Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
nation . All men who are not atheists may belong to it . To keep harmony among heterogeneous materials like this , it is absolutely necessary that we should mutually consent to drop allusions to that on which all coulcl not agree , that is religious topics . The nature of our society compels their exclusion . But does , therefore , my entry into a lodge necessarily make me anti-Christian , or less a Christian ? It surely does not so . There exist in Englandand in this country numerous societies
, associated for the purpose of promoting various ends , literary , scientific , religious and charitable ; ancl these are formed hymen of many nations , religions and colours : if in these societies the ball of contention , in the shape of religious faith , were thrown , all unanimity would cease ; hy common consent this stumbling block is avoided , ancl no imputation is cast on the society . Why may we not have the same privilege ? why may not we do the same thing without having affixed to us the
appellation anti-Christian and irreligious ? No , sir , after very matuie reflection I am fully convinced that those who have used the terms on which I have animadverted , have scarcely used us fairly . Their arguments will not stand the test of reason or revelation . There is nothing in the principles inculcated in Alasonry which can anti-Christianize a man ; there is much to civilize and refine
him ; ancl though we do not profess to make Christians , yet Masonry , properly carried out , renders a man ' s mind as much like that of a Christian , as , without revelation , it can be . It is like the photographic plate after manipulation , duly prepared and rendered sensible , ready to receive the image which may fall on it . But now I turn from these things , which I have for the honour of the Craft deemed it necessary to say , to the more immediate object of this meeting . The occasion is one of peculiar gratification to all
present , to me it is most especially so . I see a large ancl highly respectable body assembled to celebrate an event fraught with consequences of the greatest importance to this great ancl interesting city . Nor am I less gratified at the presence of the galaxy of beauty which adorns this meeting . Ancl here I speak with some trepidation , for I fear I am treading on tender ground . I am very much afraid that the ladies look upon us with no favourable for we do not admit them to our lodges . For
eyes , my own part , I am of those who look forward , in the progress of civilization , to the time when our lodge doors will be more widely open , and we will hail our sisters in Masonry even as our brothers . In the mean time , and till then , you must permit me to assure you that no one possesses a more true reverence for , and admiration of , the sex than a genuine Mason . We all agree with the poet in his admirable
lines" Without the smile from partial beauty won , Oh what were man ? a world without a sun . " And let me again assure you , in the words of a very old ode , duly chaunted at the introduction of every new made Mason" No mortal canmore the ladies adore , Than a Free and an Accepted Mason . " It is in the important city of Benares that the first Provincial Grand
Lodge has been held for the purpose of laying the foundation stone of any public edifice . The many affluent and highly respectable native gentlemen who surround me , show the interest which they feel in the undertaking ; nor is it the least of the gratifications which 1 feel , to find associated in this duty his highness the Rajah of Benares ; an eminently
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
India.
nation . All men who are not atheists may belong to it . To keep harmony among heterogeneous materials like this , it is absolutely necessary that we should mutually consent to drop allusions to that on which all coulcl not agree , that is religious topics . The nature of our society compels their exclusion . But does , therefore , my entry into a lodge necessarily make me anti-Christian , or less a Christian ? It surely does not so . There exist in Englandand in this country numerous societies
, associated for the purpose of promoting various ends , literary , scientific , religious and charitable ; ancl these are formed hymen of many nations , religions and colours : if in these societies the ball of contention , in the shape of religious faith , were thrown , all unanimity would cease ; hy common consent this stumbling block is avoided , ancl no imputation is cast on the society . Why may we not have the same privilege ? why may not we do the same thing without having affixed to us the
appellation anti-Christian and irreligious ? No , sir , after very matuie reflection I am fully convinced that those who have used the terms on which I have animadverted , have scarcely used us fairly . Their arguments will not stand the test of reason or revelation . There is nothing in the principles inculcated in Alasonry which can anti-Christianize a man ; there is much to civilize and refine
him ; ancl though we do not profess to make Christians , yet Masonry , properly carried out , renders a man ' s mind as much like that of a Christian , as , without revelation , it can be . It is like the photographic plate after manipulation , duly prepared and rendered sensible , ready to receive the image which may fall on it . But now I turn from these things , which I have for the honour of the Craft deemed it necessary to say , to the more immediate object of this meeting . The occasion is one of peculiar gratification to all
present , to me it is most especially so . I see a large ancl highly respectable body assembled to celebrate an event fraught with consequences of the greatest importance to this great ancl interesting city . Nor am I less gratified at the presence of the galaxy of beauty which adorns this meeting . Ancl here I speak with some trepidation , for I fear I am treading on tender ground . I am very much afraid that the ladies look upon us with no favourable for we do not admit them to our lodges . For
eyes , my own part , I am of those who look forward , in the progress of civilization , to the time when our lodge doors will be more widely open , and we will hail our sisters in Masonry even as our brothers . In the mean time , and till then , you must permit me to assure you that no one possesses a more true reverence for , and admiration of , the sex than a genuine Mason . We all agree with the poet in his admirable
lines" Without the smile from partial beauty won , Oh what were man ? a world without a sun . " And let me again assure you , in the words of a very old ode , duly chaunted at the introduction of every new made Mason" No mortal canmore the ladies adore , Than a Free and an Accepted Mason . " It is in the important city of Benares that the first Provincial Grand
Lodge has been held for the purpose of laying the foundation stone of any public edifice . The many affluent and highly respectable native gentlemen who surround me , show the interest which they feel in the undertaking ; nor is it the least of the gratifications which 1 feel , to find associated in this duty his highness the Rajah of Benares ; an eminently