24 



iSlljt iarmcf iBotttfilij iMsitor. 



eagle, more honornlile tliaii tlie star and garter,'" 

 of free and acrepled Masons, has Iieen revived in 

 the District of Cohinibia in a spirit of hrotherly 

 love and zeal uhicli promises all the jjood results 

 that its best friends li.ive anticipated from the in- 

 stitution. \Ve have had the pleasure of meeting 

 around the altar with "good men and true," dur- 

 ing the present winter, from theslioroof the Col- 

 orado In soutliHestern Texas to those of the St. 

 Croix in the extreme northeast; and haply on 

 this ground has again been ujitlen hy that "hier- 

 oglyphic bright which none but craftsmen ever 

 saw," and revived the scenes in which we partic- 

 ipated with some of the best hearts of New 

 Ilunjjj.shire a quarter of a century ago. 



The popular Clerk of the House, a favorite and 

 leader of the Masons, enjoys also the position of 

 Grand iMa&ter over the Lodges of the District. — 

 Having heard the address which ho delivered be- 

 fore numerous brethren of the craft, members of 

 Congress and others, on the occasion of a visita- 

 tion of the Grand Lodge to one of the subordi- 

 nate Lodges, we have solicited its publication, 

 not because it was especiidly interesting to Ma- 

 sons, but because we. believed it might be read 

 with [:rofit and even delight by those who are not 

 Masons. 



ADDRESS, delivered by B. B. FRENCH, 



M. W. Graud Master, of the Grand I^od§e 

 of the District of Coliimbin, at the visitation 

 ot the Grand Lodge to Natioual Lodge No. 

 13, of the city of Washington, Feb. 1, 1847. 



,Iii the fuvv remarks I purpose to make upon this oc- 

 casion, I shall endeavor to impress upon my brethren 

 the great moral duties they owe to themselves, to each 

 other, and to mankind. 



" What came you here to do ?" 



"To learn to subdue my passions, and improve 

 myself in .Ma:?onry.*" 



Mow often — how very often is this question asked 

 and the answer returned without a thought of its deep 

 and abiding importance. Let us give our reflections 

 for a few moments to the first lesson it inculcates — 

 " To learn to subdue our passions !" 



Every child thai is born into this " breathing world," 

 has within its little bosom the gerjus of passion — there 

 lie the seeds of love, of jealousy, of revenge, of ha- 

 tred, of fear, of joy, of anger, of hope, of despair, — 

 and as day after day — month after month — year after 

 year passes away, these germs are developed, and for 

 good or for evil they mark the character of the man. 

 The .Minigiity Creator of all things hiis seen fit to 

 make Iheso passions a portion of man's nature, and 



they are, to the soul wKal the nerves are to the body 



the nearest touch with the point of the finest needle, 

 to the most attenuated nerve in tho system, thrills 

 through all the rest; and the slightest disturbance of 

 the cfjuilibrium of the best balanced mind, will often 

 rouse the passions and render him who but tho mo- 

 ment before was the gravest of the grave, the merriest 

 of tho merry; or, on the contrary, change the lines of 

 joy upon the most sunny countenance, into those of 

 grief, of anger or of despair. .\nd we may well ex- 

 claim with the poet when we reflect how "fearfully 

 and wonderfully" vva are made, 



" Strance lliat a liarp of tlinn^ianil slrincs 

 Sli'.uld hc<|. io iimu so lonj!." 



If the passions of nian arc sufl'orcd to run to riot, 

 they soon overcome reason, and Jie who is under their 

 influence is as niui-h a madman for the time bein" as 

 is the incurable tenant of a mad house. Then how 

 necessary docs it become that we should learn to sub- 

 due our passions. They are given to us for wise pur- 

 poses, and a man without human passions would be 

 but the form without the soul; but lie who gave Ihum 

 gave us also tho power to control thsm, and one of ihc 

 very first lessons taught to us upon entering this sacred 

 retreat, from the cares and turmoils of life, is to exert 

 that power iji such a manner as to bring our passions 



within sneh control as will render them a blessing, and 

 not a curse to ourselves and others. 



