Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Didactics; Or, Short Moral Essays Of Universal Adaptation.
MASONIC DIDACTICS ; OR , SHORT MORAL ESSAYS OF UNIVERSAL ADAPTATION .
BY BROTHER H . 11 . SIJADE , LL . B . " Masonry is a peculiar system of morals . " No . XXXV . —DECISION OP MIND NECESSARY TO ENSURE SUCCESS IN EVERY UNDERTAKING .
Incertus animus , cum eupiat , timet . —SENECA . SENSIBLE was the command of Jup iter to the suppliant waggoner , " Fellow , help thyself ; " and equally so , in its illustration of the selfexertion God requires of man , the caution of the old lark to her young ones , in another fable , that when the farmer began to reap his own corn , without waiting any longer the assistance of his neighbours and kindred , it xvas time for them to begone . More apposite and authoritative is the the of the Talents
example of the same principle enforced by parable , wherein the Just One teaches his discip les to be active and energetic , bidding them , " Occupy till I come . " The mind is a faculty liable to be influenced by so vast a variety ot contingent circumstances , over wliich human power has no control , that it cannot be too early in life impressed with the necessity of action , decision , and self-reliance , under the fiat of a Divine Providence , if either usewould be attainedHesitation and its vacil
fulness or solid happiness . - lating effects , where the object of desire is brave , generous , or holy , is most pernicious , both in regard to the individual ancl society . And nothing more strongly indicates an untutored or an undisciplined mind , as indecision in a cause that has good principle for its basis . One of the ruling noxious weeds that too often , m their far spreading wildnessabsorb the health of the mindis imaginationa
bril-, y sap , , liant gift of nature when controlled and cultivated , but full of deadly poison to the soul , if indulged in an unrestrained course of operation . It appals or incites , depresses or elevates to that extent , that , like the power of steam applied to machinery , it may accomplish the most beautiful works , or destroy the best arranged expectations . The effect of this lively agent on the mind is as remarkable as particular in different h systemsIn it is vivid as the electric fluid
pysical . some , producing , consequently , greater oppression over the sanity ot the judgment ; in others it is hardly ' visible , abandoning intellectual beings to almost Boeotian dulness . Thus it is that we see some individuals possessed of far more decision and perseverance than others endowed with similar talent , because they either do not possess that redundancy of ima « ination which is injurious to the mind , or they have acquired sufficient to subdue its misleadings when its hallucinations or
unnerve , founded fears would carry them short of their just wishes . Then a « ain , imagination is mischievous , when it creates in the mmd a diffidence of ability for success , while another , disdaining such coy modesty , though endued with less intrinsic worth , steps forward , and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Didactics; Or, Short Moral Essays Of Universal Adaptation.
MASONIC DIDACTICS ; OR , SHORT MORAL ESSAYS OF UNIVERSAL ADAPTATION .
BY BROTHER H . 11 . SIJADE , LL . B . " Masonry is a peculiar system of morals . " No . XXXV . —DECISION OP MIND NECESSARY TO ENSURE SUCCESS IN EVERY UNDERTAKING .
Incertus animus , cum eupiat , timet . —SENECA . SENSIBLE was the command of Jup iter to the suppliant waggoner , " Fellow , help thyself ; " and equally so , in its illustration of the selfexertion God requires of man , the caution of the old lark to her young ones , in another fable , that when the farmer began to reap his own corn , without waiting any longer the assistance of his neighbours and kindred , it xvas time for them to begone . More apposite and authoritative is the the of the Talents
example of the same principle enforced by parable , wherein the Just One teaches his discip les to be active and energetic , bidding them , " Occupy till I come . " The mind is a faculty liable to be influenced by so vast a variety ot contingent circumstances , over wliich human power has no control , that it cannot be too early in life impressed with the necessity of action , decision , and self-reliance , under the fiat of a Divine Providence , if either usewould be attainedHesitation and its vacil
fulness or solid happiness . - lating effects , where the object of desire is brave , generous , or holy , is most pernicious , both in regard to the individual ancl society . And nothing more strongly indicates an untutored or an undisciplined mind , as indecision in a cause that has good principle for its basis . One of the ruling noxious weeds that too often , m their far spreading wildnessabsorb the health of the mindis imaginationa
bril-, y sap , , liant gift of nature when controlled and cultivated , but full of deadly poison to the soul , if indulged in an unrestrained course of operation . It appals or incites , depresses or elevates to that extent , that , like the power of steam applied to machinery , it may accomplish the most beautiful works , or destroy the best arranged expectations . The effect of this lively agent on the mind is as remarkable as particular in different h systemsIn it is vivid as the electric fluid
pysical . some , producing , consequently , greater oppression over the sanity ot the judgment ; in others it is hardly ' visible , abandoning intellectual beings to almost Boeotian dulness . Thus it is that we see some individuals possessed of far more decision and perseverance than others endowed with similar talent , because they either do not possess that redundancy of ima « ination which is injurious to the mind , or they have acquired sufficient to subdue its misleadings when its hallucinations or
unnerve , founded fears would carry them short of their just wishes . Then a « ain , imagination is mischievous , when it creates in the mmd a diffidence of ability for success , while another , disdaining such coy modesty , though endued with less intrinsic worth , steps forward , and