THE LOST WORD, or THE SEARCH FOR TRUTH

Most Worshipful, Grand Master, Wardens and Brothers of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free Masons in the Republic of Liberia: In pursuance to an ancient custom floating down the stream of time, on this hallowed Feast-day of St. John, the Evangelist, in solemn procession as Masons, we have journeyed to the house of God, to offer up our thanksgiving in public assembly for the blessings of our Masonic year, and the hope we entertain for the future, to pray for mercies in prospect and to hear from this rostrum a disquisition on the moral and religious purposes of our Ancient and Honorable Fraternity. Then,

"Hail Eternal, by whose aid
All created things were made:
Heav'n and earth, Thy vast design;
Hear us, Architect Divine!
May our work begun in Thee,
Ever blest with order be.
And may we when labor cease,
Part in harmony and peace,
By thy glorious Majesty,
By the trust we placed in Thee,
By the badge and mystic sign,
Hear us, Architect Divine!"

This is indeed an auspicious occasion and I felicitate myself on being deemed worthy in the estimation of this Ancient and Honorable Fraternity to represent them with an address on Freemasonry.

As I stand within this sacred enclosure, and see the accompanying the Grand Master, His Excellency the President of this Republic; wearing the apparel of a Mason and the jewel of the Senator Grand Warden, and with him, the Attorney-General illuminated with the jewel and tinsel of Junior Grand Warden, The secretary of State officiating at the altar, and the brotherhood in general among whom I recognize Judges, Senators, Representatives, lawyer doctor and ministers, merchants and artisans, white men and black men, the Dutchman vying with the German, the Englishman with the American, I am moved to exclaim with the poet:

"Worthy Masons all,
Worthy Masons all,
The Republic, the Craft;
And the Mystic tie:
Worthy Masons all."

Turning again and seeing over this beautiful and spacious edifice, our wives and our daughters, our mothers and our sisters and the widows of our departed brothers accompanied by the populace in general of your capital city, all seemingly questioning as they behold you in your apparel of blue, bedecked and adorned with silvery tinsel and golden lace surrounded with the jewels, symbols and implements of an institution to the them a mystery, "Who are you? From whence came you, and whither are you journeying?"

Assuming as my subject exegetic of the symbol in "The Lost Word" which is the Search for Truth--I will endeavor to lift this veil of mystery that the profane may realize that Masonry, though in the world is not of it--that the brothers may be reassured that as the neophyte imbues the principles of our esoteric ceremonies, he has entered upon the investigation of a philosophy and a science, the purity and the morality of which though veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols, are as ancient as the world, high as the blue canopied sky and deep as the bowels of the earth.

"Nature indeed inspires devotion. The air is full of signs, the sky of tokens the grounds of memoranda and signatures; every object is covered with hints that speak intelligibly and to the intelligent." Our ancient ancestor Adam of ages prehistoric received by divine inspiration and direct communication with Deity, the esoteric principles and certitudes of Masonic philosophy. In that communication he received "The Word" and "The Word was God." St. John the Baptist, the symbol of whom we recognize in the right parallel, is our authority for that. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." This is the testimony of Saint John, the Evangelist in whose name and praise we are here today and for whose rectitude and zealous faith, the brothers of our Ancient Craft are doubtless now, bowing art a common shrine in India and China Africa and Australia, Europe and America.
 

Wherever the light of the Christian's faith has penetrated, they bow and kneel on this day that the world may know that as Freemasons we are in search of the "Lost Word" -- that which was committed to father Adam and brother Tubal Cain -- but lost in its purity through disobedience, sin and death. Hence,

"Let us hope the Sacred Book,
The compass and the square;
May guide and circumscribe the craft
Henceforth and everywhere.
To celebrate the Masons art,
The world's historic page
It's beauties, aye, will mirror forth.
And tell from age to age"

In looking for the evidence of the claims of Freemasonry if you limit your search to our ceremonies and rites -- to the external appearances of our jewels and implements and the rich hue and dazzling brilliancy of the silver tinsel and golden gilt, which adorns the royal purple, your labors will be in vain. Would you be successful in this "Search for the Lost Word confound not the outward and extrensic forms and ceremonies with the internal philosophy of Masonic Science"

"Prudent antiquity," says Lord Coke, "did for more solemnity and better memory and observation of that which is  done, to express substances under ceremonies " Hence as a great Masonic scholar has said; "Ceremony is the outer garment which covers and perhaps adorns it as clothing does the human figure" "But divest man of the outward apparel and you still have the microcosm, the wondrous creation with all his nerves and bones and muscles and above all, with his brain and thoughts and feelings."

