Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Principles And Practice Of Masonry.
ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MASONRY .
SIR AND BROTHER , —It was only a few days back that my attention Was drawn ( by a Brother who had borrowed of me for perusal the second number of the Masonic Quarterly ) to one of its notices addressed to Correspondents , which honoured me by acknowledging the offer I had made of an occasional communication . Now in this offer I am desirous it be understood , I meant , at the time it was made , to allude only to the occasional remittance of Masonic intelli and not to
gence , any thing bearing the character of ori ginal production . Indeed , delighted and proud as I should at all times be to dedicate any powers I may possess , however humble , to the promotion of those truly philosophic principles and benign views so uniformly and impressivel y advocated in your valuable periodical , I had assuredly never contemplated the probability of my being enabled to contribute to its efficiency , in any other capacity than . as an occasional reporter of local Masonic
proceedings ; and I trust it is hardly necessary for me to state , that had the notice above alluded to occurred to my observation earlier , I should not have so long delayed the fulfilment of my engagement . I shall feel happy if I am allowed this opportunity of publicly expressing the warm interest I take , in common with the Fraternity here , in the success of your editorial labours ;—the amusement and instruction ive derive from your pages , and the perfect conviction we entertain that the object and end of your zealous exertions must be to sustain , in all its 2 'urity and force , and practically to apply to its legitimate and sacred uses , that ' heaven-born system of morality and virtue , which from tho earliest
recorded period has commanded the reverence of the learned and the wise , and classed amongst its votaries the great and the good . That devotion to the principles and practices of Masonry , in the present day so universally manifested by the initiated , unequalled as it is for its intensity and zeal , —and that ready and rigid observance of all its prescribed precepts and mystic ordinances , for which the Fraternity has ever stood so pre-eminentldistinguished—are not indeed
y , induced by the blind and senseless love of cherishing whatever bears the stamp of mystery or age , but are , it may be said , ' compelled by a deep and clear conviction of the permanent wisdom of those doctrines , and the active virtue of those precepts , which have been handed down from generation to generation , have passed as a goodly heritage from the father to the son , and still retain their genuine force and purity
unimpaired by tne lapse-of time—unsullied by the vicissitude of ages . To the thinking and reflecting portion of the Fraternity , and to thc ingenuous and intellectual amongst the uninitiated , a more interesting retrospect can scarcely be imagined than is to be found in tracing the steady growth and eventful history of Masonry , from its cradled infancy and sheltered seclusion in the East , to its vigorous maturity and healing influence throughout the universe . At one time we observe it , like the Star of promisestruggling through the darkness and idolatry of
hea-, thenism ; at another , alternately persecuted and cherished by the capricious violence of monkish intolerance , and subsequently flourishing under the more benign and genial influence of the reformed religion . The whole history of Masonry throughout these eventful periods , and under these various circumstances , will be found replete with almost unequalled instance ! - of unshaken fortitude and active bcnevolcnci ' , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Principles And Practice Of Masonry.
ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MASONRY .
SIR AND BROTHER , —It was only a few days back that my attention Was drawn ( by a Brother who had borrowed of me for perusal the second number of the Masonic Quarterly ) to one of its notices addressed to Correspondents , which honoured me by acknowledging the offer I had made of an occasional communication . Now in this offer I am desirous it be understood , I meant , at the time it was made , to allude only to the occasional remittance of Masonic intelli and not to
gence , any thing bearing the character of ori ginal production . Indeed , delighted and proud as I should at all times be to dedicate any powers I may possess , however humble , to the promotion of those truly philosophic principles and benign views so uniformly and impressivel y advocated in your valuable periodical , I had assuredly never contemplated the probability of my being enabled to contribute to its efficiency , in any other capacity than . as an occasional reporter of local Masonic
proceedings ; and I trust it is hardly necessary for me to state , that had the notice above alluded to occurred to my observation earlier , I should not have so long delayed the fulfilment of my engagement . I shall feel happy if I am allowed this opportunity of publicly expressing the warm interest I take , in common with the Fraternity here , in the success of your editorial labours ;—the amusement and instruction ive derive from your pages , and the perfect conviction we entertain that the object and end of your zealous exertions must be to sustain , in all its 2 'urity and force , and practically to apply to its legitimate and sacred uses , that ' heaven-born system of morality and virtue , which from tho earliest
recorded period has commanded the reverence of the learned and the wise , and classed amongst its votaries the great and the good . That devotion to the principles and practices of Masonry , in the present day so universally manifested by the initiated , unequalled as it is for its intensity and zeal , —and that ready and rigid observance of all its prescribed precepts and mystic ordinances , for which the Fraternity has ever stood so pre-eminentldistinguished—are not indeed
y , induced by the blind and senseless love of cherishing whatever bears the stamp of mystery or age , but are , it may be said , ' compelled by a deep and clear conviction of the permanent wisdom of those doctrines , and the active virtue of those precepts , which have been handed down from generation to generation , have passed as a goodly heritage from the father to the son , and still retain their genuine force and purity
unimpaired by tne lapse-of time—unsullied by the vicissitude of ages . To the thinking and reflecting portion of the Fraternity , and to thc ingenuous and intellectual amongst the uninitiated , a more interesting retrospect can scarcely be imagined than is to be found in tracing the steady growth and eventful history of Masonry , from its cradled infancy and sheltered seclusion in the East , to its vigorous maturity and healing influence throughout the universe . At one time we observe it , like the Star of promisestruggling through the darkness and idolatry of
hea-, thenism ; at another , alternately persecuted and cherished by the capricious violence of monkish intolerance , and subsequently flourishing under the more benign and genial influence of the reformed religion . The whole history of Masonry throughout these eventful periods , and under these various circumstances , will be found replete with almost unequalled instance ! - of unshaken fortitude and active bcnevolcnci ' , and