DISCOURSE XII.' As the time has now arrived, my brethren, when I am to retire from the office with which I have for several years been honored, and shall not again address you in public; I am desirous of leaving with you, now, my last counsels and my best wishes. As Chaplain to the Grand Lodge, I have been repeatedly called upon, both to lead the devotional exercises, and to perform the preceptive duties on public consecrations and festivals. During the course of this service I have endeavored, to the best of my abilities, to illustrate the genius and to vindicate the principles of our Institution; and, while inculcating upon the members a regard to its duties, to impress the community at large with a favorable opinion of its design and tendency. And you have not only listened to my instructions with attention, but have expressed, in the most flattering terms, your acknowledgment of my fidelity and your approbation of my zeal. To have acquitted myself, in any degree, to your satisfaction, in my addresses to you, and in my public vindication of the Fraternity, is a circumstance upon which I shall reflect with grateful sensibility so long as I live. Desirous of improving the interest I have obtained in your regards for the purpose of animating you to a spirit and conduct becoming the ancient and honorable Institution to which you belong, I beg your attention to a few parting counsels upon several topics of great importance to your credit and your happiness as Masons. With this view I have, according to clerical custom, selected a text for my discourse from the Sacred Scrip 1 On resigning the office of Chaplain to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, December 27. 1799. tures. As pertinent to my situation and my design, I shall make use of that passage inserted in the 2 Cor. xiii., 11:-"Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect. Be of good comfort. Be of one mind. Live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you." This is the affectionate farewell which the Apostle Paul took of his Christian friends at Corinth. Its import is this: May all joy and happiness ever attend you! That this may be the case, make it your care to amend whatever is amiss among you, and rise to the greatest perfection in virtue. Support and help one another in affliction: and may you be yourselves comforted with those strong consolations which true Christianity suggests. Cultivate for each other an endeared attachment, and retain an intire unanimity. And let me urge it upon you that ye be peaceable in your demeanor, and charitable in your sentiments; for then the God of love and peace will graciously own and bless you, and be your present helper and everlasting portion. In like terms, and with like cordiality, would I apply this pathetic counsel to you, my most valued friends, and echo these pious wishes on your behalf. But, as your Christian duties are inculcated on other occasions, there is no propriety in my dwelling particularly on them I shall confine myself principally to those that are masonic. In the knowledge and observance of these, also, brethren, be perfect. 1. To be thoroughly instructed in the lectures, well acquainted with the ceremonies, and complete in the degrees of Freemasonry, is the ambition of all. But by this very inclination, laudable as it undoubtedly is, some are prompted to a more rapid progress through its forms than is consistent with a clear and adequate comprehension of its principles. Hence they gain but a superficial, or, at best, only a theoretical and speculative knowledge of its sublime arcana: and, not applying to practice its symbols and its rules, they do not live in its influence nor exhibit its effects. They mistake the process for the result; and rest in the means, without attaining the end. Masonry is an art of great compass and extent. A knowledge of its mysteries is not attained at once, but by degrees. By much instruction and assiduous applica VALELICTORY DISCOURSE. 66 tion, advances are made. Every step is progressive, and He who knows the names and understands the application of the various tools and implements of the Craft, is, to be sure, thereby thoroughly furnished to every good work; but he, only, who uses and applies them to intellectual, moral, and social edification is the workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Therefore, in exhorting you to be perfect in Masonry, I intend, not merely that you should be expert in the Lectures, or eager to rise through its degrees; but that you should enter into the spirit of its solemn rites, and learn the full import of its interesting symbols; that you should be perfect in the knowledge and in the application of its principles, in the possession of the virtues it expects, and in the discharge of the duties it enjoins. 