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Article ON THE STUDY OF MASONIC ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 6 of 6 Article ADDRESS OF SIR CHARLES LEMON, BART., Page 1 of 4 →
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On The Study Of Masonic Antiquities.
It was thus with the mysteries—power abused , and a perversion to superstitious usages became the chief elements of corruption . Accordingly we find them gradually degenerated . Idolatry superseded the primitive forms of worship , and sanguinary rites usurped the place ot solemn ceremonies . Having investigated the causes of that decline , we must next follow the mysteries through the different nations of antiquityandwhen
, , perverted from their original purity , trace those mutations in their application , which is indicated by the fate of empires . It will also be interesting to remark tbe various phases they x > resented when influenced by the national peculiarities of different people . We shall see the bright and poetical forms they assumed amongst the lively and imaginative Greeks , and their sombre character whilst assimilated to the gloomy creed of the Scandinavians . Thusthrough various changeswe shall
, , he enabled to trace the progress of the mysteries , and mark the powerful influence they exercised over the destinies of the world , until the rising of the Star in the East dispelled the mists of superstition , silenced the voice of the oracles , and restored the degraded system to its pristine lustre . END OF CHAPTER II .
Address Of Sir Charles Lemon, Bart.,
ADDRESS OF SIR CHARLES LEMON , BART .,
PROVINCIAL GRAND-MASTER FOR THE PROVINCE OF CORNWALL , TO THE MEMBERS THEREOF AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN MAY LAST . * "BRETHREN , —IT is needless to remind you that we sprang from Operative Masons and Architects who practised their art through a long succession of ages . We are no longer such . We boast that we are good men and true , but I fear not very skilful Masons . It may do very well for the late Rev . Sidney Smith to ascribe to Lord John Russell such
courage that he could undertake to build a Cathedral like St . Paul ' s at a day ' s notice ; but courage of this kind is not to be met with amongst us . Few of us I think would wish to spend a wet day in a house roofed by our tiler , and fewer still to cross a deep and rapid river over a bridge constructed by our Brethren of the Royal Arch . To confess the truth , we are no Masons at all , but our existence is merely representative : and what do we represent ?
First and foremost , that deep-seated principle whicli began with the human race , and probably rose up in the breast of every individual whom I see now before me , as early as he was conscious of any impulse at all—I mean the desire to associate . This is no mere instinct like that which gathers animals into flocks and herds . Perhaps fear is their motive , the mere instinct of self-preservation , entirely divested of all notion of Brotherhood . Menon the contraryassociate where no fear
, , is , and simply , because they are men , born with the impress of that Divine image of which Love is the substance . In the earlier stages of society this sentiment binds men into tribes and nations ; but in the lapse of time , when populations become large and crowded , the same sentiment tends to break up the mass which it had formed , and to gather us into those smaller alliances , of which our Brotherhood is an
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Study Of Masonic Antiquities.
It was thus with the mysteries—power abused , and a perversion to superstitious usages became the chief elements of corruption . Accordingly we find them gradually degenerated . Idolatry superseded the primitive forms of worship , and sanguinary rites usurped the place ot solemn ceremonies . Having investigated the causes of that decline , we must next follow the mysteries through the different nations of antiquityandwhen
, , perverted from their original purity , trace those mutations in their application , which is indicated by the fate of empires . It will also be interesting to remark tbe various phases they x > resented when influenced by the national peculiarities of different people . We shall see the bright and poetical forms they assumed amongst the lively and imaginative Greeks , and their sombre character whilst assimilated to the gloomy creed of the Scandinavians . Thusthrough various changeswe shall
, , he enabled to trace the progress of the mysteries , and mark the powerful influence they exercised over the destinies of the world , until the rising of the Star in the East dispelled the mists of superstition , silenced the voice of the oracles , and restored the degraded system to its pristine lustre . END OF CHAPTER II .
Address Of Sir Charles Lemon, Bart.,
ADDRESS OF SIR CHARLES LEMON , BART .,
PROVINCIAL GRAND-MASTER FOR THE PROVINCE OF CORNWALL , TO THE MEMBERS THEREOF AT THE ANNUAL MEETING IN MAY LAST . * "BRETHREN , —IT is needless to remind you that we sprang from Operative Masons and Architects who practised their art through a long succession of ages . We are no longer such . We boast that we are good men and true , but I fear not very skilful Masons . It may do very well for the late Rev . Sidney Smith to ascribe to Lord John Russell such
courage that he could undertake to build a Cathedral like St . Paul ' s at a day ' s notice ; but courage of this kind is not to be met with amongst us . Few of us I think would wish to spend a wet day in a house roofed by our tiler , and fewer still to cross a deep and rapid river over a bridge constructed by our Brethren of the Royal Arch . To confess the truth , we are no Masons at all , but our existence is merely representative : and what do we represent ?
First and foremost , that deep-seated principle whicli began with the human race , and probably rose up in the breast of every individual whom I see now before me , as early as he was conscious of any impulse at all—I mean the desire to associate . This is no mere instinct like that which gathers animals into flocks and herds . Perhaps fear is their motive , the mere instinct of self-preservation , entirely divested of all notion of Brotherhood . Menon the contraryassociate where no fear
, , is , and simply , because they are men , born with the impress of that Divine image of which Love is the substance . In the earlier stages of society this sentiment binds men into tribes and nations ; but in the lapse of time , when populations become large and crowded , the same sentiment tends to break up the mass which it had formed , and to gather us into those smaller alliances , of which our Brotherhood is an