USA > Illinois > The rise and progress of Freemasonry in Illinois, 1783-1952 > Part 19
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After some eloquent remarks by Grand Master Coffinberry and Grand Master Pickett, the Grand Lodge closed.
The number of Knights already enumerated with those of Apollo and Elwood Commanderies, exceeded five hundred, and were all in uniform. General Ducat estimates the whole number in the Masonic procession at upwards of 3,500. The number of people who witnessed the ceremonies must have numbered from 25,000 to 50,000.
Cornerstone of the Railroad Bridge at Quincy, Illinois
A most complete and interesting account of this unusual corner- stone was published in the Daily Quincy Herald. The oration delivered by Joseph Robbins on that occasion is so valuable and such a splendid exposition of the principles of Masonry that it has been thought wise to publish it in its entirety for the information and guidance of the craft in Illinois.
The mention of this event is contained in one line in the proceed- ings.
DAILY QUINCY HERALD. QUINCY, ILLINOIS, SEPTEMBER 26, 1867. RAILROAD BRIDGE! LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE IMPOSING CEREMONIES! Address of the Grand Orator. 2,500 People Present.
Yesterday was a day long to be remembered by the Masonic fra- ternity of Illinois and Missouri, as well as by the citizens of Quincy. Early in the morning delegations commenced pouring in from Lodges at Palmyra, Hannibal and towns along the line of the Hannibal and St. Joseph R. R. in Missouri, as well as from Chicago, Mt. Sterling, Mound Station, Galesburg, La Prairie, Augusta and towns along the lines of roads leading into Quincy, to witness the imposing ceremonies attendant upon laying the corner stone of the Railroad Bridge across the Mississippi at this place. The delegations from the different commanderies of Sir Knights were under the charge of Sir Knight W. E. Owen, and Sir Knight C. W. Mead, General Superintendent of the HI. & St. Jo. R. R., officiating as Grand Marshal. The Sir Knights, numbering about 125, met at the Court House at 2 o'clock, and preceeded by the Quincy brass band and an excellent brass band from Hannibal, marched to the Masonic Hall, corner of 4th and Hampshire Street, where they were joined by the Grand Lodge officers and members of the fraternity from home and abroad, to the number of about four hundred, making it one of the
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most imposing processions ever seen in our city, who were accompanied by our worthy city officials and invited guests, continued the line of march down Hampshire Street to Front, then up Front Street to the foot of Maine, where the Bridge Company had, through its energetic General Agent, Capt. Flagg, placed at the disposal of the fraternity the ferry-boat Quincy, and the steamers Huron and Jesse. A short trip and all were landed safely at pier No. 5, of the bridge, already partially crowded with eager ones, who had preceeded us, making full 2,500 present in Mississippi mid-water, of which there were about 1000 Masons, to witness the ceremonies attendant upon the greatest work of the kind entered upon along this magnificent stream.
At a quarter past three P.M., the vessels were made fast to the pier and the Sir Knights leading the way followed by the Master Masons, dis- embarked on the barge platforms already arranged, and the ceremonies commenced with a brief and beautiful address by Jerome R. Gorin, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois, and an im- pressive prayer from Grand Chaplain S. S. Hunting. Grand Treasurer H. Dills, then came with the following articles to deposit as archives in the corner stone, prefacing the deposit with "by authority of the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois, I, as Grand Treasurer deposit in this corner stone of the Quincy Railroad Bridge
The city charter and ordinances of the city of Quincy, together with a list of the city officers for 1867; also the State officers for the same year.
Coins of various denomination.
Postal currency - a greenback and a national bank bill.
A copy of each paper published in Quincy, as well as Langdon's "State Fair."
By-laws of each Masonic Lodge in Quincy, and an inscription plate.
