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Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 14 of 18 →
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Provincial.
guilds , established at a time when , as Sharon Turner informed them , the tradesmen of all kinds were a servile class , move udscripti gleba ? , conveyed ancl passed with thc lands in which they resided . Carpenters , architects , -and smiths , were then men in tlie retinue of the great nobles , or attached to tbe monasteries . £ Sir Charles quoted from . Sharon Turner a law of Edgar ' s , obliging the clergy to learn some handicraft ; and next referred to the gradual formation of a
class of independent artisans . ! To have been then a Freemason was a real distinction ; ancl they ( the present brethren of Freemasons' Lodges ) were the representatives of those men who , by their association , bore up against the feudal tyranny of their age . Subsequently , the talents of the brotherhood obtained for them respect , ancl honour , and power , in times when poiver was almost exclusively obtained by superstition or by military rapine . Then it was that the good were associated with tbe
Brotherhood , to enable them to carry out their pious designs ; while evil men sought relief from their superstitious fears , engendered by the violence of their conduct , by favouring the art to which the Brotherhood devoted themselves—sacred architecture . And it was quite impossible to look at the magnificent structures which marked that period of our architecture—Salisbury Cathedral , for instance , built as was known by a of Freemasons—without wondering at the igantic talents
company g possessed by the Brotherhood ivhich they now represented . AA hb could see that beautiful spire , pointing to the sky , ancl directing man ' s attention heavenward , as undoubtedly the emblem was intended to do , — and see it , too , resting on piers almost too slight to support an ordinary roof , —who could look on this ancl not admire the scientific skill and
hardihood of those who planned and erected it ? Freemasonry , then , in the earliest period of its history in this country , having represented the freedom of their ancestors , in the subsequent period to which he had just now referred , represented their science . And he felt justified in saying , that in the earlier period , it represented only the freedom of their ancestors , because they had scarcely any remains of Saxon architecture , most of that which went hy that name being , in fact , Norman . Both those periodshoiveverhad passed away . Freemasons were no
, , longer the representatives of the existing science of the country . He believed any one intending to build a church ivould hardly think of sending for the Earl of Zetland —( laughter)—and incompetent as he himself felt to preside over that august society in the province of Cornwall , he should feel infinitely more so , if it was part of his duty to construct the public buildings of the country . Well , then , those eras to which he had referred having passeel awaywhat remained ? Why
, , those moral qualities ivhich his reverend friend had pointed out . They were , to a certain degree , representatives of these ; ancl it would be a dereliction of the character of Freemasonry , grossly to sin against any of those high moral principles , to which his reverend friend had pointed attention . They were connected with a glorious past ; they were associated with great deeds gone by . With reference to its antiquity , they could but wonder at the unshaken stability ivhich had distinguished
their Order from its origin down to the present time . A traveller in the East , happening to be in Egypt at the time of a great storm , was struck by the contrast between the scattered sands of the desert and the stability of tbe pyramids , ivhich for ages had reared their mysterious forms amid the changing scenes around them . This , to him , seemed very much like the position Freemasonry maintained in this and other countries .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
guilds , established at a time when , as Sharon Turner informed them , the tradesmen of all kinds were a servile class , move udscripti gleba ? , conveyed ancl passed with thc lands in which they resided . Carpenters , architects , -and smiths , were then men in tlie retinue of the great nobles , or attached to tbe monasteries . £ Sir Charles quoted from . Sharon Turner a law of Edgar ' s , obliging the clergy to learn some handicraft ; and next referred to the gradual formation of a
class of independent artisans . ! To have been then a Freemason was a real distinction ; ancl they ( the present brethren of Freemasons' Lodges ) were the representatives of those men who , by their association , bore up against the feudal tyranny of their age . Subsequently , the talents of the brotherhood obtained for them respect , ancl honour , and power , in times when poiver was almost exclusively obtained by superstition or by military rapine . Then it was that the good were associated with tbe
Brotherhood , to enable them to carry out their pious designs ; while evil men sought relief from their superstitious fears , engendered by the violence of their conduct , by favouring the art to which the Brotherhood devoted themselves—sacred architecture . And it was quite impossible to look at the magnificent structures which marked that period of our architecture—Salisbury Cathedral , for instance , built as was known by a of Freemasons—without wondering at the igantic talents
company g possessed by the Brotherhood ivhich they now represented . AA hb could see that beautiful spire , pointing to the sky , ancl directing man ' s attention heavenward , as undoubtedly the emblem was intended to do , — and see it , too , resting on piers almost too slight to support an ordinary roof , —who could look on this ancl not admire the scientific skill and
hardihood of those who planned and erected it ? Freemasonry , then , in the earliest period of its history in this country , having represented the freedom of their ancestors , in the subsequent period to which he had just now referred , represented their science . And he felt justified in saying , that in the earlier period , it represented only the freedom of their ancestors , because they had scarcely any remains of Saxon architecture , most of that which went hy that name being , in fact , Norman . Both those periodshoiveverhad passed away . Freemasons were no
, , longer the representatives of the existing science of the country . He believed any one intending to build a church ivould hardly think of sending for the Earl of Zetland —( laughter)—and incompetent as he himself felt to preside over that august society in the province of Cornwall , he should feel infinitely more so , if it was part of his duty to construct the public buildings of the country . Well , then , those eras to which he had referred having passeel awaywhat remained ? Why
, , those moral qualities ivhich his reverend friend had pointed out . They were , to a certain degree , representatives of these ; ancl it would be a dereliction of the character of Freemasonry , grossly to sin against any of those high moral principles , to which his reverend friend had pointed attention . They were connected with a glorious past ; they were associated with great deeds gone by . With reference to its antiquity , they could but wonder at the unshaken stability ivhich had distinguished
their Order from its origin down to the present time . A traveller in the East , happening to be in Egypt at the time of a great storm , was struck by the contrast between the scattered sands of the desert and the stability of tbe pyramids , ivhich for ages had reared their mysterious forms amid the changing scenes around them . This , to him , seemed very much like the position Freemasonry maintained in this and other countries .