Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
TO THE SPIRIT OF MASONRY . Written on the Installation of the Social Friendship Lodge at Montreal , on the Gth May , A . M . 5844 . ONE altar more ! Bond of our ancient
faith—Another shrine of union , and of ties Whose truth is firm in life , nor dies with death , To thee we consecrate ! whose strength defies Distance and Time , and the detractor ' s breath ; Nor limits love to kindred , nor relies Upon the bond of blood for truth alone : — Thou art with us , where language is unknown .
All climes—all skies , behold thee still the same—Strange eyes , to strangers , look thy language ; and Earth ' s distant tribes a kindred tie can claim , And prove their faith on the remotest strand ; Thou dost not bind my nation—tribe—or name , But set thy seal in every clime and land ; Thou art with us—far as the waves can flow-On India ' s plains , or midst the Northern snow .
Around the earth ! are not thy temples there , Arching their Union—based from heart to heart In shrines of concord , beautiful and fair ; Breathing of Thee and Us ? We , as a part Of that all-mystic concord—We , who dare Look on thy ordeals , and unfold the chart Of Time and of Creation ; and to scan What God hath plann'd , and deign'd to do for man .
Benevolence attends thy steps ! the earth Is hallowed in thy presence—We behold In glorious rays thy countless names of worth—The children of Eternity , enroll'd On thy all-deathless records , from the birth Of Time , thy twin-born brother ; those whose mould Was essenced of the Godhead .- —and in them Thou hast reserved thy choicest diadem .
A Diadem of Glory !—and become With Time the ministers unto thy light : Speaking from age to age : —should we be dumb Amidst the eloquence , of all that ' s bright And fair in wide creation ! from the hum Of insect millions , to the dreaded might Of the destroying earthquake ?—All we see , And hear , and feel , but speaks and breathes of Thee ! VOL . vn . ' a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Poetry.
POETRY .
TO THE SPIRIT OF MASONRY . Written on the Installation of the Social Friendship Lodge at Montreal , on the Gth May , A . M . 5844 . ONE altar more ! Bond of our ancient
faith—Another shrine of union , and of ties Whose truth is firm in life , nor dies with death , To thee we consecrate ! whose strength defies Distance and Time , and the detractor ' s breath ; Nor limits love to kindred , nor relies Upon the bond of blood for truth alone : — Thou art with us , where language is unknown .
All climes—all skies , behold thee still the same—Strange eyes , to strangers , look thy language ; and Earth ' s distant tribes a kindred tie can claim , And prove their faith on the remotest strand ; Thou dost not bind my nation—tribe—or name , But set thy seal in every clime and land ; Thou art with us—far as the waves can flow-On India ' s plains , or midst the Northern snow .
Around the earth ! are not thy temples there , Arching their Union—based from heart to heart In shrines of concord , beautiful and fair ; Breathing of Thee and Us ? We , as a part Of that all-mystic concord—We , who dare Look on thy ordeals , and unfold the chart Of Time and of Creation ; and to scan What God hath plann'd , and deign'd to do for man .
Benevolence attends thy steps ! the earth Is hallowed in thy presence—We behold In glorious rays thy countless names of worth—The children of Eternity , enroll'd On thy all-deathless records , from the birth Of Time , thy twin-born brother ; those whose mould Was essenced of the Godhead .- —and in them Thou hast reserved thy choicest diadem .
A Diadem of Glory !—and become With Time the ministers unto thy light : Speaking from age to age : —should we be dumb Amidst the eloquence , of all that ' s bright And fair in wide creation ! from the hum Of insect millions , to the dreaded might Of the destroying earthquake ?—All we see , And hear , and feel , but speaks and breathes of Thee ! VOL . vn . ' a