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Article "THINKING" AND "WORKING" FREEMASONS. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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"Thinking" And "Working" Freemasons.
enjoy all that is grand and austere in the language of our rites , much as they relish fine sentiment ancl " situation" in anew drama ! The vital truth , as a voice of the old time , ancl yet ever new , of our doctrines—the possibility , nay , the instant , imperious necessity of their application to existing wants and troubles , they never for a moment admit into their contemplations ! The very doctrines they
profess—the very language they use in Loclge—they would be the first to persecute , by we know not what ugly names , if they heard or read them in a public journal or in the street . Of a third class —the " coiivivials "—the less said the bettor ! They are mere excrescences on the goodly frame of the Order .
Now , far be it from us to deny the presence of many devoted and earnest Brethren— -not more Masonic in Loclge than in the world , ancl distinguished by the same high qualities , aptitudes , and sympathies in both . Do we not , as we write these lines , vividly recal a clear and honoured Brother , our own Masonic sponsor—a
man who , from the comparatively humble sphere of a provincial Loclge ( of ivhich he was the very soul ) , has raised himself by sheer force ancl integrity of character , to be a " decus et prcesidium" of English Masonry , and to sit in the council of our Worthies . And is not his whole life no more and no less than the Masonic doctrines in action ? And are not the best and purest of any aspirations we
could utter but the echoes of his heart ancl voice , though they want , perchance , the harmony and the reriose which longer years have brought to him 1 And do we not remember and rejoice to call " friends and Brethren , " men who bestow all the dignities and the graces of the Arts they honour on the ORDER they love and cherish . And ought we not to come out of our own beloved Lodge ( into which
was so lately admitted how unworthy a disciple !—for he can render no return for the honour but his own happiness : —mentally and morally , ( as well as materially ) refreshed and invigorated ? For where in the outer world do wc meet with such an almost ideal frankness of feeling and kindness of heart , uniting natures and intelligences the most dissimilar in a common sympathy 1 But , in
writing seriously and sternly on the position and prospects of our ORDER , we are bound to lose sight of individuals , ancl , clad in the severe garb of truth , to regard only the classes that compose the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
"Thinking" And "Working" Freemasons.
enjoy all that is grand and austere in the language of our rites , much as they relish fine sentiment ancl " situation" in anew drama ! The vital truth , as a voice of the old time , ancl yet ever new , of our doctrines—the possibility , nay , the instant , imperious necessity of their application to existing wants and troubles , they never for a moment admit into their contemplations ! The very doctrines they
profess—the very language they use in Loclge—they would be the first to persecute , by we know not what ugly names , if they heard or read them in a public journal or in the street . Of a third class —the " coiivivials "—the less said the bettor ! They are mere excrescences on the goodly frame of the Order .
Now , far be it from us to deny the presence of many devoted and earnest Brethren— -not more Masonic in Loclge than in the world , ancl distinguished by the same high qualities , aptitudes , and sympathies in both . Do we not , as we write these lines , vividly recal a clear and honoured Brother , our own Masonic sponsor—a
man who , from the comparatively humble sphere of a provincial Loclge ( of ivhich he was the very soul ) , has raised himself by sheer force ancl integrity of character , to be a " decus et prcesidium" of English Masonry , and to sit in the council of our Worthies . And is not his whole life no more and no less than the Masonic doctrines in action ? And are not the best and purest of any aspirations we
could utter but the echoes of his heart ancl voice , though they want , perchance , the harmony and the reriose which longer years have brought to him 1 And do we not remember and rejoice to call " friends and Brethren , " men who bestow all the dignities and the graces of the Arts they honour on the ORDER they love and cherish . And ought we not to come out of our own beloved Lodge ( into which
was so lately admitted how unworthy a disciple !—for he can render no return for the honour but his own happiness : —mentally and morally , ( as well as materially ) refreshed and invigorated ? For where in the outer world do wc meet with such an almost ideal frankness of feeling and kindness of heart , uniting natures and intelligences the most dissimilar in a common sympathy 1 But , in
writing seriously and sternly on the position and prospects of our ORDER , we are bound to lose sight of individuals , ancl , clad in the severe garb of truth , to regard only the classes that compose the