Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ireland.
Then leave the world , e ' en for a time—A world so full of care and strife—Leave winter for our summer clime , Anel live with us , a Mason ' s life . For here " sweet peace alone is found , AVliile party feuds do worldlings move ; Ancl while there ' s discord all around , AA ' e dwell in HARMONY and LOVE .
At the monthly festival of Lodge 50 , which took place March 16 , at Radley ' s , College-green , Le Chevalier L . D . S . Adamo , Professor of Modern Languages , on his health being proposed in appropriate terms by the AV . M . ( locum tenens ) , Brother Thomas Joseph Tenison , Barrister at Law , & c , and drunk with enthusiasm by the Brethren , rose anel spoke nearly as follows : —AVe are met to-night in the spirit of the noblest institution that ever the mind of man , under the influence
of Divine inspiration , conceived . Suffer me to claim your attention for a few minutes while I offer some observations on the nature of that institution . It is evident that the perfection of human nature consists in the principle that impels man to seek the communion of his fellowsto communicate his ideas for their instruction or pleasure—to express his wants and wishes , ancl thus to draw from the heart those endearing sympathies anel hallowed solicitations , which exist in the mind of man ,
even in his savage state ; for the rudest boor that roams Siberia ' s wilds , has feelings pure ancl polished as a gem ; but as the lustre of the diamond is obscured until the hand of the artist has freed its brilliancy from its encrustments , so it is society that gives beauty and effect to the impulses of the mind , which , however instinctivel y good , requires a presiding spirit to influence and direct them , so that the individual may contribute to the good of the many . That presiding spirit is the genius of our society . But the curse of the first murder is upon us ,
and the bad passions we inherit b y nature are at work in . society . Treachery , bad faith , malice , envy , anel all uncharitableness , have been , ancl are but too effective , the rancour of individuals , the animosity of sects , the deadly heat of political passions , have , in every period of time , acted with peculiar virulence on the social system ; ancl though these jarring elements may not altogether have loosed the bonds of society , and driven man to the woods , yet the virtue ancl the simplicity of
primitive man is not now among us ; the foundations of morality are weakened—a kind of moral chaos exists . It is the spirit of Masonry that preserves the order anel arrangement of the moral world in its utmost perfection—deriving her power from religion . She it is that has detained upon earth the virtues that ivould have left it in disgustshe it is that has erected a temple to the Most High architect— -to benevolence , to charity , temperance , and philanthropy . Time cannot shake
it , for it is founded in the heart . Reason is its high priest , ancl the chosen victims of its altar consists in the sacrifice of the bad passions . Uninfluenced by the lapse of time , the bold outline of the constitution of Freemasonry is unchanged . Succeeding ages bear testimony to its excellence , and looking through sombre vista between its present state and its first remote foundation—seeing it uninfluenced by the change of manners amongst men—revolutions in societies the abolition of monarchies—the rise of states—seeing that it survived persecution and defied despotism ; and even the cruelties of thc inquisition , will any
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ireland.
Then leave the world , e ' en for a time—A world so full of care and strife—Leave winter for our summer clime , Anel live with us , a Mason ' s life . For here " sweet peace alone is found , AVliile party feuds do worldlings move ; Ancl while there ' s discord all around , AA ' e dwell in HARMONY and LOVE .
At the monthly festival of Lodge 50 , which took place March 16 , at Radley ' s , College-green , Le Chevalier L . D . S . Adamo , Professor of Modern Languages , on his health being proposed in appropriate terms by the AV . M . ( locum tenens ) , Brother Thomas Joseph Tenison , Barrister at Law , & c , and drunk with enthusiasm by the Brethren , rose anel spoke nearly as follows : —AVe are met to-night in the spirit of the noblest institution that ever the mind of man , under the influence
of Divine inspiration , conceived . Suffer me to claim your attention for a few minutes while I offer some observations on the nature of that institution . It is evident that the perfection of human nature consists in the principle that impels man to seek the communion of his fellowsto communicate his ideas for their instruction or pleasure—to express his wants and wishes , ancl thus to draw from the heart those endearing sympathies anel hallowed solicitations , which exist in the mind of man ,
even in his savage state ; for the rudest boor that roams Siberia ' s wilds , has feelings pure ancl polished as a gem ; but as the lustre of the diamond is obscured until the hand of the artist has freed its brilliancy from its encrustments , so it is society that gives beauty and effect to the impulses of the mind , which , however instinctivel y good , requires a presiding spirit to influence and direct them , so that the individual may contribute to the good of the many . That presiding spirit is the genius of our society . But the curse of the first murder is upon us ,
and the bad passions we inherit b y nature are at work in . society . Treachery , bad faith , malice , envy , anel all uncharitableness , have been , ancl are but too effective , the rancour of individuals , the animosity of sects , the deadly heat of political passions , have , in every period of time , acted with peculiar virulence on the social system ; ancl though these jarring elements may not altogether have loosed the bonds of society , and driven man to the woods , yet the virtue ancl the simplicity of
primitive man is not now among us ; the foundations of morality are weakened—a kind of moral chaos exists . It is the spirit of Masonry that preserves the order anel arrangement of the moral world in its utmost perfection—deriving her power from religion . She it is that has detained upon earth the virtues that ivould have left it in disgustshe it is that has erected a temple to the Most High architect— -to benevolence , to charity , temperance , and philanthropy . Time cannot shake
it , for it is founded in the heart . Reason is its high priest , ancl the chosen victims of its altar consists in the sacrifice of the bad passions . Uninfluenced by the lapse of time , the bold outline of the constitution of Freemasonry is unchanged . Succeeding ages bear testimony to its excellence , and looking through sombre vista between its present state and its first remote foundation—seeing it uninfluenced by the change of manners amongst men—revolutions in societies the abolition of monarchies—the rise of states—seeing that it survived persecution and defied despotism ; and even the cruelties of thc inquisition , will any