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Article FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Page 1 of 3 →
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Freemasons' Repository.
FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY .
ESSAY I . ' ' 1 pity the man that can travel from Dan to Beersbeha , and cry--- " 'Tis all barren ;" so it is , and so is all the world to him who will not cultivate the fruits it offers , ' STERNE ' S SENT . JOUI 1 NEY . TLJAV 1 NG paid considerable attention to the various opinions which ,
" - - " ¦ of late , have been publicly disseminated relative to the subject of Free Masonry , and been long satisfied that the Fraternity must have been honoured tvith many sensible and intelligent observers , sufficiently ingenious to do the subject ample justice , —^ for some time it has been a matter of surprise to me , that the public should be . deprived of the means of forming any judgment Upon the peculiarity of
Character which that particular pursuit stamps upon its professors ; of upon the general leading principles which influence the actions of that body , and its members , out of their respective Lodges . So far as society has been enabled to form any positive opinion of the actions of Masons , it has long been convinced of the good and exemplary effects of two distinguishing traits of their character—the practice of universal
hciuvolence and- of charity . And notAvithstanding I cannot but confess , there have been unworthy men , whose practices , in courting attention , under the semblance-of zealous advocates and intelligent professors , have made themselves as notorious in that Fraternity , as their bad conduct has rendered them obnoxious to the world ; whereby they . have surprised , as well as given umbrage to the unfavourable conjectures of many worthy men , whose candour and liberality of sentiment have seldom betrayed into hasty conclusions , o ' r exposed to unwarrantable suspicions 3 vet , I can venture to affirm , With the
confidence of sincerity , that those characters form a very inconsiderable proportion to thegeneralbody : and if they can be produced as proofs in favour of any assertion , I am not atvare of ode so cogent as , that the best of human institutions are . defective and imperfect . Very little experience , and a very slight observation upon men and manners , compel us to draw the line of distinction betAveen the real and the superficial professor .
From the man who possesses discernment , observation , and a peculiar turn for this particular subject , added to a minute and willing attention , and a steady application of his powers nrid faculties , we May form a tolerable general notion of tiie importance' or insignificancy of his pursuit . But if we are satisfied with only turning our attention to the reverse of the picture , what are we likely to behold , but the
canvas disgraced by the industry of the spider—Dispositions , inclinations , and opinions , are fairly considered by the world to be strongly characterised by the actions of men , individually as well as in the mass ; at least , a long and invariable succession of worthy and generous actions are strong presumptions ' , ' if not allotved to be unequivocal proofs , of the excellency of the motives-and of the exemplary characters of the agents . Such depositions , inclinations , ancl opinions as have long distinguished the si-jioris of genuine Masons , in all ages VOL , V 1 II . T !
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasons' Repository.
FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY .
ESSAY I . ' ' 1 pity the man that can travel from Dan to Beersbeha , and cry--- " 'Tis all barren ;" so it is , and so is all the world to him who will not cultivate the fruits it offers , ' STERNE ' S SENT . JOUI 1 NEY . TLJAV 1 NG paid considerable attention to the various opinions which ,
" - - " ¦ of late , have been publicly disseminated relative to the subject of Free Masonry , and been long satisfied that the Fraternity must have been honoured tvith many sensible and intelligent observers , sufficiently ingenious to do the subject ample justice , —^ for some time it has been a matter of surprise to me , that the public should be . deprived of the means of forming any judgment Upon the peculiarity of
Character which that particular pursuit stamps upon its professors ; of upon the general leading principles which influence the actions of that body , and its members , out of their respective Lodges . So far as society has been enabled to form any positive opinion of the actions of Masons , it has long been convinced of the good and exemplary effects of two distinguishing traits of their character—the practice of universal
hciuvolence and- of charity . And notAvithstanding I cannot but confess , there have been unworthy men , whose practices , in courting attention , under the semblance-of zealous advocates and intelligent professors , have made themselves as notorious in that Fraternity , as their bad conduct has rendered them obnoxious to the world ; whereby they . have surprised , as well as given umbrage to the unfavourable conjectures of many worthy men , whose candour and liberality of sentiment have seldom betrayed into hasty conclusions , o ' r exposed to unwarrantable suspicions 3 vet , I can venture to affirm , With the
confidence of sincerity , that those characters form a very inconsiderable proportion to thegeneralbody : and if they can be produced as proofs in favour of any assertion , I am not atvare of ode so cogent as , that the best of human institutions are . defective and imperfect . Very little experience , and a very slight observation upon men and manners , compel us to draw the line of distinction betAveen the real and the superficial professor .
From the man who possesses discernment , observation , and a peculiar turn for this particular subject , added to a minute and willing attention , and a steady application of his powers nrid faculties , we May form a tolerable general notion of tiie importance' or insignificancy of his pursuit . But if we are satisfied with only turning our attention to the reverse of the picture , what are we likely to behold , but the
canvas disgraced by the industry of the spider—Dispositions , inclinations , and opinions , are fairly considered by the world to be strongly characterised by the actions of men , individually as well as in the mass ; at least , a long and invariable succession of worthy and generous actions are strong presumptions ' , ' if not allotved to be unequivocal proofs , of the excellency of the motives-and of the exemplary characters of the agents . Such depositions , inclinations , ancl opinions as have long distinguished the si-jioris of genuine Masons , in all ages VOL , V 1 II . T !