglit!" Fierce lightning flashed: 
 With bolts of flame that awful gloom was rent. 
 
 And peal on peal the thunder crashed 
 Across tlae blackeueil tirniament. 
 
 As though Omuipoteuce in anger spoke 
 
 And thus primeval nigiit and silence broke. 
 
 But silent now that thunder tone. 
 And lo! in beauty o'er the sky unfurled 
 
 Tliat grandly stretched from zone to zone. 
 An arch of promise to the world; 
 
 Glowing midst the clouds so pure and hoary. 
 
 Is traced the rainbow's path of glory. 
 
45 
 
 All glowing: from tlie sacred page, 
 Whose beams divine the human soul illnme. 
 
 That burns undimmed from age to age, 
 Dispelling fast earth's moral gloom. 
 
 Behold a gi'eater light tian all is given. 
 
 Whose radiance lights the path that leads to heaven. 
 
 Wlien comes the Horse and Rider pale. 
 And Death's hoodwink shall close the Mason's sight, 
 
 When past the dark and shadowy vale. 
 All shall be brought to further light 
 
 Within that Lodge that's builded on the sky. 
 
 And lighted by our God's all-seeing eye. 
 
 Omniscient truth shall light the soul 
 When lost the Sun. and :\Ioon, and every Star: 
 
 And whilst eternal ages roll. 
 In mighty cycles sweeping far. 
 
 No sorrow cloud shall dim that Lodge above — 
 
 'Tis lighted by oiir Master's smile of love. 
 
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