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Article THE PRINCIPLES OF FREE MASONRY EXPLAINED. ← Page 6 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Principles Of Free Masonry Explained.
death : shew yourselves also worthy of your reason , and of those amiable feelings of compassion by Avhich God has given you so noble and so strong a resemblance to himself . Think upon the great , and the greater that it is the unmerited , goodness of Almi ghty God toAvards yourselves , in giving and continuing you in your " present health and understanding , by Avhich you are enabled to preserve or acquire and enjoy a certain portion of the pleasures and conveniences of this life .
Turn your thoughts on the other hand to the numbers of ycur felloAVcreatures , who , as deserving as ourselves of a better fate , are at this very hour in the utmost distress , from the loss or perfidy of friends , from the base attempts or success of malice against their characters ; or from age , poverty , disease ancl misfortune . Let no selfish consideration step in between your humanity and the palitating hopes of
p so many unhappy creatures , whose doleful cries , or more affecting silence , implore your commiseration and assistance . Shut not your ears against the groans of the afflicted ; lock not up your heart against their SOITOAVS ; act towards them in that kind , gentle , and tender manner , in which you Avould Avish to be treated yourself in their painful situation . Mingle your tears with theirs Avho lament the loss of their dear friends
, and by a generous indignation enter into , and moderate the resentment of those , Avhose hearts a pretended and treacherous friendshi p tortures with anguish . Reflect IIOAV miserable they are , Avho , destitute of every earthly comfort , lie stretched on the bed of languishing , wishing but for a small pittance of those comforts that you enjoy , to
support their spirits under affliction . Consider that you shall receive these mercies in return from the Lord , which your compassion bestows upon the poor : let the love of God be shed abroad in your hearts , and stream thence in kind generous offices towards ycur felioAvcreatures . Be of one mind , having compassion one of another ; love as brethren ; be affable ; be courteous ; and , like your blessed -Saviour , be touched with a feeling of the infirmities to which your brethren are
subject . In all their afflictions , be ye afflicted ; be ready to distribute , and Avilling to communicate to their necessities , knowing that ye are yet in the body , and liable to the same evils , under Avhich they are how labouring . For , assure yourselves , that he who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , connot love God Avhom he hath not seen ; ? .. nd that he who loveth not his brother is not of God . In a word
, pure and undefiled Free Masonry , as well as reli gion before God and the Father , is to feed the hungry , to clothe tiie naked , to comfort the distressed , to visit the fatherless and widov / s in their affliction , and to keep yourselves unspotted from the ivorld . If you feel that Brotherly Love which flows from the love of God , you will compassion-, ate the distresses even of those whomon account of their malice
, , you cannot but disapprove of and dislike . Your hatred too of the wicked One , will prompt you , by every way in your power , to rescue those from his slavery Avhom he has taken captive , and to restoro them to the freedom of the sons of God . It -will grieve you to think that any person , formed for celestial bliss , should fall into the gulf of misery , and be for ever lost ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Principles Of Free Masonry Explained.
death : shew yourselves also worthy of your reason , and of those amiable feelings of compassion by Avhich God has given you so noble and so strong a resemblance to himself . Think upon the great , and the greater that it is the unmerited , goodness of Almi ghty God toAvards yourselves , in giving and continuing you in your " present health and understanding , by Avhich you are enabled to preserve or acquire and enjoy a certain portion of the pleasures and conveniences of this life .
Turn your thoughts on the other hand to the numbers of ycur felloAVcreatures , who , as deserving as ourselves of a better fate , are at this very hour in the utmost distress , from the loss or perfidy of friends , from the base attempts or success of malice against their characters ; or from age , poverty , disease ancl misfortune . Let no selfish consideration step in between your humanity and the palitating hopes of
p so many unhappy creatures , whose doleful cries , or more affecting silence , implore your commiseration and assistance . Shut not your ears against the groans of the afflicted ; lock not up your heart against their SOITOAVS ; act towards them in that kind , gentle , and tender manner , in which you Avould Avish to be treated yourself in their painful situation . Mingle your tears with theirs Avho lament the loss of their dear friends
, and by a generous indignation enter into , and moderate the resentment of those , Avhose hearts a pretended and treacherous friendshi p tortures with anguish . Reflect IIOAV miserable they are , Avho , destitute of every earthly comfort , lie stretched on the bed of languishing , wishing but for a small pittance of those comforts that you enjoy , to
support their spirits under affliction . Consider that you shall receive these mercies in return from the Lord , which your compassion bestows upon the poor : let the love of God be shed abroad in your hearts , and stream thence in kind generous offices towards ycur felioAvcreatures . Be of one mind , having compassion one of another ; love as brethren ; be affable ; be courteous ; and , like your blessed -Saviour , be touched with a feeling of the infirmities to which your brethren are
subject . In all their afflictions , be ye afflicted ; be ready to distribute , and Avilling to communicate to their necessities , knowing that ye are yet in the body , and liable to the same evils , under Avhich they are how labouring . For , assure yourselves , that he who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen , connot love God Avhom he hath not seen ; ? .. nd that he who loveth not his brother is not of God . In a word
, pure and undefiled Free Masonry , as well as reli gion before God and the Father , is to feed the hungry , to clothe tiie naked , to comfort the distressed , to visit the fatherless and widov / s in their affliction , and to keep yourselves unspotted from the ivorld . If you feel that Brotherly Love which flows from the love of God , you will compassion-, ate the distresses even of those whomon account of their malice
, , you cannot but disapprove of and dislike . Your hatred too of the wicked One , will prompt you , by every way in your power , to rescue those from his slavery Avhom he has taken captive , and to restoro them to the freedom of the sons of God . It -will grieve you to think that any person , formed for celestial bliss , should fall into the gulf of misery , and be for ever lost ,