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Article ON FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
ON FREEMASONRY .
FREEMASONRY is a system of morality and wisdom , both practical and speculative ; Truth is its centre ; the eternal point , whence its radii diverge , pointing out to its discip les not only a knowledge of the great Architect of the Universe , and the moral laws wliich he has ordained for their guidance ,
but of those useful arts and sciences which alone distinguish civilised man from his uninformed savage brother . It is coeval with the world—its speculative wisdom existed with our first parents while in a state of innocenceits practical princip les were gradually taught them by the
hard lessons of adversity ; when driven from Eden , they became tillers of the earth , and watchers of its flocks . It is not assumed that , as a perfect system , Masonry flourished in the earliest ages . No—centuries of toil and
discovery were wanting to complete its glorious knowledge . The arts necessary to life were first imparted ; not , perhaps , by especial revelation , but by the constant exercise of those peculiar powers given to man , of invention , comparison , and imitation . That all minds are not equally
capable of the app lication of these princip les , our daily intercourse with the human race amply proves ; even so in the infancy of the world , when mankind first congregated together for the mutual advantages of protection and society , the non-inventive and idle became dependent for many of
their comforts upon their more gifted and persevering brothers , who , to preserve to themselves and their descendants a knowledge of their Creator , ancl the advantages which even their sli g ht skill in the Arts and Sciences afforded , formed themselves into an Order , and imparted their wisdom to the just and virtuous alone . VOL . i . c
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
ON FREEMASONRY .
FREEMASONRY is a system of morality and wisdom , both practical and speculative ; Truth is its centre ; the eternal point , whence its radii diverge , pointing out to its discip les not only a knowledge of the great Architect of the Universe , and the moral laws wliich he has ordained for their guidance ,
but of those useful arts and sciences which alone distinguish civilised man from his uninformed savage brother . It is coeval with the world—its speculative wisdom existed with our first parents while in a state of innocenceits practical princip les were gradually taught them by the
hard lessons of adversity ; when driven from Eden , they became tillers of the earth , and watchers of its flocks . It is not assumed that , as a perfect system , Masonry flourished in the earliest ages . No—centuries of toil and
discovery were wanting to complete its glorious knowledge . The arts necessary to life were first imparted ; not , perhaps , by especial revelation , but by the constant exercise of those peculiar powers given to man , of invention , comparison , and imitation . That all minds are not equally
capable of the app lication of these princip les , our daily intercourse with the human race amply proves ; even so in the infancy of the world , when mankind first congregated together for the mutual advantages of protection and society , the non-inventive and idle became dependent for many of
their comforts upon their more gifted and persevering brothers , who , to preserve to themselves and their descendants a knowledge of their Creator , ancl the advantages which even their sli g ht skill in the Arts and Sciences afforded , formed themselves into an Order , and imparted their wisdom to the just and virtuous alone . VOL . i . c