Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon,
But , my brethren , be it our care to select the best materials , and then to apply them properly ; thus shall Ave raise the Avails of an impregnable fortress , instead of furnishing our adA'ersaries ( if any such there really be ) with ammunition for the warfare . For though no attacks can affect the intrinsic worth of the Institution , yet , to us , as iudiA'iduals and as Christians , it must give pain . You well knoAV there are some mysteries which cannot be touched
upon in this assembly , though their solemnity and efficacy Avould . be fit subjects of eulogium ; but on the great moral duties of a MASON 1 cannot be wholly silent . It is scarcely necessary to observe to you , my friends of this Society , that our Institution is founded on the solid basis of religious Piety , zealous Loyalty , rigid Equity , unbounded Philanthropy , and "
refined Benevolence . Whatsoever things are honest , whatsoever things are just , whatsoever things are pure , whatsoever things are lovely , whatsoever things are of good report , if there be any virtue , if there be any praise ' * , remember , they are all collectively and separately included in the code of MASONIC precepts . Remember , my brethren should be strangers to the machinations of envy—the
, ye snares of treachery—the malice of dissimulation—and the clandestine stabs of calumny . Ye should be pious without hypocrisy—just Avithout evasion f—and charitable AA'ithout ostentation . So many qualities indeed are requisite to the possibility of becoming a good and worthy member of this Society , and so many incidents happen toput virtue to the testthat some of the fraternityperhaps ,
. , , are willing to content themselves with the name , without aiming at its perfections , and supply their p lace , as they can , by accommodating themselves to its precepts , only while , or when , they are subservient to theirinterests .
But let me caution you against so dangerous an error ; the dignity , the excellence of the private character are risqued , and the public reputation of the Society is sacrificed . To establish that reputation , and to ascertain that creditwhich the Institution has just pretensions to , the most exemplary discharge of ail moral , social , and relative duties should seem necessary . and disinterested
In relation to your friends , be warm , . steady , . —To your enemies , forgiving , benevolent , and hearty in prayer for thenconversion . Let the poor and needy be sure to find in you the compassionate Christian , and you will do well to esteem it your privilege , as well as duty , to relieve their wants , and lighten the burthen of their griefs . As men yourselves , ye should glory in the title of friends to mankind . Say , shall it be asserted , that indigence or distress ever raises its hands to you in vain ? Shall the wants of modest , unsoliciting merit be left for a moment unpitied ? Shall the tear of pi ty , or the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon,
But , my brethren , be it our care to select the best materials , and then to apply them properly ; thus shall Ave raise the Avails of an impregnable fortress , instead of furnishing our adA'ersaries ( if any such there really be ) with ammunition for the warfare . For though no attacks can affect the intrinsic worth of the Institution , yet , to us , as iudiA'iduals and as Christians , it must give pain . You well knoAV there are some mysteries which cannot be touched
upon in this assembly , though their solemnity and efficacy Avould . be fit subjects of eulogium ; but on the great moral duties of a MASON 1 cannot be wholly silent . It is scarcely necessary to observe to you , my friends of this Society , that our Institution is founded on the solid basis of religious Piety , zealous Loyalty , rigid Equity , unbounded Philanthropy , and "
refined Benevolence . Whatsoever things are honest , whatsoever things are just , whatsoever things are pure , whatsoever things are lovely , whatsoever things are of good report , if there be any virtue , if there be any praise ' * , remember , they are all collectively and separately included in the code of MASONIC precepts . Remember , my brethren should be strangers to the machinations of envy—the
, ye snares of treachery—the malice of dissimulation—and the clandestine stabs of calumny . Ye should be pious without hypocrisy—just Avithout evasion f—and charitable AA'ithout ostentation . So many qualities indeed are requisite to the possibility of becoming a good and worthy member of this Society , and so many incidents happen toput virtue to the testthat some of the fraternityperhaps ,
. , , are willing to content themselves with the name , without aiming at its perfections , and supply their p lace , as they can , by accommodating themselves to its precepts , only while , or when , they are subservient to theirinterests .
But let me caution you against so dangerous an error ; the dignity , the excellence of the private character are risqued , and the public reputation of the Society is sacrificed . To establish that reputation , and to ascertain that creditwhich the Institution has just pretensions to , the most exemplary discharge of ail moral , social , and relative duties should seem necessary . and disinterested
In relation to your friends , be warm , . steady , . —To your enemies , forgiving , benevolent , and hearty in prayer for thenconversion . Let the poor and needy be sure to find in you the compassionate Christian , and you will do well to esteem it your privilege , as well as duty , to relieve their wants , and lighten the burthen of their griefs . As men yourselves , ye should glory in the title of friends to mankind . Say , shall it be asserted , that indigence or distress ever raises its hands to you in vain ? Shall the wants of modest , unsoliciting merit be left for a moment unpitied ? Shall the tear of pi ty , or the