During this impressive ceremony the immense audience remained hushed - silent - attentive, at the close of which the Sir Knights at bugle call repaired on board the steamer Quincy, followed by the Master Masons and visitors, and on board their respective boats steamed back again to shore, where the procession was again formed and marched to the depot of the C. B. & Q. Railroad, where Orator Sir Knight Joseph Robbins delivered the following address:
MOST WORSHIPFUL GRAND MASTER, BRETHREN AND FRIENDS: - The occasion which calls us together to-day is one of no common interest.
We meet here on the broad bosom of this beautiful river, to lay the foundation stone of a mighty structure, which is to supply a link in the iron chain that binds together the Atlantic and Pacific slopes of a conti- nent. - a structure that is to stand through all coming time, a monu- ment to the sagacity and enterprise of the capitalists of the country in opening a path through this great natural gateway to the mighty West, and giving outlet to the restless energy of a people who build cities in a day, and create an empire in a decade.
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Almost within the memory of some now before me, the placid sur- face of this upper river was broken only by the canoe of the savage. To-day it is alive with the commerce of States whose unified influence can mould the policy of a nation.
The pioneer who then saw here only an Indian village, whose wild- ness scarce broke the solitude of primeval Nature, sees now a beautiful city, alive with the busy hum of labor, and just awakening to the possibilities of an assured and magnificent future.
The growing civilization of the far West, with its rapidly increas- ing wants, will tolerate no obstacle to increased facility of supply. This broad river which has so long been a barrier, must be so no longer, and this great structure creeps over it like some huge saurian insect, strik- ing its antennae of timber from the forest and stone from the quarry, deep into its hidden bed.
The energies, aroused to intensity by the whirl and tumult of war, are turned into peaceful channels, and engineering skill, sharpened in the same school of destruction, now rears to Peace its most enduring monuments.
It is altogether fit and proper that a society, whose every inculca- tion is peace, should participate in the inauguration of this work, this giant stride in the progress of a people toward that facility of communi- cation which secures community of interest, the strongest bond of public tranquillity.
It is an auspicious occasion that permits the Grand Lodges of Illinois and Missouri to join hands in promoting the work which is to span the natural barrier between these two great States, and big with the promise of that coming hour when the whole people shall know in their hearts no dividing lines, remembering only that theirs is a common lot, a com- mon interest and a common destiny.
The custom of laying foundation stones of public works with ap- propriate ceremonies is an ancient one and the performance of these ceremonies by the Grand Master of Masons is perhaps as ancient as the custom itself. It is therefore proper that we should recur briefly to the nature and design of this institution, venerable with antiquity, and hav- ing its ramifications in every quarter of the civilized world.
Institutions grow. They are not made to order, but are slowly evolved out of the needs of humanity, and exist to conserve some truth - some essential principle - to give it expression and make it a vital force; and just in proportion to their power to meet these needs and con- serve these truths is their permanent existence insured.
The highway that leads down to the Present out of the misty Past, is strewn with the crumbling debris of what were intended for perma- nent institutions by their founders, who had so carefully elaborated them to serve as receptacles for ideas. The error of their protectors was a fundamental one. They attempted to build that which could only grow. Man may build a city, but not a tree. He may plant the seed, and if it contains the living germ and falls in congenial soil, it will grow, taking and appropriating to its own uses from the surrounding earth and
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air, those elements which are essential to its development, but it is in vain that he chisels out the semblance of a tree and commands it to live.
So if he possesses those qualities which together make up what we call inspiration - the perception to discern, and the prescience to grasp new truths or truth in new relations - he may found an institution that by the accretion of centuries may assure proportions of colossal grandeur, and encircle the earth with its influence, but it is in vain that he works out - though never so perfectly - the machinery of an institution which after all lacks the animating soul of principle. Having no vitality, it is smitten, even in its first inception, with the effacing fingers of decay.
History abounds in illustration of the truth of this position. Out of the great central truth that God is, has grown up, as an expression of man's reverential adoration, the institution of the Church, and so long as there exists finite beings to adore an infinite God, so long will the Church - using the word in its large sense - endure. But men have often confounded their own theological dogmas with the essential verities of religion, and from the earliest ages to the present have been projecting institutions for the conservation of their particular opinions. Where are they to-day? Having their foundation in no essential truths, their wrecks lie stranded all along the shores of time.
