-
Articles/Ads
Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 2 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
Encouraging each other by honest emulation , tlie Craft proceeded in their noble course ; the barriers of savage life were gradually removed , and civilisation , like an early plant requiring the watchful care of ages to mature its beauty , put forth the first leaves of promise to an infant
world . Man , the superior creature , endowed with powers above all created things , was left to his own resources for raiment and shelter ; Nature was his instructress ; twisted grass and p laited leaves formed his first robe—the cave , or rude bower of boughs , his banquet hall—the Universe his
Church—a rock his altar . Habitations so rough , exposed to the whirlwind and the storm , scarcely a protection from the savage beasts of the forest , could not long content man's inventive genius , or satisfy his natural wants . The hut whose walls were piled with unhewn stones next arose , necessarily imperfect from the want of tools of sufficient hardness wherewith to render
them suitable for the builder's purpose ; this desideratum was at last supplied , the properties of metals became known , their hardness , fusibility , and strength . It is impossible , at this remote period of the world , to say in what manner the great Architect of all conveyed this wisdom ;
whether the lightning , acting on some metallic substancethe dreadful volcano—or any other natural phenomenon were the instruments of his instruction—enough for man to know that the knowledge so highly beneficial to the human race ivas imparted . The Creator first proclaimed man
lord of his fair works , then gave into his hand an iron sceptre , whose power should lay bare the womb of earth , to rifle her hidden treasures , displace the lordly forest , compel the ground to yield its fauits in season , and , in p lace of the rude hut and leafy bower , bid temples , palaces , and wall-girt cities rise .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
Encouraging each other by honest emulation , tlie Craft proceeded in their noble course ; the barriers of savage life were gradually removed , and civilisation , like an early plant requiring the watchful care of ages to mature its beauty , put forth the first leaves of promise to an infant
world . Man , the superior creature , endowed with powers above all created things , was left to his own resources for raiment and shelter ; Nature was his instructress ; twisted grass and p laited leaves formed his first robe—the cave , or rude bower of boughs , his banquet hall—the Universe his
Church—a rock his altar . Habitations so rough , exposed to the whirlwind and the storm , scarcely a protection from the savage beasts of the forest , could not long content man's inventive genius , or satisfy his natural wants . The hut whose walls were piled with unhewn stones next arose , necessarily imperfect from the want of tools of sufficient hardness wherewith to render
them suitable for the builder's purpose ; this desideratum was at last supplied , the properties of metals became known , their hardness , fusibility , and strength . It is impossible , at this remote period of the world , to say in what manner the great Architect of all conveyed this wisdom ;
whether the lightning , acting on some metallic substancethe dreadful volcano—or any other natural phenomenon were the instruments of his instruction—enough for man to know that the knowledge so highly beneficial to the human race ivas imparted . The Creator first proclaimed man
lord of his fair works , then gave into his hand an iron sceptre , whose power should lay bare the womb of earth , to rifle her hidden treasures , displace the lordly forest , compel the ground to yield its fauits in season , and , in p lace of the rude hut and leafy bower , bid temples , palaces , and wall-girt cities rise .