In the same manner take from Masonry its external ceremonies of paraphernalia and there still remains its philosophy and science.

In Masonic Philosophy, we are engaged in the contemplation of the divine and human Character of Deity as one eternal, self-existent being. Our shibboleth is -- Deus durat semper et ubique et durationem spartium constituit. Since the incipiency of our Mysteries this has been the doctrine propagated by Freemasonry in contradiction to the mythology of the ancient people's which as the Historian inform us, "was burdened with a multitude of gods and goddesses of demigods and heroes." Freemasonry presented man as an immortal being preparing in the present for an eternal future.
 
 

  As the novice received its light, he exclaimed Eternitas est una individua et tota simul. Hence Deity and the Immortality of the soul compose the philosophy of Freemasonry. For its foundation you must turn to the remote ages of antiquity. You must wander among the pyramids and obelisks of Egypt. You must journey toward that ancient Empire established by Nimrod; between the Tigris and the Euphrates. You must revel among the ancient kingdoms of Assyria, Phoenicia, India and Persia, Greece and Rome, whose priests and prophets in the blackness of their ignorance after the "Word was Lost" preserved the connecting link through the Sun, Moon and stars.

In it's illuminating power they recognized the First Great Cause; accepting the heavenly bodies as symbols of Deity whom they regarded as the source of every good and perfect gift and the defender of every moral virtue. In their feast oblations well might they have caroled Natures song:

" The spacious firmament on high,
with all the blue ethereal sky,
An spangled heavens a shining frame;
their great Original proclaim:
the unwearied sun from day to day
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land,
The work of an Almighty Hand.
" Soon as the evening shades prevail
the moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth;
Whilst all the stars that round her burn
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
"What though in solemn silence all,
Move round this dark terrestrial ball;
What though no real voice nor sound,
Amidst their radiant orbs be found;
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
"The Hand that made us is divine."

Amidst the intellectual darkness and debasement of the old polytheistic religions, we find dispersed here and there in all ages certain institutions or associations which disseminated the doctrine of Deity and the Immorality of the soul in a particular way, that was in allegories and symbols. Hence, inasmuch as our science of morality is veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols, we are justified in contending that Freemasonry as we find it today, the direct successor of the Ancient Mysteries, is in Search of Truth -- Ad actu posse valet illatio.

In further proof of this exalted mission of Freemasonry and its origin. I ask you to review with me Mackey's Fifteen Propositions on the Origin of Masonic Philosophy.

Proposition (1) holds that "In the very earliest ages of the world, there were existent certain truths of vast importance to the welfare and happiness of humanity which had been communicated, no matter how but most probably by direct inspiration from God to man."

Proposition (2) contends "That these truths principally consisted in the abstract propositions of the unity of God and the Immortality of the soul."

Proposition (3) contends that "these truths of God and Immortality were most probably handed down through the line of patriarchs of the race of Seth, but were at all events known to Noah and were by him communicated to his immediate descendants."

Proposition (4) holds that "In consequence of this communication the true worship of God continued for some time, after the subsidence of he deluge, to be cultivated by the Noachidae or the descendants of Noah."

Proposition (5) Says, "At a subsequent period, (no matter when, but the Biblical record places it at the attempted building of the Tower of Babel) there was a secession of a large number of the human race from the Noachites."

In proposition (6) We learn that "The seceders rapidly lost sight of the divine truths which had been communicated to them from their common ancestors, and fell into the most grevious theological errors, corrupting the purity of the worship and the orthodoxy of the religious faith which they had primarily received."

