weep in heaven, they weep for such; if they know contempt, they feel it for the wealthy, who bestow not of their superfluities, and snatch not from their vices what would gladden souls sunk in the woes of worldly adversity. The eyes of cherubims view with delight the exercise of such benevolence as forms the character of the good Samaritan; saints touch their golden lyres to hymn humanity's fair history in the realms of bliss; and approbation shines upon the countenance divine of Omnipresence, when a man is found in the exercise of virtue.

What should that human wretch be called who, with premeditated cruelty and avarice, devises mischief, whilst he is conscious of his neighbour's honesty; whilst he sees him industriously, day by day, labouring with sweaty brow and weary limbs, toiling with cheerfulness for bread; on whose exerted labour an affectionate and virtuous wife and healthy children, crowding his narrow hearth with naked feet, depend for sustenance; whilst he perceives him, with integrity more than human, taking scrupulously his own, and wronging no man to satisfy his hunger or his wants; whilst he sees him, with fatigued sinews, lengthen out the toil of industry from morning to night, with unremitting ardour, singing to elude repining, and smoothing his anxieties and pain with hope that he shall reward his weariness by the overflowings of his wife's cheerful heart, and with the smiles of his feeding infants? What must he be who knows such a man, and, by his craft or avarice, extorts unjust demands, and brings him into beggary? What must he be who sees such a man deprived by fire or water of all his substance, the habitation of the infants lost, and nothing left but nakedness and tears, and, seeing this, affords the sufferer no relief? Surely, in Nature, no such wretches do exist!-but, if such be, it is not vain presumption to proclaim that, like accursed Cain, they are distinguished as the outcasts of God's mercies, and are left on earth to live a life of punishment.

The objects of true Charity are merit and virtue in distress; persons who are incapable of extricating themselves from misfortunes which have overtaken them in old age; industrious men, from inevitable accidents and acts of Providence, rushed into ruin; widows left sur

vivors of their husbands, by whose labour they subsisted; orphans in tender years left naked to the world.

What are not the claims of such on the hand of Charity, when you compare them to the miscreants who infest the doors of every dwelling with their importunities?— wretches wandering from their homes, showing their distortions and their sores, to prompt a false compassion; with which ill-gotten gains, in concert with vagabonds, they revel away the hours of night, which conceals their iniquities and vices.

Charity, when misapplied, loses her titles, and, instead of being adorned with the dress of virtue, assumes the insignificance, the bells and feathers of folly.

131

LECTURE XII.

ON BROTHERLY Love.

WE will speak of brotherly love in this lecture in that degree which solely appertains to Masons. The necessity there is for the exertion of brotherly regard among Masons in the lodge is obvious to every one; peace, regularity, and decorum are indispensable duties there; all resentment and remembrance of injuries should be forgotten, and that cordiality ought to be warm among us which brings with it cheerfulness and rejoicing. The true worshippers of the Deity, men who held just notions of the principles of Nature in the times of barbarous ignorance, durst not publicly practise the one, or promulgate the other; but happy is our estate in this lettered age and this land of liberty: we profess our sentiments with freedom, and without fear; we exercise our religious principles under a full toleration; and, as social beings, we assemble in the lodge, to enjoy the pleasures of friendship, and the breathings of true benevolence.

After the business of the lodge is dispatched, we are assembled to open out the cheerfulness of our hearts without guile; for there are no tale-bearers, censors, or revilers among us: our lodge is sacred to silence, hence we may say, figuratively, "It is situate in the secret places, where the cock holds not his watch, where the voice of wailing reaches not, where brawling, as the intemperate wrath of women, cannot be heard."

Without suspicion of being betrayed in our words, or ensnared in the openness of our dealings, our mirth here is undisguised, is governed by prudence, tempered with love, and clothed in charity; thus it stands void of offence; no malicious mind warps innocent expressions to wicked constructions, or interprets unmeaning jests

1 Appendix, O.

into sarcasms or satires; but as every sentiment flows full of benevolence, so every ear here is attuned to the strain, in harmonious concord, and tastes the pleasures of festivity so pure that they bear our reflections in the morning, without remorse.

Peace, regularity, and decorum, which we observed were indispensable duties here, are not the offspring of control, or the issue of authority, but a voluntary service which every man brings to the lodge.

There are seasons, indeed, in which authority is properly exercised; man is frail; the most prudent may sometimes deviate. It was a maxim of the ancient philosophers, "that to err is human;"-therefore in the lodge there ought to be a constant governor, who should restrain the improprieties which may creep in among us by any brother coming here after an intemperance in liquor.

Another degree of brotherly love which should prevail here is, to hear the petitions of every member of this society with tenderness and attention. Where there is at any time a brother of our community sick or in distress, the case of his calamities should come here represented by a brother who will neither deceive us, nor hold back any part of his merits; and the lodge must testify all due regard, by receiving the petition patiently, and giving relief according to the deserts.

The most material part of that brotherly love which should subsist among Masons is that of speaking well of each other to the world; more especially it is expected of every member of this fraternity that he should not traduce his brother. Calumny and slander are detestable crimes against society. Nothing can be viler than to traduce a man behind his back: it is like the villany of an assassin, who has not virtue enough to give his adversary the means of self-defence, but, lurking in darkness, stabs him whilst he is unarmed, and unsuspicious of an enemy.

Of this crime, Shakspeare has given a just description:

"Who steals my purse steals trash;

'Twas mine, 'tis his, and may be slave to thousands;
But he who pilfers from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
But makes me poor indeed."

Calumny has this direful consequence, that it carries with it not a momentary effect only, but endures for time uncounted. The wickedness of the world is such that it is greedy of scandal; and when once the voice of defamation has uttered its poison, like a pestilence it smites and contaminates; it spreads jealousies in families, division and wrath among friends, urges fathers against children, and brother against brother. When once the pernicious tale gets birth, it cannot be recalled; and thence the sinner's penitence is not capable of expiation; for the evil consequences may lay dormant in the womb of futurity, and become an intail of sorrow on the third and fourth generation of him that is injured. What malice and mischief, what infernal disposition, must actuate the mind which is capable of defaming the innocent! There is no crime of which such a wretch might not be the perpetrator; against such a villain there is no armour for defence; he assaults the naked and unsuspicious, and, like the contagion of some horrid disease, he smites whilst the victim sleeps. Justice is disarmed against such a sinner, as concealment is his safeguard, and only the eye of heaven discovers his iniquity.

It is not only expected of Masons that they should, with a conscientious soul, refrain from evil speaking, but also that they should speak well of each other.

To give a man his just and due character is so easy a duty that it is impossible for a benevolent mind to avoid it; it is a degree of common justice which honesty itself prompts one to. It is not enough that we refrain from slander; but it is required of Masons that they should speak graciously and with affection, withholding nothing that can be uttered to a brother's praise or good name with truth. What a pleasure does it give the heart feeling benevolent dispositions, to give praises where due! There is a selfish joy in good speaking, as selfapprobation succeeds it. Besides, the breast of such a man feels enlarged whilst he utters the praise due to his neighbour; and he experiences all the finest sensations of love whilst he moves others to feel for the same object.

The neutral disposition-frigid and reserved-neither tends to good or evil; but the man tasting brotherly love is warm to commend. It is an easy and cheap means of