Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Address, Delivered To The Brethren Of St. John's Lodge, No. 534, Lancaster.
a station , had not your partiality superseded my own diffidence . Animated , however , by a veneration for the institution , a high sense of obligation , and a personal regard for each individual around me , I am ready to offer up rhy utmost exertions in my office , as the best atonement for my defects and imperfections . MASONRY having the Omnipotent ARCHITECT of the universe for the object of its adorationand imitation ; his great and wonderful
works for its pattern and prototype ; and the wisest and best men of all ages ' , nations , and languages , for its patrons and professors ( comprehending * all sciences , divine and human ) ; must be a subject of boundless extent . Suffice it , for the present , if I humbly attempt to delineate some small part of its nature and excellencies , leaving a more ample display of them to more exalted abilities and sublimer
eloquence .. No sooner was man formed , and dignified with a ray of the Divinity , than that light directed him to contemplate and admire the works of his great Creator , and to copy that grand Examplar into every infant art . Thus Masonry is coeval with mankind . But that celestial beam being deplorably obscured and weakened " by man ' s first disobedience f , " we find the wanted aid of Divine instruction , benignly vouchsafed in the institution of naval architecture b y the
building of the ARK , which has served for a model to all succeeding ages . The same Heavenly Oracle dictated the construction of the ark ofthe covenant and its protecting TABERNACLE in the wilderness , and the magnificence of King Solomon ' s TEMPLE afterwards , the two other patterns of stone and military architecture . Leaving holy ground , we trace Masonry amongst the Eastern Magi and in the renowned learning of iEgypt . From whencelike
, other sciences , taking a westerly direction , it was brought b y that European Apostle of Masonry , Pythagoras , from whose propagation it reached the British isle J . Its principles were respected and disseminated by Bramins , Philosophers , Artists , and Saints , and diffused the lig ht of science to the remotest corners ofthe earth . It taught natural religion , philosophy , subordination , and arts , on the banks of
the Ganges , in the hieroglyphics of iEgypt , the sanctuaries of Eleusis , the schools of Sages , and the caves of Druids . Though it derives its name from scientific , and its badges from operative architecture , it comprehends the whole circle of arts and sciences ; has been the depot of learning in all former ages , and a focus combining every ray of genius in all climes of the earth . A Lodge is in foreign countries eminently stiled an Academy , and MASONRY considered as synonymous to GEOMETRY § , the science re-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Address, Delivered To The Brethren Of St. John's Lodge, No. 534, Lancaster.
a station , had not your partiality superseded my own diffidence . Animated , however , by a veneration for the institution , a high sense of obligation , and a personal regard for each individual around me , I am ready to offer up rhy utmost exertions in my office , as the best atonement for my defects and imperfections . MASONRY having the Omnipotent ARCHITECT of the universe for the object of its adorationand imitation ; his great and wonderful
works for its pattern and prototype ; and the wisest and best men of all ages ' , nations , and languages , for its patrons and professors ( comprehending * all sciences , divine and human ) ; must be a subject of boundless extent . Suffice it , for the present , if I humbly attempt to delineate some small part of its nature and excellencies , leaving a more ample display of them to more exalted abilities and sublimer
eloquence .. No sooner was man formed , and dignified with a ray of the Divinity , than that light directed him to contemplate and admire the works of his great Creator , and to copy that grand Examplar into every infant art . Thus Masonry is coeval with mankind . But that celestial beam being deplorably obscured and weakened " by man ' s first disobedience f , " we find the wanted aid of Divine instruction , benignly vouchsafed in the institution of naval architecture b y the
building of the ARK , which has served for a model to all succeeding ages . The same Heavenly Oracle dictated the construction of the ark ofthe covenant and its protecting TABERNACLE in the wilderness , and the magnificence of King Solomon ' s TEMPLE afterwards , the two other patterns of stone and military architecture . Leaving holy ground , we trace Masonry amongst the Eastern Magi and in the renowned learning of iEgypt . From whencelike
, other sciences , taking a westerly direction , it was brought b y that European Apostle of Masonry , Pythagoras , from whose propagation it reached the British isle J . Its principles were respected and disseminated by Bramins , Philosophers , Artists , and Saints , and diffused the lig ht of science to the remotest corners ofthe earth . It taught natural religion , philosophy , subordination , and arts , on the banks of
the Ganges , in the hieroglyphics of iEgypt , the sanctuaries of Eleusis , the schools of Sages , and the caves of Druids . Though it derives its name from scientific , and its badges from operative architecture , it comprehends the whole circle of arts and sciences ; has been the depot of learning in all former ages , and a focus combining every ray of genius in all climes of the earth . A Lodge is in foreign countries eminently stiled an Academy , and MASONRY considered as synonymous to GEOMETRY § , the science re-