USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Lodge no. 61, F. and A. M., Wilkesbarr?, Pa. with a collection of masonic addresses > Part 46
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X. CHARLES ROBINSON WRIGHT, born May 16th, 1854; died December 23d, 1860.
CONS
TUTIONS
CHAPTER VI.
MASONIC ADDRESSES.
" Ye sons of fair Science, impatient to learn, What's meant by a Mason you here may discern ; He strengthens the weak, he gives light to the blind, And the naked he clothes-is a friend to mankind.
" He walks on the level of honor and truth, And spurns the trite passions of folly and youth ; The compass and square all his frailties reprove, And his ultimate object is brotherly love."
Address delivered by Brother the Hon. JESSE FELL be- fore the members of LODGE 61 and visiting Brethren, in the Lodge-room, Wilkesbarré, June 24th, 1804.
My Brothers : It gives me unspeakable happiness to meet you within these walls, convened to celebrate the anniversary of St. John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way of the Grand Lodge of the Christian Masons. * * * My Brethren, if none be accepted among us but such as strive daily, through the grace of Heaven, to lay aside all those evil passions condemned by the Apostle, then shall the Lodge be truly denominated a " spiritual house," and all its members "living stones," hewn out of the "Rock of Ages," and adorned with jewels of unspeakable value. Then shall they be Free indeed ! for the great spiritual Master shall have set them free from the turbulence of passion,
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the stings of guilt, and the thraldom of slavery-both of body and mind. In WISDOM, STRENGTH, and BEAUTY shall they ever appear !
That WISDOM which descends from on high, a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty, which is the brightness of everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness. More beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars, pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated. Whoever findeth that wisdom findeth life !
That STRENGTH which depends not on the arm of flesh, nor delights in oppression and confusion ; but is a refuge to the distressed, a bond of union among Brethren, and a source of comfort to our own hearts.
That BEAUTY which shines forth in the ornaments of holiness, the jewels of mercy, the clothing of humility, and the practice of all reli- gious, moral and social duties.
Let us remember in all our meetings and communications that we are Brethren-although Free, yet on the level, bound to keep within the compass of mutual good-will, and to frame our conduct by the square of doing as we would be done by; keeping an open heart to every suffering Brother, ready to receive him as a tempest-driven voy- ager in a port of safety. Let us be of one mind, avoid all levity of conversation, be sober and temperate; abstaining from every ex- cess that would enervate the body, debase the understanding, cher- ish strife, and dishonor our calling ; study to be quiet, and do our own business with our own hands, as knowing that a wise Brother's delight is the work of the Craft. Let us learn when to be silent and when to speak, for a babbler is an abomination because of the unspeakable words, which a man may not utter but in a proper place.
These are fundamental principles and practices of immutable obli- gation in our Society. Flowing from the fountain of Antiquity they have rolled down to us in pure and uncorrupted streams, through the channels of Time; and we trust will still roll broader and deeper, until the dread order of this terrestrial fabric shall be consumed in the endless order of Eternity. While we draw from such sacred sources our true members, as in times past, so likewise now, in times to come, in different climes and ages, shall we be able to silence "the tribe of scorners," and convince them that the only qualities we wish to honor are those which form good men and good citizens, and the only build- ings we seek to raise are temples for virtue and dungeons for vice.
