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Article MASONIC DIDACTICS; ← Page 2 of 2
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Masonic Didactics;
No . XVI .-THE FOLLY OF JUDGING BY APPEARANCES AND THE ADVANTAGE OF EDUCATION .
" Mentem hominis spcctato . non frontem . " —SKXI : OA . " The mind is the index of the soul . "—Airmen . THE mind of man is that mysterious and incomprehensible faculty , which prevails over the whole human frame , influencing both its mental and physical functions , and rendering him , according to its cultivation or uncultivation , either a man or a beast . A very celebrated and elegant didactic writerAddison
, , compares this sine qua non of our existence to " marble in the quarry , which shows none of its inherent beauties until the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours , makes the surface shine , and discovers every ornamental cloud , spot , and vein , that runs through the body of it . " So education , when it operates upon a noble mind , draws out to view every latent virtue and perfection , which , without such artificial culture , might never be able to make their appearance . This proves that , however
great or precocious our natural endowments , they cannot supersede the necessity of being expanded and refined by education ; otherwise , like luxurious , uncultivated plants , they will degenerate and run to waste , while capacities of a meaner kind , like plants of a more ordinary class , when properly pruned , attended to , and directed , will exceed their more naturall y gifted brethren in estimation and reno ' . vn . The history of savage nations affords many briht les of a
g examp naturally endued magnanimity and heroism of soul ; and humanity laments that beings so noble b y nature should not have enjoyed the superior benefits of education . It is education which enlightens the dark and barren mind , inculcating god-like reason , and teaching us that the Deity distributes his bounteous favours with an impartial and unsparing hand , to gain whose approval and reward we must study to exhibit by our practice that virtus est optima nobilitas .
The maxim of the thesis then , united with the results of a cultivated mind , strikes keenly at the root of the dogmas of the physiognomist and the phrenologist , rendering wholly nugatory their hypotheses , and corroborating the injunction of the bospel law— "Judge not according to appearance , but judge righteous judgment . " *
ENERGV . —He who , by an intellectual and moral energy , awakens kindred energy in others , touches springs of infinite power , gives impulse to faculties to which no bound can be prescribed—begins an action which will never end . One great and kindling thought , from a retired and obscure person , may live when thrones are fallen , and the memory of those who filled them obliterated ; and , like an und ying fire , may illuminate and quicken all future generations .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Didactics;
No . XVI .-THE FOLLY OF JUDGING BY APPEARANCES AND THE ADVANTAGE OF EDUCATION .
" Mentem hominis spcctato . non frontem . " —SKXI : OA . " The mind is the index of the soul . "—Airmen . THE mind of man is that mysterious and incomprehensible faculty , which prevails over the whole human frame , influencing both its mental and physical functions , and rendering him , according to its cultivation or uncultivation , either a man or a beast . A very celebrated and elegant didactic writerAddison
, , compares this sine qua non of our existence to " marble in the quarry , which shows none of its inherent beauties until the skill of the polisher fetches out the colours , makes the surface shine , and discovers every ornamental cloud , spot , and vein , that runs through the body of it . " So education , when it operates upon a noble mind , draws out to view every latent virtue and perfection , which , without such artificial culture , might never be able to make their appearance . This proves that , however
great or precocious our natural endowments , they cannot supersede the necessity of being expanded and refined by education ; otherwise , like luxurious , uncultivated plants , they will degenerate and run to waste , while capacities of a meaner kind , like plants of a more ordinary class , when properly pruned , attended to , and directed , will exceed their more naturall y gifted brethren in estimation and reno ' . vn . The history of savage nations affords many briht les of a
g examp naturally endued magnanimity and heroism of soul ; and humanity laments that beings so noble b y nature should not have enjoyed the superior benefits of education . It is education which enlightens the dark and barren mind , inculcating god-like reason , and teaching us that the Deity distributes his bounteous favours with an impartial and unsparing hand , to gain whose approval and reward we must study to exhibit by our practice that virtus est optima nobilitas .
The maxim of the thesis then , united with the results of a cultivated mind , strikes keenly at the root of the dogmas of the physiognomist and the phrenologist , rendering wholly nugatory their hypotheses , and corroborating the injunction of the bospel law— "Judge not according to appearance , but judge righteous judgment . " *
ENERGV . —He who , by an intellectual and moral energy , awakens kindred energy in others , touches springs of infinite power , gives impulse to faculties to which no bound can be prescribed—begins an action which will never end . One great and kindling thought , from a retired and obscure person , may live when thrones are fallen , and the memory of those who filled them obliterated ; and , like an und ying fire , may illuminate and quicken all future generations .