ledge of all the points, on which our mystic art depends, and these are, WISDOM to design, STRENGTH to execute, and the BEAUTY OF HOLINESS to adorn. Let us remember, that the same pages contain an inestimable pearl of great price, and that those individuals are the only wise and good, who make that pearl their own. Numberless are our encouragements to this duty. We are told, that if we ask, we shall receive, if we seek, we shall find, and that if we knock, it shall be opened to us. Luke xi. 9. In that case, we lay hold on the right pillar in the temple, both of solid fame and spiritual wealth, whereby we shall be established; and then we may safely rest upon the left, a still higher column in the Masonic department, as in that we shall find

STRENGTH.

Another motive to this, flows from the examples before us. Whatever may be our rank in life, we shall find, on a close investigation, many, who in a similar station, have dignified themselves, and been useful to mankind. Let us remember, that the widow, who threw in her mite into the treasury, was, in the opinion of the Saviour of the world, more generous and compassionate than any, who had, on that occasion, entered the temple.

Verbal love is nothing. Therefore, let his example, who went about continually doing good, be the pillar so elegantly adorned with lily work, kindly directing and inflaming our hearts towards the brethren. Let us meet

the very lowest of them on the level of condescension, and may we never venture to despise the man, for whom, perhaps, a Saviour died, that so we may be able to hold up our heads, when justice is laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet. Let our benevolence spread in every direction, and even extend to our enemies when in distress; that thus, we may prove ourselves to be the children of the Most High, who extends his mercies to the wicked and the ungrateful.

Philanthrophy ought not to be confined to any name, sect, or party, or to any climate or language. Like the power of attraction, which reacheth from the largest to the smallest bodies in the universe, it unites men from the throne to the cottage. Whether our lodge meets on the high mountains of earthly grandeur, and is beheld from afar, or in the lower vales of obscurity, and noticed only by a few; and in whatever situation you may be placed, O sit not at a brother's call. If he be in danger, fly to his relief. If he be deceived, tell him the truth. If he be calumniated, justify his character; bear his burdens; allay his sorrows, and espouse his cause. Nay, if in many things, he hath erred, still let us recollect, that indiscretion in him, ought not to supersede humanity in us.

As the Eastern Magi opened their treasures, which, doubtless were various, to the Redeemer of Souls, so every brother should be given to hospitality, ready to distribute,

willing to communicate, and eager to employ his gift or power, whatever it may be, for the mutual good of each other, and the common benefit of all. Owing to the prevalency of this endearing munificence, king David, who collected materials so magnificiently towards the building of the temple, aided by the spirit of inspiration, informs us in the book of Psalms, that the followers of the glorious head of the church, and Grand Master in Israel, of whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is called, may, amongst other things, be found out by this, that as God loves them, they will shew their love to one another.

On, on, then, my dear brethren, let us pursue the great lesson of benevolence, which is the most important duty of human life, with alacrity and firmness, each moving on the square of truth, by the compass of God's word, according to our respective stations, in all the rules of symmetry, order, and proportion. Then we need not dread, that when our earthly lodge shall be dissolved, our jewels will still be safe, and we shall be admitted into a more glorious lodge, even "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ;" where Cherubim and Seraphim, angels and saints, and the spirits of just men made perfect, shall be our fellow crafts and companions, and the Supreme Architect of the Universe, will be our ineffably great and glorious Grand Master, our light, our joy, our hope, our all, for ever.

Amen. So mote it be.

CHAPTER XXII.

Of the Social Influence of Free-masonry.

THE institution of free-masonry, as has been already observed, has an absolute tendency to inculcate on the mind of its votaries, every thing laudable and useful to society; and its leading qualities are, well directed philanthropy, pure morality, inviolable secrecy, and a taste for the fine arts.

It may be observed, that Solon, Lycurgus, Numa, and all the other most celebrated legislators of antiquity, were never able to render their establishments permanent, nor to extend their laws, however salutary they might have been, to all countries, or to cause them to be perpetuated to distant ages. Having little more in view than the elevation of one set of people above another, they were never universal, nor consonant to the genius or interest of all nations. They were not founded on philanthrophy, and he is but little acquainted with history, who has not perceived, that the love of country, badly understood, often destroys in warlike republics, the love of general humanity.

Men are not to be essentially distinguished by the difference of tongues which they speak, of clothes which they wear, of countries which they inhabit, nor of the exalted stations which they may have attained, either in

church or state. The whole world is one great republic, of which, each nation is a family, and each individual a child. To revive and reanimate these important maxims, is an object of primary concern in the society of free-masons. The great design of the institution has ever been, to unite all men of sense, talents, and integrity, not only in a reciprocal love of the fine arts, but still more in the great principles of virtue, by which the interest of the fraternity might become that of the whole human race; where all nations might increase in knowledge, and every subject of every country, might exert himself without jealousy, live without discord, and embrace mutually, without forgetting, or too scrupulously remembering, the spot in which he was born. What benefits may we not, therefore, expect from the existence of a society, the main object of which, is the reunion of the understanding and the heart, and the amelioration of both by the contact.

The sanctity, which attends the moral qualities of the society, next require our consideration. Other institutions, intended for the benefit of mankind, have been founded in different ages and countries, and though the design, which they severally had in view, was nearly the same, the means by which they have attempted to accomplish it, have greatly varied; but the principles of free-masonry are now the same in all places of the world, have remained the same from time immemo