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Article MASONIC DIDACTICS; ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Masonic Didactics;
or that the aggressed are not authorised by the law of self-preservation , inherent throughout nearly the whole animal creation , in restraining and putting down such unnatural power by every feasible and legal means . It is a self-evident proposition in every page of every history , either sacred or profane , that all civil and judicial authority in a state originally emanated from the people , being entrusted to rulers , whatever their local or peculiar national denomination , for their good , and , whenever
that good is neglected or frustrated by iniquity , that trust will be withdrawn , and the magisterial power passed into other hands . But all these evils are avoided in our own eminentl y happy country , where , under the blessing of a wise constitution which has been formed out of the events and actions of bygone centuries , still susceptible of additional improvement , according to the exigencies and spirit of the times , one power is admirably checked , restrained , and controlled by the other two estates of the realm , so that each and all co-operate ad sum / mum bonum et publicum .
No . XXXIV . —FORBIDDEN THINGS TOO OFTEN THE OBJECT OF OUR DESIRE AND AFFECTION . Illicita amantur excidit quiequid licet . —SENECA . Although mankind are prohibited , both by the precepts of the Sacred Volume and the " still small voice" of Reason , following after the enticements of viceand the allurements of unlawful pursuitsbeing
com-, , manded and admonished to love and practise those things which are " lawful and right ; " yet , such is the pertinacious perverseness of their fallen nature , that vast numbers too often are engaged in vain occupations and forbidden things , rather than labour after the solid acquisitions of virtue , and the elevating , though moderate , gains of honesty . We are taught , and believe , for he bears internal testimony and visible marks of the fact , that man , as originally created , was a pure and spotless being of innocence
, unsusceptible of sin , until in an evil hour , to prove man ' s insufficiency in himself of moral strength and rectitude , the tempter was permitted , for his probation , to attain for a season dominion over his soul , corrupting the source and current of his desires and affections ,
leading him astray from his Maker ancl his Maker s will , until the abhorrence -with -which Adam viewed his first transgression , was entirely obliterated in the tumultuous indulgence of human passions and carnal gratifications . Consequently , the appetites and aspirations of mankind in general ever since that one fatal act , have flowed in a channel whose course is mapped in the page of history by false religions , and worse morals , traced in characters of blood , violence , and rapine . His moral , like his h
pysical organisation , became subjected to disorder , disease , and death . Dead unto every principle and motive that can truly make him great and noble—the love of God , and the love of his fellow-creature . Such , too , is the effect of this spiritual malady on the mental vision , that the judgment and taste in questions of " good and evil" are vitiated and obscured . Vice is often stripped by the blandishments of fashion and inion of half its deformitywhile virtue is also robbed of all its
op , beauty and dignity by the absurd prejudices of society . The " lust of the eyes and the pride of life , " with the " love of money , " constitute the cupidity of most men , either separately or together in their operation , and it would not be an unapt simile to compare their VOL . VII . II
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Didactics;
or that the aggressed are not authorised by the law of self-preservation , inherent throughout nearly the whole animal creation , in restraining and putting down such unnatural power by every feasible and legal means . It is a self-evident proposition in every page of every history , either sacred or profane , that all civil and judicial authority in a state originally emanated from the people , being entrusted to rulers , whatever their local or peculiar national denomination , for their good , and , whenever
that good is neglected or frustrated by iniquity , that trust will be withdrawn , and the magisterial power passed into other hands . But all these evils are avoided in our own eminentl y happy country , where , under the blessing of a wise constitution which has been formed out of the events and actions of bygone centuries , still susceptible of additional improvement , according to the exigencies and spirit of the times , one power is admirably checked , restrained , and controlled by the other two estates of the realm , so that each and all co-operate ad sum / mum bonum et publicum .
No . XXXIV . —FORBIDDEN THINGS TOO OFTEN THE OBJECT OF OUR DESIRE AND AFFECTION . Illicita amantur excidit quiequid licet . —SENECA . Although mankind are prohibited , both by the precepts of the Sacred Volume and the " still small voice" of Reason , following after the enticements of viceand the allurements of unlawful pursuitsbeing
com-, , manded and admonished to love and practise those things which are " lawful and right ; " yet , such is the pertinacious perverseness of their fallen nature , that vast numbers too often are engaged in vain occupations and forbidden things , rather than labour after the solid acquisitions of virtue , and the elevating , though moderate , gains of honesty . We are taught , and believe , for he bears internal testimony and visible marks of the fact , that man , as originally created , was a pure and spotless being of innocence
, unsusceptible of sin , until in an evil hour , to prove man ' s insufficiency in himself of moral strength and rectitude , the tempter was permitted , for his probation , to attain for a season dominion over his soul , corrupting the source and current of his desires and affections ,
leading him astray from his Maker ancl his Maker s will , until the abhorrence -with -which Adam viewed his first transgression , was entirely obliterated in the tumultuous indulgence of human passions and carnal gratifications . Consequently , the appetites and aspirations of mankind in general ever since that one fatal act , have flowed in a channel whose course is mapped in the page of history by false religions , and worse morals , traced in characters of blood , violence , and rapine . His moral , like his h
pysical organisation , became subjected to disorder , disease , and death . Dead unto every principle and motive that can truly make him great and noble—the love of God , and the love of his fellow-creature . Such , too , is the effect of this spiritual malady on the mental vision , that the judgment and taste in questions of " good and evil" are vitiated and obscured . Vice is often stripped by the blandishments of fashion and inion of half its deformitywhile virtue is also robbed of all its
op , beauty and dignity by the absurd prejudices of society . The " lust of the eyes and the pride of life , " with the " love of money , " constitute the cupidity of most men , either separately or together in their operation , and it would not be an unapt simile to compare their VOL . VII . II