Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Thoughts On The Distress In Scotland And Ireland.
Quebec , he gilds svith his rising splendour the golden minarets of tlie Hast . It may be asked then , can such a language , familiar hy one common key to men of the most opposite characters , and denizens of the most remote lands , fail to achieve its mighty end—the moral regeneration of mankind , by curbing the passions , opening the sluices of the human heart , and pouring upon the path of life the svaters that refresh the feebleand make the strong man still strongerboth mentalland
, , y physically ? This svork has never yet failed to attain its beneficent end , not by public parade , not by exciting idle and unmeaning curiosity , but by the exercise of an inexhaustible benevolence , co-equal , in posver and interest , svith its boundless intellectuality and unfathomable love of all mankind , svithout distinction of country , kin , or colour . Yet there are certain portions of the British dominions in svhich Freemasonry has especially pursued its career of usefulnessmaking men more deepl
, y sensible of the duties incumbent upon them as rational , responsible , and intellectual beings , to become the friend and helper rather than the foe and destroyer of their fellosv-men , no matter under svhat circumstances they might appeal for assistance , and in utter rejection of all exclusiveness—no matter svhether or not they svere among the favoured sons of that speculative science svhich includes the essential features of all other sciencesas teaching men the hiher duties of social lifeThe knosv
, g . - ledge of hosv largely the countries to svhich I have alluded have gone hand in hand svith us in our onsvard march of morality and truth , must appeal svith irresistible force alike to our hearts and minds , more particularly at a season like the present , svhen by a most asvful visitation of Providence , famine , starvation , and death , are becoming as familiar to the of
sight man as the dasvn and setting of the solar light . The portions of the British empire in svhich these sad and disastrous scenes are to be svitnessed , have , from the earliest history of Freemasonry , been among the most prosperous and uncompromising of its fraternal territories , —and therefore , from deep gratitude for the past , and , judg ing from the past , full of anticipation for the futuie , let us hasten , as members of a confederation knosvn throughout the svhole civilizetl globe for its nobility of to
purpose , express our sympathy for those svho are thus heart-stricken and dying from sheer hunger . They have claims upon all local sections of the general Masonic community to svhich it cannot , for its osvn sake , manifest the least supineness . ' its members are knosvn to profess much—the moment for putting their profession into practice has nosv arrived , surrounded by circumstances of the most heart-rending character . Thousands of the human family , in the very centre of tsvo fruitful lands of Masonic union , are famishing from svant . The antiquity of Freemasonry , its mental attractions , its ° eletnents of
Harmonious combination , are not exclusively appealed to ; but its boasted benevolence is asked , in a manner that can neither be misunderstood nor neglected , to unloose its purse-strings , antl to send its argosies across the svaters to lands svhich have knosvn svith England ( the " great home of the Craft ) the blessedness of those fraternal principles that , under ordinary circumstances , like the dove svhich Noah sent forth , bear the olive-branch of peace to all the svorld , and add much to national and domestic happinessbdiscouraging all mindedness of conten
, y narrosv- - tion , and by meeting the awful vicissitudes of death and deprivation . Let us then regard the present position of our Scottish and Irish fields of Masonic labour , svith a determination to uphold the high reputation of our Craft for svorks of purity and . goodness . Let us , like hopeful
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Thoughts On The Distress In Scotland And Ireland.
Quebec , he gilds svith his rising splendour the golden minarets of tlie Hast . It may be asked then , can such a language , familiar hy one common key to men of the most opposite characters , and denizens of the most remote lands , fail to achieve its mighty end—the moral regeneration of mankind , by curbing the passions , opening the sluices of the human heart , and pouring upon the path of life the svaters that refresh the feebleand make the strong man still strongerboth mentalland
, , y physically ? This svork has never yet failed to attain its beneficent end , not by public parade , not by exciting idle and unmeaning curiosity , but by the exercise of an inexhaustible benevolence , co-equal , in posver and interest , svith its boundless intellectuality and unfathomable love of all mankind , svithout distinction of country , kin , or colour . Yet there are certain portions of the British dominions in svhich Freemasonry has especially pursued its career of usefulnessmaking men more deepl
, y sensible of the duties incumbent upon them as rational , responsible , and intellectual beings , to become the friend and helper rather than the foe and destroyer of their fellosv-men , no matter under svhat circumstances they might appeal for assistance , and in utter rejection of all exclusiveness—no matter svhether or not they svere among the favoured sons of that speculative science svhich includes the essential features of all other sciencesas teaching men the hiher duties of social lifeThe knosv
, g . - ledge of hosv largely the countries to svhich I have alluded have gone hand in hand svith us in our onsvard march of morality and truth , must appeal svith irresistible force alike to our hearts and minds , more particularly at a season like the present , svhen by a most asvful visitation of Providence , famine , starvation , and death , are becoming as familiar to the of
sight man as the dasvn and setting of the solar light . The portions of the British empire in svhich these sad and disastrous scenes are to be svitnessed , have , from the earliest history of Freemasonry , been among the most prosperous and uncompromising of its fraternal territories , —and therefore , from deep gratitude for the past , and , judg ing from the past , full of anticipation for the futuie , let us hasten , as members of a confederation knosvn throughout the svhole civilizetl globe for its nobility of to
purpose , express our sympathy for those svho are thus heart-stricken and dying from sheer hunger . They have claims upon all local sections of the general Masonic community to svhich it cannot , for its osvn sake , manifest the least supineness . ' its members are knosvn to profess much—the moment for putting their profession into practice has nosv arrived , surrounded by circumstances of the most heart-rending character . Thousands of the human family , in the very centre of tsvo fruitful lands of Masonic union , are famishing from svant . The antiquity of Freemasonry , its mental attractions , its ° eletnents of
Harmonious combination , are not exclusively appealed to ; but its boasted benevolence is asked , in a manner that can neither be misunderstood nor neglected , to unloose its purse-strings , antl to send its argosies across the svaters to lands svhich have knosvn svith England ( the " great home of the Craft ) the blessedness of those fraternal principles that , under ordinary circumstances , like the dove svhich Noah sent forth , bear the olive-branch of peace to all the svorld , and add much to national and domestic happinessbdiscouraging all mindedness of conten
, y narrosv- - tion , and by meeting the awful vicissitudes of death and deprivation . Let us then regard the present position of our Scottish and Irish fields of Masonic labour , svith a determination to uphold the high reputation of our Craft for svorks of purity and . goodness . Let us , like hopeful