ARGUMENT XXVII.

AN ADDRESS FOR A VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS INCREASING THE FUND FOR CHARITY, AND ALSO FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF A COLLECTION TO DISTRESSED

BRETHREN.

CHARITY, in the works of the moralist, is defined to be the love of our brethren, or a kind of brotherly affection, by which we are to understand that generous principle of the soul which considers the human species as one family, created by an All-wise Being, and placed on this globe for their mutual assistance. Charity must be unfeigned, constant, and out of no other design than to promote human happiness. This is the attractive principle or power that draws men together, and unites them in bodies politic, families, societies, and the various orders and denominations among men. Such are the general sentiments entertained of this virtue, and what the moralists define it to be.

Men in general are partial, contracted, or confined to a particular country, religion, or opinion; but our Order, on the contrary, is calculated to unite mankind, every individual of which is cemented with the rest, and has a just claim to friendship and regard.

You are taught that the Divine Artificer has thus cemented you for the preservation of harmony in that system of things which his divine wisdom has thought fit to establish; that it is not your own immediate endeavours to which you are indebted for what you enjoy; the diligence by which you have acquired, or the genius by which you have commanded the goods of fortune, were given to you by the Supreme Benevolence, and given, not as emoluments to yourselves only, or merely to be employed for your own advantage. He is the common Father of all; he regards the whole species as his children; he never excludes the meanest from his paternal care; and his mercies, however partially they may seem to be bestowed, are not given for the advantage of a few, but of the whole; if He, therefore, have dealt

more favourably with you than with thousands around you, equally the works of his hands, and who have the same claim to his beneficence, look upon yourselves as the happy agents employed by him, for distributing his goodness to others; show, by your love to man, your gratitude to God; be truly thankful and obey his precepts. "Ye are only the stewards of his unlimited bounty," and are, therefore, to look upon every human creature, "whatever has the character of a man, and wears the same image of God that you do," as truly your brethren, and having a just claim to your kindness.

The objects of true charity among Masons, are merit and virtue in distress; persons who are incapable of extricating themselves from misfortunes in the journey through life; industrious men, from inevitable accidents, and acts of Providence, fallen into ruin; widows left survivors of their husbands, by whose labours they subsisted; orphans in tender years, left naked to the world; and the aged, whose spirits are exhausted, whose arms are unbraced by time, and thereby rendered unable to procure for themselvest hat sustenance which they could accomplish in their youthful days.

Therefore the feelings of the heart ought to direct the hand of charity, which requires us to be divested of every idea of haughtiness, and to estimate ourselves as being of the same kind and race of men. In this disposition of mind we may be susceptible of those sentiments which charity delighteth in; and feel the woes and miseries of others with a genuine and true sympathy of soul, in sincerity and truth, and without partiality or hypocrisy. We should be always willing to commiserate distress, our hand being ever ready to relieve it, and to bind up that which sorrow has broken, and thus experience the exalted felicity of communicating happiness to

others.

Whilst, free from care, we are enjoying the blessings of Providence, we should not forget to raise the drooping spirits, and exhilarate the desponding hearts of our indigent Brethren; and, whilst we know one worthy Brother deprived of the necessaries of life, we ought not to revel in its superfluities.

The very key-stone, as it were, of our mystical fabric, is charity. Let us cherish this amiable virtue; let us

consider it as the vital principle of the Society, the constant rule of our actions by which to regulate our dealings with all mankind. And though pity may plead in more tender and eloquent terms for the distresses of a Brother, yet let us be ready to extend the hand of relief as far as our circumstances will admit. But money is not the only thing the unfortunate stand in need of. Compassion points out many resources to those who are not rich for the relief of the indigent, such as consolation, advice, protection, &c. The distressed often stand in need only of a tongue to make known their complaints; they often want no more than a word which they cannot speak, or reason they are ashamed to give, or entrance at the door of a great man, which they cannot obtain.

Therefore, whilst you are in plenty, regaling and enjoying the blessings sent you by the beneficent Parent of the Universe, you must not be deaf to the cries of distress, or divest yourselves of benevolent thoughts and social affections; you must not forget the calamities of an afflicted Brother. Allow me the repetition of this sentiment of charity.

When you have afforded the children of misfortune such consolation as prudence directs, you will enjoy the pleasures presented to you with greater relish. I say, as prudence directs; for you are not under such obligations to liberality that nothing will excuse you from it. Masonry teaches you that charity must be preceded by justice; and, unless a distressed Brother's calamities call aloud for instant assistance, where humanity prompts you to bestow aid, you must not be unmindful of those whom nature has more immediately connected to you.

If you cannot bestow alms on the necessitous, you may put an indigent individual in the road of relief, and so the blessings of him who was ready to perish may be upon you, even in giving but the good-will of your kind

recommendations.

The man who loves his fellow-creature, who sympathizes in his miseries, and who anxiously wishes it was in his power to relieve, though his circumstances allow him to give no pecuniary assistance, may be truly charitable; for gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this virtue. A man may bestow great sums on the poor and indigent without being charitable

and

may be charitable when he is not able to bestow anything. Charity, therefore, is a habit of good-will, or benevolence in the soul, which disposes us to divine love and affectionate attention and kindness to all men, but especially to those who stand in need of it.

By inspiring gladness into a heart oppressed with want, you receive the most rapturous, the most durable pleasure of which the heart is capable; and so far as you are thoroughly sensible of the satisfaction which arises from doing good, and that the best way of enlarging human happiness is by communicating it to others, so you are Masons in truth; and as such you will always have pity on the unfortunate, and be ever ready to do them kind offices; your hands will never be shut when benevolence commands them to be opened; and when a collection is to be made for charitable purposes you will cheerfully throw in your mite to increase it.

Whatever collection is now made, you may be assured will be religiously appropriated to the purposes for which you design it; industrious but unfortunate Brethren, and not the idle and dissolute, will be partakers of it; some part of it will go to the dwellings of poverty and disease, there to procure bread for the hungry and medicines for the sick; and some parts of it will rejoice the hearts of the aged.

ARGUMENT XXVIII.

HEADS OF A CHARGE PROPER TO BE GIVEN TO NEW-ADMITTED BRETHREN: POINTING OUT THE MORAL AND THE MASONIC DUTIES IMPOSED UPON EVERY MEMBER OF THE ORDER, FROM THE HOUR OF HIS INITIATION.

You are now admitted, by the unanimous consent of our Lodge, a fellow of our most ancient and honourable Society: ancient, as having subsisted from time immemorial, and honourable, as tending in every particular to render a man so, that will be comformable to its good precepts.

The greatest monarchs in all ages, as well of Asia and Africa as of Europe, have been encouragers of the royal art, and many of them have presided as Grand Masters over the Masons in their respective dominions, not thinking it any diminution of their imperial dignities to level themselves with their Brethren in Masonry, and to act as they did. The world's great Architect is our Supreme Master, and the unerring rule he has given us is that by which we work. Religious disputes are never suffered in our Lodge, for, as Freemasons, we only cultivate universal religion. This is the cement which unites men of the most different principles in one sacred band, and brings together those who were the most distant from each other.

There are three general heads of duty which Masons ought always to observe, viz., to God, our neighbour, and ourselves. To God, in never mentioning his name but with that reverential awe which becomes a creature to bear to his Creator, and to look upon him always as the sovereign good which we came into the world to enjoy, and, according to that view, to regulate all our pursuits. To our neighbour, in acting upon the square, or doing as we would be done by. To ourselves, in avoiding all intemperance and excess, whereby we may be led into a behaviour unbecoming our laudable profession.

In the state, a Mason is to act as a peaceable and duti