All the passions are to be subdued and kept within 

 proper bounds; but the one which, above all others, 

 we, as free and accepted masons, are to subdue, is 

 anger. Ungovernable anger is capable of doing more 

 mischief among mankind than any other passion, as it 

 leads to revenge, hatred and violence. iNo passion is 

 more easily excited, and none is more dillicult to con- 

 trol. He who indulges it comes, necessarily, to hale 

 the object of it; revenge follows, and bloodshed and 

 even murder are too often the result. Anger indulged 

 by one individual toward another seldom ends until 

 many are involved in the excitement, and thus the 

 evil passions of one may involve tho ruin and over- 

 throw of many; and truly may it be said "behold 

 how great a matter a little fire kindleth." Here, 

 where the very basis and foundation of onr order Is 

 " brotherly love, relief, and truth," it is our duty to 

 practice what we profess, and with a bold and steady 

 determination to master all evil thinking and evil act- 

 ing — to square all our actions hy the square of virtue, 

 and, applying the plumb-line of rectitude to all our 

 movements, so bear ourselves " that all the world may 

 say, he is a man." 



But this is not all that is required of us in carrying 

 our the great principle with which I commenced these 

 remarks. We are not only to sifbdue our passions, 

 but we are to aid our brethren in exercising a healthy 

 control over theirs. It may he said that if each would 

 subdue his own passions, this would not be necessary. 

 True. But perfection is not of this world, and the 

 very best amongst all societies will, at limes, be thrown 

 from their equanimity; and then is the time when that 

 blessing to mankind, brotherly love, is to cast the sun- 

 light of its holy influence over the darkness of discon- 

 tent and anger, when the oil of friendship is to be 

 poured upon the troubled waters of discord, that good 

 may be wrought out of evil. A true and generous 

 mason and man docs not live for himself alone : he 

 lives for his country aiid for his brethren — the glory of 

 the one and the happiness of the others swallow up all 

 selfishness in bin), and he builds his masonic temple 

 on the broad basis of human benevolence and human 

 happiness! He will be brave in the cause of his conn- 

 try — untiring in the dissemination of virtue and kindly 

 feeling, and he will sufier no suggestions of prudence 

 or forbearance to hinder him from doing all that in him 

 lies in healing any disaflection between his brethren; 

 thus aiding then;, to subdue their passions, and to live 

 in friendship and brotherly love with one another. 



Then, my brethren, always rcmonjber, when you 

 repeat those important words, " to learn to subdue my 

 passions," that ihey profess a deep, an iiiipnrtant, I 

 may almost say a holy meaning. Uememlier that 

 when the lesson is learned, there shall be no more an- 

 ger, no more revenge, nor hatred nor jealousy v\'ilhin 

 your sacred retreat; that brotherly love, good will, 

 harmony and friendship shall alone prevail, and Ihe 

 millennium of .Masonry will have commenced. I'rom 

 my heart, and in our own strong asservation, do I say 

 " so mote it be." 



"To learn to subilue my passions, arid improre 

 myself in miisonry." What do we n)can hy improv- 

 ing ourselves in masonry ? CJoing over u few forms of 

 speech and of action — a little lip service, the necessa- 

 ry business of our meetings, and then separating to 

 mingle again with the world ? No — no— no! we mean 

 no such thing. " If we really improve in masonry, \vc 

 improve in religion, in science, in virtue, in general 

 knowledge and in all that is good. Mtisonry is not 

 cramped down to a few forms, and ivords, and tokens; 

 those are hut th.' bars and tho bolts which guard the 

 temple in which our treasuries are deposited. 



Our fjundation is the bible, and no man who doulils 

 Ihe Bacrc.l truths recorded in that holy volume can he 

 in heart a mason. 