In the (7th) We see that "These truths were preserved in their integrity but a very few in the particular line, while still fewer were enabled to retain only dim and glimmering portions of the true light." For the "Word was Lost" and our brothers feared forever." But to the praise and glory of Immanuel, who offered the substitute, we are enabled to continue the Search until we have attained the Truth.

In proposition (8) We see that "The first class of seekers was confined to the direct descendants of Noah, and the second was to be found among the Priests and philosophers and perhaps still later among the poets of the heathen nations and among those whom they initiated into the secrets of these truths."

Proposition (9) States that "The system or doctrine of the former class has been called by Masonic Writers `Pure or Primitive Freemasonry', and that of the latter class Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity." These terms were first used according to Brother Mackey by Dr. Oliver of England and are intended to refer the word pure, to the doctrines taught by the descendants of Noah in the Jewish line the word spurious to his heathen or Gentile line.

In proposition (11) It is held and justly so that "The errors of the heathen religions were gradual corruptions of the truths taught by Noah."

In proposition (12) We learn that "Those among the masses -- and there were some -- who were made acquainted with the truth, received their knowledge by means of an initiation into certain sacred mysteries in the bosom of which it was concealed from the public gaze."

We see in proposition (13) That "The Mysteries existed in every country of heathendom, in each under a different name and to some extent under a different form but always and everywhere with the same design of inculcating by allegorical and symbolical teaching the great Masonic doctrines of the Unity of God and the Immortality of the soul."

Proposition (14) Says that "These two divisions of the Masonic Institution; namely, the Pure or Primitive Freemasonry and the Spurious Freemasonry, flowed down the stream of time in parallel currents, often near together but never commingling."

But propositions (15) Declares that "They were not always to be kept apart, for springing in the long anterior ages from one common fountain the Ancient Priesthood of which I have already spoken -- then divided into Pure and Spurious Freemasonry of Antiquity. Separated for centuries upon centuries they at last met at the building of the King Solomon's Temple and were united through the fellowship of Solomon with Hiram of Tyre and Hiram Abiff.

Here the "Legenda Aurea" of Masonry received its birth. In substantiation of these Masonic propositions the Book of Raziel, and Kabbalistic work on the divine Mysteries says: "That Adam was the first to receive these mysteries. Afterwards when driven out of Paradise he, communicated them to his son Seth; Seth communicated them to Enoch, Enoch communicated them to Methuselah, Methuselah to Lamech, Lamech to Noah, Noah to Shem, Shem to Abraham, Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, Jacob to Levi, Levi to Kelhoth, Kelhoth to Amram, Amram to Moses, Moses to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, the elders communicated them to the prophets, the prophets to the wise men and then from one to another until they were communicated to King Solomon." It was here then at King Solomon's temple behind the veils of the Sanctum Sanctorum our Mystic Craft, though kissed by death in the fall of Adam, was saluted by Immortality in the work of the temple.

There the craft as we know here today began the Mystic Search as Operative and Speculative masons. In the labyrinth of its beauty, wisdom and power symbolize in its colonnades of Ionic and Corinthian beauty, its stupendous magnitude of architectural grandeur; the intellectual faculties were enervated and the mind began to contemplate with the implements of their profession, art and craft upon the sublime teachings of the brothers and fellows who had gone before them.

As Callimachus at the grave of the Grecian Maiden found the type of his Corinthian Column, our brothers see in its beauty, grandeur and stability, the God of love, wisdom and power. Though we learn allegorically of the unfinished condition of the temple -- symbolically as we behold the weeping virgin standing over the Broken Column, the urn of sacred contents in one hand, the acacia of timely notice in the other, and father time, with the scythe in one hand and the fingers of the other entwined in the wrinkles of her hair, we are assured that with patience and perseverance all things are attained at last.

