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Freemasonry's Design And Scope
mistake of the ages , now read on all the pages of history , is the failure to know and recognize God . The theorist , the p hilosopher and the sceptic have attempted to solve the o-reat problem of human life , while leaving out the grandest
factor in it . They have tried to account for a grand ancl beautiful world of order aud action without an author or a governor ; they have essayed to find a destiny , and a path by which to reach it , without recognizing the only relation
of man that can give dignity and significance to his life or his destiny ; they have tried to make and to write the history of nations , while they leave out the animating and sio-nificant element that does condition all national existence .
Is it any wonder if disaster and failure should be written among all these pages , and look up at us out of the buried past ? The blank atheism , or the dreamy sentimentalism of those who will not recognize the real and true God , is a
poor basis , or want of basis , on which to build either individual or national character , or upon which to found hopes of genuine progress or real greatness . At any rate , there is no ground for a great brotherhood of man in such
negations . There is no creator , no father , no common friend or overruling governor , to which all may look ; nor any grand motives or springs to noble lives or high
purposes , when the greatest of all motives is gone , and the most powerful of all incentives is taken away . Hope and faith and love lose their meaning when the author of all these is blotted from our belief . There can be no lasting
fraternal regard spring up between beings sprung from chance , or apes ; no aspiration for high approval where there is none above us to approve or even recognize our struggle for good ; no living aspiration to a life of progress and approach to God , if all above us is a blank
The world has need of a God , and all its great hopes have been inspired , and its grandest achievements made successful by the conscious conviction and helpful belief in the existence and sovereign power of a personal , creating
and overruling God . What has lived of man s greatness has linked itself indissolubly to his immortality , and what has perished , in mute but eloquent voice , speaking out of the dust ; of decay , is ever declaring the folly of disowning Him who is above all .
Now the long life of Masonry , through all the ages , dark and light , is one continuous attestation of its faith in the existence and overruling providence of God . The first footfall of the candidate for her fellowship is hushed at the
very threshold of his entrance , that he may first give utterance to his faith in God . If he cannot do this , his eyes can never open on the beauties or mysteries of our Order . And the next step is still more significant , for
now he must pause and lift his heart and mind to that God in actual worship and prayer . It may be all new to him , he may have neglected this in the past , but now he must wait to speak to God before the Order will undertake
to instruct and advance him . This is the alone avenue to all our privileges . Thus his first lesson is that " God is , and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him . " Then , when he is permitted to study the
significant imagery and emblems aronnd him , he sees as the necessary conditions of a working Lodge , the Word of God . He is taught to govern his life by it as a divine and infallible guide , and at every step of his progress tbe
emblems and expressions of the attributes , the actions , and the authority of God are ever before him , and explained for his instruction . The all-seeing Eye , the first
third of the twenty four-inch gauge , the ladder whose steps lead upward to the foot of the throne , the sword pointing to the naked heart , indicating the responsibilities of man for the acts of his life to Him who will reward or
punish , according as we have lived ; the anchor , teachinghope in Him ; the ark , expressive of safety in Him ; the hour-glass , the scythe , and all that tells of His providence , His care , His guidance and His help . All along the walk
of life , these , as they are before his eye , or fresh in his memory , tend deeply to impress on the mind of the disci ple of Masonry a sense of the existence of God .
I am persuaded that the world will never lose the idea or the conviction of the being and presence of God so long as Masons are studious of the lessons of the Order , or are true to what they have learned of these srreat lessons .
III . I purposed to illustrate the design and scope of Masonry by three of its great characteristics ; first its teachings about man , then its lessons abont God , and ,
« oury , duty . In this 1 will take but one essential department , that is the duty of human culture . It is one of the very elements of the Masonic life , that
Freemasonry's Design And Scope
it must educate and develop its members as far as it can , and as far as they will receive and profit by its lesrons and culture . Her organisation was not intended to afford a pastime , nor to be a social club to gratify the sentiments of
pleasure , bufc to accomplish good and permanent results . Her men are not gathered into her fraternal embrace merely to admire , to amuse , or to eulogise each other , but to make strong , improved , and useful men of every one of
them that will receive her culture . And time and experience and the intellect of the ages have so modelled her lessons that they are well adapted to reach man in all his needs , and develop all the elements of his nature . Her
lessons teach him to reverence and worship God ; they also fill his mind and heart with just and kindly feelings to his fellow-men . They give him such an estimate of himself , such a conception of his matchless and mysterious
being and organism , that he must care for , ancl try to develop himself to the best of which he is capable . It makes him know the value and power of human skill and art in subduing all nature about him , making it yield him
its greatest comfort , and express for him its sublimest beauty . It impresses upon him tho need of the best mechanical skill , as well as the finest culture of art and genius to be able to secure the highest results for himself
and the world , out of the surrounding ' s amid which he is placed . Her demands are that he shall cultivate his mind and manners , his muscle and his genius ; but just as much
she requires that he shall improve his morals and his heart . She would develop the man not one-sided , nor several-sided , but in the perfection of a full , rounded , and complete manhood .
