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Masonic Didactics ; Or, Short Moral Essays Of Universal Adaptation.
MASONIC DIDACTICS ; OR , SHORT MORAL ESSAYS OF UNIVERSAL ADAPTATION .
nv BiiOTiircit II . n . sr , Ai ) E , I . L . n . CLERK , ai . si . JND AUTHOR OF THE " TRANSLATION OF THE DEFENCE OF S 0 C 11 ATES , " AND OTHER WORKS . " Masonry is a jwculiur system of morals . " No . IX . —ON THE POAVER OF CONSCIENCE . " Cum sis culpa quis testis seiat ? " —Scncat . ' . When thou art llivsclf to blame , Who'll tell it thee '?—Author .
THE testimony of conscience , its reproof on the commission of crime , and its applause on performing a good action , has excited the surprise of the most intelligent . This is that "still small voice" which intuitively warns us to shun error and pursue virtue : that mysterious and immaculate spirit which , penetrating into the deepest recesses of the soul , exposes , before the tribunal of conscience , those specious sophisms which the human heart
adopts to conceal its own blemishes , and to deceive itself . Such is the power of conscience , that neither rank nor possessions , mental or territorial , can make the guilty mind happy . Dionysius the tyrant , amid all his pomp and grandeur , was , in secret , tortured with remorse and self-condemnation . He discovered , by a stratagem , to his obsequious sycophant anil courtier , Damocles , that he was miserable in the midst of all his treasuresthough possessing every
, honour and enjoyment which royalty can bestow . On the contrary , " virtue has that to give" which nothing earthly can supply . She is her own reward . Once obtain her approbation—once feel the inspiring warmth of her eulogium , and you are devoted to her cause for ever . Moral honesty , then , surely deserves to be sought after sedulously , if we acknowledge that it confers such internal peace and happiness .
For the same reason , every fault ought diligently to be avoided immediately it is felt what displeasure is thereby given to that innate and discriminating censor—Conscience . " Early and late , hy night and by day , " as the scriptures strongly express it , should the remark of the moral poet he inculcated in the breast of youth , that
" An honest man's the noblest woik of God !" No . X . —THE EVILS AND HORRORS OF AVAR . " llelli cupido crevit et ami fames . " - Seneca . Nursed in the arms of war , and fed on goid—lie grew . —Author . NOTHING is more adverse to the civilization of mankind—nothing is more hurtful to the real prosperity of a state , than the thirst of conquest
and the desire of spoil . These evils go together , as may be instanced in the life of a certain warrior of this age , now in the grave ; and they grow out of an unbounded ambition , a rapacious avarice , aud overbearing pride .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Didactics ; Or, Short Moral Essays Of Universal Adaptation.
MASONIC DIDACTICS ; OR , SHORT MORAL ESSAYS OF UNIVERSAL ADAPTATION .
nv BiiOTiircit II . n . sr , Ai ) E , I . L . n . CLERK , ai . si . JND AUTHOR OF THE " TRANSLATION OF THE DEFENCE OF S 0 C 11 ATES , " AND OTHER WORKS . " Masonry is a jwculiur system of morals . " No . IX . —ON THE POAVER OF CONSCIENCE . " Cum sis culpa quis testis seiat ? " —Scncat . ' . When thou art llivsclf to blame , Who'll tell it thee '?—Author .
THE testimony of conscience , its reproof on the commission of crime , and its applause on performing a good action , has excited the surprise of the most intelligent . This is that "still small voice" which intuitively warns us to shun error and pursue virtue : that mysterious and immaculate spirit which , penetrating into the deepest recesses of the soul , exposes , before the tribunal of conscience , those specious sophisms which the human heart
adopts to conceal its own blemishes , and to deceive itself . Such is the power of conscience , that neither rank nor possessions , mental or territorial , can make the guilty mind happy . Dionysius the tyrant , amid all his pomp and grandeur , was , in secret , tortured with remorse and self-condemnation . He discovered , by a stratagem , to his obsequious sycophant anil courtier , Damocles , that he was miserable in the midst of all his treasuresthough possessing every
, honour and enjoyment which royalty can bestow . On the contrary , " virtue has that to give" which nothing earthly can supply . She is her own reward . Once obtain her approbation—once feel the inspiring warmth of her eulogium , and you are devoted to her cause for ever . Moral honesty , then , surely deserves to be sought after sedulously , if we acknowledge that it confers such internal peace and happiness .
For the same reason , every fault ought diligently to be avoided immediately it is felt what displeasure is thereby given to that innate and discriminating censor—Conscience . " Early and late , hy night and by day , " as the scriptures strongly express it , should the remark of the moral poet he inculcated in the breast of youth , that
" An honest man's the noblest woik of God !" No . X . —THE EVILS AND HORRORS OF AVAR . " llelli cupido crevit et ami fames . " - Seneca . Nursed in the arms of war , and fed on goid—lie grew . —Author . NOTHING is more adverse to the civilization of mankind—nothing is more hurtful to the real prosperity of a state , than the thirst of conquest
and the desire of spoil . These evils go together , as may be instanced in the life of a certain warrior of this age , now in the grave ; and they grow out of an unbounded ambition , a rapacious avarice , aud overbearing pride .