From the necessity of public peace and individual security, has grown up the institution of Government, and so long as man is an im- perfect being, governments must exist. But peculiar governmental forms have been established, whose founders have either lost sight of, or· made secondary to their own selfish purposes, the great primal purpose of all governments, the security of the individual; and these institutions have either disappeared through their inherent tendency to decay, or crumble and go down as in our own day in the blood and flame of Gettysburg and Sadowa.
From the affectionate side of man's nature has grown up the Home; an institution comprehending all that we hold most dear, and whose name - whether it brings to us memories of joy or sorrow - is the sweetest word, save mother, that falls from the English tongue. This institution being the natural outgrowth of that affection which binds together kindred or congenial souls, must continue while love endures. But men have projected institutions which were to supercede this. All were to live in a community, with a community of purpose, for a com- mon good; and so practicable have these plans appeared that many earnest, wise and good men have been full of faith in their success. They were laid with great care, and all supposed sources of error and failure so carefully eliminated that success seemed inevitable. Perhaps there never was a more careful and systematical effort to build an insti- tution, nor a better illustration of the futility of such efforts. The system contained some of the elements of truth, and these are being conserved and made available in the co-operative associations of the present day, but all efforts to organize and erect socialism into a permanent institu- tion have utterly failed, and must ever fail so long as its plan ignores
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the isolated home, founded as it is on the sanctity of the family relation, and that love which will tolerate no profanation of its Holy of Holies. Having seen that institutions can only exist as they involve some central truth, or answer some human need, let us turn to Masonry and ascertain if we may what warrant it has for existence. It is not my purpose to attempt to solve the question of the origin of Masonry, whether it is indeed a modification of the mysteries of the Ancient Greeks or Egyp- tians, or grew wholly out of the guilds or lodges of operative Masons which existed in Europe from the earlier centuries of our present era, down to a period long subsequent to the earliest written history of the order, but while it still continued to be both a Speculative Science and an Operative Art. We know that these builders whose magnificent archi- tecture is seen in those wonderful ministers of the middle ages, brought Masonry down to us substantially in its present form; but we can only say of its origin that it is lost in the obscurity of bygone centuries. That the institution has so long maintained its hold on human hearts, is of itself sufficient evidence that it somehow ministers to their wants and aspirations. What then are its peculiar features, and whence the vitality that has preserved it, enabling it to withstand alike the disintegrating in- fluences of time, the anathemas and persecutions of the Romish Church, the prejudices of the ignorant, and the wiles of kingcraft and statecraft which have vainly sought to use it for their own selfish ends? The answer is that Masonry is founded on essential truths, whence naturally flow that great moral lesson it inculcates, and that it recognizes and provides for that yearning desire for human sympathy which is implanted in every heart. The starting point - the Alpha of Masonry - is that God lives and governs the world, at once the Supreme Architect and Universal Father; that all mankind are his children, the objects of his love, and entitled to our consideration as members of the same great family. What wonder then, that in the long weary centuries through which mankind has struggled on toward the goal of a common equality, an institution of which was the central idea, should command the devotion of those who recognize the brotherhood of man as a truth, and felt it as one of the soul's primal needs. Masonry views man separated from his accidents. It looks through the trappings of wealth and luxury, the insignia of rank, and the humble garb of honest poverty, and sees beneath them all the man.
Within its charmed circle all are equal. Whether coming from the cottage of the peasant or the palace of the prince, all leave at its portals their worldly distinctions, and meet upon the level of the checkered floor as men and brothers. The humblest and the proudest must travel the same paths to attain Masonic knowledge, are bound to the order and to each other by the same sacred ties, like the equal covenants of all are made in the presence of the same Almighty Father. From this perfect equality of all Masons we naturally deduce those duties which we owe to our fellow-men; all summed up in the injunction: "Do unto others, as you would that they should do unto you."
