Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine: Or, General And Complete Library.
your esteem , and see my labour terminate in the general good of this most excellent Society . . ° b When I was made a Free and an Accepted Mason , I had a very conrused idea of the science ; and , on the first impression , I looked upon it ( as 1 presume too many do ) to be a meeting rather of mirth anajoihty , supported by acts of mutual adherence and friendship to another l
one . Though even such a constitution mi ght be in itself intentionally well founded , yet 1 thought there must be something more consequentially mystenous in a society that seemed so inexplicable , so antiem , and so impenetrable , which excited mv enquiry I thereupon took all the pains I could to stud the truth and of
y accuracy its tradition , and found , on vi gilant researches , there were the -greatest pleasures , and the purest satisfaction to be found in the true knowled ge of the Royal Craft , and soon began to think the benefit 1 have had in becoming a Mason , to be inestimable . i snail therefore attempt to explain the characteristics of a perfect and a good Mason . ' , lam
thoroughly convinced , it is not a red , or a blue apron ; a ribbon , with an impending jewel , or any thing superficially striking , that entitles a brother to be called so ; nor do ornaments of any kind merely denominate the society to be more intrinsically estimable ; . but at the same time , whatever appears meritoriously respectablefor the honour and emulation of the Craftis Iiiohly
, , - commendable , and ought properly to be aspired after , as a distinction to worth and merit . From the accounts I have received of Masonry , as instituted at Uej-lin under the ' great King of Prussia , our royal brother , at France , and other countries , their grand lodges are " hung with the richest velvetstapestriesembroideriesand gold lacetooether with all
, , , ; - other costly lustres , lights , and suitable decorations ? The illuminated brilliancy these make , with the polite order and harmony of the memoers , strike a most grateful and pleasing concord * they fill the mind of every brother with the idea of a heavenly mansion , and an angelic association . —He may well call the ground he stands on , holy ground ; for , as an eminent author says :
" All that we can guess the blessed do above , " Is , that they shine , unite , rejoice , and love . " If British lod ges are deficient in the like decorations , I hope the defects are supplied with the beauties of the mind , and the most glorious illustration of that great light , Charity , which truly encircles the orb of Gre ^ t Bri tainand disperses its around the
, rays world , to the mature comfort and happy relief of the distressed . Neither is it he who can answer by rotation and ready fluency , the catechetical questions that occur in a lodge , who merits the title of a perfect and good Mason from that qualification only ; nor yet would I withdraw the least merit from any brother that is retentivaly versed in oral tradition , as it must be acquired by very
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine: Or, General And Complete Library.
your esteem , and see my labour terminate in the general good of this most excellent Society . . ° b When I was made a Free and an Accepted Mason , I had a very conrused idea of the science ; and , on the first impression , I looked upon it ( as 1 presume too many do ) to be a meeting rather of mirth anajoihty , supported by acts of mutual adherence and friendship to another l
one . Though even such a constitution mi ght be in itself intentionally well founded , yet 1 thought there must be something more consequentially mystenous in a society that seemed so inexplicable , so antiem , and so impenetrable , which excited mv enquiry I thereupon took all the pains I could to stud the truth and of
y accuracy its tradition , and found , on vi gilant researches , there were the -greatest pleasures , and the purest satisfaction to be found in the true knowled ge of the Royal Craft , and soon began to think the benefit 1 have had in becoming a Mason , to be inestimable . i snail therefore attempt to explain the characteristics of a perfect and a good Mason . ' , lam
thoroughly convinced , it is not a red , or a blue apron ; a ribbon , with an impending jewel , or any thing superficially striking , that entitles a brother to be called so ; nor do ornaments of any kind merely denominate the society to be more intrinsically estimable ; . but at the same time , whatever appears meritoriously respectablefor the honour and emulation of the Craftis Iiiohly
, , - commendable , and ought properly to be aspired after , as a distinction to worth and merit . From the accounts I have received of Masonry , as instituted at Uej-lin under the ' great King of Prussia , our royal brother , at France , and other countries , their grand lodges are " hung with the richest velvetstapestriesembroideriesand gold lacetooether with all
, , , ; - other costly lustres , lights , and suitable decorations ? The illuminated brilliancy these make , with the polite order and harmony of the memoers , strike a most grateful and pleasing concord * they fill the mind of every brother with the idea of a heavenly mansion , and an angelic association . —He may well call the ground he stands on , holy ground ; for , as an eminent author says :
" All that we can guess the blessed do above , " Is , that they shine , unite , rejoice , and love . " If British lod ges are deficient in the like decorations , I hope the defects are supplied with the beauties of the mind , and the most glorious illustration of that great light , Charity , which truly encircles the orb of Gre ^ t Bri tainand disperses its around the
, rays world , to the mature comfort and happy relief of the distressed . Neither is it he who can answer by rotation and ready fluency , the catechetical questions that occur in a lodge , who merits the title of a perfect and good Mason from that qualification only ; nor yet would I withdraw the least merit from any brother that is retentivaly versed in oral tradition , as it must be acquired by very