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Article MASONIC PROCESSIONS. ← Page 4 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Processions.
vice of Pride , by the operation of which one man is induced to despise his brother , as though he were not formed of the same clay as himself , although he may be greatly his superior both in talent , virtue , and usefulness . "Ereemasonry is essentially democratic in its constitution , and strikes at the root of this pernicious vice , by laying it clown as an axiom that ' we are all equal by creation , but much more so by the strength of our
obligation ; ' and , ' that we meet on the level , and part on the square . ' Now , according to the doctrines of the Order , the level denominates that we are descended from the same stock , partakes of the same nature , and share the same hope ; and that though distinctions among men are necessary to preserve subordination ; yet no eminence of station can make us forget that we are Brethren , and that he who is placed on the lowest spoke of Fortune's
Wheel , may be entitled to our regard ; because a time will come , and the wisest know not how soon , when all distinctions , except that of goodness , shall cease ; and death , the grand leveller of human greatness , reduce us to the same state . "
Noble words , truly ! of right hearty and strengthening import ! In this firm and frank avowal is the very pith and marrow , the very vital spirit and essence of our immemorial Craft , un emasculated by any of the conventional servilities and artificial precautions , the false reticences , and degrading adaptations into ivhich the life blood of the Masonic heart is too often suffered to be congealed at festivals ,
where the profound Jlunkeyism ( the word is indispensable ) , of the English temperament , seems to expiate by ostentatious adulation the inevitable meaning of the principles professed in the Lodge , and repudiated in the world !
So , when our banners and our symbols are unveiled in the Street , our uninitiated Brethren will stop to ask their sense ; and when they hear our watchwords , " BROTHERLY LOVE , RELIEF , and TRUTH , " let those who come to sneer remain to bless . Do not all our signs and symbols profoundly typify ancl lovingly assert the claims ancl dignity of Labour ; the fruitful principles of association and
cooperation ; the original Brotherhood of the whole human race ; the real liberty , based on mutually exercised rights and duties ; the real equality that levels—upwards ? Will our Brethren uninitiate ask , What is True Masonry ? It is ( or should be )—may we be able to stand in the searching light of our own immortal doctrines— "an association of wise and virtuous men . " What is a Lodge ? An
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Processions.
vice of Pride , by the operation of which one man is induced to despise his brother , as though he were not formed of the same clay as himself , although he may be greatly his superior both in talent , virtue , and usefulness . "Ereemasonry is essentially democratic in its constitution , and strikes at the root of this pernicious vice , by laying it clown as an axiom that ' we are all equal by creation , but much more so by the strength of our
obligation ; ' and , ' that we meet on the level , and part on the square . ' Now , according to the doctrines of the Order , the level denominates that we are descended from the same stock , partakes of the same nature , and share the same hope ; and that though distinctions among men are necessary to preserve subordination ; yet no eminence of station can make us forget that we are Brethren , and that he who is placed on the lowest spoke of Fortune's
Wheel , may be entitled to our regard ; because a time will come , and the wisest know not how soon , when all distinctions , except that of goodness , shall cease ; and death , the grand leveller of human greatness , reduce us to the same state . "
Noble words , truly ! of right hearty and strengthening import ! In this firm and frank avowal is the very pith and marrow , the very vital spirit and essence of our immemorial Craft , un emasculated by any of the conventional servilities and artificial precautions , the false reticences , and degrading adaptations into ivhich the life blood of the Masonic heart is too often suffered to be congealed at festivals ,
where the profound Jlunkeyism ( the word is indispensable ) , of the English temperament , seems to expiate by ostentatious adulation the inevitable meaning of the principles professed in the Lodge , and repudiated in the world !
So , when our banners and our symbols are unveiled in the Street , our uninitiated Brethren will stop to ask their sense ; and when they hear our watchwords , " BROTHERLY LOVE , RELIEF , and TRUTH , " let those who come to sneer remain to bless . Do not all our signs and symbols profoundly typify ancl lovingly assert the claims ancl dignity of Labour ; the fruitful principles of association and
cooperation ; the original Brotherhood of the whole human race ; the real liberty , based on mutually exercised rights and duties ; the real equality that levels—upwards ? Will our Brethren uninitiate ask , What is True Masonry ? It is ( or should be )—may we be able to stand in the searching light of our own immortal doctrines— "an association of wise and virtuous men . " What is a Lodge ? An