Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Charge Delivered To The Faithful Lodge, No. 499,
af the earth , like the more humble , more transient—but perhaps equally curious habitation of the spider . And the ruins of others just remain as monuments of human vanity , and of the little regard that is due to that kind of wisdom , which hath neither permanency nor moral influence to recommend it . And with respect to the still more estimated branches of wisdom , political speculation and polite literatureeven they cannot boast a
, much superior degree of excellence . All the labours of the great and mighty men of letters , tend like the cultivators to morality . Neither then is all this wisdom , nor in the cultivation of them consists that -understanding which should be the first thing in our attention . They do not contain the essence of that wisdom , the possession of which forms man ' s highest gloryand will ensure him a
, permanent reward . Moral Philosophy , as true Wisdom ^ hath been termed , alone lays claim to this honour . The antients had a sense of this , and , therefore , their greatest sages laboured earnestly in the pursuit of this knowledge . It must be confessed , that various of the philosophic schools of Antiquity , went far into the mysteries of truth . The names of Pythagoras
, Socrates , and Plato , are sufficient evidences that men can indeed go very far , even with that portion of li g ht they naturally have , in recovering that state of internal beauty which was the primitive state of man . But though much was done by those sublime personages , in this study , yet they lay under an absolute incapacity of
attaining a complete excellence m it from the want of having a powerful influential principle , to aid the efforts of reason . A Revelation from the Great Author of Nature could alone supply this requisite , and he hath supplied it . By that Sacred Volume which lies now expanded before us , Reason obtains a spring capable of bringing all the confused materials into orderand the mind of man to a state of glory .
, To what the Antients have left us , as the lessons of their experience in the School of Wisdom , we are enabled to add what they wanted ; and possess , therefore , more abundant strength , and more captivating motives to induce us to take an active pursuit in the sublimest of studies . And though it cannot be denied but that any man may , of himself , by the effort of his natural powers , exercised
under the influence of this Revelation , attain to a very high degree of excellence , in the study of Wisdom , yet the probability of bis success is not any way to be compared to his who engages in the pursuit in company with others . The Spirit of Emulation is , indeed , a noble Spirit , True Philosophy and true Religion delight in it ' s assistanceas sensible that it affords a most powerful spring to the
, exercise of great and good actions . Indolence and Vice are mutually allied , and are fostered together in the shades of inactive imbecility and unsocial solitude . Society alone hath the property of making men ashamed of those evils , and of bringing them in love with true Wisdom , by actively exerting it ' s principles , in the different stations and circumstances of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Charge Delivered To The Faithful Lodge, No. 499,
af the earth , like the more humble , more transient—but perhaps equally curious habitation of the spider . And the ruins of others just remain as monuments of human vanity , and of the little regard that is due to that kind of wisdom , which hath neither permanency nor moral influence to recommend it . And with respect to the still more estimated branches of wisdom , political speculation and polite literatureeven they cannot boast a
, much superior degree of excellence . All the labours of the great and mighty men of letters , tend like the cultivators to morality . Neither then is all this wisdom , nor in the cultivation of them consists that -understanding which should be the first thing in our attention . They do not contain the essence of that wisdom , the possession of which forms man ' s highest gloryand will ensure him a
, permanent reward . Moral Philosophy , as true Wisdom ^ hath been termed , alone lays claim to this honour . The antients had a sense of this , and , therefore , their greatest sages laboured earnestly in the pursuit of this knowledge . It must be confessed , that various of the philosophic schools of Antiquity , went far into the mysteries of truth . The names of Pythagoras
, Socrates , and Plato , are sufficient evidences that men can indeed go very far , even with that portion of li g ht they naturally have , in recovering that state of internal beauty which was the primitive state of man . But though much was done by those sublime personages , in this study , yet they lay under an absolute incapacity of
attaining a complete excellence m it from the want of having a powerful influential principle , to aid the efforts of reason . A Revelation from the Great Author of Nature could alone supply this requisite , and he hath supplied it . By that Sacred Volume which lies now expanded before us , Reason obtains a spring capable of bringing all the confused materials into orderand the mind of man to a state of glory .
, To what the Antients have left us , as the lessons of their experience in the School of Wisdom , we are enabled to add what they wanted ; and possess , therefore , more abundant strength , and more captivating motives to induce us to take an active pursuit in the sublimest of studies . And though it cannot be denied but that any man may , of himself , by the effort of his natural powers , exercised
under the influence of this Revelation , attain to a very high degree of excellence , in the study of Wisdom , yet the probability of bis success is not any way to be compared to his who engages in the pursuit in company with others . The Spirit of Emulation is , indeed , a noble Spirit , True Philosophy and true Religion delight in it ' s assistanceas sensible that it affords a most powerful spring to the
, exercise of great and good actions . Indolence and Vice are mutually allied , and are fostered together in the shades of inactive imbecility and unsocial solitude . Society alone hath the property of making men ashamed of those evils , and of bringing them in love with true Wisdom , by actively exerting it ' s principles , in the different stations and circumstances of