I . W. GRAND LOlMiK ^licitnt, /ice, Mb ^cttptei SElasons, A i/ro \

Let us approach% a
Let us enter; and here on bended knee, offer our oblations
at the holy shrino of Masonry. The tutelar Godde-s reeeives the
grateful offering with the benignant smile of approbation—still beautiful as
Anadyomene, issuing from the bosom of the waves; lovely, as
" Young Iris when she dips
Her mantle in the sparkling dew;"
pure, as tho glacier's virgin snow; fresh, as Aurora laughing the shades of
darkness away; and blooming, as tho roso deep-blushing at its own redolent
sweetness—
" Time writes no wrinkle on her ' spotless brow,"
Such as Creation's dawn beueld,' thus is she now.
The evening cloud receives the kiss of the parting sun, dies in a blush, and
is forever gone; the Heaven-dyed Iris lives but an hour; the delicate flower
falls in a day; the freshness of youth soon fades from tho carnationed
cheek of the maiden ; and man, formed in the image of God, next to the
Lngels in intelligence, with his colossal mind compassing and penetrating
earth, sea, and sky, dies !—and whore is he ?
Nations pass away; empires decay; monuments of antiquity crumble
into dust; the bat wings his drowsy flight in the palace of kings : the spider
weaves his web in the council chamber of senators; and tho owl sings his
watch-song in the august temples of the gods !
The mountain falling, sleeps on the bosom of tho plain ; the green island
links in the embrace of tho ocean; the comet is lost in the wilderness of
worlds ; and the sweet Pleiad, leaves the arms of her dear sisters, to wandor
an outcast in tho boundless blue depths of ether ! But amidst these mutations,
Masonry still survives; for, like the house of the wise man, it is
founded on a rock ; nnd as the dark oceau of oblivion sweeps along, and engulfs
passing events in its inky waves, Masonry, standing justly and uprightly
on her watch-tower, with lamps trimmed and lights burning on her sacred
altar, unfurls her snowy banner to the breeze, and shouts amid the gloom—
ALL IS WELL! GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON
EARTH, PEACE, GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN!
These last simple, but eloquent words, embody all the principles of our
time-honored institution—its wholo design, scope and aim—and contain the
essence of genuine Free Masonry. To accomplish this end, it commands
proficiency in the several arts and science?; adopts the Holy Bible as its
statute-law; BROTHERLY LOVE, RELIEF, and TRUTH, as its tenets ;
enjoins tho pract<strong>ice</strong> of the cardinal virtues, TEMPERANCE, FORTITUDE,
PRUDENCE, and JUSTICE ; and is ever admonishing us to have FAITH
in God. HOPE in Immortality, and CHARITY to all mankind—thus, by
symbols, the mo3r expressive and impressive, forming a beautiful system of
morality, positively prohibiting all that is degrading or debasing, and earnestly
inculcating whatsoever is true, whatsoever is honest, whatsoever is justi
whatsoever is pure, whatsoever is lovely—calling into exertion the noblest
feelings of the heart, the loftiest aspirations of the soul, and bringing into
requisition the strongest powers of the human intellect.