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Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 6 of 24 →
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Provincial.
OXFORDSHIRE . OXFOBD . —Tlie folloxving Lecture xvas delivered at a Meeting of the United Lodge of Instruction , on Saturday , February 19 , by Bro . the Eev . T . A . BUCKLEY : — It has doubtless occurred to many Brethren here present , that tlie constant recurrence of Architectural Terms in our ceremonies
requires some deeper explanation than the slight and sketchy one furnished in the xvords of those ceremonies . Tlie defect is partially remedied in the authorized Lectures , in xvhich a good many useful details will be found ; but the object of the present observations is to attempt to show hoxv naturally such a metaphorical use of terms has sprung up , aud how well supported ifc is by the practice of antiquity .
The lapse of time , says Preston , — the ruthless hand of ignorance , and the devastations of xvar , have laid waste and destroyed many valuable monuments of antiquity , on xvhich the utmost exertions of human genius have been employed . Even the temple of Solomon , so spacious and magnificent , and constructed b y so many celebrated artists , escaped not tbe unsparing ravages of barbarous force ; Freemasonry , notwithstanding , has still survived . The attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue , and the sacred mysteries are safely lodged in the repository of faithful hearts . Tools and implements of architecture ( symbols
the most expressive !) are selected by the Fraternity , to imprint on the memory serious and solemn truths ; and thus the excellent tenets of the institution are transmitted unimpaired , under circumstances precarious , and even adverse , through a succession of ages . —Preston , pp . 1 , 4 . So also it is xveU observed by Sir Christopher AVren , that—Architecture has its political use ; public buildings being the ornament of a country ; it establishes a nation , draxvs people and commerce ; makes the people
love their native country , which is assuredly the original of all great actions in a commonwealth . The emulation of the cities of Greece was the true cause of thengreatness . The obstinate valour of the Jews , occasioned by the love of their temple , xvas a cement that held together that people for many ages , through infinite changes . The care of public decency and convenience xvas a great cause of the establishment of the Low Countries , and of many cities iu the xvorld . Modern Rome subsists still by the ruins and imitations of the old ; as does Jerusalem , by the Temple of the Sepulchre , and other remains of Helena ' s zeal . Parentalia , p . 351 .
In the explanation given of the tools of an Entered Apprentice , it is observed that , as speculative and not operative Masons , xve are required to apply a control to our own minds analogous to that xvhich the tools of the Mason exercise over the rough material he xvould fain shapen and adorn . In other xvords , as the Masons of old did rear that matchless temple xvhich King Solomon erected to the honour of God , so ought xve to build up our bodies as " temples of the
lix'ing God . " * The following passage from a Masonic xvork , published earl y in the present century , is so excellently illustrative of this meaiiino- , that I xvill not apologize for quoting it : — Operative Masonry raised that temple xvhich xx'as the glory of every age , till ( through iniquity ) its glory ( like Adam ' s at the full ) was levelled in the dust . But moral Masonry pulls down the altars of vice , and on their ruins raises temples to virtue , that will outlive the day of doom , survive the reign of time
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
OXFORDSHIRE . OXFOBD . —Tlie folloxving Lecture xvas delivered at a Meeting of the United Lodge of Instruction , on Saturday , February 19 , by Bro . the Eev . T . A . BUCKLEY : — It has doubtless occurred to many Brethren here present , that tlie constant recurrence of Architectural Terms in our ceremonies
requires some deeper explanation than the slight and sketchy one furnished in the xvords of those ceremonies . Tlie defect is partially remedied in the authorized Lectures , in xvhich a good many useful details will be found ; but the object of the present observations is to attempt to show hoxv naturally such a metaphorical use of terms has sprung up , aud how well supported ifc is by the practice of antiquity .
The lapse of time , says Preston , — the ruthless hand of ignorance , and the devastations of xvar , have laid waste and destroyed many valuable monuments of antiquity , on xvhich the utmost exertions of human genius have been employed . Even the temple of Solomon , so spacious and magnificent , and constructed b y so many celebrated artists , escaped not tbe unsparing ravages of barbarous force ; Freemasonry , notwithstanding , has still survived . The attentive ear receives the sound from the instructive tongue , and the sacred mysteries are safely lodged in the repository of faithful hearts . Tools and implements of architecture ( symbols
the most expressive !) are selected by the Fraternity , to imprint on the memory serious and solemn truths ; and thus the excellent tenets of the institution are transmitted unimpaired , under circumstances precarious , and even adverse , through a succession of ages . —Preston , pp . 1 , 4 . So also it is xveU observed by Sir Christopher AVren , that—Architecture has its political use ; public buildings being the ornament of a country ; it establishes a nation , draxvs people and commerce ; makes the people
love their native country , which is assuredly the original of all great actions in a commonwealth . The emulation of the cities of Greece was the true cause of thengreatness . The obstinate valour of the Jews , occasioned by the love of their temple , xvas a cement that held together that people for many ages , through infinite changes . The care of public decency and convenience xvas a great cause of the establishment of the Low Countries , and of many cities iu the xvorld . Modern Rome subsists still by the ruins and imitations of the old ; as does Jerusalem , by the Temple of the Sepulchre , and other remains of Helena ' s zeal . Parentalia , p . 351 .
In the explanation given of the tools of an Entered Apprentice , it is observed that , as speculative and not operative Masons , xve are required to apply a control to our own minds analogous to that xvhich the tools of the Mason exercise over the rough material he xvould fain shapen and adorn . In other xvords , as the Masons of old did rear that matchless temple xvhich King Solomon erected to the honour of God , so ought xve to build up our bodies as " temples of the
lix'ing God . " * The following passage from a Masonic xvork , published earl y in the present century , is so excellently illustrative of this meaiiino- , that I xvill not apologize for quoting it : — Operative Masonry raised that temple xvhich xx'as the glory of every age , till ( through iniquity ) its glory ( like Adam ' s at the full ) was levelled in the dust . But moral Masonry pulls down the altars of vice , and on their ruins raises temples to virtue , that will outlive the day of doom , survive the reign of time