Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions. *
means . And it is true , that they were the masters of a science beyond the acquisition of other men . Nor did the avowal , that it had been attained by intense study and application , abate the suspicion with which their secret meetings were regarded . Men are always jealous of those who have outstripped them in the walks of science and learning .
Envy is a powerful affection of the mind ; and , as has been beautifully observed , attends upon merit as its shadow . The master-mind which governs and directs the will of others at his pleasure , must expect detraction , as the price of his superiority . And slander and detraction are opposed to the princiles of Freemasonry . But it was not the Freemason
p who practised it . It was . the cowan who envied him ; , and it did operate unfavourably , even in the face of his immortal productions . But the cautious secresy of the Craft in those ages , was used to prevent the great principles of science , by which
their reputation was secured and maintained , from being publicly known . Even the workmen—the E . A . P . ' s—the F . C . 's , were unacquainted with the secret and refined mechanism which cemented and imparted the treasures of wisdom . They were profoundly ignorant of the wisdom which planned—the beauty which designed—and knew only
the strength and labour which executed the work . The doctrine of the pressure and counter-pressure of complicated arches was a mystery which they never attempted to penetrate . They were blind instruments in the hands of intelligent Master Masons , and completed the most sublime undertakings by the effect of mere mechanical skill and
physical power;—without being able to comprehend the secret which produced them;—without understanding the nice adjustment of the members of a building to each other , so necessary to accomplish a striking and permanent effect ; —or without being able to enter into the science exhibited in the complicated details which were necessary to form a harmonious and proportionate whole .
The masters of the work were thus figuratively said to form their Lodges on the highest of hills , or in the lowest of valleys , that they might enter—without fear of interruption , from the jealousy of the people on the one hand , or the curiosity of the more ambitious fellow-crafts on the otheron those abstruse calculations which were necessary to carry on the work with credit to themselves , and advantage to their employers ; and to complete the drawings on their seve-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. Evidences, Doctrines, And Traditions. *
means . And it is true , that they were the masters of a science beyond the acquisition of other men . Nor did the avowal , that it had been attained by intense study and application , abate the suspicion with which their secret meetings were regarded . Men are always jealous of those who have outstripped them in the walks of science and learning .
Envy is a powerful affection of the mind ; and , as has been beautifully observed , attends upon merit as its shadow . The master-mind which governs and directs the will of others at his pleasure , must expect detraction , as the price of his superiority . And slander and detraction are opposed to the princiles of Freemasonry . But it was not the Freemason
p who practised it . It was . the cowan who envied him ; , and it did operate unfavourably , even in the face of his immortal productions . But the cautious secresy of the Craft in those ages , was used to prevent the great principles of science , by which
their reputation was secured and maintained , from being publicly known . Even the workmen—the E . A . P . ' s—the F . C . 's , were unacquainted with the secret and refined mechanism which cemented and imparted the treasures of wisdom . They were profoundly ignorant of the wisdom which planned—the beauty which designed—and knew only
the strength and labour which executed the work . The doctrine of the pressure and counter-pressure of complicated arches was a mystery which they never attempted to penetrate . They were blind instruments in the hands of intelligent Master Masons , and completed the most sublime undertakings by the effect of mere mechanical skill and
physical power;—without being able to comprehend the secret which produced them;—without understanding the nice adjustment of the members of a building to each other , so necessary to accomplish a striking and permanent effect ; —or without being able to enter into the science exhibited in the complicated details which were necessary to form a harmonious and proportionate whole .
The masters of the work were thus figuratively said to form their Lodges on the highest of hills , or in the lowest of valleys , that they might enter—without fear of interruption , from the jealousy of the people on the one hand , or the curiosity of the more ambitious fellow-crafts on the otheron those abstruse calculations which were necessary to carry on the work with credit to themselves , and advantage to their employers ; and to complete the drawings on their seve-