Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE - •*¦ THE GRAND LODGE OF THE MOST ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE FRATERNITY OF FREE AND'ACCEPTED MASONS OF ENGLAND ,
ACCORDING TO THE OLD CONSTITUTIONS , it CAMBEKWELI , CHURCH , on Tuesday the % _\ ih Day of June 17 8 S , being- the Anniversary of the Festival of ST . J tbe BAPTIST .
BY COLIN MILNE , LL . D . GRAND CHAPLAIN TO THE FRATERNITY
^ Reprinted this Magazine by the obliging permission of its elegant and tea / ncd Author . ^
ROMANS xiv . ver . 16 . Let not your good be evil spoken of . ITT has ever been the practice of vulgar ignorance to " abuse what it Jl _ could not comprehend ; to assert that there must be faults where it had not the sagacity to discover excellence ; and , if united with and with
bigotry and power , to persecute with virulence , extirpate - out mercy . ' . Proceedings of this kind , however much to be lamented , excite not our surprize ; they are exactly such as our reasonings on the nature of the human mind g ive us the justest ground to expect ; and the daily experience of the world confirms the expectation . But
when characters of a superior description , men of elevated understanding , extensive information , and liberal sentiments , adopt a similar plan of conduct , our astonishment is called forth ; we are lost in suppositions and conjectures ; nor can easily render consistent a manly and tolerating spirit in some matters , with a mean , contracted , intolerant disposition in others .
I am led to this observation , at present , by reflecting on the illiberal restrictions to which our Ancient and Royal Craft has been latel y subjected on several parts of the Continent , from the mistaken policy and unfounded suspicions of a prince , not more illustrious by his extent of dominion and weig ht of influence , than respectable for the general soundness of his viewsand the wise decorums of an enlarged
, mind . In the following discourse , therefore , as far as with propriety it may be done in a mixed assembly , I shall endeavour , both in behalf of our injured Brethren in the Austrian dominions , and in defence of the Order itself , which hath often been unjustly attacked , to refute tha calumnies which have been bestowed upon it in abundance , by eviu-Voi ,. IV . X
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon
A SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE - •*¦ THE GRAND LODGE OF THE MOST ANCIENT AND HONOURABLE FRATERNITY OF FREE AND'ACCEPTED MASONS OF ENGLAND ,
ACCORDING TO THE OLD CONSTITUTIONS , it CAMBEKWELI , CHURCH , on Tuesday the % _\ ih Day of June 17 8 S , being- the Anniversary of the Festival of ST . J tbe BAPTIST .
BY COLIN MILNE , LL . D . GRAND CHAPLAIN TO THE FRATERNITY
^ Reprinted this Magazine by the obliging permission of its elegant and tea / ncd Author . ^
ROMANS xiv . ver . 16 . Let not your good be evil spoken of . ITT has ever been the practice of vulgar ignorance to " abuse what it Jl _ could not comprehend ; to assert that there must be faults where it had not the sagacity to discover excellence ; and , if united with and with
bigotry and power , to persecute with virulence , extirpate - out mercy . ' . Proceedings of this kind , however much to be lamented , excite not our surprize ; they are exactly such as our reasonings on the nature of the human mind g ive us the justest ground to expect ; and the daily experience of the world confirms the expectation . But
when characters of a superior description , men of elevated understanding , extensive information , and liberal sentiments , adopt a similar plan of conduct , our astonishment is called forth ; we are lost in suppositions and conjectures ; nor can easily render consistent a manly and tolerating spirit in some matters , with a mean , contracted , intolerant disposition in others .
I am led to this observation , at present , by reflecting on the illiberal restrictions to which our Ancient and Royal Craft has been latel y subjected on several parts of the Continent , from the mistaken policy and unfounded suspicions of a prince , not more illustrious by his extent of dominion and weig ht of influence , than respectable for the general soundness of his viewsand the wise decorums of an enlarged
, mind . In the following discourse , therefore , as far as with propriety it may be done in a mixed assembly , I shall endeavour , both in behalf of our injured Brethren in the Austrian dominions , and in defence of the Order itself , which hath often been unjustly attacked , to refute tha calumnies which have been bestowed upon it in abundance , by eviu-Voi ,. IV . X