Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Connexion Between Speculative And Operative Masonry.
dispensible . The exclusive propagation also of the two sciences in connexion by Melthusaleh and Noah , and the immediate descendants ot the latter , are satisfactory proofs of their having been highly influential , and as time has proved them to be , important and invaluable . The chief object of Masonry during the dark ages , was , undeniably , the dispersion and extinction of those gross practices of idolatrous worship which then defiled the worldand to produce the incitement and
, adoption in its stead of the genuine worship of the true God . The mysteries of idolatry were avowedly established on the same practical basis as those of Masonry , by two seceded practicians of the pure science , " Cabiri" and " Thoth , " though secretly intended , in which , in days of ignorance and barbarism , it met with great success to make Masonry subservient to the most degrading practices of idolatry ; and the two institutions have consequentlbeenby uninitiated personsfrequently
y , , confounded together ; but as Masonry from the beginning , notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which it has so often laboured—all the difficulties which prejudices ancl ignorance have showed in its pathall the persecutions which barbarism has imposed upon its practitioners , all the attempts that have been made to impose on , misdirect , and
pervert its sacred objects , has never acknowledged any object of worship and adoration but the only one true God ; nor has the occasional sinking , and sometimes temporary suspension of its operations during times of the most rigid persecution , at all lessened its genuine objects , or the ritual , tendency , and benefit to be derived from this institution of institutions ; hence it claims to itself the superiority over every other institution which has not had for its object the strict observance ancl preservation of those " Divine precepts delivered to Noah , " and establishes its character as
replete with truth . Thus it seems , not only probable , that Enoch introduced the speculative principles into the Masonic creed , and that he originated its " exclusive character ; " but it also appears evident , that the objectwhich demanded the utmost exertion of our early Brethren was that of eliciting truth and knowledge , and propagating their beauties and advantages , where ignorance and idolatry held their prejudiced swayand in
pre-, paring the rough and unpolished mind for the reception of those seeds of genuine truth and science , which would , in the decline of a life well spent in acts of pure religion and piety , prepare its possessor for admission into that temple , not made with hands , eternal in the heavens , and in enjoining the strict application and observance of its forms , its symbols , ancl emblems , to the respective duties of morality , virtue , and truth .
That those duties were the more essential to the freeborn , and were limited to them , from the uncontamination of their minds , is substantiated by many passages of Holy Writ , and to induce the strenuous exercise of those duties , which we are bound to perform , we cannot have a more stimulating observation , than that of our Great and Grancl Master , King Alfred , who unhesitatingly affirmed , that he " reputed a man free-born and yet illiterate , no better than a beast , a brainless beast ,
and very sot ; '" and so far did he carry his opinion into effect , that he would admit r _ o one into office in his court , who did not possess learned qualifications . From Shem to the deliverance of the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage by the hand of Moses , a period when the Egyptian cabiri helcl their almost unopposed sway , Masonry assumed little more than a speculative character , the exertions of the Craft being principally
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Connexion Between Speculative And Operative Masonry.
dispensible . The exclusive propagation also of the two sciences in connexion by Melthusaleh and Noah , and the immediate descendants ot the latter , are satisfactory proofs of their having been highly influential , and as time has proved them to be , important and invaluable . The chief object of Masonry during the dark ages , was , undeniably , the dispersion and extinction of those gross practices of idolatrous worship which then defiled the worldand to produce the incitement and
, adoption in its stead of the genuine worship of the true God . The mysteries of idolatry were avowedly established on the same practical basis as those of Masonry , by two seceded practicians of the pure science , " Cabiri" and " Thoth , " though secretly intended , in which , in days of ignorance and barbarism , it met with great success to make Masonry subservient to the most degrading practices of idolatry ; and the two institutions have consequentlbeenby uninitiated personsfrequently
y , , confounded together ; but as Masonry from the beginning , notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which it has so often laboured—all the difficulties which prejudices ancl ignorance have showed in its pathall the persecutions which barbarism has imposed upon its practitioners , all the attempts that have been made to impose on , misdirect , and
pervert its sacred objects , has never acknowledged any object of worship and adoration but the only one true God ; nor has the occasional sinking , and sometimes temporary suspension of its operations during times of the most rigid persecution , at all lessened its genuine objects , or the ritual , tendency , and benefit to be derived from this institution of institutions ; hence it claims to itself the superiority over every other institution which has not had for its object the strict observance ancl preservation of those " Divine precepts delivered to Noah , " and establishes its character as
replete with truth . Thus it seems , not only probable , that Enoch introduced the speculative principles into the Masonic creed , and that he originated its " exclusive character ; " but it also appears evident , that the objectwhich demanded the utmost exertion of our early Brethren was that of eliciting truth and knowledge , and propagating their beauties and advantages , where ignorance and idolatry held their prejudiced swayand in
pre-, paring the rough and unpolished mind for the reception of those seeds of genuine truth and science , which would , in the decline of a life well spent in acts of pure religion and piety , prepare its possessor for admission into that temple , not made with hands , eternal in the heavens , and in enjoining the strict application and observance of its forms , its symbols , ancl emblems , to the respective duties of morality , virtue , and truth .
That those duties were the more essential to the freeborn , and were limited to them , from the uncontamination of their minds , is substantiated by many passages of Holy Writ , and to induce the strenuous exercise of those duties , which we are bound to perform , we cannot have a more stimulating observation , than that of our Great and Grancl Master , King Alfred , who unhesitatingly affirmed , that he " reputed a man free-born and yet illiterate , no better than a beast , a brainless beast ,
and very sot ; '" and so far did he carry his opinion into effect , that he would admit r _ o one into office in his court , who did not possess learned qualifications . From Shem to the deliverance of the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage by the hand of Moses , a period when the Egyptian cabiri helcl their almost unopposed sway , Masonry assumed little more than a speculative character , the exertions of the Craft being principally