It is fortunate for Africa and an everlasting benediction to Masonry universally that within the archives of the most Worshipful Grand Lodge of this Republic, the Ancient Mysteries of Masonry are deposited; its rites and ceremonies, Landmarks and Regulations as transmitted and acknowledged by the Grand Lodge of England are practiced and its philosophy as delivered by the Great Architect of the Universe, pure and unblemished, is taught and inculcated.

Then my brothers, having a just, regular and perfect possession of the tie of universal brotherhood, let us exclaim in the words of Albert Pike:

"The truer life draws nigher,
Every year;
And its morning star climbs higher,
Every year;
Earth's hold on us grows slighter,
And the heavy burden lighter,
And the Dawn Immortal brighter,
Every year."

In her high and exalted purpose the craft is essentially the handmaid of the church. It does not meddle with sectarian creeds or doctrines but teaches fundamental religious truth. "It affords no plan of salvation," but the true Christian Mason will find, if he perseveres in the "Search for Truth," abundant types and shadows of his own exalted and divinely inspired faith. "It inculcates the practice of virtue but it supplies no scheme for redemption for sin. It points is adherents to the path of righteousness but it does not claim to be the way, the truth and the life." But with the Church Masonry clasps the glad hand of fraternity and solemnly pledges herself for the improvement of the Nation and home"

Hand-in-hand with the Church she espouses the principles of brotherly love, relief and truth. Hand-in-hand with the Church Masonry preserves in their purity the cardinal tenets of the revealed Word. With the Church, hand-in-hand she proclaims the gospel of labor and the dignity of man.

"Pure is her aim, and in her temper mild,
Her wisdom seems the weakness of a child;
She makes excuses where she might condemn.
Reviled by those who hate her, prays for them;
Suspicion lurks not in her artless breast;
The worst suggested, she believes the best.
Not soon provoked, however stung and teased,
And if perhaps made angry soon appeased:
She rather waives than will dispute the right,
And injured, makes forgiveness her delight."

As Masons we love wisdom, we cherish liberty, we support equality and venerate fraternity. As Masons our craft would have its adherents to do the right because it is right and not because it is expedient. As Masons, the brother, whether standing on the level or acting by the plumb or parting on the square, will always exalt inward purity above outward pomp and show. As Masons and citizens, in the time of this Nation's need they will show themselves its most patriotic band-from every Mason stands pledged to support the laws of his country and to respect those in authority. When national honor is assailed. They are among the first to unsheathe the sword and when the foe is conquered with the first they extend the friendly hand of peace.

Their interest in society--their devotion to the cause of humanity is none the less abated, by their zeal for the Nation. As long as the tears of a widow falls or the cries of an orphan is heard--and there remains an innocent maiden in need of a champion--the Freemason's work will be undone. Like Solomon of old who received and honored Sheba--we as men good and true, salute and acknowledge the nobility of womanhood and the sanctity of her home. For,

"We're true and sincere,
And just to the fair;
Who will trust us anywhere;
No mortal can more
The ladies adore
Than a free and accepted mason."

To thee, O beautiful Order of the Eastern Star -- the one bright light in the path of Masonic exclusion -- we here again plight our faith and reaffirm to thee fidelity. In thy emblematic light we recognize the triumph of right. Hence, in our Mystical Research thou shalt have thine own desert. And thou, O Ancient and Honorable Fraternity, born with the dawn of light, developed in the ages of darkness and refused to be downed -- while "all others have perished; perished with the empires where they originated, perished with the priesthood to which they gave power -- perished with the temples and altars which time has overthrown -- perished to never be revived" -- pursue thine onward journey. "The temples of Baalbec, Karnak and Jerusalem will not be rebuilt. The altars of Mexico will not be reconstructed. The Parthenon will not be repaired and the Pantheon will not again welcome the gods of all nation," -- for masonry prehistoric and ancient with them all -- in the Search for Truth, has found that which was lost.

Truth is established; God reigns; Immortality is secured. Hence, brothers and fellows, toil onward, mount upward, until in that light which never fadeth, by I Am, the Great Architect of the Universe, and in the name of Immanuel, we shall be crowned forever. FINIS.

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