At the very top of the Masonic ladder is placed charity or brotherly
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love. That charity which should lead us to seek a brother's welfare equally with our own; to be very tender of his reputation; to be ready to go out of our way to succor him if he be in need; to stretch forth our hands to support him if he be falling; to keep sacred in our own breasts those confidences which he gives us only because we are his brethren; and to whisper tenderly in his ear alone that counsel which his errors and the purpose of his reformation may require. It is the knowledge that a Mason will do all this - and more - for his brother, that hallows his memory in the hearts of his brethren, even when he dies among them a stranger, and they see him, perchance, for the first time as they gather about his newly-made grave. It casts also a halo of sanctity about his widow and orphans, and makes their future care the legacy of his survivors.
As the greater includes the less, so this broad charity includes the lesser charity of alms-giving. Thus Masonry recognizes and teaches the claims of every human being upon our sympathies, but particularly those who have taken upon themselves the solemn vows of our order and added another to the ties which bind us together. It has been ob- jected that Masonic charity is exclusive. It is true only in the technical sense that its revenues as an institution are usually applied to Masonic uses within the order. But millions outside its pale may bless the order whose subtle sympathies have first roused the slumbering benevolence of the heart - made it sensitive to the cry of distress, and quick to re- spond, come from what quarter it may. Its own members can never compute the beneficent influence of Masonry in this direction. Still less can those who have never drawn from its fountain of inspiration, fully comprehend it.
The sanctity of Truth is one of the essentials of Masonry; a ne- cessity growing out of the nature of the institution, and so indispensable that without it, it would be but a dead form, without vitality enough to preserve it from putrefaction. So carefully is this regard for truth incul- cated, and so universally accepted, that where two strangers meet and find each other to be Masons, each relies instinctively on the other's word. Each instinctively trusts to the influence of Masonry on the life of the other. Moreover, each brings to the other the recommendation that some lodge has, by admitting him to its privileges, unanimously en- dorsed him as a man of honor and veracity.
Human equality, Charity, Truth, being fundamental principles whose influence on the hearts of men conduces to their highest good, and constituting as they do the very essence of Masonic ethics, we can partially discern what it is that gives it vitality, and comprehend its hold on the affectionate devotion of so many of the great and good whose names shed lustre on the pages of its history.
But not the least as an element of strength in Masonry is its mysti- cism. The incorporation of this feature into its body is a practical recog- nition of a metaphysical fact of which all are conscious: That a secret held between two or more persons is a bond of sympathy between them. It brings them nearer together by giving them a point of common in-
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terest. This aim is apparent in the whole plan of Masonry. It seeks attrac- tions and not repulsions. It seeks unity and harmony, by carefully eliminating all causes of diversity and discord. It asks no man to yield his convictions of right, but does demand that he shall not attempt to make Masonry an engine of propagandism. When I speak of the secrecy of the institution, you will not misunderstand me. I allude simply to the forms, the rites, the ceremonial, the apporeta of our order, consti- tuting that universal language, spoken by every tongue and kindred, which enables one brother to recognize another anywhere under the wide arch of Heaven. The grand aim and purpose - the principles of the order, are fully and freely declared. True its charities are not paraded before the world, for it is too tender of the feelings of the recipients of its bounty to add another to the stings of that misfortune which impels them to ask it.
It does not give to be seen by men, but elings to the injunction of its own "Great Light," the Bible: "When thou givest alms, give them in secret; let not they right hand know what thy left hand doeth."
Another reason why it seeks not the meretricious popularity which follows in the wake of trumpted charities, is that it would attract to its fold a class of minds whose affiliation would prove injurious. Mercenary conceptions are antagonistic to the whole genius of Masonry.
The subtle, indefinable influence, the quick, apprehensive sympathy, engendered by the possession of a common secret which the world without knows not of, can never be fully appreciated by those who have not themselves felt its mystie power.
