Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
learning , his polished elegance , and his eloquence ; from me you can expect none of these things . We labour too under the disadvantages of numerical deficiency . Nor do we appear before you with the usual paraphernalia of the Order ; but we were asked to assist , and we have readily yielded to the request , and I hereby tender my thanks to many of the brethren who have attended from a distance with some inconvenience to themselves ; hut like worthMasonsthe summons was issued
y , and they have rallied round the banner . The ceremony , which you have just witnessed , is time honoured , and has been , as our records ancl traditions tell us , in use for ages . We are the successors of those , who have , for thousands of years , adorned all parts of the world with stately and superb edifices . Our traditions trace back our origin to a period long anterior to the creation of the superb temple of King Solomon ; since then our Order appears in an indubitably
well organized form ; avid from that period , the existence of the Craft is distinctly traceable to the present day . It is to the ancient Order to which we belong , that is due the construction ofthe noble cathedrals which adorn our own native home as well as foreign countries . Authentic records , not confined to the perusal of Masons , exist to support this assertion ; which is further borne out by the perpetually recurring masonic markssigns and symbolsfound thereinand which are readil
, , , y recognized by the practiced eye of the craftsman . The same or similar marks are to be seen depicted in the delineations ofthe marbles excavated in Syria and Egypt , and tend to corroborate our traditions of the existence of Masonry in days older than those to which it is distinctly traceable . Its universality is manifest from the vast extent of the globe , in which its vestiges are found ; nor are we in this land without our
witnesses , from the most ancient temple to that superb specimen of art , the Taj at Agra . A society thus widely extended , and existing for such a time , cannot be devoid of utility and excellence , nor should the customs and usages which have been handed down among such a people be regarded lightly . 1 have said thus much to illustrate , that the ceremony this day performed , has its peculiar meaning , besides the obvious one which is manifest . Time would fail me were I to enter minutely into the explanations which I miht here offerbut one demonstration of
g , what may seem strange is afforded by a reference to his writings , who says , " let the lifting up of my hands be as an evening sacrifice . " And now , before I allude to the more immediate business of this clay , allow me on this occasion to say a few words on the subject of the principles on which the Craft is founded , and which have been the subject of much misapprehension , and consequent misrepresentation ; and that too on the part of some whom I most sincerely respectesteem and love .
, We have been charged with being a society of anti-christian , irreligious and idolatrous . As to the charge of idolatry , it is too absurd to need the trouble of refutation , wherefore I shall on that head say no more . The other two charges , however , are of a grave and momentous character , and deserve consideration . And here I must say , that our accusers have acted towards us with some want of consideration . Had they referred to our published books—books written by the learned of
our Order—books open to them as to us , they would have discovered the leading principles of our Craft . In those principles they would have found nothing anti-christian nor irreligious . As to that part of our order which takes place within the lodge walls , and which we cannot reveal , of that our accusers could have had no opportunity of judging . VOL . vi . p
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
learning , his polished elegance , and his eloquence ; from me you can expect none of these things . We labour too under the disadvantages of numerical deficiency . Nor do we appear before you with the usual paraphernalia of the Order ; but we were asked to assist , and we have readily yielded to the request , and I hereby tender my thanks to many of the brethren who have attended from a distance with some inconvenience to themselves ; hut like worthMasonsthe summons was issued
y , and they have rallied round the banner . The ceremony , which you have just witnessed , is time honoured , and has been , as our records ancl traditions tell us , in use for ages . We are the successors of those , who have , for thousands of years , adorned all parts of the world with stately and superb edifices . Our traditions trace back our origin to a period long anterior to the creation of the superb temple of King Solomon ; since then our Order appears in an indubitably
well organized form ; avid from that period , the existence of the Craft is distinctly traceable to the present day . It is to the ancient Order to which we belong , that is due the construction ofthe noble cathedrals which adorn our own native home as well as foreign countries . Authentic records , not confined to the perusal of Masons , exist to support this assertion ; which is further borne out by the perpetually recurring masonic markssigns and symbolsfound thereinand which are readil
, , , y recognized by the practiced eye of the craftsman . The same or similar marks are to be seen depicted in the delineations ofthe marbles excavated in Syria and Egypt , and tend to corroborate our traditions of the existence of Masonry in days older than those to which it is distinctly traceable . Its universality is manifest from the vast extent of the globe , in which its vestiges are found ; nor are we in this land without our
witnesses , from the most ancient temple to that superb specimen of art , the Taj at Agra . A society thus widely extended , and existing for such a time , cannot be devoid of utility and excellence , nor should the customs and usages which have been handed down among such a people be regarded lightly . 1 have said thus much to illustrate , that the ceremony this day performed , has its peculiar meaning , besides the obvious one which is manifest . Time would fail me were I to enter minutely into the explanations which I miht here offerbut one demonstration of
g , what may seem strange is afforded by a reference to his writings , who says , " let the lifting up of my hands be as an evening sacrifice . " And now , before I allude to the more immediate business of this clay , allow me on this occasion to say a few words on the subject of the principles on which the Craft is founded , and which have been the subject of much misapprehension , and consequent misrepresentation ; and that too on the part of some whom I most sincerely respectesteem and love .
, We have been charged with being a society of anti-christian , irreligious and idolatrous . As to the charge of idolatry , it is too absurd to need the trouble of refutation , wherefore I shall on that head say no more . The other two charges , however , are of a grave and momentous character , and deserve consideration . And here I must say , that our accusers have acted towards us with some want of consideration . Had they referred to our published books—books written by the learned of
our Order—books open to them as to us , they would have discovered the leading principles of our Craft . In those principles they would have found nothing anti-christian nor irreligious . As to that part of our order which takes place within the lodge walls , and which we cannot reveal , of that our accusers could have had no opportunity of judging . VOL . vi . p