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 BHOIHBB H . B . SLADE , LL . B . " Masonry is a peculiar system of morals . " No . XLVII . —TO SYMPATHISE WITH A WOUNDED SPIRIT IS A TRAIT OF MAN'S DIVINE NATURE .
Contusos animos et res miserabere fractas—VIHGIL . IT is recorded , as a proof of a certain intelligence in animals , by some philosophers who would almost approximate it to reason , which distinguishes the genus homo , what sagacity and sympathy they feel ( especially the canine species ) in various incidents that have occurred where they have been associated with human actions and persons . If such be the fair inference as to a superior faculty existing in the brute creation
, which may be the dormant remains of those benign qualities pervading every creature while in Paradise , how much stronger must the higher feelings which man entertains for man in their various relations of life , argue for his consanguinity , if that word may be allowed , with that Divine Intelligence which makes him but a little lower than the angels in the scale of created beings ? Oh ! ravishing reflection ! How elevating—how dignifing the idea ! What sacred interests ht such a
y oug conception to arouse in every man ' s breast for his brother in sorrow of heart—in agony of mind—reverse of fortune—with a bruised and wounded spirit ! 'Tis compassion—bland meek-eyed maiden—that infuses into the hearts of mortals those feelings of sympathy which ally them with spirits
of ethereal mould , and raise their affections for each other ' s " weal or woe" above the instinct of the insensate brute . Her soft and supplicatory appeals hush the churlish whisperings of avaricious caution , and , rekindling the quivering spark of latent pity , she moves even the callous and sordid niggard to alleviate the pangs of multiplied misfortune . This celestial excellence it was , which stealing over the heart of the Good Samaritan , prompted him in the fulness of his sympathy for
human suffering , instantly to relieve a brother man in distress , without inquiring whence he came or whither he journied ; and from the same divine source springs that " milk of human kindness" which so eminently distinguishes itself wherever pain or misery is to be found . Man , led on by the impulse of humane compassion , visits the couch of pining sickness , shrinks not from fastidious scruples to enter the abodes of obscurity and wretchednessnor fears to vindicate the wronged
, and persecuted , ever searching out the victims of calamity , affliction , and tyranny . In the receptacles of unmitigated distress , in the retreats of injured and gifted minds , his heart heaves with sympathy , soft pity ' s moistening tear bedews his manly cheek , and he hastens on the wings of affluence or the pinions of philosophy , to minister balm to the wounded spirit , or help to the forlorn and destitute . " Be ye merciful and ye
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 BHOIHBB H . B . SLADE , LL . B . " Masonry is a peculiar system of morals . " No . XLVII . —TO SYMPATHISE WITH A WOUNDED SPIRIT IS A TRAIT OF MAN'S DIVINE NATURE .
Contusos animos et res miserabere fractas—VIHGIL . IT is recorded , as a proof of a certain intelligence in animals , by some philosophers who would almost approximate it to reason , which distinguishes the genus homo , what sagacity and sympathy they feel ( especially the canine species ) in various incidents that have occurred where they have been associated with human actions and persons . If such be the fair inference as to a superior faculty existing in the brute creation
, which may be the dormant remains of those benign qualities pervading every creature while in Paradise , how much stronger must the higher feelings which man entertains for man in their various relations of life , argue for his consanguinity , if that word may be allowed , with that Divine Intelligence which makes him but a little lower than the angels in the scale of created beings ? Oh ! ravishing reflection ! How elevating—how dignifing the idea ! What sacred interests ht such a
y oug conception to arouse in every man ' s breast for his brother in sorrow of heart—in agony of mind—reverse of fortune—with a bruised and wounded spirit ! 'Tis compassion—bland meek-eyed maiden—that infuses into the hearts of mortals those feelings of sympathy which ally them with spirits
of ethereal mould , and raise their affections for each other ' s " weal or woe" above the instinct of the insensate brute . Her soft and supplicatory appeals hush the churlish whisperings of avaricious caution , and , rekindling the quivering spark of latent pity , she moves even the callous and sordid niggard to alleviate the pangs of multiplied misfortune . This celestial excellence it was , which stealing over the heart of the Good Samaritan , prompted him in the fulness of his sympathy for
human suffering , instantly to relieve a brother man in distress , without inquiring whence he came or whither he journied ; and from the same divine source springs that " milk of human kindness" which so eminently distinguishes itself wherever pain or misery is to be found . Man , led on by the impulse of humane compassion , visits the couch of pining sickness , shrinks not from fastidious scruples to enter the abodes of obscurity and wretchednessnor fears to vindicate the wronged
, and persecuted , ever searching out the victims of calamity , affliction , and tyranny . In the receptacles of unmitigated distress , in the retreats of injured and gifted minds , his heart heaves with sympathy , soft pity ' s moistening tear bedews his manly cheek , and he hastens on the wings of affluence or the pinions of philosophy , to minister balm to the wounded spirit , or help to the forlorn and destitute . " Be ye merciful and ye