Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, And Cabinet Of Universal Literature .
vatcd , and bring forth their plenty ; your vineyards are dressed , and weigh down with clusters ; your gardens and orchards are pruned , and bring forth abundance ; your nei ghbourhoods are in reciprocal amity and peace ; your fire-sides are the retirements of undisturbed love , innocent cheerfulness , unmolested sociality ; your children remain unsacrificed ; j-our persons safe ; your property sacred ; your religion preserved ; your friend unbetrayed . Oh ! Englishmen
, what is it that ye , as Christians , do riot enjoy in this your favoured isle ? Surely I niay again remind you , that ye still enjoy a rich abundance of those good things , of which almost every nation in Europe laments the want , in groans unutterable , and weep their sorrows in tears of blood . ' Once more , in a religious sense , let not your Good be evil spoken
of . Tb be Masonic , is , ye all know , to be truly reli gious , whether ye be Jew , or whether ye be Christian : as Jews , therefore , if there be any here , let me remind them , that the temple of Solomon was ever famed , in all its ordinances , for virtue and holiness ; and he who , in his religion , as a Mason , honours not his calling , belongs not to Solomon , nor to Hiftim . As Christians , the Masonic pillars of your temple are Faith , Hope , and Charity ; and to which I shall take
the liberty of adding , with an inspired apostle , the greatest of these is Charity ; and Masonic charity is charity in the heart : he thinks no evil of his brother , he cherishes no designs against him . It is charity upon the tongue also : he speaks no evil ; bears no false witness ; defames no character ; blasts no reputation : he knows that , to take away a good name , is to commit an evil , the damage of which no wealth can repay : no ! it is of more value than great , riches ; rubies
cannot repurchase it ; the gold of Ophir cannot gild it again to its original beauty . It is charity in the hand also : he anticipates his poorer brother ' s wants , nor forces him to the pain of petition ; he visits the cottage of poverty , and the house of sickness ; and there he finds the , very back which he ought to clothe ; the ' very mouth which he ought to feed ; the wound which he ought to heal ; the sickness
which he ought "to cure ; and , perhaps , also the very mind which he ought to instruct , before it can' be fitted for an eternal world . Not only , then , let not ths j'Oiir Masonic Good be evil spoken of , but be zealous ,, that it may be abundantly and richly well spoken of . It is the leading principle , and the great end of Masonry , to propagate the exercise ' bf charity in these its threefold operations ; and he , who does it not , is yet destitute of the true Masonic heart , which is the heart of charity , of benevolence , and of love . '
' To strangers , I conclude " , with assuring them , that Masonry has no princip le but what might still more ornament the purest mind ; nor any appendage but what might give additional lustre to the brig htest character . To j'ou , my Brethren , I earnestly conclude , with a repetition of my text , " Let not your Good be evil spoken of . " Act up to the principles of your institution ; and , as it regards others , it will be the praise of the whole earth , Act up to the principles <> i
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, And Cabinet Of Universal Literature .
vatcd , and bring forth their plenty ; your vineyards are dressed , and weigh down with clusters ; your gardens and orchards are pruned , and bring forth abundance ; your nei ghbourhoods are in reciprocal amity and peace ; your fire-sides are the retirements of undisturbed love , innocent cheerfulness , unmolested sociality ; your children remain unsacrificed ; j-our persons safe ; your property sacred ; your religion preserved ; your friend unbetrayed . Oh ! Englishmen
, what is it that ye , as Christians , do riot enjoy in this your favoured isle ? Surely I niay again remind you , that ye still enjoy a rich abundance of those good things , of which almost every nation in Europe laments the want , in groans unutterable , and weep their sorrows in tears of blood . ' Once more , in a religious sense , let not your Good be evil spoken
of . Tb be Masonic , is , ye all know , to be truly reli gious , whether ye be Jew , or whether ye be Christian : as Jews , therefore , if there be any here , let me remind them , that the temple of Solomon was ever famed , in all its ordinances , for virtue and holiness ; and he who , in his religion , as a Mason , honours not his calling , belongs not to Solomon , nor to Hiftim . As Christians , the Masonic pillars of your temple are Faith , Hope , and Charity ; and to which I shall take
the liberty of adding , with an inspired apostle , the greatest of these is Charity ; and Masonic charity is charity in the heart : he thinks no evil of his brother , he cherishes no designs against him . It is charity upon the tongue also : he speaks no evil ; bears no false witness ; defames no character ; blasts no reputation : he knows that , to take away a good name , is to commit an evil , the damage of which no wealth can repay : no ! it is of more value than great , riches ; rubies
cannot repurchase it ; the gold of Ophir cannot gild it again to its original beauty . It is charity in the hand also : he anticipates his poorer brother ' s wants , nor forces him to the pain of petition ; he visits the cottage of poverty , and the house of sickness ; and there he finds the , very back which he ought to clothe ; the ' very mouth which he ought to feed ; the wound which he ought to heal ; the sickness
which he ought "to cure ; and , perhaps , also the very mind which he ought to instruct , before it can' be fitted for an eternal world . Not only , then , let not ths j'Oiir Masonic Good be evil spoken of , but be zealous ,, that it may be abundantly and richly well spoken of . It is the leading principle , and the great end of Masonry , to propagate the exercise ' bf charity in these its threefold operations ; and he , who does it not , is yet destitute of the true Masonic heart , which is the heart of charity , of benevolence , and of love . '
' To strangers , I conclude " , with assuring them , that Masonry has no princip le but what might still more ornament the purest mind ; nor any appendage but what might give additional lustre to the brig htest character . To j'ou , my Brethren , I earnestly conclude , with a repetition of my text , " Let not your Good be evil spoken of . " Act up to the principles of your institution ; and , as it regards others , it will be the praise of the whole earth , Act up to the principles <> i