Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Union Of Love To God And Love To Man:-A Masonic Sermon.
out the uniform exercise of candour , and truth , and justice , you have yet to begin a relig ious life . If you think that you can serve God , and yet hate your brother , you do but deceive yourself . Without a benevolent and forgiving spirit , the love of God cannot dwell in you : and if you do not love God , you have no claim to the blessings of a covenant-relation to him , nor to the hope of eternal life . Therefore ,
beware of leaving out of your system of religion , that essential article of its true spiritand meaning , without which your pretensions to religion are vain , and without which you cannot be the , followers of Christ , and the heirs of his everlasting kingdom . IV . We shall now make a few practical reflections , with a view to . guard you against a narrow selfish spirit , and those evil passions which are an hindrance to the exercise of love to your brethren . — -
The . two great enemies to your salvation , in the case of disobedience to the divine precept to love your brother , without which you cannot love God , are either an interference of worldly interest and ambition , cr the indulgence of some malevolent passion for its own sake . Without entering into the consideration of the hateful causes , and the dismal effects , of indulging the malevolent passions , consider seriouslthat the season of hatred and discord contemporary
y , among brethren will soon be over . " Brethren , " saith St . Paul , " the time ' is short . It remaineth that both they that have wives , be as though they had none ; and they that weep , as though they wept not ; and they that rejoice , as though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy , as though they possessed not ; and they that use this world , as not abusing it : for the fashion of this world passethaway . '' That sable
curtain will soon be dropt , which will for ever hide from us those trifles , which , by exciting ambition , covetousness , and malice , are the ground of our present unsocial and injurious treatment of one another . —How small a thing soweth discord among brethren ! and they are soon to have no connection with those things about which they quarrel , and injure one another . We should remember that we have but one short life , in which we can either do good to our brethren , or in which we can enjoy the fruits of our bad treatment of them . We shall not return from the
grave , to perform neglected acts of friendship and of gratitude , or to atone for acts _ of malice and injustice . Neither can the living recal their departed brother , to make apologies to him , or to give him redress for the evil things which they had said of him , and done to him , while he lived . Many there are who would wish to call back the dead to life , that they mi ght treat them better ; and therefore , let this be a warning to brethren , to behave to one another with
friendship and kindness , before that fast approaching period cometh , which seals up the characters of men , and finishes our probationary works . As a preventative of your doing actions that are unjust and unmerciful , and of guarding you against all manner of strife and bitterness , keep in mimi that state of mortality in which ye are placed , and that awful act of dissolution which ye are soon to undergo , and by which your relation to this world is annihilated . In death , there is no remembrance of feuds and animosities . In the grave , men shall
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Union Of Love To God And Love To Man:-A Masonic Sermon.
out the uniform exercise of candour , and truth , and justice , you have yet to begin a relig ious life . If you think that you can serve God , and yet hate your brother , you do but deceive yourself . Without a benevolent and forgiving spirit , the love of God cannot dwell in you : and if you do not love God , you have no claim to the blessings of a covenant-relation to him , nor to the hope of eternal life . Therefore ,
beware of leaving out of your system of religion , that essential article of its true spiritand meaning , without which your pretensions to religion are vain , and without which you cannot be the , followers of Christ , and the heirs of his everlasting kingdom . IV . We shall now make a few practical reflections , with a view to . guard you against a narrow selfish spirit , and those evil passions which are an hindrance to the exercise of love to your brethren . — -
The . two great enemies to your salvation , in the case of disobedience to the divine precept to love your brother , without which you cannot love God , are either an interference of worldly interest and ambition , cr the indulgence of some malevolent passion for its own sake . Without entering into the consideration of the hateful causes , and the dismal effects , of indulging the malevolent passions , consider seriouslthat the season of hatred and discord contemporary
y , among brethren will soon be over . " Brethren , " saith St . Paul , " the time ' is short . It remaineth that both they that have wives , be as though they had none ; and they that weep , as though they wept not ; and they that rejoice , as though they rejoiced not ; and they that buy , as though they possessed not ; and they that use this world , as not abusing it : for the fashion of this world passethaway . '' That sable
curtain will soon be dropt , which will for ever hide from us those trifles , which , by exciting ambition , covetousness , and malice , are the ground of our present unsocial and injurious treatment of one another . —How small a thing soweth discord among brethren ! and they are soon to have no connection with those things about which they quarrel , and injure one another . We should remember that we have but one short life , in which we can either do good to our brethren , or in which we can enjoy the fruits of our bad treatment of them . We shall not return from the
grave , to perform neglected acts of friendship and of gratitude , or to atone for acts _ of malice and injustice . Neither can the living recal their departed brother , to make apologies to him , or to give him redress for the evil things which they had said of him , and done to him , while he lived . Many there are who would wish to call back the dead to life , that they mi ght treat them better ; and therefore , let this be a warning to brethren , to behave to one another with
friendship and kindness , before that fast approaching period cometh , which seals up the characters of men , and finishes our probationary works . As a preventative of your doing actions that are unjust and unmerciful , and of guarding you against all manner of strife and bitterness , keep in mimi that state of mortality in which ye are placed , and that awful act of dissolution which ye are soon to undergo , and by which your relation to this world is annihilated . In death , there is no remembrance of feuds and animosities . In the grave , men shall