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Article PROVINCIAL. ← Page 4 of 25 →
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Provincial.
belief in a God is his creed . That the wild Indian , the Hindoo , the Chinese , or any other idolater , should belong to us , is equally under- , statutable ; they have all more or less descended from those , who formerly fell away from the religion of the Jews ; they have retained a certain portion of that religion , and in almost every instance , could you but get at the real belief of their priests , you would find them pure Deists , and still at the same time worshippers of the Triangle as the most sacred of all
emblems . The descendant of Ishmael , the wild Arab of the Desert , " whose hand is against every man , and every man ' s hand against his , " will , on the dry and yellow soil of his sandy plains , meet a Brother as a Brother , ancl give him protection and safe passage on his journey I Aye , my Brethren , he will meet him as perfectly on the Points of Fellowship as it could he done in this Lodge . Perhaps the most extraordinary opposition , which our Order has ever met with has been from the Church
of Rome , and also from the Romanising party within our own Church ; on this subject , and to shew you the bitter hostility of the Church of Home towards us , I refer you all to the leading article ofthe last number of the Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine and Review , and I beg each of you , as a favour to myself , to read it . This opposition towards our Order and persecution of its members is most extraordinary , and more particularly so iu these enlightened days ; that our Order was once
petted and fostered by that Church is a matter of historical fact ; that our Order , in connection with that Church , built most of the noble and venerable ecclesiastical edifices in this and other Christian countries , is equally authentically recorded ; that our Order is loyal , both to Church ancl State is never disputed . AVhy then should we be persecuted ? but
for this , for having this , the Volume of the Sacred Law , always open in our Lodges , which we are all at liberty , and are exhorted , to study , and from which we have full license ancl scope to draw our own deductions unci conclusions . As for our opponents within our own Church , I look at them , in the same light as the Church of Rome looks at them , as imitators , and but imperfect ones of herself . i must now come more immediately home and look into the affairs of our own Province . I am glad to find thaton the wholewe are on the
, , advance , and although perhaps that advance is not so great as ! could have wished to have seen it , still it proves that our Order , and principles , are not dormant , but are still vigilant ancl active , and only require time and opportunity to bring them into full vigour ancl action . There is one point , on which I have most sincerely to congratulate the Brethren of this Province , ancl that is on the general harmony , good feeling , ancl unanimity which exists amongst them ; never yet has it been my lot to
be called on , as your Provincial Grand Alaster , to interfere in any disputes , ancl truly happy do I feel in being thus able publicly to record my testimony to this gratifying fact . Since I last hacl the pleasure of meeting you , I have hacl the honour of installing two Provincial Grand Alasters into their respective chairs , —one you well know , Bro . Vernon , the P . G . Al for Worcester , a Brother outdone by no one in his zeal for the Orderancl for his skill and ability in working the Craft ; the other
, , Dr . Bowles , P . G . Al . for Hereford ; of whom I can also say , that he is second to none in his wish and endeavour to support the real interests of the Order . Aly Brethren , I must now conclude , first thanking you for your attendance here this clay , and at the same time begging you to be active , zealous , and vigilant , and thus to shew to the uninitiated that wc are Masons in deed and in truth , and not merely in name .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Provincial.
belief in a God is his creed . That the wild Indian , the Hindoo , the Chinese , or any other idolater , should belong to us , is equally under- , statutable ; they have all more or less descended from those , who formerly fell away from the religion of the Jews ; they have retained a certain portion of that religion , and in almost every instance , could you but get at the real belief of their priests , you would find them pure Deists , and still at the same time worshippers of the Triangle as the most sacred of all
emblems . The descendant of Ishmael , the wild Arab of the Desert , " whose hand is against every man , and every man ' s hand against his , " will , on the dry and yellow soil of his sandy plains , meet a Brother as a Brother , ancl give him protection and safe passage on his journey I Aye , my Brethren , he will meet him as perfectly on the Points of Fellowship as it could he done in this Lodge . Perhaps the most extraordinary opposition , which our Order has ever met with has been from the Church
of Rome , and also from the Romanising party within our own Church ; on this subject , and to shew you the bitter hostility of the Church of Home towards us , I refer you all to the leading article ofthe last number of the Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine and Review , and I beg each of you , as a favour to myself , to read it . This opposition towards our Order and persecution of its members is most extraordinary , and more particularly so iu these enlightened days ; that our Order was once
petted and fostered by that Church is a matter of historical fact ; that our Order , in connection with that Church , built most of the noble and venerable ecclesiastical edifices in this and other Christian countries , is equally authentically recorded ; that our Order is loyal , both to Church ancl State is never disputed . AVhy then should we be persecuted ? but
for this , for having this , the Volume of the Sacred Law , always open in our Lodges , which we are all at liberty , and are exhorted , to study , and from which we have full license ancl scope to draw our own deductions unci conclusions . As for our opponents within our own Church , I look at them , in the same light as the Church of Rome looks at them , as imitators , and but imperfect ones of herself . i must now come more immediately home and look into the affairs of our own Province . I am glad to find thaton the wholewe are on the
, , advance , and although perhaps that advance is not so great as ! could have wished to have seen it , still it proves that our Order , and principles , are not dormant , but are still vigilant ancl active , and only require time and opportunity to bring them into full vigour ancl action . There is one point , on which I have most sincerely to congratulate the Brethren of this Province , ancl that is on the general harmony , good feeling , ancl unanimity which exists amongst them ; never yet has it been my lot to
be called on , as your Provincial Grand Alaster , to interfere in any disputes , ancl truly happy do I feel in being thus able publicly to record my testimony to this gratifying fact . Since I last hacl the pleasure of meeting you , I have hacl the honour of installing two Provincial Grand Alasters into their respective chairs , —one you well know , Bro . Vernon , the P . G . Al for Worcester , a Brother outdone by no one in his zeal for the Orderancl for his skill and ability in working the Craft ; the other
, , Dr . Bowles , P . G . Al . for Hereford ; of whom I can also say , that he is second to none in his wish and endeavour to support the real interests of the Order . Aly Brethren , I must now conclude , first thanking you for your attendance here this clay , and at the same time begging you to be active , zealous , and vigilant , and thus to shew to the uninitiated that wc are Masons in deed and in truth , and not merely in name .