We holrl it up i,s the First Great Light of Masonry; 

 it is to us the pillar of fire by night, and the pillar of 

 the cloud by day; we endeavor to bo guided hy the 

 precepts it inculcates; we study il, and we improve 



ourselves in masonry! Every implement of our craft 

 teaches us some moral lesson by which wo endeavor 

 to profit and become better men. The doors of sci- 

 ence are ihrowH wide open before us; we enter and 

 we learn. The knowledge that masonry imparls, is 

 confined to no sect, no country; it embraces all; it is 

 co-extensive with all. It is not canfi:icd to the lodge 

 rooms where masons meet, any more lh.m the learning 

 of the universities is confined within their walls of 

 stone and mortar. The true mason bears his knowl- 

 edge wherever he goes; he imparts it to his brethren 

 wherever they may be found; he is ever ready to teach 

 or to be taught; and thus do we improve ourselves in 

 masonry. 



Forgive me for relating, here, a little episode in my 

 own life, illustrative, in some measure of the foregoing 

 remarks. I was among the granite hills and rocks of 

 my own native State, breathing the pure air of a bright 

 summer's day, when a fancy came over me to ascend 

 one of the niountaius in the neighborhood of my own 

 residence. I invited some friends to accompany me. 

 Mounting our horses w£ rode as fiir as jt was practica- 

 ble to proceed on horseback, and then proceeded on 

 fool to the summit of the mountain. Companies of 

 men who go out for pleasure can seldom endure idle- 

 ness; so it was agreed that a pyramid of loose rocks 

 should be raised, as a memorial of our visit to the sum- 

 mil of Kearsarge, I will remark, in passing, that 

 there seems to be a propensity inherent in man to 

 leave behind him some memorial of his presence 

 wherever he may be, and to this propensity masonry 

 owes much — aye, very much. 



But, to proceed: while my companions were busy- 

 ing themselves in the practical masonry of erecting 

 their memorial, I wandered to a distant part of the 

 sumnfit and there met a gendeman who had ascended 

 on the opposite side of the mountain. I had seen him 

 once before, and knew that he w^as then a residenl of 

 this city, (Wasjiignton) and on a \isit to his friends in 

 New Ibuiip-hire. I had been but recently raised to 

 the sublime degree of a master mason, and was as I 

 still am enthusiastic in njy adujiration of the order. I 

 entered into a conversation with the almost stranger, 

 and I soon discovered that he was of the craft. We 

 made ourselves known to each other as master masons, 

 when he informed me that he was the grand lecturer, 

 of the grand lodge of the District of Columbia! Little 

 did I then imagine that I should ever hold the Ifigh 

 and hononbic station of its Grand .Master! Wc seat- 

 ed ourselves beneath an overhanging rock, and there 

 held communion together, improving ourselves in spec- 

 ulative masonry, until my companions, having com- 

 pleted their practical masonry, sought me, and my 

 friend. Your former Grand Lecturer and uiy.self sep- 

 arated not to meet again for many and many a day. 

 It was a meeting, shall I saj, of chance ? ISio! liir 

 He who sufl'ers not a sparrow to fall to tho ground 

 wilhout his knowledge, and by whom the hiurs of our ' 

 head are all numbered, leaves nothing lo chance' It 

 was a meeting of which neither the one or the other 

 UoQW aught until it happened; and il was rife with 

 improvement in masonry lo me, which I have not for- 

 gotten to this day. 



If wc will improve ourselves, as we ought, in ma- 

 sonry, wc shall not fiiil to be what our ancient consti- 

 tution requires that we should be — " men of probity 

 and honor, whatever may be our difl'erences in name 

 or in opinion, by which niasonry becomes the central 

 point of I'niou, and the means nf establishing friend- 

 ship among persons, who, without il, would live in 

 continual separation."' 



" No private haired or feud," says our constitution, 

 " shall he carried to the threshold of iho lodge, still 

 less lolitical or religious disputes." 1 hope, and trust, 

 ihat wilhin the jurisdiction of the grand lodge of this 

 nistrict, not ouly all private feuds, if there be any, 

 will he kept out of our lodges, but that they will bo 

 healed enlirely, and 1 know 1 shall have the co-opera- 

 tion of every mason within these walls, to aid me in 

 bringing about a consummation so devoutly to he 

 wished. 



