Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Thoughts On The Distress In Scotland And Ireland.
requiem chime , —its touching peal from the ivy-hosvered tosvers of some venerable pile , and from iron tongues anointed ssith " sacred chrism " svh ether breaking upon the stillness of eventide , or the full vitality of mid-day , tells the same tale— " Defunctos ploro , " and reminds us , svith picus melancholy , that another child of frail humanity has rendered up his soul to eternal repose ; that some widosved matron follosvs his bier with mourning accents ; that the laughing voice of childhood is arrested in its joyousness ; and that
' O ' er some loved grassy grave , as angels mourn , In tearless grief she weeps o ' er memory ^ eypress'd urn ; " or again , that the full force of piety resigns its buried hopes—gilds all loves , affections , smiles , and tears of the past , svith the radiance of memory and peaceful resignation ; for
" Behold I there lingers in that tearful eye Hope ' s roseate light , commixed with clouds and storms ; 1 hat ardent gaze is fixed upon that sky , _ SV'hrise balsam calms Ihe bosom ' s wild alarms . Tiie faith to meet again tlie chill heart warms ; The beaming eye succeeds the darkling tear ; SS'hile glory shews those disembodied forms , Tenants ofhe . iven seem looking down so dear , As though to tinge with , beams grey hairs still lingering here . "
This music of the same bells svhich decorate our day of joy add , as it svere , their sacred consolation to our hour of death , and gain the suffrages of those svho have not felt the svithering pressure of his ice-bound hand , for our repose in that svorld of spirits svhere the immortal essence of man , if he hath lived " the life , " advances into close communings svith DEITY . _ To add , however , to the other sad disfigurement of a providential visitation , all those Catholic feelings of social intercourse are of in Ireland
necessity , , nosv set at naught , and life passes asvay from its frail tenement so noiselessly , yet so hastily and so extensively , that human beings are consigned to unconsecrated graves , " unknelled , uncoffined , and unknosvn . " The holiest ties of consanguinity implore in vain the suffrages of ordinary sympathy—the pathetic lament touching some harmonising chord but to make it fall discordantly upon ears attuned to music from the loftier spheres of heavenly charity ; and , in the midst of a land , svhose praises have been sung to sacred harps , mournful desolation spreads over nature ' s charms and bounties , its svintry haze .
In conclusion , let us , in full appreciation of the Catholic benevolence of the age in svhich sve live , reflect , calmly and svisely , upon one leading feature of our mystical combination , and mark the bearings of that charity svhich consists not in adding one drop to the boundless ocean of pecuniary benevolence that laves svith its invigorating svaters the otherwise barren svaste of poverty and destitution , but in cherishing that humane consideration for the deeds of others , upon svhom for a time rest the sti
may gma of popular indignation , ( too frequently the result of popular misconception)—and in endeavouring , rather than fight the battle of the strong , to stem tlie title of vindictive svarfare svith the arm of justice , ever remembering that right is not ahvays svith the soldiers of might , but too frequently with the humble and oppressed . I he history of mankind is replete with diversified passions and unjustifiable hatred—the natural consequence of hasty condemnation or misbegotten zeal , or a proneness to seek notoriety though it be in evil ; nor is the history of Freemasonry exempt from these occasional inroads upon its sacred foundations—its solemn mystic obligations .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Thoughts On The Distress In Scotland And Ireland.
requiem chime , —its touching peal from the ivy-hosvered tosvers of some venerable pile , and from iron tongues anointed ssith " sacred chrism " svh ether breaking upon the stillness of eventide , or the full vitality of mid-day , tells the same tale— " Defunctos ploro , " and reminds us , svith picus melancholy , that another child of frail humanity has rendered up his soul to eternal repose ; that some widosved matron follosvs his bier with mourning accents ; that the laughing voice of childhood is arrested in its joyousness ; and that
' O ' er some loved grassy grave , as angels mourn , In tearless grief she weeps o ' er memory ^ eypress'd urn ; " or again , that the full force of piety resigns its buried hopes—gilds all loves , affections , smiles , and tears of the past , svith the radiance of memory and peaceful resignation ; for
" Behold I there lingers in that tearful eye Hope ' s roseate light , commixed with clouds and storms ; 1 hat ardent gaze is fixed upon that sky , _ SV'hrise balsam calms Ihe bosom ' s wild alarms . Tiie faith to meet again tlie chill heart warms ; The beaming eye succeeds the darkling tear ; SS'hile glory shews those disembodied forms , Tenants ofhe . iven seem looking down so dear , As though to tinge with , beams grey hairs still lingering here . "
This music of the same bells svhich decorate our day of joy add , as it svere , their sacred consolation to our hour of death , and gain the suffrages of those svho have not felt the svithering pressure of his ice-bound hand , for our repose in that svorld of spirits svhere the immortal essence of man , if he hath lived " the life , " advances into close communings svith DEITY . _ To add , however , to the other sad disfigurement of a providential visitation , all those Catholic feelings of social intercourse are of in Ireland
necessity , , nosv set at naught , and life passes asvay from its frail tenement so noiselessly , yet so hastily and so extensively , that human beings are consigned to unconsecrated graves , " unknelled , uncoffined , and unknosvn . " The holiest ties of consanguinity implore in vain the suffrages of ordinary sympathy—the pathetic lament touching some harmonising chord but to make it fall discordantly upon ears attuned to music from the loftier spheres of heavenly charity ; and , in the midst of a land , svhose praises have been sung to sacred harps , mournful desolation spreads over nature ' s charms and bounties , its svintry haze .
In conclusion , let us , in full appreciation of the Catholic benevolence of the age in svhich sve live , reflect , calmly and svisely , upon one leading feature of our mystical combination , and mark the bearings of that charity svhich consists not in adding one drop to the boundless ocean of pecuniary benevolence that laves svith its invigorating svaters the otherwise barren svaste of poverty and destitution , but in cherishing that humane consideration for the deeds of others , upon svhom for a time rest the sti
may gma of popular indignation , ( too frequently the result of popular misconception)—and in endeavouring , rather than fight the battle of the strong , to stem tlie title of vindictive svarfare svith the arm of justice , ever remembering that right is not ahvays svith the soldiers of might , but too frequently with the humble and oppressed . I he history of mankind is replete with diversified passions and unjustifiable hatred—the natural consequence of hasty condemnation or misbegotten zeal , or a proneness to seek notoriety though it be in evil ; nor is the history of Freemasonry exempt from these occasional inroads upon its sacred foundations—its solemn mystic obligations .