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Article BROTHER SHARP'S JUBILEE ORATION. ← Page 3 of 5 →
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Brother Sharp's Jubilee Oration.
wreck of matter , ' and the form of true religion was restored to posterity by Noah , through the post-diluvian patriarchs . " It will be sufficient for my present purpose to observe , that the same pure worship which was practised in Paradise , and transmitted to Shem , —handed down to posterity by the descendants of Japhet and Ham , —and carried by them , during their migrations into Europe and Asia—even to ' the isles of the Gentiles also '—and became at lengthin
, , , the lapse of ages , corrupted and deformed by human inventions . That this idolatrous corruption took its first rise in Chaldea , —that it existed as early as the time when the children of men conceived the impious idea of ' establishing for themselves a name' by ' building a tower whose top might reach unto heaven ;'—that its baneful influence was spreading far and wide as early as the time of Abraham , who was a ' maker of' graven 'images ;'—and that it was practised by Rachel ,
the wife of Jacob , who stole her father ' s ' household gods' when she was leaving her parental roof , —are all facts of which we have indisputable proofs afforded us in the sacred ' Volume of the Book , ' in whose inspired pages , also , we learn that apostacy from the true religion prevailed to a very fearful extent in the days of the Hebrew lawgiver , who was continually warning the children of Israel against the sin of Sabismand reminding them of the one great invisible Godof whom
, , they ' saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord spake to them in Horeb ;'' lest' ( said he ) ' thou lift thine eyes unto heaven , and when thou seest the sun , and the moon and the stars , even all the host of heaven , shouldst be driven to worship them , and serve them . " The AV . M . then took an historical survey of the progression of
idolatrous worship , from the land of Ham , to its introduction into Greece ; and , after alluding to the preaching of the Apostle Paul upon Mars-Hill , at Athens—that mother of arts and eloquence , —where he spoke to the Ep icureans and Stoics of the doctrines of the Divine Reformer , and taunted them for being " too superstitious , ' ' and offering up their "devotions at an altar" dedicated to an " Unknown God , ' ' —concluded that branch of his subject by observing that " the descendants of these men communicated the contagion of Paganism to their
Roman conquerors , by whose victorious arms it was spread over the whole face of the unknown globe . '' In his extentled history of the Science of Freemasonry , the AA . M . clearly showed that all the celebrated Heathen mysteries that were ignorantly supposed by some ofthe uninitiated , even in the ' present day , to be the ground-work of the science , was only a perversion of its ancient system of purity and truth . He instanced the close analogy
which the rites and ceremonies of the idolaters bore to the peculiar customs of the Hebrews , and the rites prescribed under the Mosaic law . " The devoting of the blood , " ( said the speaker ) " first of animals , and then of human beings , to appease the anger of the offended gods , and the cruel ceremonies in the ancient mysteries , may be referred to in the intended offering of Abraham , to the primitive offering of Abeland to ' the lamb slain from the foundation of the world ;'
, founded on this , the universal conviction , that without shedding of blood is no remission of sins . St . Paul evidently referred to the cruel and frantic ceremonies which disgraced the rites of Saturn , Mars , Venus j and the chaste Diana , when he said , 'It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret . ' "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Brother Sharp's Jubilee Oration.
wreck of matter , ' and the form of true religion was restored to posterity by Noah , through the post-diluvian patriarchs . " It will be sufficient for my present purpose to observe , that the same pure worship which was practised in Paradise , and transmitted to Shem , —handed down to posterity by the descendants of Japhet and Ham , —and carried by them , during their migrations into Europe and Asia—even to ' the isles of the Gentiles also '—and became at lengthin
, , , the lapse of ages , corrupted and deformed by human inventions . That this idolatrous corruption took its first rise in Chaldea , —that it existed as early as the time when the children of men conceived the impious idea of ' establishing for themselves a name' by ' building a tower whose top might reach unto heaven ;'—that its baneful influence was spreading far and wide as early as the time of Abraham , who was a ' maker of' graven 'images ;'—and that it was practised by Rachel ,
the wife of Jacob , who stole her father ' s ' household gods' when she was leaving her parental roof , —are all facts of which we have indisputable proofs afforded us in the sacred ' Volume of the Book , ' in whose inspired pages , also , we learn that apostacy from the true religion prevailed to a very fearful extent in the days of the Hebrew lawgiver , who was continually warning the children of Israel against the sin of Sabismand reminding them of the one great invisible Godof whom
, , they ' saw no manner of similitude on the day the Lord spake to them in Horeb ;'' lest' ( said he ) ' thou lift thine eyes unto heaven , and when thou seest the sun , and the moon and the stars , even all the host of heaven , shouldst be driven to worship them , and serve them . " The AV . M . then took an historical survey of the progression of
idolatrous worship , from the land of Ham , to its introduction into Greece ; and , after alluding to the preaching of the Apostle Paul upon Mars-Hill , at Athens—that mother of arts and eloquence , —where he spoke to the Ep icureans and Stoics of the doctrines of the Divine Reformer , and taunted them for being " too superstitious , ' ' and offering up their "devotions at an altar" dedicated to an " Unknown God , ' ' —concluded that branch of his subject by observing that " the descendants of these men communicated the contagion of Paganism to their
Roman conquerors , by whose victorious arms it was spread over the whole face of the unknown globe . '' In his extentled history of the Science of Freemasonry , the AA . M . clearly showed that all the celebrated Heathen mysteries that were ignorantly supposed by some ofthe uninitiated , even in the ' present day , to be the ground-work of the science , was only a perversion of its ancient system of purity and truth . He instanced the close analogy
which the rites and ceremonies of the idolaters bore to the peculiar customs of the Hebrews , and the rites prescribed under the Mosaic law . " The devoting of the blood , " ( said the speaker ) " first of animals , and then of human beings , to appease the anger of the offended gods , and the cruel ceremonies in the ancient mysteries , may be referred to in the intended offering of Abraham , to the primitive offering of Abeland to ' the lamb slain from the foundation of the world ;'
, founded on this , the universal conviction , that without shedding of blood is no remission of sins . St . Paul evidently referred to the cruel and frantic ceremonies which disgraced the rites of Saturn , Mars , Venus j and the chaste Diana , when he said , 'It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret . ' "