Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United States.
very few enthusiasts and fanatics , what shall we say to those deemed of divine origin ? Has not every religion which history records been obnoxious to similar objections ? ancl among them none perhaps has shed more blood than that which we profess . Shall we therefore discard it ? Shall we deprive suffering humanity of its best , its surest consolation , under the chastening afflictions of divine dispensations ? 1 say , God forbid .
" But we have been told ( as falsely as insidiously , ) that Masonry has a certain aptitude to demoralization . Might not the same be said with equal justice of the sacred writings ? Has not the religious fanatic , as well under the Jewish as Christian dispensations , invariably justified his lawless shedding of blood , on those revealed , but misconceived truths , we hold divine ? " But we have our mysteries : so has our holy religion . The writings of our patron saint are MI of them : we shall not therefore , I trust , discard the one or the other .
" Our forms have also been made the subject of ridicule . A sufficient answer to this is , that forms are essential to the existence of all societies : as they are arbitrary , they will sometimes give scope to the carpings of the too fastidious ; but they never can with justice be held to derogate from the fundamental principles of any institution . I have been a member of this useful ancl honourable Fraternity for more than half a century , and have never till now heard the calumny uttered , that its oblitionsunder circumstances the ordinances of
ga , any , impugned civil or religious society . On the contrary , we hold ourselves bound to render unto Cassar the things which are Caesar ' s , and unto God the things which are God's ; and I can with truth affirm , that I never knew a man who became a Mason , and whose practice conformed to the precepts it inculcates , who did not become a better man than he had been theretofore .
" On the whole , believing as I do , that no favourable result can be expected from , reasoning with men during the paroxisms of a feverish imagination , stimulated in many instances , by the hope of personal advantage , I exhort the Brethren to follow the example of their fathers ; like them , regardless of the slanders ancl revilings of their enemies , to pursue the steady tenor of their way ; deviating neither to the right hand nor to the left , but like Stern ' s monk , looking straight forward to something beyond this world . " AVe shall continue the summary in our future numbers .
India.
INDIA .
TO CORRESPONDENTS . The Agents in Calcutta for this " Review , " are—Messrs . T HACKER and Co . ; and Messrs . PITTAR and Co . AVe hear that the New Constitutions are in the press , and may , therefore , expect to be informed of the duties of the Members generally , as well as of the officials in particular . Our attention to the Grancl Secretary ' s office in London has been marked by regularity in payments , VOL . VIII . 3 u
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
United States.
very few enthusiasts and fanatics , what shall we say to those deemed of divine origin ? Has not every religion which history records been obnoxious to similar objections ? ancl among them none perhaps has shed more blood than that which we profess . Shall we therefore discard it ? Shall we deprive suffering humanity of its best , its surest consolation , under the chastening afflictions of divine dispensations ? 1 say , God forbid .
" But we have been told ( as falsely as insidiously , ) that Masonry has a certain aptitude to demoralization . Might not the same be said with equal justice of the sacred writings ? Has not the religious fanatic , as well under the Jewish as Christian dispensations , invariably justified his lawless shedding of blood , on those revealed , but misconceived truths , we hold divine ? " But we have our mysteries : so has our holy religion . The writings of our patron saint are MI of them : we shall not therefore , I trust , discard the one or the other .
" Our forms have also been made the subject of ridicule . A sufficient answer to this is , that forms are essential to the existence of all societies : as they are arbitrary , they will sometimes give scope to the carpings of the too fastidious ; but they never can with justice be held to derogate from the fundamental principles of any institution . I have been a member of this useful ancl honourable Fraternity for more than half a century , and have never till now heard the calumny uttered , that its oblitionsunder circumstances the ordinances of
ga , any , impugned civil or religious society . On the contrary , we hold ourselves bound to render unto Cassar the things which are Caesar ' s , and unto God the things which are God's ; and I can with truth affirm , that I never knew a man who became a Mason , and whose practice conformed to the precepts it inculcates , who did not become a better man than he had been theretofore .
" On the whole , believing as I do , that no favourable result can be expected from , reasoning with men during the paroxisms of a feverish imagination , stimulated in many instances , by the hope of personal advantage , I exhort the Brethren to follow the example of their fathers ; like them , regardless of the slanders ancl revilings of their enemies , to pursue the steady tenor of their way ; deviating neither to the right hand nor to the left , but like Stern ' s monk , looking straight forward to something beyond this world . " AVe shall continue the summary in our future numbers .
India.
INDIA .
TO CORRESPONDENTS . The Agents in Calcutta for this " Review , " are—Messrs . T HACKER and Co . ; and Messrs . PITTAR and Co . AVe hear that the New Constitutions are in the press , and may , therefore , expect to be informed of the duties of the Members generally , as well as of the officials in particular . Our attention to the Grancl Secretary ' s office in London has been marked by regularity in payments , VOL . VIII . 3 u