It quickens the impulses of Charity; it softens the asperity of political warfare, and tones down the dogmatie acrimony of theological discussion; it mitigates the horrors of war, and prompts to deeds of truest chivalry.
Hundreds of tombstones which mark the paths blazed by raging pesti- lence through crowded cities, are but monumental records of its self- sacrificing spirit.
A year or two since, in a neighboring town, a Mason fell siek with small pox. Those about him fled in terror from the loathsome presence. A young man, a brother Mason, repaired to his bedside, watched tenderly over him, closed his eyes when Death had elaimed his own, and followed him to the grave. A few days after he came to me suffering with the initial fever of the disease and asked me to take him to the pest house where he could remain until he could mingle with his friends with- out danger of communicating the infection. In answer to my questions he told me how he had contracted the disease, remarking, that "the man was a Mason and he couldn't see him lie there and suffer without care." He made no ado about it, and yet it was a noble instance of self sacrificing devotion, requiring a steadier courage than which prompts a man to risk his life amid the excitement of battle, having none of the pomp and circumstance which casts its glamour over the career of the soldier. This young man's surroundings - the atmosphere of his daily life - had not been of an elevating character. More than likely he neg-
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lected the "mint, anise, and cummin" of the law, and perhaps would have been termed a reprobate by those who adhere rather to the letter which killeth, than to the Spirit which giveth life. But this compelling spirit of Masonry had taken root in his heart, and blossomed into deeds redolent of the sweet odors of Charity, and blessed in the sight of Heaven.
The influence of this spirit - I might almost say this instinct of Brotherhood, in mitigating the horrors of war is attested by hundreds of well known instances, and thousands more are known only to those who were parties to them. It snatched Putnam from the torturing hands of his captors in the old French war. It more than once un-nerved the arm of the relentless Brandt, when he and his savage followers swept with fire and sword the lovely valley of Wyoming.
It ministered to the necessities of our brave defenders who lan- guished in Southern prisons, snatching them from their living death, or, failing in that, smoothing the pathway that leads down the valley of the shadow, for many a brother who offered
"The last libation that liberty draws,
From the hearts that bleed and break in her cause."
It was this spirit that sent the heroic Kane on his crusade against the elements, far up in the regions of eternal ice, in the vain attempt to rescue his brother, Sir John Franklin; a forlorn hope whose sad record shines on the page of history with a brilliancy paling the rays of the Aurora which beckoned him as the crowning chivalry of a century more prolific of noble deeds than any in the annals of recorded time.
It is this spirit that makes it possible for Masonry to overcome the antipathies engendered by partisan, sectarian, and national jealousies, and brings men of every country, sect, and opinion, into one common fold. It knits men together as with hooks of steel, and bids them cling to their common mother through evil and through good report. Thus in the days of the Anti-Mason crusade, that anomaly of the century which lacked not the spirit, but only the power that lighted the fires of Smithfield, a persecution the bitterness of which you and I can scarcely conceive, Masonry still claimed the devoted allegiance of thousands of her children. They endured every form of obloquy, ostracism by society and church, and wanton destruction of their property by their insane opponents, yet conscious of their own rectitude, calmly and patiently waited for the dawning of that better day which was sure to follow the dreamy night.
From all this I think I am justified in saying that the mysticism of our Institution is one of its strongest elements. I have endeavored to give you some idea - to enable you to apprehend, if you cannot fully understand its potency in developing that instinctive sympathy of Brotherhood - that Love which is the Key Stone of the Masonic Arch. I feel the difficulty of making myself intelligible, because to be appreci- ated it must be experienced. But if you grasp the idea with sufficient clearness to comprehend, measurably, its vivifying power, you can see how it would vitalize an institution based on the principles I have enu-
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merated; deeper in the hearts of its votaries that reverence for God, and order and law, which it inculcates; quicken and make real, living im- pelling forces, appearing in the life - what would otherwise exist only as a sentiment in the heart - the doctrines of the equality of all of God's children; charity for all mankind and truth, sacred, immutable as the Almighty, whose attribute it is.
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