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A Sermon Preached At The Anniversary Grand Provincial Meeting Of Free And Accepted Masons, At West Mailing, In Kent , May 19, 1794.
destruction with which Satan hath injured his works , must change ; them , yet will again make all things new , will again make all beings happy . . , - Fear him , then , with a filial fear , better expressed by that better word , love , who , though the building hath been injured by the defection of sin , will restore and ornament it with all its original order , regularity , beauty , excellency , and usefulness ; who will again adorn
it with all its former beauty ; who will cleanse all its , defiled vessels ; Who will make it a beautiful temple for his own everlasting residence ; who will manifest himself in all his glory to all its inhabitants ; and who will write upon its doors and door-posts , upon its windows and window-frames , upon its porches and pillars , Holiness to the Lordfelicity to all its innumerable inhabitantsand no admissionno ,
, , , no admission to pain , or sorrow , or miser }* , or death . My friends at large , and Brethren in Masonry , fear God , that Great Architect , who builds and no one can wholly destroy ; and who will hereafter beautify , and no one shall be able to spoil . With our third admonition , Honour lhe King , we shall now hasten to conclude our subject . I am very sensible that it is the opinion of
many , that a political subject is by no means a proper subject for pulpit disquisition , and especially is this observation made by those with whom our sentiments may happen to clash . The force of this observation I am ready at certain times , and in particular circumstances , fully to admit ; but , my friends , in the present day , when
the consuming flames of a political furor have had , in so neighbouring a nation as that of France , that destructive tendency to pull down , or universall y pollute , the temples of God , and all their holy things ; to kill , banish , or expose to the miserable necessity of living upon the charity of our nation , the priests of the temple ; in the present day , when it is a proof of patriotism to blaspheme God and his reli gion , and to substitute for adoration a licentious liberty and the decrees of
tyrants ; when it is thought consistent with the rig hts of man to deny the existence of God , and the sovereignty of all his attributes ; and to substitute in the stead , a ridiculous equality , totally inconsistent with the present imperfect state of man ; when it is the united effects of religion and patriotism to lay aside all flie ideas of subordination upon which the happiness of manboth in a civil and reliious senseso
, g , much depend ; and to substitute rapine , plunder , murder : I say , when . a political furor has produced such horrid effects as these so near us , and even among us the beginning of such things have made , daily make , and in a very recent instance have particularly made so alarming an appearance ; surely then politics become even a necessary part of our reliion ; and in such a general defection from every
g thing which is consistent with true-religion and patriotism , were we , whom God has appointed the guides of your religious exercises , wholly to hold our peace , we might expect that the stones would cry out against either our insensibility or our disaffection . , Ah ! my beloved lirethren , let us recollect , that no where in that wretched country i-o ' . M a hody of Masons meet in the manner we are met ; first to pay ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Sermon Preached At The Anniversary Grand Provincial Meeting Of Free And Accepted Masons, At West Mailing, In Kent , May 19, 1794.
destruction with which Satan hath injured his works , must change ; them , yet will again make all things new , will again make all beings happy . . , - Fear him , then , with a filial fear , better expressed by that better word , love , who , though the building hath been injured by the defection of sin , will restore and ornament it with all its original order , regularity , beauty , excellency , and usefulness ; who will again adorn
it with all its former beauty ; who will cleanse all its , defiled vessels ; Who will make it a beautiful temple for his own everlasting residence ; who will manifest himself in all his glory to all its inhabitants ; and who will write upon its doors and door-posts , upon its windows and window-frames , upon its porches and pillars , Holiness to the Lordfelicity to all its innumerable inhabitantsand no admissionno ,
, , , no admission to pain , or sorrow , or miser }* , or death . My friends at large , and Brethren in Masonry , fear God , that Great Architect , who builds and no one can wholly destroy ; and who will hereafter beautify , and no one shall be able to spoil . With our third admonition , Honour lhe King , we shall now hasten to conclude our subject . I am very sensible that it is the opinion of
many , that a political subject is by no means a proper subject for pulpit disquisition , and especially is this observation made by those with whom our sentiments may happen to clash . The force of this observation I am ready at certain times , and in particular circumstances , fully to admit ; but , my friends , in the present day , when
the consuming flames of a political furor have had , in so neighbouring a nation as that of France , that destructive tendency to pull down , or universall y pollute , the temples of God , and all their holy things ; to kill , banish , or expose to the miserable necessity of living upon the charity of our nation , the priests of the temple ; in the present day , when it is a proof of patriotism to blaspheme God and his reli gion , and to substitute for adoration a licentious liberty and the decrees of
tyrants ; when it is thought consistent with the rig hts of man to deny the existence of God , and the sovereignty of all his attributes ; and to substitute in the stead , a ridiculous equality , totally inconsistent with the present imperfect state of man ; when it is the united effects of religion and patriotism to lay aside all flie ideas of subordination upon which the happiness of manboth in a civil and reliious senseso
, g , much depend ; and to substitute rapine , plunder , murder : I say , when . a political furor has produced such horrid effects as these so near us , and even among us the beginning of such things have made , daily make , and in a very recent instance have particularly made so alarming an appearance ; surely then politics become even a necessary part of our reliion ; and in such a general defection from every
g thing which is consistent with true-religion and patriotism , were we , whom God has appointed the guides of your religious exercises , wholly to hold our peace , we might expect that the stones would cry out against either our insensibility or our disaffection . , Ah ! my beloved lirethren , let us recollect , that no where in that wretched country i-o ' . M a hody of Masons meet in the manner we are met ; first to pay ,