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Article THE PRINCIPLES OF FREE MASONRY EXPLAINED. ← Page 8 of 15 →
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The Principles Of Free Masonry Explained.
and blown up fierce controversies about these and the like point ., the ! existence and providence of a Supreme Being were never universally denied in any age or reli gion . These articles may give occasion to as many opinions and disputes , as there are people to think and talk about them ; but they are , all the while , matters of universal belief in themselves .
. This observation , to which I begged your attention , " That amidst all the dissentions among mankind , there are certain articles in which they are all agreed , " is undoubtedly the foundation of Free-Masonry , , _ Accordingly , some wise and benevolent men in antient times , observing and lamenting the fatal effects which the jarring opinions of
their fellow-creatures about reli g ion , politics , and manners , occasioned ' to society , united their wishes and endeavours , to find out a remedy that mi ght cure them in the mean time , and prevent them for the future . Their endeavours were crowned with success , and their wishes gratified by that success . It appeared to them , that mankind quarrelled rather about the manner in which the subject : of their contentions
existed , than about the reality of the subjects themselves ; and that while they abused and persecuted one another for their respective opinions about the former , they unanimously granted the latter . They observed , that ambition , under some form or other , is a passion that inhabits and disturbs every breast ; that all men , the low as much as the hi gh , strive to soar above their . equals , and to reduce them to a
state of dependency on their will . ' This observation , my Brethren , must be allowed to be well-founded . We are all too apt to examine the characters of our nei ghbours , as well as our own , by self-love , the most fallacious of all standards . In this examination , we compare our own virtues and talents to their follies and weaknesses , and directly ' conclude ourselves superior to them , and intitled to settle the respect which is due to their charactersand the deference which is due to
, their opinions . We are unhappy until we make them feel the superiority we have given ourselves over them , and procure the soothing pleasure of seeing them humbly bowing down before it . We would prescribe , in what channel their reasonings ought to flow , and towards what people their kind uffcCtions ought to be exercised . We are ready to look upon them as insolent or absurd , when they venture to dissent
from our judgment , and assert opinions which we have condemned . We are enraged when we hear them express the smallest dislike of persons whom we esteem , or approbation of those who have fallen under _ our displeasure . But were their understandings , indeed , and affeCHons , to be always regulated by ours , how absurd would the one be often found ! how misplaced the . other ! But to return from thes _
disagreeable reflections on human pride and self-sufficiency—the wise and benevolent men just now mentioned saw that the dissentions of mankind arose rather from opinion , than from matters of fact . For instance ; they saw that all around confessed a God , his providence , and their duty to worshi p him ; but they saw at the same time , that the nature of their Deity , the conduit of ' his providence , and the form
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Principles Of Free Masonry Explained.
and blown up fierce controversies about these and the like point ., the ! existence and providence of a Supreme Being were never universally denied in any age or reli gion . These articles may give occasion to as many opinions and disputes , as there are people to think and talk about them ; but they are , all the while , matters of universal belief in themselves .
. This observation , to which I begged your attention , " That amidst all the dissentions among mankind , there are certain articles in which they are all agreed , " is undoubtedly the foundation of Free-Masonry , , _ Accordingly , some wise and benevolent men in antient times , observing and lamenting the fatal effects which the jarring opinions of
their fellow-creatures about reli g ion , politics , and manners , occasioned ' to society , united their wishes and endeavours , to find out a remedy that mi ght cure them in the mean time , and prevent them for the future . Their endeavours were crowned with success , and their wishes gratified by that success . It appeared to them , that mankind quarrelled rather about the manner in which the subject : of their contentions
existed , than about the reality of the subjects themselves ; and that while they abused and persecuted one another for their respective opinions about the former , they unanimously granted the latter . They observed , that ambition , under some form or other , is a passion that inhabits and disturbs every breast ; that all men , the low as much as the hi gh , strive to soar above their . equals , and to reduce them to a
state of dependency on their will . ' This observation , my Brethren , must be allowed to be well-founded . We are all too apt to examine the characters of our nei ghbours , as well as our own , by self-love , the most fallacious of all standards . In this examination , we compare our own virtues and talents to their follies and weaknesses , and directly ' conclude ourselves superior to them , and intitled to settle the respect which is due to their charactersand the deference which is due to
, their opinions . We are unhappy until we make them feel the superiority we have given ourselves over them , and procure the soothing pleasure of seeing them humbly bowing down before it . We would prescribe , in what channel their reasonings ought to flow , and towards what people their kind uffcCtions ought to be exercised . We are ready to look upon them as insolent or absurd , when they venture to dissent
from our judgment , and assert opinions which we have condemned . We are enraged when we hear them express the smallest dislike of persons whom we esteem , or approbation of those who have fallen under _ our displeasure . But were their understandings , indeed , and affeCHons , to be always regulated by ours , how absurd would the one be often found ! how misplaced the . other ! But to return from thes _
disagreeable reflections on human pride and self-sufficiency—the wise and benevolent men just now mentioned saw that the dissentions of mankind arose rather from opinion , than from matters of fact . For instance ; they saw that all around confessed a God , his providence , and their duty to worshi p him ; but they saw at the same time , that the nature of their Deity , the conduit of ' his providence , and the form