-
Articles/Ads
Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 4 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
Jacob received the promises , ancl worshipped Gocl through the expected Mediator ; the latter of whom was favoured with a remarkable vision of the Grand Architect of the Universe , which is embodied in Freemasonry , ancl predicted on his death-bed that " the sceptre should not depart frcm Judah , nor a lawgiver from between his feet , until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering of the people he . " Job believed in the existence of a Redeemerwho " should stand at the latter clay the
, upon earth ;" and his calamities originated that sublime description of universality ivhich has been applied to the extent of the Lodge . " It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? Deeper than hell ; what canst thou know ? The measure thereof is longer than the earth ancl broader than the sea . " Pie anticipated death with the greatest satisfaction as a refuge from his sorrows , ancl the avenue through which he woulcl be admitted into the presence of his Redeemer .
" Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of Gocl than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season , esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt , for lie had respect unto the recompense of the reward . By faith he forsook Egypt , not fearing the wrath of the king , for he endured as seeing him that is invisible . " 14 This invisibility of the divine Architect forms the subject of more than one of the degrees of M . Fustier , ancl is thus illustrated , — " The great mystery is the hiddenness of the deity , the substance of all substances ; whence issue all mysteries , each representing that ivhich was its immediate producer . The greatest wonder of eternity , the
reflection of the wisdom . Everything exists , even all the forms of nature , by this reflection , as in a clear mirror , viz . light and darkness , love ancl hatred , anger and desire . " When the children of Israel were delivered from their Egyptian bondage , a circumstance which rationally accounts for the . peculiar situation of our Lodges , " they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea , and drank of that spiritual rock that followed them , and that rock was Christ , " who manifested himself to them in fire . Ancl it was from these lucid manifestations
that the Talmudical writers affirm that there are three lights in Goclthe ancient light , the pure light , and the purified light . The transactions in the wilderness are abundantly recorded in Freemasonry ; the symbolical degrees are full of them ; ancl in the system of the Aucien et accepte , three especial ones are founded on them , viz . the 23 rd , 24 th , and the 25 th , called the Chief and Prince of the Tabernacle , and Prince of Mercy , as well as the degree of Scotch Master .
If we examine the temporary dispensation of Moses—even that portion of it which has been incorporated with Freemasonry , we shall find that it had but one object in view , which was to prefigure the true plan of human redemption by the establishment of a religion which , in God ' s good time , should embrace all the inhabitants of the earth . This design is plainly avowed in the Scriptures , and not obscurely intimated in our Masonic Lectures . The priestly orders , the sanctum sanctorum , the veil of the tabernacle , the scape goat , Mount Sion , the temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel , & c . & c . were nothing more than typical institutions which point out tbe true way of salvation through Christ . And
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
Jacob received the promises , ancl worshipped Gocl through the expected Mediator ; the latter of whom was favoured with a remarkable vision of the Grand Architect of the Universe , which is embodied in Freemasonry , ancl predicted on his death-bed that " the sceptre should not depart frcm Judah , nor a lawgiver from between his feet , until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering of the people he . " Job believed in the existence of a Redeemerwho " should stand at the latter clay the
, upon earth ;" and his calamities originated that sublime description of universality ivhich has been applied to the extent of the Lodge . " It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? Deeper than hell ; what canst thou know ? The measure thereof is longer than the earth ancl broader than the sea . " Pie anticipated death with the greatest satisfaction as a refuge from his sorrows , ancl the avenue through which he woulcl be admitted into the presence of his Redeemer .
" Moses chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of Gocl than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season , esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt , for lie had respect unto the recompense of the reward . By faith he forsook Egypt , not fearing the wrath of the king , for he endured as seeing him that is invisible . " 14 This invisibility of the divine Architect forms the subject of more than one of the degrees of M . Fustier , ancl is thus illustrated , — " The great mystery is the hiddenness of the deity , the substance of all substances ; whence issue all mysteries , each representing that ivhich was its immediate producer . The greatest wonder of eternity , the
reflection of the wisdom . Everything exists , even all the forms of nature , by this reflection , as in a clear mirror , viz . light and darkness , love ancl hatred , anger and desire . " When the children of Israel were delivered from their Egyptian bondage , a circumstance which rationally accounts for the . peculiar situation of our Lodges , " they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea , and drank of that spiritual rock that followed them , and that rock was Christ , " who manifested himself to them in fire . Ancl it was from these lucid manifestations
that the Talmudical writers affirm that there are three lights in Goclthe ancient light , the pure light , and the purified light . The transactions in the wilderness are abundantly recorded in Freemasonry ; the symbolical degrees are full of them ; ancl in the system of the Aucien et accepte , three especial ones are founded on them , viz . the 23 rd , 24 th , and the 25 th , called the Chief and Prince of the Tabernacle , and Prince of Mercy , as well as the degree of Scotch Master .
If we examine the temporary dispensation of Moses—even that portion of it which has been incorporated with Freemasonry , we shall find that it had but one object in view , which was to prefigure the true plan of human redemption by the establishment of a religion which , in God ' s good time , should embrace all the inhabitants of the earth . This design is plainly avowed in the Scriptures , and not obscurely intimated in our Masonic Lectures . The priestly orders , the sanctum sanctorum , the veil of the tabernacle , the scape goat , Mount Sion , the temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel , & c . & c . were nothing more than typical institutions which point out tbe true way of salvation through Christ . And