-
Articles/Ads
Article ON THE MASONIC CHARACTER. Page 1 of 2 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Masonic Character.
ON THE MASONIC CHARACTER .
F . SS .-VY VI .
Suits est , mi Tiberi , si hoc babemiu ne quis nibis male Jacm posAt . . Sum ON . IN Ava . ' Let them say u-liat they please , Tiberius ; it is revenre enough for us , that we are out of the . reach of their malice . ' ¦ -. 6 »
¥ T has hitherto been my endeavour to evince the truth and sim-*¦ plicity of the genuine principles of FREEMASONRY , and it shall now be my object to demonstrate the practical and extensive benevolence which a just impression of those principles will necessaril y produce Numerous volumes have . been written on the subject of " moral duty and the daily incidents' of life have given occasion to regret that the dictates of have not
pure reason m » . re conspicuousl y influenced the conduct of mankind . Many attempts have been made to supply this deficiency ; but the labours of the most ingenious and benevolent projectors have chiefly served to demonstrate the vain and inefficacious pomp pf theory ., The most successful method of communicating knowledge will , therefore , be , to consult the various degrees of temperament to which the human mind is
subject , and to inculcate the lessons of wisdom in those forms , and up n those occasions which are peculiarly adapted to produce the enero-y of PRACTICE , * These considerations did not escape the sa | acitv of the Spartan legislator , who , we are informed , made the following declaration when he promulgated the particular law by which his institutes were ' forbidden to be copied : 'That whatever was of peculiar force and efficacy towards rendering a city happy and virtuous , oueht to be iml
pressed by habitual culture on the Starts and manners of men , in order to make the characters indelible ; and that GOOD-WILL and EXAMPLE were morepoweiful'than any other mode of constraint tq which men could be subjected ; for by means of them everyone became not only a law unto himself ; but truly assisted his country , and became a living law unto others . ' The most uncandid opponents of the Masonic systecannot but
m acknowledge the hi gh degree in which its simple and genuine institutions have promoted this important object . That system which concentrates the desultory effusions of moral sympath y , that the warmt = j of its influence mav he more generally and equally distributed , gives a valuable direction to the intellect of man ; and ' it must be obvi . ius , that the principles of brotherhood which invest ' the love of neihbour' with the attiactions of
our g science , can be injurious to the prosperity of no state in which they are propagated . Though the good tendency of the associations' formed under its auspices has been occasionally liable to suspicion , from the misconduct of individuals , such misconduct will ever give pain to those who are virtuously disposed , and exqte their activity to remove the general im- > piitatious it rpay cause , ¦ . < =
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Masonic Character.
ON THE MASONIC CHARACTER .
F . SS .-VY VI .
Suits est , mi Tiberi , si hoc babemiu ne quis nibis male Jacm posAt . . Sum ON . IN Ava . ' Let them say u-liat they please , Tiberius ; it is revenre enough for us , that we are out of the . reach of their malice . ' ¦ -. 6 »
¥ T has hitherto been my endeavour to evince the truth and sim-*¦ plicity of the genuine principles of FREEMASONRY , and it shall now be my object to demonstrate the practical and extensive benevolence which a just impression of those principles will necessaril y produce Numerous volumes have . been written on the subject of " moral duty and the daily incidents' of life have given occasion to regret that the dictates of have not
pure reason m » . re conspicuousl y influenced the conduct of mankind . Many attempts have been made to supply this deficiency ; but the labours of the most ingenious and benevolent projectors have chiefly served to demonstrate the vain and inefficacious pomp pf theory ., The most successful method of communicating knowledge will , therefore , be , to consult the various degrees of temperament to which the human mind is
subject , and to inculcate the lessons of wisdom in those forms , and up n those occasions which are peculiarly adapted to produce the enero-y of PRACTICE , * These considerations did not escape the sa | acitv of the Spartan legislator , who , we are informed , made the following declaration when he promulgated the particular law by which his institutes were ' forbidden to be copied : 'That whatever was of peculiar force and efficacy towards rendering a city happy and virtuous , oueht to be iml
pressed by habitual culture on the Starts and manners of men , in order to make the characters indelible ; and that GOOD-WILL and EXAMPLE were morepoweiful'than any other mode of constraint tq which men could be subjected ; for by means of them everyone became not only a law unto himself ; but truly assisted his country , and became a living law unto others . ' The most uncandid opponents of the Masonic systecannot but
m acknowledge the hi gh degree in which its simple and genuine institutions have promoted this important object . That system which concentrates the desultory effusions of moral sympath y , that the warmt = j of its influence mav he more generally and equally distributed , gives a valuable direction to the intellect of man ; and ' it must be obvi . ius , that the principles of brotherhood which invest ' the love of neihbour' with the attiactions of
our g science , can be injurious to the prosperity of no state in which they are propagated . Though the good tendency of the associations' formed under its auspices has been occasionally liable to suspicion , from the misconduct of individuals , such misconduct will ever give pain to those who are virtuously disposed , and exqte their activity to remove the general im- > piitatious it rpay cause , ¦ . < =