LECTURE II. II. OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE, SUPREME AND SUBORDINATE. BRETHREN :-The subject which will engage our attention this evening is the duty, as Masons, we owe to the civil government, under whose protection we live and enjoy our rights and privileges, civil and masonic. Nor does it follow, though these latter be denied to us, that we are at liberty to resist the powers that be. The following are the words of the Ancient Charge on this head: II. OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE, SUPREME AND SUBORDINATE. "A Mason is a peaceable subject to the civil pow. ers wherever he resides or works, and is never to be concerned in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the nation, nor to behave himself un dutifully to inferior magistrates; for as Masonry hath been always injured by war, bloodshed and confusion, so ancient kings and princes have been much disposed to encourage the craftsmen because of their peaceableness and loyalty, whereby they practically answered the cavils of their adversaries and promoted the honor of the fraternity, who ever flourished in times of peace. So that if a brother should be a rebel against the State, he is not to be countenanced in his rebellion, however he may be pitied as an unhappy man; and, if convicted of no other crime, though the loyal brotherhood must and ought to disown his rebellion, and give no umbrage or ground of political jealousy to the government for the time being, they cannot expel him from the lodge, and his relation to it remains indefeasible." Obedience, I have remarked, is the basis of all government. How eminently it is due to God, the Supreme Governor of all, I have, in my former lecture, briefly considered. But, though the duty owed first to Him flows thence to country and parents downward, the exercise of that duty, by an inverse law, mercifully adapted to the necessity of our nature, begins towards our parents, and thence rises upward to country and to God. It was with reference to this necessity that God Himself commanded and commended to all mankind obedience to our earthly parents; and we shall see, after very little reflection, that the same reasons which support and enforce its exercise in the one case, apply with equal, if not greater strength, to the other. Government, besides that it is the law of the universe, is necessary to the happiness, if not the exist ence, of man; and he who would refuse his obedience to just government, is a disorganizer and evil-doer. All such Freemasonry condemns. Milton, in one of the noblest passages in the English language, thus speaks of government, and the excellency of its rule and necessity, under the name of discipline: "He that hath read with judgment of nations and commonwealths, of cities and camps, of peace and war, of sea and land, will readily agree that the flourishing and decaying of all civil societies, all the moments and turnings of human occasions, are moved to and fro as upon the axle of discipline. So that whatsoever power or sway in mortal things weaker men have attributed to fortune, I durst with more confidence (the honor of Divine Providence ever saved) ascribe either to the vigor or the slackness of discipline. Nor is there any sociable perfection in this life, civil or sacred, that can be above discipline; but she is that which, with her musical chords, preserves and holds all the parts thereof together. Hence in those perfect armies of Cyrus in Xenophon, and Scipio in the Roman stories, the excellence of military skill was esteemed, not by the not needing, but by the readiest submitting to the edicts of their commander. And, certainly, discipline is not only the removal of disorder, but if any visible shape can be given to divine things, the very visible shape and image of Virtue, whereby she is not only seen in the regular gestures and motions of her heavenly paces as she walks, but also makes the harmony of her voice audible to mortal ears. Yea, the angels themselves, in whom no disorder is feared, as the apostle that saw them, in his rapture describes, are distinguished and quarternioned into the celestial princedoms and satrapies, according as God Himself has writ His imperial decrees, through the great provinces of heaven. The state also of the blessed in Paradise, though never so perfect, is not therefore left without discipline, whose golden surveying reed marks out and measures every quarter and circuit of New Jerusalem." Indeed, we cannot conceive of any rational existence without government, or, as Milton hath it, discipline. The idea of laws, which are the arms of government, is inseparable from the idea of being. I have said, the duty of obedience to the civil government of our country, and to God, and to our earthly parents, is supported and enforced by the same reasons. But the duty of obedience to our earthly parents rests |