The other Societies of this world-Empires, Kingdoms, and Com- monwealths-being of less perfect constitutions, have been of less per- manent duration. Although men have busied themselves through all ages in forming and reforming them, in building up and casting down,
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yet still their labors have been in vain! The reason is they daubed with untempered mortar, and admitted into their structures the base, discordant, heterogenous materials of pride, ambition, selfishness, mal- ice, and evil speaking, which we reject. Their fabrics, unable to sup- port themselves, tumbled to the foundation through internal weakness, or were shaken by external violence. * * *
From the bosom of the Lodge, seated on an eminence, its founda- tions reaching to the centre of the world and its summit to the sky, we have beheld at an immense distance beneath us, as upon a turbulent ocean, the States of this world alternately mounted up and cast down, as they have regarded or neglected the principles given in this excel- lent charge. Supported by them the sublime fabric of our constitution has remained unbroken through the ages ; and, thus supported, it will still remain while "the Sun opens the day" and "the Moon leads on the night." The tide of time and chance may beat against its walls, the stormy gusts of malice may assault its lofty battlements, and the heavy rains of calumny may descend on its spacious roof-but all in vain ! * * *
The perfection of human excellence consists in cultivating a kind, benevolent disposition towards all our fellow creatures, and to pre- serve in our own minds a grateful, reverential sense of the obligations we lie under to the greatest and best of Beings. To attain this is true Wisdom, and its end will be permanent felicity. As a Fraternity let us regulate our conduct towards individuals in private life by brotherly love, as the chief corner-stone. Everything raised upon that will be superlatively grand and fair. Let us seek to expand our souls, and, when at the last shall come the messenger of Death-who comes to all-undaunted obey the summons, in conscious hope of being speed- ily united and beatified with our compatriots and forerunners in the mansions of endless bliss.
Address delivered before LODGE 61 by Brother the Hon. ANDREW BEAUMONT, on St. John the Baptist's Day (June 24th), 1822 :
Friends and Brethren : I feel it impossible to divest myself of a peculiar degree of diffidence, in addressing a Society of men so re- spectable for their worth and understanding ; especially as the subject upon which it becomes my business to comment, has employed the pens of men the wisest and of the most exalted virtue. But this diffi-
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dence is in some measure relieved by the confidence which I repose in your friendship, and that ingenuous liberality which is the distin- guishing characteristic of the truly Masonic heart.
The celebration of this day is held in commemoration of no ordinary personage-no blood-stained chief or heathen deity-but in com- memoration of the birth of St. John the Baptist, whom tradition testi- fies to have been of the Masonic Order. Born amidst the corruptions and dissipations of a wicked age, he led a life of singular purity, and set an example of rare temperance before his voluptuous countrymen. * * * Simple in his manners, he was courteous and gentle in ad- monition, but stern and terrible in reproof. Shocked at the vices and abominations of his countrymen, he declaimed loudly and boldly against them ; but through this fearless intrepidity of character, he fell a sacrifice to the resentment of a relentless and profligate woman.
I shall not attempt to give an historical account of the origin and progress of Free Masonry, nor mark its most important epochs. That would be a task for which I am at present incompetent, and a labor of too much magnitude for the compass of an address on this occa- sion. Suffice to say, that whatever may have been its origin in form (for its elements seem to have been coeval with Creation, being in fact interwoven with the eternal principles of truth and nature), it is most probable that its present system and frame was devised and planned in Jerusalem, under the special guidance and patronage of the celebrated King Solomon. Thence passing through all the various mutations which the civilized world has undergone, it has survived unimpaired the wreck of empires, kingdoms, and republics, and weathered the rude attacks of religious fanaticism and bigoted perse- cution.
All the artful schemes and intrigues of Popery, and of Monkish mis- anthropy, strengthened by the arm of secular power, have not been able to suppress its growth or tarnish its honors ; but it has prospered and flourished under oppression. Even the pertinacious curiosity of Queen Elizabeth was confounded, and she found in Masonry a check to her pride and bounds to her ambition.
Masonry is comprehended under two denominations-Operative and Speculative. The object of Operative Masonry, or geometry, is to arrive at truth or certainty, by means the most simple and conclu- sive. It is the root of the mathematics. The rules of strength, order, and proportion, of symmetry, elegance, and beauty in architecture, are founded in geometry. It enables us to measure and describe the earth's surface, to take inaccessible heights and distances, and to solve many useful problems in mechanics. By its aid the mariner is en-
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abled to traverse the wild waste of the trackless ocean and arrive at the destined port; the astronomer to describe the magnitudes, motions, and relative distances of the heavenly bodies. * * *
Speculative masonry is nothing more or less than a finished sys- tem of ethics ; harmonizing with the purest principles of religion ; in- culcating its doctrines by the happiest illustrations, and enforcing its precepts by emblems the most striking and beautiful. Embracing those great principles of justice and religion, in which all sects and denominations agree, it sedulously avoids those minor points which are subjects of disputation and controversy-thus rejecting the narrow principles of religious intolerance, and cherishing a spirit of universal charity and benevolence.
