down and building up; yet still their labours have been vain! The reason was-hear it and be wise, ye Builders of the present day-the reason was, that they daubed with untempered mortar, and admitted into their Structures the base, discordant, heterogeneous materials of Pride, Ambition, Selfishness, “Malice, Guile, Hypocrisies, Envies and Evil-speaking"-which we reject. Hence their fabrics, unable to support themselves, tumbled to the foundation, through internal weakness, or were shaken to pieces by external violence.

The Egyptian, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, the Persian empires; the commonwealths of Athens, of Sparta, and of Rome, with many more of later dateWhere are they now? "Fallen-Fallen-Fallen"— the weeping voice of history replies! The meteors of an age, the gaze of one part of the world; they rosethey blazed awhile on high-they burst and sunk again, beneath the horizon, to that place of oblivion, where the pale ghosts of departed grandeur fleet about in sad lamentation of their former glory!

Such have been the changes and revolutions. which, as a fraternity, we have seen. From the bosom of the Lodges, (seated on an eminence), its foundations reaching the center, and its summit the sky; we have beheld, as upon a turbulent ocean at an immense distance beneath us, the states of this world alternately mounted up and cast down, as they have regarded or neglected the principles described above; while, supported by them, the sublime fabric of our Constitution has remained unshaken through ages-and, thus supported, it shall still re

main, while the Sun opens the Day to gild its cloudcapped towers, or the Moon leads on the Night to chequer its starry canopy. The current of Things may roll along its basis;* the tide of Chance and Time may beat against its walls; the stormy gusts of Malice may assault its lofty battlements, and the heavy rains o Calumny may descend upon its spacious roof-but all in vain. A building, thus constructed and supported, is impregnable from without; and can then only be dissolved when the pillars of the universe shall be shaken, and "the great globe itself, yea all which it inherit, shall, like the baseless fabric of a vision," pass away before the Almighty Architect!

But although we have seen those changes, convulsions and dissolutions; we have not seen them with insensibility, nor without heart-felt grief and a sympathetic tear. And this brings me to my

Second Head, which was to shew-That our love to God and man leads us to cultivate the same rational and evangelic use of Liberty in society at large, as in our own subordinate societies.

This, we know, is a more arduous labour; because the same watchful care cannot be so easily applied to the admission, rejection or government of members, in large societies, as in small. Nevertheless, if every man, first in his own house, and then in all those lesser societies of brethren with whom he may be connected, would learn, in the apostle's use of

A few sentences which were left out of the London editions of the Sermon on St. John Baptist's Day, 1755, as relating only to the Society before whom it was preached, are interwoven into the present Edition of this discourse.

Liberty, to subdue every evil and discordant passion; the blessed habit would easily be carried forth into society at large. Individual states would not only be happy, durable, and free from intestine broils and convulsions; but "nation would no more rise against nation" in dreadful havoc and oppression. The whole world would be as one harmonious lodge, knit together in brotherly love, and obedient to the will of the great Heavenly Master!

Such a glorious æra many believe to be promised, and hope it may yet come. Our principles lead us to cherish this hope; and, as the best means, under Providence, for its accomplishment, to resist Violence, and to support Justice, Truth, Freedom and Happiness in the governments to which we belong.

The doctrine that one man's grandeur, or the grandeur of a few, is to be the misery of all, can have no reception among us. We can acknowledge no absolute uncontroulable power upon earth; and can form no conjecture whence such power could come, or be pretended. From God, the supreme fountain of all power, it could not come; without supposing He granted it to dishonour His own perfections, deface His image in His works, and debase His whole creation. From Man it could not come; unless we suppose him, voluntarily and in his sober senses, consenting to his own immediate misery and destruction.

In our estimation, therefore, "no government can be of Divine original, but as it resembles God's own government; round whose eternal throne, Justice and Mercy wait. And all governments must be so

far Divine, as the Laws rule; and every thing is ordered, under God, by free and common consent."

To contend for such governments, with a holy, enlightened, and unquenchable zeal, is the highest temporal glory. Wherefore, we dwell with rapture upon the records of former renown, and contemplate with veneration those transcendent scenes of heroism; in which we behold the Brave and the Free wearing upon their swords the fate of millions-while the divine genius of Victory, espousing their cause, hovers over their heads with expanded wing; reaching forth the immortal wreath that is to surround their triumphant brow; and smiling upon the decisive moment that is to fix the happiness of future generations!

They who (from a sense of duty to God and their country, seeking that Liberty and Peace which heaven approves) have thus acted their part, whether in more elevated or inferior stations, form the first class in the roll of worthies. And when they descend again into private life, casting behind them vain Pomp and fastidious Pride, to mingle with their fellow-citizens in all the tender charities and endearing offices of Society and Humanity; their characters, if possible, become still more illustrious. Their very maims and scars are nobly honourable. The respect which they command, grows with their growing years; and they approach the horizon of life, as the Sun in serene and setting glory, with orb more enlarged and mitigated, though less dazzling and splendid. Eventheir garrulous old age, while it can only recount the feats of former days, will be listened to with attention: or should they

survive all the active powers both of body and mind, yet still, like some grand Structure, tottering and crumbling beneath the hand of Time, they will be considered as majestic in ruins, and venerable even in decay!

And when at last the messenger Death, who comes to all, shall come to them; undaunted they will obey the summons; in conscious hope of being speedily united and beatified with their com-patriots and forerunners, in the mansions of endless bliss!

Such, to name no more, was the character of a Cincinnatus* in ancient times; rising "awful from the plough" to save his country; and, his country saved, returning to the plough again, with increased dignity and lustre. Such too, if we divine aright, will future ages pronounce to have been the character of a **********; but you all anticipate me in a name, which delicacy forbids me, on this occasion, to mention. Honoured with his presence as a Brother, you will seek to derive virtue from his example; and never let it be said, that any principles you profess, can render you deaf to the calls of your country; but, on the contrary, have animated you with intrepidity in the hour of danger, and humanity in the moments of triumph.

True courage consists not in any thing external to a man-in the trappings of dress, the parade of office, the pride of looks, a quarrelsome temper, or loud-sounding boasts-but in a soul serenely fixed on Duty, and unconscious of Guilt, as knowing that Death

For some further account of this illustrious Roman (too long for a mote) see the Appendix.