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Article THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Page 1 of 3 →
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The Freemasons' Repository.
THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY .
A MASONIC DISCOURSE , DELIVERED BEFORE LODGE NO . I 5 , OFDUBLU 7 , ON THE 27 th OF DECEMBER 170 Jj BEING THE FESTIVAL OF ST . JOHN ; BY THE REV . JONATHAN ASHE , CURATE OF ST . ANDREW ' S , AND CHAPLAIN TO THE SAID LODGE . [ CONCLUDED FROM OUR LAST . J
' Then Peter turning about , seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved , following . ' 21 St . John , vrr . 20 .
THE most pleasing exercise of friendship is to assist and relieve ; and a man , supported'by friends , outdoes himself . Whereas , if he be unexpeftedly deprived of these succours , he droops andja-iguishes . Is man alone ? he becomes acquainted with his misery , be feels that he wants a prop in consequence—lie looks out for an apof his tastea companion in his leasures and his
sufferingsprover , p one whose heart and mind can be devoted to him ; which _ circumstance gives to friendship its fairest comp lexion ; hence the hymeneal vow , the wedded contract , the plig hted troth . The vow of marriage , which the wisdom of most civilized nations lias enjoined , may be properly considered as a vow of perpetual and indissoluble friendshifriendshiwhich no change of fortunenor any alteration of
p- p , external circumstances , can be allowed to interrupt or weaken , after the commencement of this state . There remain no longer any separate interests , the two individuals become united , and are therefore to enjoy the same felicity , and suffer the same misfortunes ; to have the same friends , and the same enemies ; the same success and the
same disappointments . . , , It is easy , by pursuing the parallel between friendship and marriage , to see what a conformity there is between them . But again : real affection is most evident , when it is most needed . Prosperity is always courted ; but if tilings take another turn , it is then that friendship is put to its crisis—and too often , when the shock comes , falls flat to the groundlike a house built on the sand . But if sincere
, and unaffected , it grows , like an arch , more steady by pressure ; arid , being depended upon , acquires a new strength and firmness . The Son of Svrach , in his excellent System of Moranty , mentions this union of souls , in a manner truly just and sublime— ' A faithful friend , ' says he , ' is a strong defence—and he that hath found such ' hath found a treasure—a faithful friend is the medioine of life
a one , and they that fear the Lord shall find him . ' There ip something peculiarly elegant in calling a friend the medicine of life : / it expresses ¦ the efficacy of friendship in healing the pains and anguish winch naturally cleave to our existence in this woildj and the latter part of the sentence beautifully declares , ' that a vhtuous man shall , as . a
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Repository.
THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY .
A MASONIC DISCOURSE , DELIVERED BEFORE LODGE NO . I 5 , OFDUBLU 7 , ON THE 27 th OF DECEMBER 170 Jj BEING THE FESTIVAL OF ST . JOHN ; BY THE REV . JONATHAN ASHE , CURATE OF ST . ANDREW ' S , AND CHAPLAIN TO THE SAID LODGE . [ CONCLUDED FROM OUR LAST . J
' Then Peter turning about , seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved , following . ' 21 St . John , vrr . 20 .
THE most pleasing exercise of friendship is to assist and relieve ; and a man , supported'by friends , outdoes himself . Whereas , if he be unexpeftedly deprived of these succours , he droops andja-iguishes . Is man alone ? he becomes acquainted with his misery , be feels that he wants a prop in consequence—lie looks out for an apof his tastea companion in his leasures and his
sufferingsprover , p one whose heart and mind can be devoted to him ; which _ circumstance gives to friendship its fairest comp lexion ; hence the hymeneal vow , the wedded contract , the plig hted troth . The vow of marriage , which the wisdom of most civilized nations lias enjoined , may be properly considered as a vow of perpetual and indissoluble friendshifriendshiwhich no change of fortunenor any alteration of
p- p , external circumstances , can be allowed to interrupt or weaken , after the commencement of this state . There remain no longer any separate interests , the two individuals become united , and are therefore to enjoy the same felicity , and suffer the same misfortunes ; to have the same friends , and the same enemies ; the same success and the
same disappointments . . , , It is easy , by pursuing the parallel between friendship and marriage , to see what a conformity there is between them . But again : real affection is most evident , when it is most needed . Prosperity is always courted ; but if tilings take another turn , it is then that friendship is put to its crisis—and too often , when the shock comes , falls flat to the groundlike a house built on the sand . But if sincere
, and unaffected , it grows , like an arch , more steady by pressure ; arid , being depended upon , acquires a new strength and firmness . The Son of Svrach , in his excellent System of Moranty , mentions this union of souls , in a manner truly just and sublime— ' A faithful friend , ' says he , ' is a strong defence—and he that hath found such ' hath found a treasure—a faithful friend is the medioine of life
a one , and they that fear the Lord shall find him . ' There ip something peculiarly elegant in calling a friend the medicine of life : / it expresses ¦ the efficacy of friendship in healing the pains and anguish winch naturally cleave to our existence in this woildj and the latter part of the sentence beautifully declares , ' that a vhtuous man shall , as . a