Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
cing , that , from the admirable purity of its principles , the Institution to which we have the honour to belong is not merely innocent , but truly laudable ; that it tends , in the directest manner , to inspire its professors with the noblest conceptions of God , to render them obedient subjects to the powers that be , and observant of every virtue which endears men to the community ; of fidelity and justice ; of and of
industry temperance ; fortitude and patience ; of hospitality , brotherly kindness , and charily ; that , in fine , it is a structure not more venerable on account of its antiquity , than sacred b y the purposes to which it is applied ; a structure founded upon piety , supported by the human , divine , and social virtues , and equally distinguished for beauty , sublimity , and strength . I am sensible . " that , in the prosecution of such
an argument , nothing can be advanced that is not already well known to my Brethren of the Order . The review , however , may be so far useful , as , by reminding my hearers of the excellence of our Constitutions and maxims , I afford ' them an opportunity of enquiring whether they be Masons , as too many are Christians , ' in name and in profession only , or in deed and in truth . I . I set out with remarking , that much of the abuse which is levelled at our Order , has originated in that inviolable secresv which its
Constitutions enjoin , and we pledge ourselves to observe . But not to mention the strength which the virtue of secresy habitually practised confessedly imparts to the mind , and the praise which in other matters the person possessed of this rare qualification universally obtains ; we have to urge in our defence , that , if concealment be a fault , it is a fault the odium of which Masonry refuses not to incur , since it has the honour of it with
sharing some of the wisest institutions of antiquity . At a time when the world was immersed in the profoundest ignorance , consequently enslaved by the grossest superstition , and so far from being disposed for relishing the sublime doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ , had they been then revealed to mankind , that it could not even receive the more obvious truths of natural reliionthe few who
g ; , in this state of general debasement , had the advantage of a superior understanding , and were prompted to the exertion of its powers by a contemplative and enquiring turn of mind , formed themselves into societies for the improvement and diffusion of natural , moral , and reli gious knowled ge . The rules for the government of these societies , and especially for the admission of members , were of the strictest nature , and inviolably observed . No person of mean talents , low manners , or known proflio-acy , could obtain 3 suffrage . The prohibition was universal ,
'' Hence , far hence , O ye profane ! The candidate whose manners and natural abilities were approved underwent certain preparatory austerities , performed certain initiatory rites , and , above all , bound himself in the strongest manner to perpetual secresy . The initiated , amongst other points of doctrine , were instructed m the unity and perfections of God , the beauty and moral fitness of virtue , the arguments-which render probable an hereafter , ajid the conjectures pf human reason respecting the mode of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
cing , that , from the admirable purity of its principles , the Institution to which we have the honour to belong is not merely innocent , but truly laudable ; that it tends , in the directest manner , to inspire its professors with the noblest conceptions of God , to render them obedient subjects to the powers that be , and observant of every virtue which endears men to the community ; of fidelity and justice ; of and of
industry temperance ; fortitude and patience ; of hospitality , brotherly kindness , and charily ; that , in fine , it is a structure not more venerable on account of its antiquity , than sacred b y the purposes to which it is applied ; a structure founded upon piety , supported by the human , divine , and social virtues , and equally distinguished for beauty , sublimity , and strength . I am sensible . " that , in the prosecution of such
an argument , nothing can be advanced that is not already well known to my Brethren of the Order . The review , however , may be so far useful , as , by reminding my hearers of the excellence of our Constitutions and maxims , I afford ' them an opportunity of enquiring whether they be Masons , as too many are Christians , ' in name and in profession only , or in deed and in truth . I . I set out with remarking , that much of the abuse which is levelled at our Order , has originated in that inviolable secresv which its
Constitutions enjoin , and we pledge ourselves to observe . But not to mention the strength which the virtue of secresy habitually practised confessedly imparts to the mind , and the praise which in other matters the person possessed of this rare qualification universally obtains ; we have to urge in our defence , that , if concealment be a fault , it is a fault the odium of which Masonry refuses not to incur , since it has the honour of it with
sharing some of the wisest institutions of antiquity . At a time when the world was immersed in the profoundest ignorance , consequently enslaved by the grossest superstition , and so far from being disposed for relishing the sublime doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ , had they been then revealed to mankind , that it could not even receive the more obvious truths of natural reliionthe few who
g ; , in this state of general debasement , had the advantage of a superior understanding , and were prompted to the exertion of its powers by a contemplative and enquiring turn of mind , formed themselves into societies for the improvement and diffusion of natural , moral , and reli gious knowled ge . The rules for the government of these societies , and especially for the admission of members , were of the strictest nature , and inviolably observed . No person of mean talents , low manners , or known proflio-acy , could obtain 3 suffrage . The prohibition was universal ,
'' Hence , far hence , O ye profane ! The candidate whose manners and natural abilities were approved underwent certain preparatory austerities , performed certain initiatory rites , and , above all , bound himself in the strongest manner to perpetual secresy . The initiated , amongst other points of doctrine , were instructed m the unity and perfections of God , the beauty and moral fitness of virtue , the arguments-which render probable an hereafter , ajid the conjectures pf human reason respecting the mode of