Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Provincial Brother's Appeal In Favour Of The Aged Masons' Asylum.
Again—I imagine , Brethren , a scene of desolation and despair ; in which an old Mason , o ' er whose brow " The snow-fall of time has been whitening , "lies in a miserable hovel , surrounded by the inseparable partner of his boundless joys or still more boundless sorrows , and called upon for aid bthe children of beggary and hunger—with no hand to help himor
y , , to deck his pathway to the tomb with flowers of consolation instead of thorns of grief . And , to render the humiliating close of this eventful scene complete , let the interment of his remains be marked with funeral rites abridged , —without a friend around to mourn his melancholy end , —his name—his association with our mystic rites , perchance , made the scoff of the infidel , and the gibe of the ignorant . Then , let Masons blush that the " very basis of their creed" stands disregarded , if not
, disgraced . England , proud , unconquerable England ! that matchless ground which Genius has hallowed , —that seat of Benevolence—the land to which " meek-eyed Pity" and " soft Charity" repair—and , above all , that great and pure depository of religion , and all that is valuable in a nation ' s eyes . O , England ! Intellectual , Christian England ! shall your Masonswho have been born in comfort—have exerted themselves
, , in their hours of unclouded brightness , and in the meridian of their days , to uphold our institution as a school of public ancl private faithas one of the firmest bulwarks of national loyalty , —but whose advance in years and diminished energies , have dissipated their world ' s " gear " and left them " poor indeed ;"—shall your Masons , I would again ask , be the only body of men towards whom the odium of neglecting poverty
may justly be directed ? No ! Let the mind , imbued with the lofty principles of humanity and fraternal love , spurn with disdain an imputation so serious , and , I trust , so groundless . Let the world at large see how grateful to a Brother ' s heart , is a Brother ' s happy home ! how near to a Brother ' s heart is a Brother ' s wants ! The genuine Mason will then behold with joy unspeakable , the fair superstructure of an Asylum , perfect in all its partsrearing its head to the skiesand having its foundations " deeper
, , than ever yet did plummet sound ;"—presenting , from its stability in the undivided affections of the Craft , how incessantly those virtues are exercised which form the poetry of active life . Again—let us picture to ourselves the death-bed of an old but not forgotten Mason ; enjoying many of those comforts hy whieh his last sufferings are ameliorated , and all of those spiritual advantages which shed a brihtening ray of hope around the last moments of a dying
g Christian . The anxious female—destined too soon to know the solitude of widowhood , as she grasps the hand which falls lifeless by her side , blesses the munificent benefactors , who , admidst all the rebuffs of fickle fortune , have given the partner of her toils , that comfort of body and ease of mind—that spiritual consolation which prepared him to ask the mercy , and to receive the blessing , of Nature ' s God . In his domicile the moans of friends are heard—the tear of affection—the
Masonic tear ! that beautiful epigram of pure sorrow , is seen to dim the eye of the noble , the brave , and the intellectual , —and this aged man , unlike the isolated and miserable being , we have before pictured to ourselves , finds a tomb around which many a Brother breathes the earnest hope " that God , of his infinite goodness , at the tribunal of unbiassed vor ,. v . s s
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Provincial Brother's Appeal In Favour Of The Aged Masons' Asylum.
Again—I imagine , Brethren , a scene of desolation and despair ; in which an old Mason , o ' er whose brow " The snow-fall of time has been whitening , "lies in a miserable hovel , surrounded by the inseparable partner of his boundless joys or still more boundless sorrows , and called upon for aid bthe children of beggary and hunger—with no hand to help himor
y , , to deck his pathway to the tomb with flowers of consolation instead of thorns of grief . And , to render the humiliating close of this eventful scene complete , let the interment of his remains be marked with funeral rites abridged , —without a friend around to mourn his melancholy end , —his name—his association with our mystic rites , perchance , made the scoff of the infidel , and the gibe of the ignorant . Then , let Masons blush that the " very basis of their creed" stands disregarded , if not
, disgraced . England , proud , unconquerable England ! that matchless ground which Genius has hallowed , —that seat of Benevolence—the land to which " meek-eyed Pity" and " soft Charity" repair—and , above all , that great and pure depository of religion , and all that is valuable in a nation ' s eyes . O , England ! Intellectual , Christian England ! shall your Masonswho have been born in comfort—have exerted themselves
, , in their hours of unclouded brightness , and in the meridian of their days , to uphold our institution as a school of public ancl private faithas one of the firmest bulwarks of national loyalty , —but whose advance in years and diminished energies , have dissipated their world ' s " gear " and left them " poor indeed ;"—shall your Masons , I would again ask , be the only body of men towards whom the odium of neglecting poverty
may justly be directed ? No ! Let the mind , imbued with the lofty principles of humanity and fraternal love , spurn with disdain an imputation so serious , and , I trust , so groundless . Let the world at large see how grateful to a Brother ' s heart , is a Brother ' s happy home ! how near to a Brother ' s heart is a Brother ' s wants ! The genuine Mason will then behold with joy unspeakable , the fair superstructure of an Asylum , perfect in all its partsrearing its head to the skiesand having its foundations " deeper
, , than ever yet did plummet sound ;"—presenting , from its stability in the undivided affections of the Craft , how incessantly those virtues are exercised which form the poetry of active life . Again—let us picture to ourselves the death-bed of an old but not forgotten Mason ; enjoying many of those comforts hy whieh his last sufferings are ameliorated , and all of those spiritual advantages which shed a brihtening ray of hope around the last moments of a dying
g Christian . The anxious female—destined too soon to know the solitude of widowhood , as she grasps the hand which falls lifeless by her side , blesses the munificent benefactors , who , admidst all the rebuffs of fickle fortune , have given the partner of her toils , that comfort of body and ease of mind—that spiritual consolation which prepared him to ask the mercy , and to receive the blessing , of Nature ' s God . In his domicile the moans of friends are heard—the tear of affection—the
Masonic tear ! that beautiful epigram of pure sorrow , is seen to dim the eye of the noble , the brave , and the intellectual , —and this aged man , unlike the isolated and miserable being , we have before pictured to ourselves , finds a tomb around which many a Brother breathes the earnest hope " that God , of his infinite goodness , at the tribunal of unbiassed vor ,. v . s s