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having occasion to pass over Bagshot Heath in a chaise, and being told that there were "hawks abroad," deliberately taking a pistol in each hand, he thrust his feet through the front windows crying out, "down with bulk heads, and prepare for action."

My opening address to you, brethren, will be more modest. I have been too long before you, and have received too many of your favours, either to dread a severe sentence, or to feel the necessity of flattering you into good humour. It is well known that while a favourable review of any work passes unnoticed by the multitude, an unfavourable one is sought after with avidity,—circulated amongst the author's personal friends with persevering industry, and frequently perused with the greatest unction, so much better pleased is poor human nature with hearing abuse and vituperation, than it is with quiet approval; as we often observe a number of people collect together to witness a street quarrel, who will disperse when the dispute ceases, and the conversation assumes a peaceful tone.

For this reason it might be prudent on my part to conciliate criticism; but as my writings contain no severe reflections upon others, I am unwilling to doubt of their candid reception; and after a literary career approaching to half a century, it is too late for me to entertain much apprehension for the fate of a volume which is intended as the completion of a series, and the winding up of a masonic life. Like the Mosaic pavement of the lodge, my pilgrimage has abounded in variegated scenes of good and evil; and success has been chastened and tempered by mortifying reverses. Fast friends I have had many, and bitter enemies not a few; and honours and rewards on the one hand, have been balanced by vexation and trouble, and the basest ingratitude for essential services, on the other.

When I first entered the lists as a masonic writer, it

was intended, in a great measure, for my own private amusement; and the popularity of my earliest publications was entirely unexpected, as they were composed by snatches amidst the pressure of heavy and ceaseless duties, which neither my feelings nor my interest could induce me to neglect. Like Doctor Syntax, I set out in search of the picturesque, and, to my great surprise, found it solid fame. An event, too trifling to be recorded, originated my first publication, and consequently produced all the rest; as Pascal very pleasantly attributed the revolutions which took place in the world during the reign of Cleopatra to the longitude of her nose.

At that early period I had formed a plan in my own mind, which was intended to demonstrate the capabilities of Freemasonry as a literary institution. It was generally understood to be pursuing one unvarying round, circumscribed within a very narrow compass; including the ceremonies of initiation, passing, and raising, with a prescribed lecture for each degree; touching, indeed, upon morality and several liberal sciences, but determinate upon none.

To convince the reading public that Freemasonry possessed within itself references of a more exalted character, and that it actually contained the rudiments of all worldly science and spiritual edification, I contemplated working out, in a specified cycle, a detailed view of its comprehensive system of knowledge, human and divine. The plan was extensive, and the chances were, that it would share the fate of that gigantic edifice on the plains of Shinar, which was intended to scale the heavens, and never be completed. But the mind of youth is elastic. Hope urged me on, and enthusiasm lent its powerful aid to encourage me to persevere; and with the blessing of the Great Architect of the Universe, I have now the pleasure to present you with the concluding volume, by which the cycle is perfected and the cope stone laid.

And I may say, in the poetical language of a Most Excellent Master,

All hail to the morning that bids us rejoice;
The temple's completed, exalt high each voice;
The cope stone is finished, our labour is o'er;
The sound of the gavel shall hail us no more.

It may be interesting to exhibit the entire plan in detail.

It will occur to every thinking brother, that such an undertaking, to be perfect, must necessarily embrace History and Antiquities; Rites and Ceremonies; Science and Morals; Types and Symbols; Degrees and Landmarks; and, above all, it would require to be shown what connection the Order bears to our most holy religion; and how far it recommends and enforces the duties which every created being is bound to observe in his progress from this world to another and a better. To all these points my attention has been extended; and for the purpose of exemplifying them by a regulated process, I have, at convenient intervals, issued from the press a graduated series of publications, each advancing one step beyond its predecessor, and, like the progressive terms of a syllogism, contributing their united aid to produce an intelligible conclusion.

The first step was to show the antiquity of the Order, and somewhat of its early history: for this was the only basis on which all subsequent reasoning could be securely founded; and in the absence of this footstone, the entire fabric, like the enchanted palace of Aladdin, would be unsubstantial and endure but for a moment. I therefore published a work on the Early History and Antiquities of Masonry from the Creation to the building of Solomon's temple, as an acknowledged period from which the history of the Order is clear and intelligible; including dissertations on those permanent Landmarks of Masonry, the Creation, the Fall, the Deluge, the calling of Abra

ham, the vision of Jacob, the deliverance from Egyptian bondage, the construction of the Tabernacle, the passage of the river Jordan, the contest of Jeptha with the Ephraimites, and the construction of the Temple.

This attempt being well received, although I was comparatively a stranger to the fraternity in general, having merely published a few masonic sermons, as the Grand Chaplain for Lincolnshire, previously to this period, which, it is extremely probable, were unknown beyond the limits of the Province, I was encouraged to proceed in my design.

Still the foundation was not complete. It was necessary to show clearly to what religion, if any, the present system of masonry was analogous. On this question I came to the point at once, like Hippothadee in Rabelais, "without circumbilivaginating about and about, and never hitting it in the centre," and unhesitatingly pronounced it to be Christianity, not only from internal evidence, but also from the following considerations.

Freemasonry is unquestionably a cosmopolitical institution, and therefore must have an affinity to a religion which is applicable to all times, and adapted to every people that have at any time existed in the world. These data are true with respect to Christianity and to no other religion that ever existed. The patriarchal dispensation was incipient Christianity. The holy men who lived before the time of Moses were all justified by the same principle of faith in God's revelation. They looked to the same blessings in futurity that are revealed in the Gospel; and it is this principle of faith which will constitute their reward as well as ours at the day of judgment.

Again, the revelation of the Jewish religion was another wide step towards the introduction of Christianity. It was the second degree of perfection. And in this belief the saints and prophets who came after Moses

offered themselves freely to all the persecutions of the world in proof of their faith in a Deliverer to come; and hence the holy men under the law are held forth by the Apostles of Christ as examples to their followers. And the whole design of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to show that the faith of the patriarchs, both before and after Moses, was the same as ours, though their worship was of a different form.

For these reasons, as the Christian religion extended over all time, and shall, at the appointed period, universally prevail over the whole earth, it alone can apply to a cosmopolite institution like Freemasonry. The principal events in the Jewish history are types of Christ, or of the Christian dispensation. But these events form permanent and unchangeable landmarks in the masonic lectures. Therefore the lectures of masonry are Christian. This decision is borne out by a manifesto of a foreign Grand Lodge, which contains the following characteristic passage, "Masonry may be made the means of accomplishing the commands of the Great Architect of the Universe. He who is the best Christian, the most faithful man, will be also the best Mason. So let it be in the profane world and in church relations,-live in brotherhood and peace."

It is an artifice of the enemies of masonry, such as Mr. E. C. Pryer, Major Trevilian, and all others of the same school, to insinuate that masonry is anti-christian, that it may become unpopular and lose its influence; but that the cry should be echoed by those who pretend to be acquainted with its genuine principles, surpasses my ingenuity to comprehend. It is the very point to which Weishaupt was desirous of bringing the disciples of Illu minism. He taught that "genuine Christianity is ne popular religion, but a system for the elected; that Jesus communicated the higher sense of his doctrine only to his most intimate disciples; that the latter had propaga

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