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Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 7 of 24 →
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Provincial.
outshine the sun , and flourish amid the xvrecks of sinking xvorlds . Temples , xvhose foundations ( when the earth shall quake , and the mountains are no more found ) shall never be shaken , for ( when the earth and the very heavens shall depart as a scroll ) these shall for ever stand , for they are founded on the adamantine rocks of truth and virtue . Let every Brother of us , then ( like our great and venerable Nehemiah of old , xvhen raising the ramparts round Zion ) , set stoutly and manfully about laying the foot-stone of , and raising this our moral fabric , and putting the cope-stone to this our temple of Zion , xvhose summit is to reach not to heaven only , but to the heaven of heavens . —An Introduction to Freemasonry , London 1819 , p . Ill , sqq .
I cannot produce a stronger instance of the prevalence of this usage , as applied to moral improvement , than the xvord " edify . " In the Nexv Testament the word is okooopew , which is rendered by cediftco in Latin . Now both these words , like our own " edify , " originally meant to build , or construct ; but so completely has the metaphorical use supplanted the original sense , that the English word is noxv only used in the sense of improving or instructing . It
xvould be useless to instance the many passages in the Nexv Testament , in xvhich " edification" is inculcated as a motive to be borne in viexv in all our undertakings . Suffice it to say , that Christian men are there considered as so many parts of a great whole , as " pillars in the temple of their God , " * ancl that by the right instruction and edification of each indixddual , xve clo gradually add to the stock of precious materials , and build up an edifice of human souls , —an offering more grateful to the great Architect on high , than the mosfc wondrous xvork of nractical handicraft .
Again ; as the building of the first temple was a symbol of the Jews' confidence in the promises of Jehovah , —as the rebuilding of that temp le denoted the revival of hopes which they had lost by their derelictions from God , — -so it was natural that , under a nexv dispensation , similar types should be applied to the efforts of mankind to build up the neglected fabric of their redemption ; for , although Jewish Masons must necessariltake exception at the Christian
y features of our ritual , yet , even according to their oxvn anticipations of that Messiah whom we believe to have already been enshrined in the flesh , the same language wdl hold good . So much , then , for the general principle which connects Christian and Masonic morality ~ with the language of architecture . Let me now point out a fexv detadsiUustrating them by such parallels as
, the limited time I have been able to give to the preparation of this paper has suggested . But I xx'iU first give you a somewhat amusing specimen of popular objections to Masonic symbolism , taken from that most celebrated of literary periodicals , the " Grub Street Journal , " Feb . 8 , 1732 .
In the first place , I verily believe , and so do a great many more , that there are in the Masons' Society several , nay , a very great number of Brethren , xx'ho are not Euclidical enough to comprehend an intricate mathematical demonstration , or even a geometrical definition . Neither are they instructed by their trades , such as are before hinted at ; nor can it appear by their performances , that they are
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
outshine the sun , and flourish amid the xvrecks of sinking xvorlds . Temples , xvhose foundations ( when the earth shall quake , and the mountains are no more found ) shall never be shaken , for ( when the earth and the very heavens shall depart as a scroll ) these shall for ever stand , for they are founded on the adamantine rocks of truth and virtue . Let every Brother of us , then ( like our great and venerable Nehemiah of old , xvhen raising the ramparts round Zion ) , set stoutly and manfully about laying the foot-stone of , and raising this our moral fabric , and putting the cope-stone to this our temple of Zion , xvhose summit is to reach not to heaven only , but to the heaven of heavens . —An Introduction to Freemasonry , London 1819 , p . Ill , sqq .
I cannot produce a stronger instance of the prevalence of this usage , as applied to moral improvement , than the xvord " edify . " In the Nexv Testament the word is okooopew , which is rendered by cediftco in Latin . Now both these words , like our own " edify , " originally meant to build , or construct ; but so completely has the metaphorical use supplanted the original sense , that the English word is noxv only used in the sense of improving or instructing . It
xvould be useless to instance the many passages in the Nexv Testament , in xvhich " edification" is inculcated as a motive to be borne in viexv in all our undertakings . Suffice it to say , that Christian men are there considered as so many parts of a great whole , as " pillars in the temple of their God , " * ancl that by the right instruction and edification of each indixddual , xve clo gradually add to the stock of precious materials , and build up an edifice of human souls , —an offering more grateful to the great Architect on high , than the mosfc wondrous xvork of nractical handicraft .
Again ; as the building of the first temple was a symbol of the Jews' confidence in the promises of Jehovah , —as the rebuilding of that temp le denoted the revival of hopes which they had lost by their derelictions from God , — -so it was natural that , under a nexv dispensation , similar types should be applied to the efforts of mankind to build up the neglected fabric of their redemption ; for , although Jewish Masons must necessariltake exception at the Christian
y features of our ritual , yet , even according to their oxvn anticipations of that Messiah whom we believe to have already been enshrined in the flesh , the same language wdl hold good . So much , then , for the general principle which connects Christian and Masonic morality ~ with the language of architecture . Let me now point out a fexv detadsiUustrating them by such parallels as
, the limited time I have been able to give to the preparation of this paper has suggested . But I xx'iU first give you a somewhat amusing specimen of popular objections to Masonic symbolism , taken from that most celebrated of literary periodicals , the " Grub Street Journal , " Feb . 8 , 1732 .
In the first place , I verily believe , and so do a great many more , that there are in the Masons' Society several , nay , a very great number of Brethren , xx'ho are not Euclidical enough to comprehend an intricate mathematical demonstration , or even a geometrical definition . Neither are they instructed by their trades , such as are before hinted at ; nor can it appear by their performances , that they are