Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine: Or, General And Complete Library.
actions ; thus the spirit of the damning Priests may be tamed , and a moral brother , though of a different reli gion , engage his friendship ; thus all those disputes , which imbitterlife and sour the tempers of men , are avoided , and every face is clade in smiles , while they pursue the general design of the CRAFT , which is the common good of all . Is it not then evident , that MASONRY is an universal adto mankind
vantage ? For sure , except discord and harmony be the same , it must be so . Is it not likewise reconcileable to the best policy ? For it prevents that heat , and those animosities which different interests but too oft create . Does not MASONRY teach . US to be faithful to our king and to our country , to avoid sour politics , and to submit to the decisions of the legislative power ? And sure It is
no mean advantage to any community or state to have such a body of men within itself , whose passions o ' ught to be divested of that sourness and ill-nature , which too often attends the best of men . Therefore , does not MASONRY of itself command the highest regard ? Does it not claim the greatest esteem ? Without doubt , if aught that isgood and amiable , useful to mankind or society , be worth a wise man ' s attention , then MASONRY claims it in the hi ghest degree . What lovely ideas does it inspire ? How does it open and enlarge the mind ? And how does it create a noble fund of
satisfaction ? How does it recommend universal benevolence , and every virtue which can endear one man to another ? How particularly is it adapted to create in the mind the most disinterested and generous notions ? Masons are brethren , and amongst brothers there is no inequality . Thus a king is put in mind , that although a crown adorns Ins head , yet the blood in his veins is derived from the comof mankind
mon parent , and is no better than the meanest of his subjects . Thus men in inferior stations are taught to love their superiors , when they see them divested of their grandeur , and condescending to trace wisdom ' s paths , and follow virtue , assisted by those of a rank below them . Virtue is true nobility , and Wisdom is the channel b y which it is directed and conveyed ; and Wisdom and Virtue
, amongst Masons , are the sole distinctions . Masonry , not onl y teaches universal love and benevolence , but likewise disposes the heart to particular goodness , when a brother claims it : For this end they create funds , and endeavour to make their charities last as long as the science itself . When a brother is in distress , what heart does not ake ? When he is hungry , do we not convey him food ? Do we not clothe him when he is ' naked ? Do we not fl y to his relief ? Thereby we shew that the name of Brother is not merely nominal .
Now , if these are not sufficient to recommend so generous a plan , such a wise and good , society , so happy in themselves , and in the possession of every social virtue ; nothing which is truly virtuous can prevail , and a man who resists arguments that are drawn from such topics , must himself be lost to all sense of virtue . Nevertheless , though theYairest and the best ideas may be thus im « printed-in the mind , there aje brethren ( bine Hits lacnma ) who ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine: Or, General And Complete Library.
actions ; thus the spirit of the damning Priests may be tamed , and a moral brother , though of a different reli gion , engage his friendship ; thus all those disputes , which imbitterlife and sour the tempers of men , are avoided , and every face is clade in smiles , while they pursue the general design of the CRAFT , which is the common good of all . Is it not then evident , that MASONRY is an universal adto mankind
vantage ? For sure , except discord and harmony be the same , it must be so . Is it not likewise reconcileable to the best policy ? For it prevents that heat , and those animosities which different interests but too oft create . Does not MASONRY teach . US to be faithful to our king and to our country , to avoid sour politics , and to submit to the decisions of the legislative power ? And sure It is
no mean advantage to any community or state to have such a body of men within itself , whose passions o ' ught to be divested of that sourness and ill-nature , which too often attends the best of men . Therefore , does not MASONRY of itself command the highest regard ? Does it not claim the greatest esteem ? Without doubt , if aught that isgood and amiable , useful to mankind or society , be worth a wise man ' s attention , then MASONRY claims it in the hi ghest degree . What lovely ideas does it inspire ? How does it open and enlarge the mind ? And how does it create a noble fund of
satisfaction ? How does it recommend universal benevolence , and every virtue which can endear one man to another ? How particularly is it adapted to create in the mind the most disinterested and generous notions ? Masons are brethren , and amongst brothers there is no inequality . Thus a king is put in mind , that although a crown adorns Ins head , yet the blood in his veins is derived from the comof mankind
mon parent , and is no better than the meanest of his subjects . Thus men in inferior stations are taught to love their superiors , when they see them divested of their grandeur , and condescending to trace wisdom ' s paths , and follow virtue , assisted by those of a rank below them . Virtue is true nobility , and Wisdom is the channel b y which it is directed and conveyed ; and Wisdom and Virtue
, amongst Masons , are the sole distinctions . Masonry , not onl y teaches universal love and benevolence , but likewise disposes the heart to particular goodness , when a brother claims it : For this end they create funds , and endeavour to make their charities last as long as the science itself . When a brother is in distress , what heart does not ake ? When he is hungry , do we not convey him food ? Do we not clothe him when he is ' naked ? Do we not fl y to his relief ? Thereby we shew that the name of Brother is not merely nominal .
Now , if these are not sufficient to recommend so generous a plan , such a wise and good , society , so happy in themselves , and in the possession of every social virtue ; nothing which is truly virtuous can prevail , and a man who resists arguments that are drawn from such topics , must himself be lost to all sense of virtue . Nevertheless , though theYairest and the best ideas may be thus im « printed-in the mind , there aje brethren ( bine Hits lacnma ) who ,