2. Moreover, my brethren, be of good comfort. There are, indeed, many troubles in the lot of hu manity; and you, like others, are exposed to them. But be not dismayed. By our excellent Institution you are furnished with preventives or remedies against most of them, and with supports and solace under all. You have a retreat, over which the changes of the world have not the least power. They reach not its peaceful recesses: they intrude not on its sacred quiet. Your cares, perplexities, and misfortunes, follow you not into the Lodge. You leave them behind you, with the agitated scene of which they are a part; and come hither to partake the sweet comfort of brotherly love, the bland alleviations of sympathy, or the effectual relief of charity and beneficence, when that is wanted also. Here you are introduced to associates whose warm and generous souls, whose enlightened and elevated minds, are drawn towards each other by wishes the most virtuous and sentiments the most sublime. Here you enter into a faithful, tender, and refined friendship. In this intimate and endeared connection, the inclinations are free, the feelings genuine, the sentiments unbiassed. • Preston. And the undisguised communication of thoughts and wishes, of pleasures and pains, shows that the confidence is mutual, sincere, and intire. Advice, consolation, succour, are reciprocally given and received, under all the accidents and misfortunes of life. And what sorrow can resist the consolation that flows from an intercourse so tender and so kind? The pains and troubles of a wounded heart will soon be alleviated or cured! The clouds which overshadowed the prospect will quickly fade away. Light will break in upon the view, and hope and joy gild and decorate the scene. Yes, my brethren, in coming hither you gather restoration from the past, refreshment for the present, and resources against the future: and you return back to the world, with a calm, resolute, and well fortified mind, better fitted to meet the trials, and better enabled to bear the burdens of life. In fact, in the very course of passing through the several grades, you acquire a firm and steady resolution of mind, prepared for every reverse, superior to every shock. You learn the discipline of virtue; you listen to the instructions of wisdom; and, following a faithful and unerring guide, you put your trust in God, and fear nothing. "Wherefore, we beseech you, brethren, comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also you do:" and be particularly attentive to the circumstances of the afflicted and the wants of the destitute, "that their hearts may also be comforted by being knit together in love," with those who have dispositions to sympathize with their sorrows and willingness to supply their need !s On another score, too, I would exhort you to be of good comfort; and that is, with respect to the reflections lately cast upon the Order to which you belong. Though the ignorant suspect, and the prejudiced To relieve the distressed, is a duty incumbent on all men; but particularly on Masons, who are linked together by an indissoluble chain of sincere affection. To sooth the unhappy, to sympathize with their misfortunes, to compassionate their miseries, and to restore peace to their troubled minds, is the grand aim we have in view. On this basis we establish our friendships and form our connections."Preston's Illustrations of Masonry. stigmatize your views and labors, "fear ye not their reproaches, neither be afraid of their revilings." Notwithstanding all their united attacks and pertinacious opposition, Masonry will still retain its influence and its credit; and, like its own well-compacted arch, will even be rendered more firm and strong by the pressure and the weight it bears. It is rendered still more secure if the members grow more and more united in judgment and affection to each other, and in their attachment to the ancient Constitutions, privileges and principles of the Craft. This is the more necessary at the present day, because one of our most formidable opponents commences the deduction of his "Proofs," with an account of the schisms in Masonry." Let me, therefore, in the third place, enjoin it upon you to be of one mind. Among the variety of duties incumbent upon you, remember that there is none more essential to the preservation, none more efficacious to the welfare of our Institution than unanimity. This makes the cement, the great principle of cohesion, which gives compactness to all the parts and members; forms them into a regular structure, into one uniform building; and adds harmony and beauty, firmness and stability to the whole. Or, it may be likened to the key-stone which compacts and strengthens the arch on which the edifice is supported and upheld. A cordial affection is the life and soul of all societies, and must be much more so of those who pretend to associate together upon the noblest maxims of charity and friendship. Unity is the golden chain which binds our willing hearts, and holds together our happy society: the principle on which depends its internal harmony and its outward prosperity. Jars and discords among the brethren will not only loosen the cement of the well-joined fabric, but sap its very foundation. "Need I mention, says a Rev. Brother, need I mention the malicious triumph which any schism or contest among us would give to the enemies of our ancient Craft? A factious spirit would soon check the |