IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) / <' €i.. % ^ Va 1.0 I.I 2.0 36 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation '23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ,\ iV « 1. ^ # Ay <^ o L

Text — ' ' Hebrews. ' ' /// e. , 4 v. ''He that built all tliinirs /s (;<)(i.'' Most Worshipful Sir, Worshipkui. Sirs, Hrkthrkn: ^?«w?T is with sincere regret tliat I have to announce that ^11^ the Hisliop of CoUnnbia is unable, throuj^h ilhiess, to speak to us to-day, I have been asked, as Cliaphiin of United Service Lodj^e to take his pUice. In all relij»ious institutions there are affiliated bodies which lay special emphasis on certain truths, and perform special duties; associations for mutual benefit, guilds for deepening the spiritual life. These are not religions but the handmaids of religion. A Religious Faith must be based on a revelation from (jod. Our reasoning faculties cannot prove the ex- istence of (lod, although as a matter of inference it is almost indisputable. This fundamental truth, together with the other articles of the faith, which we who are Christians prize above all things, are based on the revelation of himself which God has made by His vSon. The question we will consider this afternoon is this: Is Masonrv a Religion or an aid to the Religious Lile? Undoubtedly the latter. It is ba.sed on the volume of the Sacred La7c\ the revelation which God has made of Himself to man. It selects out of that volume certain fundamental truths and it .sets forth, illustrates and emphasises these truths in such a manner that they become peculiarly ac- ceptable to men of mature age, of intelligent and thought- ful minds, and above all of pure intentions. It is careful not to dogmatise on matters which separate the various branches of Christendom from each other, while it lutila^ in one b rotherhood those who en- deavour to carryjoutArfattvj^actipal precepts of the Divine of British Columbia O'Rti'LLY COLLECnOM Founder of the Christian religion in zeal and sincerity; it points them on to a more complete acceptance of Him, who is the express image of Fathei in wiiom the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily. What then are the fundamental truths on which so much stress is laid ? They are contained in the text ' ' He that built all things is God." Brethren we are not operative but speculative Masons. At a very early period men saw the marked resem- blance which exists between the constructive works of man and the vast incomprehensible works of God. There is little doubt but that in mediaeval times operative and speculative Masons were one. The old guild books that have come down to us show that the Masonic Craft was governed by religious rules and purified by religious aspirations. One dominant idea ran through their work as opera- tive and as speculative Ma.sons. The Glory of (iod, the Divine Architect of the Universe. They sought to embody in concrete form the imper- ishable truths which guided \\\^ great architect in produc- ing His Mighty Works. Their ideal has never been equalled, never snrpas.sed in subsequent tim^s, A vital truth was impressed on every detail of con- struction and intricacy of plan; it characterised every aspect of the completed edifice. If you scrutinise their work, as happily ma\ still be done in Europe, you will find an almost perfect adaptation of means to ends, and a most marvellous elaboraiion of detail, full of purpose, worthy of the great theme which these buildings were intended to teach and emphasize *'all glory to thk most high." The wonderful results shown in these fabrics of stone and marble impres.sed men with a deep reverence for the instruments by means of which they were acliieved. These instruments became to them most instructive symbols. For passing from the operative to the specula- tive side of Masonry they realized that the individual in his moral aspect is a builder. Tliat everyone is bound to develop and improve or lo deface and destroy the most important Fact of which the Human Mind is coj^nisant, viz: Human Life ex- pressed in Human Character. Hence to them the instruments of operative Ma- sonry symbolised the means by whicli the nearest approach to a perfect human character can be developed. For ex- ample the V^olume of the Sacred Law, that unerrinj^ standard of Truth and Justice, teaches the necessitv of Rectitude, Strength, Heauty, Faith, Hope, Charity, Tem- perance, Fortitude, Prudence, Virtue, Honor and Mercy. FVom operative Masonry were adopted the symbols (so familiar to us all) of these qualities by means of which a perfect Masonic character stands. " Four square to all the Winds of Heaven." Heloved by God and reverenced by man. But, alas! all Masons are not loyal to the teachings of the Craft, some never take the trouble to realize, much less practise the truths so beautifully symbolised. Their work is defective, faulty. Men when they build the pillars on the right hand and the left, which uphold the temple of their lives, strong and erect, forget to carve the pomegranates granates and the lily work on the chapiters, the symbols of grace and beauty which so distinguished the temple of Solnion. There must be truth, and uprightness, there must be justice and strength, there must be wisdom and power in true Masonic character. But with these must be com- *^ bined the graces of charity and mutual forbearance, brotherly love and self-sacrifice, kindly feeling and gentleness. Our unfailing resources must be the Sacred Law where we find knowledge and poiver to help us in the arduous and difficult process of growing more and more into the likeness of the Image of God wherein we were originally formed. '*HE THAT BUII,T ALL THINGS IS GOD." « His Master Hand is seen in the wonderful constitu- tion of nature in His masterpiece Man, in the adaptations of means to ends, which are inexplicable except on the hypothesis of a Master Hnililei, a jjieat First Cause, (how- ever men may theorise on the tvolntionary process, hy means ot which He brinj>[s tlie.ve mighty things to pass. ) His Hand is seen in the annnal provision made tor the race, in the objects and joys of family life, in the Pro- vidential workings in the affairs of men. "And (iod saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very j>;ood." lirethren, we too in onr several spheres are master builders, master Masons. That which (lod calls by His Spirit "The Temple of the Holy (Ihost," the body with its complex c