These lessons , too , must go pari-passu , side by side . With her , ignorance has no attraction because ifc claims to be pious ; nor great learning any special virtue because ifc is atheistic . Genius is not a passport , if diligence and
industry be wanting , and in her view , neither piety , intelligence , nor culture need be separate from each other , or from earnest manual labour . Piety , intelligence , and culture are honoured of God ; so , none the less , is skill of
hand , with the wonderful products of labour , recognised and blessed of the same God . The first great development of Masonry was in combining study and moral culture with the everv-day toil of men , busy at the work
of building . She seemed to find her peculiar work in a combination that sanctified and exalted every-day work to the level and companionship of the best culture , both in intellect and morals , thus harmoniously joining what
ought never to be separated—work , worship , and the best culture of the mind ; for in the force of this combination , and in the power of this harmony , is all the promise and prophecy of human progress . Masonry gives no
countenance to the foolish conceifc that would cast any contempt , from any position , on the worth or standing of any other necessary and worthy occupation ; and she has just as
little regard for him who seems to feel himself humiliated by any work or service that he may properly be called to do .
Such is the view Masonry has taken of true and proper culture ; and it is to this view , for practical results , that she invites all her loving and earnest disciples . If she has nofc attained all that this implies and is intended to secure ,
it is because men are slow to learn in the higher paths of culture , and because our efforts are to be made in a world where a thousand obstacles are always found to stay the progress of that which is true and good , and because
Masonry cannot make " the new man , " bat must work with the rough ashlar as she finds him . But when man ' s happy day is come , it will bs found that this ideal of true culture will have been largely realised .
These are the great leading characteristics by which the genius and spirit of Masonry may be known ; the effort to realise the true human brotherhood , the recognition and
the testimony for the existence and authority of a living and personal God . and the best and broadest human culture . —Voice of Masonry .
HOLLOW AY ' s OINTMENT ANTI PILLS . —These remedies are unequalled throughout the world for bad legs , wounds , foul sores , fowl breasts , and ulcers . Used according to directions given with them there is no wound , bad leg , or ulcerous sore , however obstinate or long standing , but will yield to their healing and curative properties . Many poor sufferers who have been patients in the large
hospitals , under the care of eminent surgeons , aud have derived little or no benefit from their treatment , have l >? cn thoroughly cured by HoIIoway ' s Ointment and Pdls . For glandular swellings , tumours , " piles , * ' and disease * ofthe skin there is nothing tint enn be used with so much benefit , in fact , in the worst forms of disease , dependent upon the condition , of tlie blood , these medicines , used conjointly , are irresistible .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry's Design And Scope
mistake of the ages , now read on all the pages of history , is the failure to know and recognize God . The theorist , the p hilosopher and the sceptic have attempted to solve the o-reat problem of human life , while leaving out the grandest
factor in it . They have tried to account for a grand ancl beautiful world of order aud action without an author or a governor ; they have essayed to find a destiny , and a path by which to reach it , without recognizing the only relation
of man that can give dignity and significance to his life or his destiny ; they have tried to make and to write the history of nations , while they leave out the animating and sio-nificant element that does condition all national existence .
Is it any wonder if disaster and failure should be written among all these pages , and look up at us out of the buried past ? The blank atheism , or the dreamy sentimentalism of those who will not recognize the real and true God , is a
poor basis , or want of basis , on which to build either individual or national character , or upon which to found hopes of genuine progress or real greatness . At any rate , there is no ground for a great brotherhood of man in such
negations . There is no creator , no father , no common friend or overruling governor , to which all may look ; nor any grand motives or springs to noble lives or high
purposes , when the greatest of all motives is gone , and the most powerful of all incentives is taken away . Hope and faith and love lose their meaning when the author of all these is blotted from our belief . There can be no lasting
fraternal regard spring up between beings sprung from chance , or apes ; no aspiration for high approval where there is none above us to approve or even recognize our struggle for good ; no living aspiration to a life of progress and approach to God , if all above us is a blank
The world has need of a God , and all its great hopes have been inspired , and its grandest achievements made successful by the conscious conviction and helpful belief in the existence and sovereign power of a personal , creating
and overruling God . What has lived of man s greatness has linked itself indissolubly to his immortality , and what has perished , in mute but eloquent voice , speaking out of the dust ; of decay , is ever declaring the folly of disowning Him who is above all .
Now the long life of Masonry , through all the ages , dark and light , is one continuous attestation of its faith in the existence and overruling providence of God . The first footfall of the candidate for her fellowship is hushed at the
very threshold of his entrance , that he may first give utterance to his faith in God . If he cannot do this , his eyes can never open on the beauties or mysteries of our Order . And the next step is still more significant , for
now he must pause and lift his heart and mind to that God in actual worship and prayer . It may be all new to him , he may have neglected this in the past , but now he must wait to speak to God before the Order will undertake
to instruct and advance him . This is the alone avenue to all our privileges . Thus his first lesson is that " God is , and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him . " Then , when he is permitted to study the
significant imagery and emblems aronnd him , he sees as the necessary conditions of a working Lodge , the Word of God . He is taught to govern his life by it as a divine and infallible guide , and at every step of his progress tbe
emblems and expressions of the attributes , the actions , and the authority of God are ever before him , and explained for his instruction . The all-seeing Eye , the first
third of the twenty four-inch gauge , the ladder whose steps lead upward to the foot of the throne , the sword pointing to the naked heart , indicating the responsibilities of man for the acts of his life to Him who will reward or
punish , according as we have lived ; the anchor , teachinghope in Him ; the ark , expressive of safety in Him ; the hour-glass , the scythe , and all that tells of His providence , His care , His guidance and His help . All along the walk
of life , these , as they are before his eye , or fresh in his memory , tend deeply to impress on the mind of the disci ple of Masonry a sense of the existence of God .
