Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Thought.
THOUGHT .
IN the nineteenth century , in a country proud of its advancement in the arena of civilization , its laws bearing testimony to the liberal sentiments which pervade the minds of its legislators ; wielding in no inconsiderable degree the destinies , and influencing the manners and feelings of , far-off nations ; standing deservedly high in moral attainment , notwithstanding the prophecies of evil with ivhich an interested community have deluged our land ; each succeeding day bearing on the wings of science newldiscovered truth
some y- , or developing to a far higher degree the beauties of those with which the store-houses of the mind are already so amply furnished ; its institutions of benevolence and good , like a vast and mighty forest , thickly studding every portion , even the remotest hand ' s breadth of its surface ; yet , with all these advantages and proud boastings of its venial historians , has it been deemed , if not indispensable , at least advisable , to send forth to the world the principles of our Order under the garb of—FREEMASONRY VINDICATED .
Where the necessity of vindicating the society that has grappled with the fierceness of barbarism , and flinched not from the death-stru ^ e with the arm of the despot ; that through succeeding ages has remained unscathed by the lightning flash , unmoved h y the tempest ; that has fawned not for the smiles , nor shrunk from the frown of its unyielding and pitiless foes ; that has withstood the water-floods ivhich laid prostrate the proudest efforts of man , and while empires and systems have told their in the
instability changes which have fast crowded on each other , has gone on its undeviating way , and if any new feature has been observed m its appearance , it has been only an addition to the bright and glorious halo b y which it has ever been encompassed , telling many a . joy to the hearts of its members , and bearing incontrovertible witness to the uninitiated world of the beauty of its character , and the purity of its hopes . As well mi ht think of vindicating virtue from the
_ gye calumny of vice , admitted as it is by all , that whatever the ceremonies which are necessary to the admittance of a newly made Brother , and whatever the subject of privacy and concealment , yet its institutions of chanty are grand and redeeming qualities , sufficient of themselves to interest and command the esteem of every candid and ri ght judging
Oh ! it is a spint-moviiig scene to witness the ricli flow of sentiment ana love existing m the bosoms of each of our Brotherhood , and it does me heart good to see ranged beneath the same banner , man in all the various shades of character and diversity of situation ! In holy synod , , - ™ f J 10 Se soulshrinks not from the grappling with truths of import the most stupendous— " to whose mind nothing is too magu ™ L" r . t ^ ? n ? r to 0 minute for its inspection , " and he whose utmos . stretch of thought scarce enters the threshold of human acquire
- rfM « f rtf » l ? ' - F / . lock . Proclaim how many a summer ' s sun has gilded the heyday of his existence , but whose utmost efforts are now unequal to the task of plucking from his forehead " the blossoms of " le gave and he whose eye glistens with the hope that still beckons him on , and whose cheek is unsullied b y the drop of a tear ; and the S nous man , who would for a while throw aside the care ; ivhicli hai- so vol ,, m .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Thought.
THOUGHT .
IN the nineteenth century , in a country proud of its advancement in the arena of civilization , its laws bearing testimony to the liberal sentiments which pervade the minds of its legislators ; wielding in no inconsiderable degree the destinies , and influencing the manners and feelings of , far-off nations ; standing deservedly high in moral attainment , notwithstanding the prophecies of evil with ivhich an interested community have deluged our land ; each succeeding day bearing on the wings of science newldiscovered truth
some y- , or developing to a far higher degree the beauties of those with which the store-houses of the mind are already so amply furnished ; its institutions of benevolence and good , like a vast and mighty forest , thickly studding every portion , even the remotest hand ' s breadth of its surface ; yet , with all these advantages and proud boastings of its venial historians , has it been deemed , if not indispensable , at least advisable , to send forth to the world the principles of our Order under the garb of—FREEMASONRY VINDICATED .
Where the necessity of vindicating the society that has grappled with the fierceness of barbarism , and flinched not from the death-stru ^ e with the arm of the despot ; that through succeeding ages has remained unscathed by the lightning flash , unmoved h y the tempest ; that has fawned not for the smiles , nor shrunk from the frown of its unyielding and pitiless foes ; that has withstood the water-floods ivhich laid prostrate the proudest efforts of man , and while empires and systems have told their in the
instability changes which have fast crowded on each other , has gone on its undeviating way , and if any new feature has been observed m its appearance , it has been only an addition to the bright and glorious halo b y which it has ever been encompassed , telling many a . joy to the hearts of its members , and bearing incontrovertible witness to the uninitiated world of the beauty of its character , and the purity of its hopes . As well mi ht think of vindicating virtue from the
_ gye calumny of vice , admitted as it is by all , that whatever the ceremonies which are necessary to the admittance of a newly made Brother , and whatever the subject of privacy and concealment , yet its institutions of chanty are grand and redeeming qualities , sufficient of themselves to interest and command the esteem of every candid and ri ght judging
Oh ! it is a spint-moviiig scene to witness the ricli flow of sentiment ana love existing m the bosoms of each of our Brotherhood , and it does me heart good to see ranged beneath the same banner , man in all the various shades of character and diversity of situation ! In holy synod , , - ™ f J 10 Se soulshrinks not from the grappling with truths of import the most stupendous— " to whose mind nothing is too magu ™ L" r . t ^ ? n ? r to 0 minute for its inspection , " and he whose utmos . stretch of thought scarce enters the threshold of human acquire
- rfM « f rtf » l ? ' - F / . lock . Proclaim how many a summer ' s sun has gilded the heyday of his existence , but whose utmost efforts are now unequal to the task of plucking from his forehead " the blossoms of " le gave and he whose eye glistens with the hope that still beckons him on , and whose cheek is unsullied b y the drop of a tear ; and the S nous man , who would for a while throw aside the care ; ivhicli hai- so vol ,, m .