Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Country Rector's Easter Visit To His Rustic Parishioners.
The following morning was spent in commemorating that act of Jewish bigotry , intolerance , and ignorance , the crucifixion of our Lord , and administering His last simple , solemn , and affecting rite of the remembrance of Him to a few pious inmates of that charming village . The offices of our holy church on that particular day are full of the most solemn and affecting incidents in the history of our blessed Redeemer . They excite always in me the most soul-subduing
emotions . They picture 10 my mind the most fearful images of the cruelties and barbarities miserable man is capable of , under the influence of fanaticism , and the horrible tragedies he has acted in various ages under the sanctified pretensions of reli gion ! Oh ! that what is the ehiefest blessing to the faithful worshipper of the Jehovah should he made an instrument of anathemas and uiaranathas of man against man . Alas ) that the grand apostolic doctrine— " God is no respecter of persons : "
and that "in every nation , he who worsbippeth Ilim in spirit and in truth , and worketh ri ghteousness , is accepted of Ilim" is so frequently lost sight of , and the doctrine of demons rather made the standard of man ' s excellence among men ! But such is historical truth—not any reflection of a morbid imagination . And , be it written , to the everlastingshame ot die present age , even that in large communities , when a minister of Christ first conies among them to enter upon his holy vocation , it is
not enquired . —Do you deliver the message of the Gospel in all its truthfulness and heart-searching plainness ?—is he a man so persuaded of the serious responsibilities of the pastoral office , that he is prepared to " spend and be spent" in the service of Christ , and the bringing of many souls to the knowledge of the one thing needful , with all its mental , moral , and civilising effects , amongst the dense heathen masses of populous manufacturing towns . No be it recordedto the reproach
;— , of such professing Christian communities—the question put is , " Pray , sir , what are your politics ? " and , if you be not precisely ready to fall down and worship the golden image which these modern hydra-headed Nebuchadnezzars please , in their wisdom and partisan spirit , to set up , your other professional qualifications , however sterling or gifted they may be , shall be cried down ; and yourself probably become the victim of cabal , intrigue , and persecution .
'Tis a melancholy feature this in the economy of the social system . But " ' tis true—most true ! " and therefore fit to be chronicled in the emanations of a Freemason ' s pen . Masonry , bright offspring of wisdom , knows no such paltry discords and distinctions . Under the starry canopy of her universal temple , all orders , degrees , and grades of mankind are placed upon a moral level , and estimated and preferred according to their progress in virtue , and their attainments in the hidden mysteries
of nature and science . M y afternoon this day glided away in the midst of these cogitations , and the evening found me reposing in an entranced contemplation at the loveliness of the scene from my dining-room window , where 1 sat ensconced in a luxurious easy chair , sipping a rich glass of sherry , and what else ?—guess , Brother—working in the tiled lodge of memory the mysterious ritual of the Craft ! The morning of Easter Day broke upon my slumbers with the
brilliant radiance of a general and renovating spring . All nature seemed to unite in a chorus of hallelujah , to hail the joyful festival of our Lord ' s Resurrection , which vindicated the truth of His mission , dissipated the doubts of philosophy , and established the assurance of His having " brought life and immortality" to His people . My worthy brother
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Country Rector's Easter Visit To His Rustic Parishioners.
The following morning was spent in commemorating that act of Jewish bigotry , intolerance , and ignorance , the crucifixion of our Lord , and administering His last simple , solemn , and affecting rite of the remembrance of Him to a few pious inmates of that charming village . The offices of our holy church on that particular day are full of the most solemn and affecting incidents in the history of our blessed Redeemer . They excite always in me the most soul-subduing
emotions . They picture 10 my mind the most fearful images of the cruelties and barbarities miserable man is capable of , under the influence of fanaticism , and the horrible tragedies he has acted in various ages under the sanctified pretensions of reli gion ! Oh ! that what is the ehiefest blessing to the faithful worshipper of the Jehovah should he made an instrument of anathemas and uiaranathas of man against man . Alas ) that the grand apostolic doctrine— " God is no respecter of persons : "
and that "in every nation , he who worsbippeth Ilim in spirit and in truth , and worketh ri ghteousness , is accepted of Ilim" is so frequently lost sight of , and the doctrine of demons rather made the standard of man ' s excellence among men ! But such is historical truth—not any reflection of a morbid imagination . And , be it written , to the everlastingshame ot die present age , even that in large communities , when a minister of Christ first conies among them to enter upon his holy vocation , it is
not enquired . —Do you deliver the message of the Gospel in all its truthfulness and heart-searching plainness ?—is he a man so persuaded of the serious responsibilities of the pastoral office , that he is prepared to " spend and be spent" in the service of Christ , and the bringing of many souls to the knowledge of the one thing needful , with all its mental , moral , and civilising effects , amongst the dense heathen masses of populous manufacturing towns . No be it recordedto the reproach
;— , of such professing Christian communities—the question put is , " Pray , sir , what are your politics ? " and , if you be not precisely ready to fall down and worship the golden image which these modern hydra-headed Nebuchadnezzars please , in their wisdom and partisan spirit , to set up , your other professional qualifications , however sterling or gifted they may be , shall be cried down ; and yourself probably become the victim of cabal , intrigue , and persecution .
'Tis a melancholy feature this in the economy of the social system . But " ' tis true—most true ! " and therefore fit to be chronicled in the emanations of a Freemason ' s pen . Masonry , bright offspring of wisdom , knows no such paltry discords and distinctions . Under the starry canopy of her universal temple , all orders , degrees , and grades of mankind are placed upon a moral level , and estimated and preferred according to their progress in virtue , and their attainments in the hidden mysteries
of nature and science . M y afternoon this day glided away in the midst of these cogitations , and the evening found me reposing in an entranced contemplation at the loveliness of the scene from my dining-room window , where 1 sat ensconced in a luxurious easy chair , sipping a rich glass of sherry , and what else ?—guess , Brother—working in the tiled lodge of memory the mysterious ritual of the Craft ! The morning of Easter Day broke upon my slumbers with the
brilliant radiance of a general and renovating spring . All nature seemed to unite in a chorus of hallelujah , to hail the joyful festival of our Lord ' s Resurrection , which vindicated the truth of His mission , dissipated the doubts of philosophy , and established the assurance of His having " brought life and immortality" to His people . My worthy brother