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Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 6 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
firmament , human nature in mankind , sweet smelling savour in the earth , g lory in the source of light ; in all things I am life , and I am zeal in the zealous . I am the understanding of the wise , the strength of the strong , free from lust and anger . And in animals I am desire regulated by
moral fitness . " What can be more honourable as a description ( excepting the sacred writings ) of the attributes of the Deity?—more Masonic than the symbols with which that description is identified ? No ingenuous mind , accessible to the fair inferences of reason , will now dispute the antiquity of our Orderor the truth of the assertion at the
commence-, ment of these pages , that Freemasonry has ever been united in its purity with the knowledge and worship of the true God . Time hath produced her many witnesses ; and the writings of the sages of the East , after the pentateuch , probably the most ancient in the world , bear witness in our favour . To trace the history of the Jews after the second building
of the Temple through the various governments under which they were subjected , were unnecessarily to lengthen our task , without adding to the information of our readers ; who doubtless are acquainted with Josephus : sufficient to observe , that they partook alternately of the priestly and kingly characters , and eventually became the prey of the victorious
legions of imperial Rome ; destined in her turn to become the fear , the admiration , and warning of mankind . Perhaps , the rule most honourable to the Israelites was that of the Maccabees , which endured during a period of one hundred and twenty six years , and during which time , the Craft flourished in peculiar honour and i-espect ; the kings
and tetrarchs who succeeded them , sullied the purity of the brethren by employing their vast skill in purposes unworthy of their dignity—in erecting palaces for the sensual and tyrannous , or dungeons for the unfortunate . So true it is that wisdom only becomes good according to the end to which it is applied . "
As Masonry , to preserve harmony amongst mankind , and extend its glorious principles of universal communion , wisely excludes from its assemblies all discussions cither of a political or religious character , by which the passions might be enlisted on the side of individual opinion , it is impossible for us here more than simply to notice the fact , that after
Augustus had closed the Temple of Janus , an emblem of universal peace amongst mankind , Christ was born , was baptized by St . John in the wilderness in his twenty-seventh
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
firmament , human nature in mankind , sweet smelling savour in the earth , g lory in the source of light ; in all things I am life , and I am zeal in the zealous . I am the understanding of the wise , the strength of the strong , free from lust and anger . And in animals I am desire regulated by
moral fitness . " What can be more honourable as a description ( excepting the sacred writings ) of the attributes of the Deity?—more Masonic than the symbols with which that description is identified ? No ingenuous mind , accessible to the fair inferences of reason , will now dispute the antiquity of our Orderor the truth of the assertion at the
commence-, ment of these pages , that Freemasonry has ever been united in its purity with the knowledge and worship of the true God . Time hath produced her many witnesses ; and the writings of the sages of the East , after the pentateuch , probably the most ancient in the world , bear witness in our favour . To trace the history of the Jews after the second building
of the Temple through the various governments under which they were subjected , were unnecessarily to lengthen our task , without adding to the information of our readers ; who doubtless are acquainted with Josephus : sufficient to observe , that they partook alternately of the priestly and kingly characters , and eventually became the prey of the victorious
legions of imperial Rome ; destined in her turn to become the fear , the admiration , and warning of mankind . Perhaps , the rule most honourable to the Israelites was that of the Maccabees , which endured during a period of one hundred and twenty six years , and during which time , the Craft flourished in peculiar honour and i-espect ; the kings
and tetrarchs who succeeded them , sullied the purity of the brethren by employing their vast skill in purposes unworthy of their dignity—in erecting palaces for the sensual and tyrannous , or dungeons for the unfortunate . So true it is that wisdom only becomes good according to the end to which it is applied . "
As Masonry , to preserve harmony amongst mankind , and extend its glorious principles of universal communion , wisely excludes from its assemblies all discussions cither of a political or religious character , by which the passions might be enlisted on the side of individual opinion , it is impossible for us here more than simply to notice the fact , that after
Augustus had closed the Temple of Janus , an emblem of universal peace amongst mankind , Christ was born , was baptized by St . John in the wilderness in his twenty-seventh