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Article SIGNS AND SYMBOLS.* Page 1 of 6 →
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Signs And Symbols.*
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS . *
( SECOND NOTICE . )
FREEMASONRY is the single institution which admits of neither change nor innovation ; but , like its divine author , is the same yesterday , to day , and for ever ; and the Freemason ' s Quarterly Review is the lion of tlie times . Regina may boast of her charms , ( and all lovely she is , " her clothing is of wrought gold ; " ) Maga of her glorious ebon polish ; Tail of his universal panacea for all existing evils in the changeful rotation of the ever-varying wheel of politics ; the Times and Chronicle may each
lay claim to the palm of political sagacity ; the Atlas groan under his terrestrial burdens ; and the Athenaeum fancy herself Minerva ' s favourite child . With all this Freemasonry has no earthly concern . We are not politicians . We pursue science—we labour for the benefit of our species , and solace ourselves with poetry and music . Happy in the absence of all exciting topics which produce disunion and the forfeiture of self-respect , we enjoy that true equanimity of mind , which and
sages philosophers have pronounced to be the consummation of earthly felicity . The outline of this great System of peace has been successfull y delineated by the Rev . Dr . Oliver in the Work before us ; a portion of which it was our pleasing province to review in our last number . There appears to have been a design of great regularity in the author ' s mind when he constructed the plan of these Lectures . The first six evidentl y relate to the origin and remote antiquity of Lux , and the latter half to
freemasonry as practised in our Lodges at the present clay . The eighth Lecture commences with a hint to this effect . "We have now contem plated the great object of our FAITH and HOPE ; we have beheld the unlimited power exhibited in the expulsion of our first parents from the garden of Eden , and the subsequent destruction of the antediluvian world ; events which have been uniformly grafted into all the mysteries of heathen nations . Ancl we have considered with
feelings of surprise and regret , how mankind renounced the true and . living God in conjunction -with LIGHT , and devoted themselves to imaginary deities , who were worshi pped in union with Darkness ; which elicited the vengeance of insulted Purity in a series of scourges inflicted on them by war , pestilence , and famine . But in the midst of justice He always remembered mercy . After the first great display of power in the general destruction of mankindthis gracious Being laced
, p his bow in the clouds , as a divine token that mercy should now prevail ; and that he would no more destroy the earth by a flood of waters . And when mankind had degenerated to the lowest point of human depravity , he sent his Son to make atonement for them , that lost purity might be restored , faith and hope placed on a firm foundation , and his fallen creatures readmitted within the sphere of his favour and protection . Thus the dark clouds of divine wrath are dissipatedthe
, heavens are opened ; and we enjoy a ray of his glory in the celestial covering of the Lodge . And more than this ; the same divine Being has taught , us how to attain the summit of the same , by means which are emblematicall y depicted b y a ladder consisting of three principal ROUNDS or STAVES , which point to the three Theological Virtues , FAITH , HOPE , ancl CHAIUTY . We are now to consider the origin and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Signs And Symbols.*
SIGNS AND SYMBOLS . *
( SECOND NOTICE . )
FREEMASONRY is the single institution which admits of neither change nor innovation ; but , like its divine author , is the same yesterday , to day , and for ever ; and the Freemason ' s Quarterly Review is the lion of tlie times . Regina may boast of her charms , ( and all lovely she is , " her clothing is of wrought gold ; " ) Maga of her glorious ebon polish ; Tail of his universal panacea for all existing evils in the changeful rotation of the ever-varying wheel of politics ; the Times and Chronicle may each
lay claim to the palm of political sagacity ; the Atlas groan under his terrestrial burdens ; and the Athenaeum fancy herself Minerva ' s favourite child . With all this Freemasonry has no earthly concern . We are not politicians . We pursue science—we labour for the benefit of our species , and solace ourselves with poetry and music . Happy in the absence of all exciting topics which produce disunion and the forfeiture of self-respect , we enjoy that true equanimity of mind , which and
sages philosophers have pronounced to be the consummation of earthly felicity . The outline of this great System of peace has been successfull y delineated by the Rev . Dr . Oliver in the Work before us ; a portion of which it was our pleasing province to review in our last number . There appears to have been a design of great regularity in the author ' s mind when he constructed the plan of these Lectures . The first six evidentl y relate to the origin and remote antiquity of Lux , and the latter half to
freemasonry as practised in our Lodges at the present clay . The eighth Lecture commences with a hint to this effect . "We have now contem plated the great object of our FAITH and HOPE ; we have beheld the unlimited power exhibited in the expulsion of our first parents from the garden of Eden , and the subsequent destruction of the antediluvian world ; events which have been uniformly grafted into all the mysteries of heathen nations . Ancl we have considered with
feelings of surprise and regret , how mankind renounced the true and . living God in conjunction -with LIGHT , and devoted themselves to imaginary deities , who were worshi pped in union with Darkness ; which elicited the vengeance of insulted Purity in a series of scourges inflicted on them by war , pestilence , and famine . But in the midst of justice He always remembered mercy . After the first great display of power in the general destruction of mankindthis gracious Being laced
, p his bow in the clouds , as a divine token that mercy should now prevail ; and that he would no more destroy the earth by a flood of waters . And when mankind had degenerated to the lowest point of human depravity , he sent his Son to make atonement for them , that lost purity might be restored , faith and hope placed on a firm foundation , and his fallen creatures readmitted within the sphere of his favour and protection . Thus the dark clouds of divine wrath are dissipatedthe
, heavens are opened ; and we enjoy a ray of his glory in the celestial covering of the Lodge . And more than this ; the same divine Being has taught , us how to attain the summit of the same , by means which are emblematicall y depicted b y a ladder consisting of three principal ROUNDS or STAVES , which point to the three Theological Virtues , FAITH , HOPE , ancl CHAIUTY . We are now to consider the origin and