Masonry is a progressive science, comprehending in its extent the whole circle of human knowledge, and requires constant culture and application in order to arrive at any degree of comparative excellence therein. It is not sufficient that, having been initiated into the me- chanical forms of the Order, and acquired the honorable appellation of Masons, we should repose ourselves upon the threshold, and cease to make any further advances to render ourselves worthy of that dis- tinction. But, however mortifying to our pride, we must be com- pelled to acknowledge that too many there are who, having become members of the Society in form, neglect the substance ; and instead of cultivating this noblest of sciences-the science of living well-and conforming to its wise and wholesome precepts, they retrograde from their former rectitude, and prostitute their Masonic privileges to licen- tious irregularities, thus violating every Masonic obligation and bring- ing reproach upon their more worthy Brethren.
The constitution and precepts of this ancient and noble art not only recommend, but strictly enjoin, the observance and practice of every moral, social, and religious virtue. Piety towards God, brotherly love, temperance, gentleness, humility, charity, and truth. * * * At the same time that Masonry encourages and recommends the exer- cise of virtue, it admonishes us against the practice of vice, and the indulgence of the vile and grosser passions of our nature. Envy, hatred and deceit, malice, falsehood and slander, are incompatible with the true character of Masonry. But among all the vices which disturb the peace of the human family, falsehood and slander are the most pernicious. They destroy all that harmony and friendly inter- course which is the soul of social happiness ; corrupt and embitter the very sources of earthly felicity, and set neighbor against neighbor in a war of mutual detraction. Happy would it be for the Fraternity, if Masons could boast an exemption from this vice ; for if fraught with
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so much evil, and so reprehensible in ordinary society, how much more culpable among Brethren bound together by the double ties of obligation and duty.
It not unfrequently happens that persons who indulge in a vein of censure, carry their prejudice too far, and fall into an opposite ex- treme, equally erroneous and remote from justice as indiscriminate praise. This has frequently been exemplified in the unjust aspersions attempted to be cast upon our Order by those whose want of candor or of sense would not permit them to examine into the merits or de- merits of our Institution. It has often been objected against our Soci- ety, and with no small share of spleen and prejudice, that we admit unworthy members who bring reproach and disgrace upon the Fra- ternity. But admitting this allegation in its fullest extent, it argues nothing against Masonry that may not be urged with equal force and truth against every society or institution on earth. Error is incident to everything earthly-everything human. Perfection below is not to be attained or expected. Hence this objection is specious and falls to the ground.
The only true method of estimating the utility or disadvantages of any institution is, I apprehend, by judging from its general tendency and effects in society. The Fraternity of Free Masons has in all ages been the friend of virtue and of innocence, the patron of the arts and sciences, the enemy of oppression, and a terror to tyrants. * * * And we may advance still further and assert, without imputation of arrogance, that its influence has contributed largely towards meliora- ting the condition of mankind throughout the civilized world. It has tamed the savage ferocity of man, and smoothed the rugged front of war. Amidst the rage of conquest and blood, it has stayed the hand of rapine and violence, and checked the storm of desolation.
I hope I may not be suspected of wishing to excite an idle vanity in the members of the Fraternity, when I declare my firm conviction that Free Masonry was one of the latent, though powerful, causes which contributed to the happy issue of our glorious Revolution. In that perilous period, when society was torn in pieces by jarring opin- ions and opposite attachments; when the bands of confidence were rent asunder, and treachery and disaffection lurked in every vein of the nation, one soul and one spirit reigned throughout the Revolu- tionary Army. The officers of that glorious band of patriots, who stood unmoved amidst the storm of danger which threatened them on every side, and who shed their blood in defence of freedom and the rights of man, were with few exceptions Masons, at the head of whom stood the immortal Washington! Thus united in the triple ties of
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brethren in arms, brethren in Masonry, and brethren in the same cause, the officers of the Continental Army formed a phalanx which the power of Britain was unable to shake, and which no treason could undermine.
