-
Articles/Ads
Article BROTHER SHARP'S JUBILEE ORATION. ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brother Sharp's Jubilee Oration.
had neither been disturbed nor weakened by the storms and vicissitudes of time ; nor had they brought in their train any of those adverse circumstances which were the sure attendants of all institutions that possessed not , like Freemasonry , — ' Built to endure the shocks of time and chance , ' — either the strength and seal—the " pall" antl " le" of antiquityto
purp — uphold and sanction them ; or the beauty and force of sound moral principles , to impart lustre and efficacy to their operations . " It were vain , " said the speaker , " in the nineteenth century , to seek for arguments long since expounded by men of the hi ghest intellectual powers , who have appeared as its advocates in every age , and in almost every clime , to prove that the ori gin of MASONRY was nearly coeval with that great epoch of time , when
' First in the east the glorious lamp was seen , Regent of day , and all the horizon round Invested with bright rays , jocund to run His longitude through heaven ' s high road , ' — when
' ¦ the gray Dawn , and the Pleiades before him dune'd , Shedding sweet influence . ' Its identification , too , with the worship of the only One and true God , is to be traced to about the same period , when ' the foundations of the earth were laid , '— ' the corner-stone thereof ;'— < when , ' to use the sublime language of an inspired writer of antiquity , ' the morning stars sang together , and all the sons of God shouted for joy ; ' and when , as a great poet of our own land beautifully expresses it , ' the Author and End of all things , '
' From work Now resting , bless'd and hallow'd the seventh day . As resting on that day from ail his work . Bui not in silence holy kept : the harp Had work , antl RESTKO not ; the solemn pipe . And dulcimer , all organs of sweet stop , All sounds on fret by string or golden wire , Temper'd soft tunings , intermix'd with voice
Choral or unison : of incense clouds , Fuming from golden censers , hid the mount . Creation and the six days' acts they sung , — Great are thy works , Jehovah ! infinite Thy power I What thought can measure thee , or tongue Relate thee ?'
' So sung they , and the empyrean rung With hallelujahs : thus was the Sabbath kept . '—MILTON . " Ifc wo " _ , . equally superfluous in me to dilate upon the unhappy progress of affairs which led to the general defection from the true worship , and the consequent prevalence of idolatry in the antediluvian world - or , to enter into the inquiry , how , amidst the infliction of that mi-dily chastisement for sin— ' the Deluge' when all the fountains of tlie ereat
, deep were broken up , and the windows of heaven opened , ' by which visitation all that remained of sublunary glory , and of man ' s pride and imagination , was swept away ; and by what miracle , too , the hallowed rites of the Order of the ' Sons of Li ght / were preserved ( amid the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brother Sharp's Jubilee Oration.
had neither been disturbed nor weakened by the storms and vicissitudes of time ; nor had they brought in their train any of those adverse circumstances which were the sure attendants of all institutions that possessed not , like Freemasonry , — ' Built to endure the shocks of time and chance , ' — either the strength and seal—the " pall" antl " le" of antiquityto
purp — uphold and sanction them ; or the beauty and force of sound moral principles , to impart lustre and efficacy to their operations . " It were vain , " said the speaker , " in the nineteenth century , to seek for arguments long since expounded by men of the hi ghest intellectual powers , who have appeared as its advocates in every age , and in almost every clime , to prove that the ori gin of MASONRY was nearly coeval with that great epoch of time , when
' First in the east the glorious lamp was seen , Regent of day , and all the horizon round Invested with bright rays , jocund to run His longitude through heaven ' s high road , ' — when
' ¦ the gray Dawn , and the Pleiades before him dune'd , Shedding sweet influence . ' Its identification , too , with the worship of the only One and true God , is to be traced to about the same period , when ' the foundations of the earth were laid , '— ' the corner-stone thereof ;'— < when , ' to use the sublime language of an inspired writer of antiquity , ' the morning stars sang together , and all the sons of God shouted for joy ; ' and when , as a great poet of our own land beautifully expresses it , ' the Author and End of all things , '
' From work Now resting , bless'd and hallow'd the seventh day . As resting on that day from ail his work . Bui not in silence holy kept : the harp Had work , antl RESTKO not ; the solemn pipe . And dulcimer , all organs of sweet stop , All sounds on fret by string or golden wire , Temper'd soft tunings , intermix'd with voice
Choral or unison : of incense clouds , Fuming from golden censers , hid the mount . Creation and the six days' acts they sung , — Great are thy works , Jehovah ! infinite Thy power I What thought can measure thee , or tongue Relate thee ?'
' So sung they , and the empyrean rung With hallelujahs : thus was the Sabbath kept . '—MILTON . " Ifc wo " _ , . equally superfluous in me to dilate upon the unhappy progress of affairs which led to the general defection from the true worship , and the consequent prevalence of idolatry in the antediluvian world - or , to enter into the inquiry , how , amidst the infliction of that mi-dily chastisement for sin— ' the Deluge' when all the fountains of tlie ereat
, deep were broken up , and the windows of heaven opened , ' by which visitation all that remained of sublunary glory , and of man ' s pride and imagination , was swept away ; and by what miracle , too , the hallowed rites of the Order of the ' Sons of Li ght / were preserved ( amid the