Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Asylum For Worthy Aged And Decayed Freemasons.
sciousness that we have the same nature with the sufferer , that we aro in danger of the same distresses , and may some time implore the same assistance . " Another writer thus speaks of an aged
man" Age sits with decent grace - npnn his v _ sa < je , And worthily hecome * his silver locks ; He wears the marks of many years well spent Of virtue , truth well tried , and wise experience . " Old age ! what awful words ! yet has it not its golden types—does not the nightingale sing sweetly in the evening ? do not the leaves of autumn , although they fall , show the foliage to be grand ? and then look at the lustrous glory of the evening sun ? Surely the sunset of life is in purest analogy with nature herself . Next to the mother ' s lesson
that of the grey-beard grandfather is most pleasing to the girl and boy-It is sweet to see old men thus refresh themselves , and renewing as it were the graces of their once manly comeliness , follow out the direction of nature by tracing before youthful impulses the path of holiness up to nature ' s God ! Must we not respect , nay admire , the Brother who
" 1 hough old , ho still retains His ninnly sense and energy of mind . " Since we last met , some of our dearest friends " have shuffled off this mortal coil , " and have departed to the land of shadows , two of them especially were Brethren whose minds were guided by a manly moral well-regulated liberty of conscience , whose hearts were expanded by the purest benevolence ; and they are now happy ; but , alas ! they have left widows and orphans to deplore the loss of husbands and fathers . This
is a painful moment to me , I knew them well ; for many successive anniversaries the happy wives of these excellent Brethren were present in that gallery , from whence as sorrowing widows they are now absent , and without other hope than what is inspired by a reliance on " our Father which art in heaven ; " for I grieve to say that even the Grand Lodge of England is as yet insensible to the sigh of the widow . Is this insensibility to continue for all time ? Let us hope not—nay , to prove
our sincerity , let us carry the widow ' s cause to the very throne of grace by prayerful exertions at the throne of Masonry . AVe owe much , oh how much , to the wives and daughters of Masons , who from earliest records have protected Freemasonry—would we had proved as true to them as they have been to us ! The late Brother Thomas Dunckerly , in a truthful address delivered eighty years ago at Marlborough , on the occasion of a charitable meeting ,
at which the ladies of the neighbourhood were present , after expatiating on the dignity and high importance of Freemasonry , and impressing the minds of the Brethren with the obvious utility of charity as directing their best impulses to the favour of heaven , thus proceeds : — " Next to the Deity whom can I so properly address myself to as the most beautiful , the best part of the creation ? You have heard , ladies , our grand principles explained , and I doubt not but at other times you have heard many disrespectful things said of this society . Envymaliceand all
, , un charitableness will never be at a loss to decry , find fault , and raise objections to what they do not know . How great then the obligations you lay on this Lodge , with what superior esteem , respect , and regard are we to look on every lady present that has done us the honour of her company this evening . To have the sanction of the fair is our highest ambition ,. as . our greatest care will be to preserve it . . The virtues of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Asylum For Worthy Aged And Decayed Freemasons.
sciousness that we have the same nature with the sufferer , that we aro in danger of the same distresses , and may some time implore the same assistance . " Another writer thus speaks of an aged
man" Age sits with decent grace - npnn his v _ sa < je , And worthily hecome * his silver locks ; He wears the marks of many years well spent Of virtue , truth well tried , and wise experience . " Old age ! what awful words ! yet has it not its golden types—does not the nightingale sing sweetly in the evening ? do not the leaves of autumn , although they fall , show the foliage to be grand ? and then look at the lustrous glory of the evening sun ? Surely the sunset of life is in purest analogy with nature herself . Next to the mother ' s lesson
that of the grey-beard grandfather is most pleasing to the girl and boy-It is sweet to see old men thus refresh themselves , and renewing as it were the graces of their once manly comeliness , follow out the direction of nature by tracing before youthful impulses the path of holiness up to nature ' s God ! Must we not respect , nay admire , the Brother who
" 1 hough old , ho still retains His ninnly sense and energy of mind . " Since we last met , some of our dearest friends " have shuffled off this mortal coil , " and have departed to the land of shadows , two of them especially were Brethren whose minds were guided by a manly moral well-regulated liberty of conscience , whose hearts were expanded by the purest benevolence ; and they are now happy ; but , alas ! they have left widows and orphans to deplore the loss of husbands and fathers . This
is a painful moment to me , I knew them well ; for many successive anniversaries the happy wives of these excellent Brethren were present in that gallery , from whence as sorrowing widows they are now absent , and without other hope than what is inspired by a reliance on " our Father which art in heaven ; " for I grieve to say that even the Grand Lodge of England is as yet insensible to the sigh of the widow . Is this insensibility to continue for all time ? Let us hope not—nay , to prove
our sincerity , let us carry the widow ' s cause to the very throne of grace by prayerful exertions at the throne of Masonry . AVe owe much , oh how much , to the wives and daughters of Masons , who from earliest records have protected Freemasonry—would we had proved as true to them as they have been to us ! The late Brother Thomas Dunckerly , in a truthful address delivered eighty years ago at Marlborough , on the occasion of a charitable meeting ,
at which the ladies of the neighbourhood were present , after expatiating on the dignity and high importance of Freemasonry , and impressing the minds of the Brethren with the obvious utility of charity as directing their best impulses to the favour of heaven , thus proceeds : — " Next to the Deity whom can I so properly address myself to as the most beautiful , the best part of the creation ? You have heard , ladies , our grand principles explained , and I doubt not but at other times you have heard many disrespectful things said of this society . Envymaliceand all
, , un charitableness will never be at a loss to decry , find fault , and raise objections to what they do not know . How great then the obligations you lay on this Lodge , with what superior esteem , respect , and regard are we to look on every lady present that has done us the honour of her company this evening . To have the sanction of the fair is our highest ambition ,. as . our greatest care will be to preserve it . . The virtues of