If antiquity adds dignity to an institution-if the attachments and patronage of great and good men, add respect and veneration, surely Masonry can challenge the highest claim to both, being the oldest in- stitution on earth, and having been patronized and honored by the greatest and best of men in all ages of the world. *
* * Let * our actions be no longer at variance with our professions ; but let us, while in this transitory stage of existence, so measure and regulate our conduct by the plumb, square, and level, that when we shall ap- proach its termination we may look back with complacency upon a life well spent, and look forward with a cheerful and rational hope that we may be ushered into those mansions of peace where happiness springs in perpetual succession, and light beams with ineffable efful- gence, from the presence of Deity.
Address, "Anti-Masonry - Masonry," by Brother the Hon. CHARLES MINER, Past Master of LODGE 61. West Chester, Chester county, Penn'a, June 3d, 1829.
"Strike, but hear !" said the Grecian. Borrowing the exclamation of Aristides, a Free and Accepted Mason exclaims, "STRIKE, BUT HEAR !" The excitement against Free Masonry and Free Masons which is now spreading through various parts of this State is too appa- rent not to be seen, and altogether too important not to be noticed. Meetings are called in every part of the county of Chester, of those opposed to Free Masonry ; a more general meeting is appointed to be held at West Chester, and delegates are to be chosen to a State Convention to be held at an early day at Harrisburg.
A Free Mason myself, I cannot view these proceedings without in- tense anxiety and unaffected alarm. Regarding with the profoundest respect the good opinion of my fellow-citizens, the consequences of the proceedings of these meetings to myself, to my civil and social rights, and to the interests of my family, are to my mind, I confess to you, a subject of anxious solicitude.
Permit me, before this enlightened and upright audience, to say that in avowing myself a Free Mason I am wholly unconscious that I make any confession of guilt. In entering into the Lodge nearly
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thirty years ago, no admonition was given me that I was offending against any law of the Republic ; that I was violating any duty to my fellow-men ; or that I was, in the slightest degree, running counter to public sentiment. Among the Masons of that day, who stood con- spicuous in the Lodge, were soldiers of the Revolution who had met danger in its most awful form ; who had experienced every sort of pri- vation, and every species of suffering, to establish the liberties of their country. They were ardent patriots, liberal Republicans, kind neigh- bors, and honest, benevolent men. Then there were magistrates, high in office-one* of them, whose venerable form I still see as I first saw him in the East, wearing the Master's badge. He had been bred a Friend, and was still attached to the Society of Friends. A more correct and amiable man-a more upright magistrate-a more true lover of his country and fellow-men, never existed.
It was a time of high party excitement, yet men of both parties were there, and there almost alone did they meet, with the appellation of Brother-softening by social and fraternal intercourse the asperities growing out of differences in political opinion. The Episcopalian was there. A minister of the Methodist denomination often attended the Lodge. There I met an unfortunate emigrant from France, driven into exile by the Revolution .; Masonry was his sweetest solace under poignant afflictions. A German, and sons of Green Erin were there. As he has gone to another, and I fondly trust a better, world, I may men- tion his venerated name and say that Gen'l JOHN STEELE, Į of Lancaster county, was often present-a man of exemplary piety, of great moral worth, and high political estimation. He served his beloved country in the field in the dark hour of danger. In the councils of his coun- try he shone in happier time; and at the communion table of the Presbyterian Church he bowed humbly to the Covenant of Free Grace, and worshipped according to the strictest rules of his sect.
Could I imagine there was aught of evil which received the decided sanction, and attracted the constant presence, of these good men from distant climes, of various religious sects, of different political profes- sions ? Thus attracted I joined the Lodge. Every meeting was opened by a solemn appeal to the Divine Creator of the Universe, imploring His countenance and blessing. Every principle that I heard
* Judge JESSE FELL. See page 258, ante, for biography.
+ JEAN FRANÇOIS DUPUY. See note, page 68, ante, for sketch of his life.
Į See note, page 263, ante.