I am persuaded that the world will never lose the idea or the conviction of the being and presence of God so long as Masons are studious of the lessons of the Order , or are true to what they have learned of these srreat lessons .
III . I purposed to illustrate the design and scope of Masonry by three of its great characteristics ; first its teachings about man , then its lessons abont God , and ,
« oury , duty . In this 1 will take but one essential department , that is the duty of human culture . It is one of the very elements of the Masonic life , that
Freemasonry's Design And Scope
it must educate and develop its members as far as it can , and as far as they will receive and profit by its lesrons and culture . Her organisation was not intended to afford a pastime , nor to be a social club to gratify the sentiments of
pleasure , bufc to accomplish good and permanent results . Her men are not gathered into her fraternal embrace merely to admire , to amuse , or to eulogise each other , but to make strong , improved , and useful men of every one of
them that will receive her culture . And time and experience and the intellect of the ages have so modelled her lessons that they are well adapted to reach man in all his needs , and develop all the elements of his nature . Her
lessons teach him to reverence and worship God ; they also fill his mind and heart with just and kindly feelings to his fellow-men . They give him such an estimate of himself , such a conception of his matchless and mysterious
being and organism , that he must care for , ancl try to develop himself to the best of which he is capable . It makes him know the value and power of human skill and art in subduing all nature about him , making it yield him
its greatest comfort , and express for him its sublimest beauty . It impresses upon him tho need of the best mechanical skill , as well as the finest culture of art and genius to be able to secure the highest results for himself
and the world , out of the surrounding ' s amid which he is placed . Her demands are that he shall cultivate his mind and manners , his muscle and his genius ; but just as much
she requires that he shall improve his morals and his heart . She would develop the man not one-sided , nor several-sided , but in the perfection of a full , rounded , and complete manhood .
These lessons , too , must go pari-passu , side by side . With her , ignorance has no attraction because ifc claims to be pious ; nor great learning any special virtue because ifc is atheistic . Genius is not a passport , if diligence and
industry be wanting , and in her view , neither piety , intelligence , nor culture need be separate from each other , or from earnest manual labour . Piety , intelligence , and culture are honoured of God ; so , none the less , is skill of
hand , with the wonderful products of labour , recognised and blessed of the same God . The first great development of Masonry was in combining study and moral culture with the everv-day toil of men , busy at the work
of building . She seemed to find her peculiar work in a combination that sanctified and exalted every-day work to the level and companionship of the best culture , both in intellect and morals , thus harmoniously joining what
ought never to be separated—work , worship , and the best culture of the mind ; for in the force of this combination , and in the power of this harmony , is all the promise and prophecy of human progress . Masonry gives no
countenance to the foolish conceifc that would cast any contempt , from any position , on the worth or standing of any other necessary and worthy occupation ; and she has just as
little regard for him who seems to feel himself humiliated by any work or service that he may properly be called to do .
Such is the view Masonry has taken of true and proper culture ; and it is to this view , for practical results , that she invites all her loving and earnest disciples . If she has nofc attained all that this implies and is intended to secure ,
it is because men are slow to learn in the higher paths of culture , and because our efforts are to be made in a world where a thousand obstacles are always found to stay the progress of that which is true and good , and because
Masonry cannot make " the new man , " bat must work with the rough ashlar as she finds him . But when man ' s happy day is come , it will bs found that this ideal of true culture will have been largely realised .
These are the great leading characteristics by which the genius and spirit of Masonry may be known ; the effort to realise the true human brotherhood , the recognition and
the testimony for the existence and authority of a living and personal God . and the best and broadest human culture . —Voice of Masonry .
HOLLOW AY ' s OINTMENT ANTI PILLS . —These remedies are unequalled throughout the world for bad legs , wounds , foul sores , fowl breasts , and ulcers . Used according to directions given with them there is no wound , bad leg , or ulcerous sore , however obstinate or long standing , but will yield to their healing and curative properties . Many poor sufferers who have been patients in the large
hospitals , under the care of eminent surgeons , aud have derived little or no benefit from their treatment , have l >? cn thoroughly cured by HoIIoway ' s Ointment and Pdls . For glandular swellings , tumours , " piles , * ' and disease * ofthe skin there is nothing tint enn be used with so much benefit , in fact , in the worst forms of disease , dependent upon the condition , of tlie blood , these medicines , used conjointly , are irresistible .