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Article GLEANINGS FROM MASONRY. ← Page 3 of 3
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gleanings From Masonry.
remotest star , at one and the same moment of time , is a theme beyond the powers of reason to demonstrate , and the province of Faith alone . And yet it is an attribute of the D . ity so confessedly requisite-so in accordance with that ivhich we should pronounce necessary to the preservation of harmony in the complicated machinery of nature ; the rewarding of virtue , and the punishment of vice , that reason ivhen guided by the fight of trutli readily assents to the fact . Masonryhy divine
, mercy , hath become possessed of this necessary anil important truth , and assiduously endeavours to impress us ivith the awful fact . Th . ' s ought to silence for ever the tongues of those who accuse us of practising evil within the tyled recesses of our temples ; for what greater check can there be upon tlie perpetration of our evil desires , than the consciousness that tlie Being , ivhose Jaws we are about to violate , is observing our actions , and will visit them with the thuiulersof'IIis wrath . The
contemplation of this expressive symbol must make us more fearful of disobeying any of those divine laws , written for our guidance by Him , ivhose we are , and to whom we must answer for every action clone in this life . Would to heaven Masonry ivere possessed of some all-powerful charm , capable of transforming us into her divine similitude ! She , hoivever , leaves us free , but exhorts us , with the accents of a parent , to shun the evil , and to choos ; - the good ; with one hand uplifted to warn us from the ways of sin and misery ; while the other points to that path ivhich
leads to those etherial mansions , that Grand Lodge above , where the just shall he eternally happy with the Great I AS ' L Few , indeed , compared with the vast multitudes which time is hurrying to an eternity of bliss or misery—seem either anxious of avoiding the one or procuring the other . The majority , indeed , outwardly regard the laivs of their human rulers ; and if they practice vice , do so iu secrecy and darkness ; giving no heed to the fact that , though they escape the
detection of man , there is an eye which sees , though hypocricy may spread her veil in the vain attempt to shield them from its glance . Masonry is not to blame , if the end of their career be iveeping and gnashing of teeth ; her voice is ahvays raised Avhile there is a hope remaining , to AAarn us of the perils Avhich beset us , and the miserable end of sin . She it was that told us darkness could not hide us from , nor intensity of light dazzle His all-piercing eye . She permits none of her disciples to plead
ignorance as an extenuation of guilt . She infuses her spirit into everything which surrounds us ; into the air ive breathe , the earth we tread " —into every atom of created matter ; she gives them a tongue to incite us to virtue , and a voice "like angels tiurnpet-tongued , " to warn us that there is no dealing with God as with man ; that the sinful thought , and the sinful deed are equally perceptible to our Divine Master , whose all-seeing eye , though the grave hide us , and the depths conceal us , searched ) the heart , and with wliorn the night is as the noon-clay . CATO . ( To be continued . )
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gleanings From Masonry.
remotest star , at one and the same moment of time , is a theme beyond the powers of reason to demonstrate , and the province of Faith alone . And yet it is an attribute of the D . ity so confessedly requisite-so in accordance with that ivhich we should pronounce necessary to the preservation of harmony in the complicated machinery of nature ; the rewarding of virtue , and the punishment of vice , that reason ivhen guided by the fight of trutli readily assents to the fact . Masonryhy divine
, mercy , hath become possessed of this necessary anil important truth , and assiduously endeavours to impress us ivith the awful fact . Th . ' s ought to silence for ever the tongues of those who accuse us of practising evil within the tyled recesses of our temples ; for what greater check can there be upon tlie perpetration of our evil desires , than the consciousness that tlie Being , ivhose Jaws we are about to violate , is observing our actions , and will visit them with the thuiulersof'IIis wrath . The
contemplation of this expressive symbol must make us more fearful of disobeying any of those divine laws , written for our guidance by Him , ivhose we are , and to whom we must answer for every action clone in this life . Would to heaven Masonry ivere possessed of some all-powerful charm , capable of transforming us into her divine similitude ! She , hoivever , leaves us free , but exhorts us , with the accents of a parent , to shun the evil , and to choos ; - the good ; with one hand uplifted to warn us from the ways of sin and misery ; while the other points to that path ivhich
leads to those etherial mansions , that Grand Lodge above , where the just shall he eternally happy with the Great I AS ' L Few , indeed , compared with the vast multitudes which time is hurrying to an eternity of bliss or misery—seem either anxious of avoiding the one or procuring the other . The majority , indeed , outwardly regard the laivs of their human rulers ; and if they practice vice , do so iu secrecy and darkness ; giving no heed to the fact that , though they escape the
detection of man , there is an eye which sees , though hypocricy may spread her veil in the vain attempt to shield them from its glance . Masonry is not to blame , if the end of their career be iveeping and gnashing of teeth ; her voice is ahvays raised Avhile there is a hope remaining , to AAarn us of the perils Avhich beset us , and the miserable end of sin . She it was that told us darkness could not hide us from , nor intensity of light dazzle His all-piercing eye . She permits none of her disciples to plead
ignorance as an extenuation of guilt . She infuses her spirit into everything which surrounds us ; into the air ive breathe , the earth we tread " —into every atom of created matter ; she gives them a tongue to incite us to virtue , and a voice "like angels tiurnpet-tongued , " to warn us that there is no dealing with God as with man ; that the sinful thought , and the sinful deed are equally perceptible to our Divine Master , whose all-seeing eye , though the grave hide us , and the depths conceal us , searched ) the heart , and with wliorn the night is as the noon-clay . CATO . ( To be continued . )