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inculcated was one of benevolence and charity, diffusive as the air we breathe, and free as the cheering and vivifying rays of yon glorious luminary. The world saw, and I heard no censure. WASHINGTON had been a Mason-I had never heard it enumerated among his faults. DE WITT CLINTON, an ornament to his country and to the age in which he lived, was Grand Master of Masons in New York-a whisper of censure upon that score, even from his enemies, never reached my ear. JAMES MILNOR, now an eminent minister of the Episcopal Church in New York, was Grand Master of Masons of Penn- sylvania-that it was ever raised against him as an objection, I have yet to learn.
In Russia, in Germany, in bigotted Spain I know that tyrants have sworn deadly hostility to the Masonic Order, upon the avowed ground that they were too ardent friends to civil liberty ; while in free coun- tries I supposed the Institution had been cherished, being considered as favorable to the cause of Freedom and the equal rights of mankind. They were Free Masons-the name was odious to despots ; and I had much reason to suppose acceptable in countires where the equal rights of man are held dear. The poor and the rich, the merchant, the me- chanic, the farmer, the professional man, meet in the Lodge together on equal terms. To this day-I say it with sincerity-I never heard an immoral, an irreligious, or an aristocratic principle supported in the Lodge, as sustained by Free Masonry.
Shall I not then be pardoned if I express the deep surprise and sor- row with which I behold the course pursued by the anti-Mason com- binations against us? What ill have we done, fellow-citizens ? Wherein have we offended ? We are very few in number-wholly inconsiderable. We have no defence but in our innocence, and the protecting good-will of our fellow-citizens. The public must save us from those who seem to be pursuing us to ruin, or we are totally lost. We have neither wealth, nor influence, nor power, nor numbers, to enable us to cope with the fearful array that is marshalling against us. What do we ask ? We desire no peculiar favor, but simply ask for justice-sheer justice ! Let us be judged like the rest of our fel- low-citizens-by our own conduct, by our individual merit or demerit.
If it was wholly innocent on our part when we entered into the Lodge and became Free Masons, would it not be cruel as the grave to punish us for doing that which was neither unlawful at the time, nor contrary to public sentiment as it had then been expressed ? Our Constitution declares that no ex post facto law shall be passed-that is, that no action, not unlawful at the time it was committed, shall be declared unlawful afterwards, and punished as such. And the reason
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for this provision was the manifest injustice and cruelty of such pro- ceeding-for who would be safe? If no landmark was placed, if no beacon was raised, if no warning was given, who would know when they were walking into error and danger, or pursuing their course in safety ? * * * *
We have witnessed the excitement in New York, and noted its course and consequences .* Many benevolent and good men there, as here, joined in the denunciation of Masonry, meaning well, un- doubtedly. But look at the next step. Ambitious men viewing the excitement, and with the keen scent of the eagle for its prey, saw that they might turn it to their own account, and make it subserve their own private purposes. Men who were not Masons, but were eager for office and athirst for political distinction - having among Ma- sons political rivals-seized the flowing mane of the flying courser, mounted, and rode into power. The spirit of anti-Masonry, honest in purpose and pure in zeal there, as it undoubtedly is here, was soon perverted to the purposes of political ambition, and to further the views of aspirants for office. Ambitious men attended the anti-Ma- sonic meetings, took an active part therein, declaimed feelingly against Masonry and Masons, drew resolutions and signed addresses, and by these means became popular and mounted into office. Events showed that this was their sole purpose. So flagrantly apparent has this be- come, that thousands of good men who originally entered into the anti- Masonic ranks, have left them with dissatisfaction. Is there not dan- ger that such may be the case here, and ought it not to be guarded against with the utmost vigilance ? * * *
Of one very important matter my mind is satisfied ; which is, that the gentlemen who take the lead in the anti-Masonic measure are going further than they themselves deliberately mean to go, or are fully aware they are going. No one will pretend that anything has taken place in Chester county, among the few scattered Masons, that would justify the solemn declaration at a public meeting that "Free Masonry tends to infatuate its members to a violation of all social and civil rights !" Before Heaven I can express the earnest hope and be- lief, that nothing in the conduct of the few, and generally very orderly, citizens whom I know as Masons in Chester county, has warranted so very severe an expression of censure. Men, in common justice, ought to be judged by their professions and their conduct. It would be painful in the extreme to believe that any Masons in Chester county had said or done that which would warrant the denunciation, which,
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