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Article BROTHER SHARP'S JUBILEE ORATION. ← Page 5 of 5
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Brother Sharp's Jubilee Oration.
' . that hieroglyphic bright Which none but Craftsmen ever saw ;'these men pursued those steps which finally led to the opening of another school of Masonic research , which has so far buffeted the flight of time , that it is about to complete the first half century of its labours in that cause , by which ' Nature ' s mystic laws unfolded stand .
And Sense and Science , joined , go ha _ d in hatul . ' " Is it not , I ask , a source of high gratification to find , that whilst some Lodges have fallen into premature decay , and others have been erased from the calendar of the Grand Lodge for mal-practices ( some , I fear , of a very degrading character ) , any particular Lodge among the many which exist in this and the adjoining provinces , is still enabled to advance its claims to some distinctive mark of reverential
approbation ? I will not remind you how many Masons have , since its formation , been received into the bosom of Masonry , and initiated within the tiled recesses of the Shakspeare Lodge ; neither will I dwell upon the more painful theme of that portion of the initiated Band who have long since counted their ' sum of human bliss , ' and fallen beneath the allconquering hand of Death . It is , however , a grateful portion of my present task to bring to your mind's eye the triumphant progression
which has attended those mysteries , that to the uninitiated appear , perhaps , the result of some antiquated and fabulous contrivance of man , but which , to those who have passed the portals of the temple , are the means by which all mankind would admit we can alone ' extend the
empire of knowledge over ignorance , of virtue over vice , of moral good over moral evil , of spirit over matter , —in one word , of civilization , of education . ' " Those ' choice spirits , ' to whose efforts we owe the warrant under which we now assemble , for the beneficent and scientific purposes of our ' ancient and honourable Fraternity , ' are deserving of especial remembrance amidst my feeble and imperfect observations . I ask you each to breathe a passing blessing over the remains of those
timehonoured men . I would ask you , in taking a retrospective glance over this lapse of years—of fifty years—to cherish their names . I would ask you to honour their virtues , and respect their memories ; for if it be true that ' to love the memory of great and good men is to cherish the love of virtue itself , ' how forcible are the claims of good Masons upon our fondest recollections ?" The AV . M . closed his address , which was listened to throughout
with the most intense interest , in the following emphatic terms : — " My Brethren , may a serious consideration of these solemn mysteries enable us to square our actions , and compass our ends , so that we may , like the pious Masons of antiquity , engaged in the erection of the First Temple , be enabled to perform the task allotted us with the same beauty , order , and perfection ; and like them be ultimately called from luvisoun beneath to the REST above—in those ' mansions not made
, with hands , eternal in the heavens , '—to form one of that ' innumerable Host , ' who , ' when rolling years shall have ceased to move , ' will be engaged in the ecstatic duty of raising the universal shout of joy—when the GREAT ARCHITECT of ALI , shall have performed another ' six days ' labour' in the CREATION OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH I"
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brother Sharp's Jubilee Oration.
' . that hieroglyphic bright Which none but Craftsmen ever saw ;'these men pursued those steps which finally led to the opening of another school of Masonic research , which has so far buffeted the flight of time , that it is about to complete the first half century of its labours in that cause , by which ' Nature ' s mystic laws unfolded stand .
And Sense and Science , joined , go ha _ d in hatul . ' " Is it not , I ask , a source of high gratification to find , that whilst some Lodges have fallen into premature decay , and others have been erased from the calendar of the Grand Lodge for mal-practices ( some , I fear , of a very degrading character ) , any particular Lodge among the many which exist in this and the adjoining provinces , is still enabled to advance its claims to some distinctive mark of reverential
approbation ? I will not remind you how many Masons have , since its formation , been received into the bosom of Masonry , and initiated within the tiled recesses of the Shakspeare Lodge ; neither will I dwell upon the more painful theme of that portion of the initiated Band who have long since counted their ' sum of human bliss , ' and fallen beneath the allconquering hand of Death . It is , however , a grateful portion of my present task to bring to your mind's eye the triumphant progression
which has attended those mysteries , that to the uninitiated appear , perhaps , the result of some antiquated and fabulous contrivance of man , but which , to those who have passed the portals of the temple , are the means by which all mankind would admit we can alone ' extend the
empire of knowledge over ignorance , of virtue over vice , of moral good over moral evil , of spirit over matter , —in one word , of civilization , of education . ' " Those ' choice spirits , ' to whose efforts we owe the warrant under which we now assemble , for the beneficent and scientific purposes of our ' ancient and honourable Fraternity , ' are deserving of especial remembrance amidst my feeble and imperfect observations . I ask you each to breathe a passing blessing over the remains of those
timehonoured men . I would ask you , in taking a retrospective glance over this lapse of years—of fifty years—to cherish their names . I would ask you to honour their virtues , and respect their memories ; for if it be true that ' to love the memory of great and good men is to cherish the love of virtue itself , ' how forcible are the claims of good Masons upon our fondest recollections ?" The AV . M . closed his address , which was listened to throughout
with the most intense interest , in the following emphatic terms : — " My Brethren , may a serious consideration of these solemn mysteries enable us to square our actions , and compass our ends , so that we may , like the pious Masons of antiquity , engaged in the erection of the First Temple , be enabled to perform the task allotted us with the same beauty , order , and perfection ; and like them be ultimately called from luvisoun beneath to the REST above—in those ' mansions not made
, with hands , eternal in the heavens , '—to form one of that ' innumerable Host , ' who , ' when rolling years shall have ceased to move , ' will be engaged in the ecstatic duty of raising the universal shout of joy—when the GREAT ARCHITECT of ALI , shall have performed another ' six days ' labour' in the CREATION OF A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH I"