-
Articles/Ads
Article ON FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
ON FREEMASONRY .
SECOND EPOCH . WHEN the rains of heaven and the loosened waters of the deep had executed the judgment pronounced by the Divine Architect of the universe , and , save the inmates of the ark , all created flesh had perished , the father of the
future race of men sent forth the raven , that he might ascertain of the abatement of the flood , but that dark bird of evil omen , unattached to the human family , returned not to his protection , and the dove , the most domestic creature of the feathered tribe , was selected as his faithful messenger ; finding that the waters covered the earth as with a mantle ,
presenting no place of rest , the tired wanderer , led by the instinct of its nature , regained the shelter of the ark , intimating that the time had not yet arrived for man to quit its security , and take possession of the earth . At the expiration of seven days , Noah again sent forth his messenger of hope , which returned to him , bearing in its beak an olive
leaf , in token of the Creator ' s mercy to mankind , and hence esteemed throughout the nations of the world as the emblem of human concord . The same period having elapsed , the dove was dismissed yet a third time from the ark , and returned no more . Whence Noah concluded the season at hand whenwith his childrenhe should repeople the then
, , desert world . At the expiration of twelve months and ten days from the commencement of the flood , he descended with his family from Ararat , a mountain in Armenia , on which the ark had rested .
Well can imagination paint the feelings of the venerable patriarch when he again beheld that earth , so lately thronged with beautiful though guilty creatures , a silent desert : the vast forest tenantless ; the proud and stately cities swept from the plain—not e ' en a wreck remaining to mark the graves of those whose crimes had drawn such fearful
condemnation on them . In vain he sought for the traces of cultivation , in vain he listened for the voice of life—all was silent , save the breath of GOD upon the hills—HIS thunders o ' er the vallies . Cleansed from her impurities , the earth seemed fair and young ; each wreck of corrupt humanity , of the herds of the field , the monsters of the deep , concealed within her secret caves , or buried beneath her mountains , in awful evidence to after ages , when the en-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
ON FREEMASONRY .
SECOND EPOCH . WHEN the rains of heaven and the loosened waters of the deep had executed the judgment pronounced by the Divine Architect of the universe , and , save the inmates of the ark , all created flesh had perished , the father of the
future race of men sent forth the raven , that he might ascertain of the abatement of the flood , but that dark bird of evil omen , unattached to the human family , returned not to his protection , and the dove , the most domestic creature of the feathered tribe , was selected as his faithful messenger ; finding that the waters covered the earth as with a mantle ,
presenting no place of rest , the tired wanderer , led by the instinct of its nature , regained the shelter of the ark , intimating that the time had not yet arrived for man to quit its security , and take possession of the earth . At the expiration of seven days , Noah again sent forth his messenger of hope , which returned to him , bearing in its beak an olive
leaf , in token of the Creator ' s mercy to mankind , and hence esteemed throughout the nations of the world as the emblem of human concord . The same period having elapsed , the dove was dismissed yet a third time from the ark , and returned no more . Whence Noah concluded the season at hand whenwith his childrenhe should repeople the then
, , desert world . At the expiration of twelve months and ten days from the commencement of the flood , he descended with his family from Ararat , a mountain in Armenia , on which the ark had rested .
Well can imagination paint the feelings of the venerable patriarch when he again beheld that earth , so lately thronged with beautiful though guilty creatures , a silent desert : the vast forest tenantless ; the proud and stately cities swept from the plain—not e ' en a wreck remaining to mark the graves of those whose crimes had drawn such fearful
condemnation on them . In vain he sought for the traces of cultivation , in vain he listened for the voice of life—all was silent , save the breath of GOD upon the hills—HIS thunders o ' er the vallies . Cleansed from her impurities , the earth seemed fair and young ; each wreck of corrupt humanity , of the herds of the field , the monsters of the deep , concealed within her secret caves , or buried beneath her mountains , in awful evidence to after ages , when the en-