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Article ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MASONRY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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On The Principles And Practice Of Masonry.
every line descriptive of the most virtuous faith and the most exalted heroism . In the fourteenth century , the rack , the flames , and the scaffold , instead of shaking their fidelity and fortitude , extorted only a contemptuous smile from , the venerable Molay and his brother martyrs . Subsequent persecutions in Holland , France , Italy and Portugal—the dungeons and galleys with Mouton , and the torture and the rack with
Coustos—have tended only to enhance the sanctity of our noble institution , and to cement yet more closely the bonds of' Brotherhood by a glorious congeniality of principle . In undertaking to enumerate individual instances of Masonic benevolence , the writer would have to contend with even more than usual difficulty , —for , in addition to the known and acknowledged truism , that though " The evil which men do lives after them , The good is oft interred with their hones , " —
the exercise of charity amongst Masons occurs mostly under circumstances and partakes always of a character incompatible with an open or ostentatious display of that greatest and brightest ornament of their profession . Conviction , however , must be firmly stamped on the mind of every Brother , of the assuasive influence of those cherished principles expounded and enforced at his initiation . The bitterness and asperity of common life are suffered not to apjiroach the precincts of the
Masonic sanctuary ; political discord and religious controversy are unfelt and unknown within its walls , and temperance , harmony and fortitude , uniformly characterize those meetings , the object of which is the upholding of religion , the inculcating morality , the promotion of science , and the practice of virtue . Again , how numerous the recorded instances of the wonderful—the almost talismanic effects of the mystic signal , either on land or at sea , —
in the lonel y desert or in the crowded city , with the mighty or ivith thc humble : in whatever climes and under whatever circumstances , its spell is uniformly powerful . In foreign countries and in hostile lands , the distressed have met
with succour and the forlorn ivith cause for hope : even the murderous weapon of the brigand has been known suddenly to fall from its grasp , and in the field of blood and slaughter the prostrate soldier has beheld the avenging blade of his opponent miraculously arrested in its descent . To the several interesting anecdotes with ivhich the readers of the Masonic Quarterly have already been favoured , perhaps you will not object to my adding the following , which has -just been furnished me
by a Brother who was oneof the number present at , and benefited by , the interesting circumstance now for the first time recorded . For the most scrupulous truth and accuracy , this statement may be safely relied on . About the year 1815 , while the 4 th regiment , commonly known as the " King ' s Own , " was passing through the Bermudas on its way to Washington , both the officers and troops experienced the utmost difficulty and distresstheir pay being greatlin arrear and their rations
, y extremely limited . After having endured severe hardships and uninterrupted exposure and fatigue , with scarce a coin of any description in their possession wherewith to procure the necessaries of life , their condition was every day becoming more insupportable . It was at this fearful juncture , and when passing through those islands , the officers were one day invited to thc table ofa merchant resident in one of the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Principles And Practice Of Masonry.
every line descriptive of the most virtuous faith and the most exalted heroism . In the fourteenth century , the rack , the flames , and the scaffold , instead of shaking their fidelity and fortitude , extorted only a contemptuous smile from , the venerable Molay and his brother martyrs . Subsequent persecutions in Holland , France , Italy and Portugal—the dungeons and galleys with Mouton , and the torture and the rack with
Coustos—have tended only to enhance the sanctity of our noble institution , and to cement yet more closely the bonds of' Brotherhood by a glorious congeniality of principle . In undertaking to enumerate individual instances of Masonic benevolence , the writer would have to contend with even more than usual difficulty , —for , in addition to the known and acknowledged truism , that though " The evil which men do lives after them , The good is oft interred with their hones , " —
the exercise of charity amongst Masons occurs mostly under circumstances and partakes always of a character incompatible with an open or ostentatious display of that greatest and brightest ornament of their profession . Conviction , however , must be firmly stamped on the mind of every Brother , of the assuasive influence of those cherished principles expounded and enforced at his initiation . The bitterness and asperity of common life are suffered not to apjiroach the precincts of the
Masonic sanctuary ; political discord and religious controversy are unfelt and unknown within its walls , and temperance , harmony and fortitude , uniformly characterize those meetings , the object of which is the upholding of religion , the inculcating morality , the promotion of science , and the practice of virtue . Again , how numerous the recorded instances of the wonderful—the almost talismanic effects of the mystic signal , either on land or at sea , —
in the lonel y desert or in the crowded city , with the mighty or ivith thc humble : in whatever climes and under whatever circumstances , its spell is uniformly powerful . In foreign countries and in hostile lands , the distressed have met
with succour and the forlorn ivith cause for hope : even the murderous weapon of the brigand has been known suddenly to fall from its grasp , and in the field of blood and slaughter the prostrate soldier has beheld the avenging blade of his opponent miraculously arrested in its descent . To the several interesting anecdotes with ivhich the readers of the Masonic Quarterly have already been favoured , perhaps you will not object to my adding the following , which has -just been furnished me
by a Brother who was oneof the number present at , and benefited by , the interesting circumstance now for the first time recorded . For the most scrupulous truth and accuracy , this statement may be safely relied on . About the year 1815 , while the 4 th regiment , commonly known as the " King ' s Own , " was passing through the Bermudas on its way to Washington , both the officers and troops experienced the utmost difficulty and distresstheir pay being greatlin arrear and their rations
, y extremely limited . After having endured severe hardships and uninterrupted exposure and fatigue , with scarce a coin of any description in their possession wherewith to procure the necessaries of life , their condition was every day becoming more insupportable . It was at this fearful juncture , and when passing through those islands , the officers were one day invited to thc table ofa merchant resident in one of the