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Article MASONIC DIDACTICS; Page 1 of 2 →
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Masonic Didactics;
MASONIC DIDACTICS ;
OR , SHORT MORAL ESSAYS OF UNIVERSAL ADAPTATION . HY BROTHER 11 . It . SI . ADE , Mj . B . " Masonry is a peculiar system of morals . " No . XXIX . —THE BREVITY OF HAPPINESS .
O nulla longi temporis fclicitas . —SKNKCA . What is happiness , and where is it to be found ? asks the philosopher . Do human combinations constitute what is apprehended b y the term ? or is it an inhabitant of earth ? Its nature must be as variable as it is volatile . What constitutes the happiness of one order of intellectual beings , may fail to produce any such feeling in another . It is like all other metaphysical pointselusive and profound ; and often the mere
, creature of time , place , person , and circumstance . Perhaps , under a civilised state of society , the best and simplest definition of the idea is , " to be happy is to be good !" The fleetness of human enjoyment is a common axiom with most authors of moral pandects . But the soundest testimony to the accuracy of the doctrine taught by the thesis , is the events of the passing hour in one man ' s diary of life .
Mankind seem to place the chief hope of happiness in novelty , after which all so eagerly seek ; raising their expectations , by the action of imagination , to a standard not level with the experience derived from things in possession . They love to deceive the mind with phantoms of its own romantic fabrication ; and so , soaring beyond the summit of
common-place matter-of-fact , they find the object of their ardent search , when possessed , fall short of the value their fancy had fixed upon it . They experience a bitter disappointment , and loudly exclaim against the brevity and delusion of a sublunary happiness , which no rational views of the true nature of things could have warranted them to expect . If regarded by the calm eye of reason , and in the light of Christian philosophy , happiness is not the offspring of time or its concomitants .
All that is comprised under the designation pleasure , may be reduced to mere conventional notions and artificial inventions , and therefore cannot make up happiness , as conveyed by the principles of nature , reason , and religion . There can be no question that nothing can rightly be styled happiness in this transitory world , unconnected with virtue . Indeed , with virtue even for its ground-ivork , happiness is not a permanent possession . It suffers
diminution in the general fluctuation of all temporalities ; so variable are the dispositions of mankind , and so strong the allurements they have to encounter in their progress through this " vale of tears . " Yet it may reasonably be said to be a singular anomaly in the benevolent dispensations of the Supreme Being , that He should confine the whole circle of happiness to the celestial regions . But is this strictly the case ? Our belief in the universal philanthropy of the grand Father of all will not allow of any such deduction . With more probability , may we impute the failure of our earthly dreams of bliss to our own prurient longings , or unthankful discontent . In truth , man is a strange com-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Didactics;
MASONIC DIDACTICS ;
OR , SHORT MORAL ESSAYS OF UNIVERSAL ADAPTATION . HY BROTHER 11 . It . SI . ADE , Mj . B . " Masonry is a peculiar system of morals . " No . XXIX . —THE BREVITY OF HAPPINESS .
O nulla longi temporis fclicitas . —SKNKCA . What is happiness , and where is it to be found ? asks the philosopher . Do human combinations constitute what is apprehended b y the term ? or is it an inhabitant of earth ? Its nature must be as variable as it is volatile . What constitutes the happiness of one order of intellectual beings , may fail to produce any such feeling in another . It is like all other metaphysical pointselusive and profound ; and often the mere
, creature of time , place , person , and circumstance . Perhaps , under a civilised state of society , the best and simplest definition of the idea is , " to be happy is to be good !" The fleetness of human enjoyment is a common axiom with most authors of moral pandects . But the soundest testimony to the accuracy of the doctrine taught by the thesis , is the events of the passing hour in one man ' s diary of life .
Mankind seem to place the chief hope of happiness in novelty , after which all so eagerly seek ; raising their expectations , by the action of imagination , to a standard not level with the experience derived from things in possession . They love to deceive the mind with phantoms of its own romantic fabrication ; and so , soaring beyond the summit of
common-place matter-of-fact , they find the object of their ardent search , when possessed , fall short of the value their fancy had fixed upon it . They experience a bitter disappointment , and loudly exclaim against the brevity and delusion of a sublunary happiness , which no rational views of the true nature of things could have warranted them to expect . If regarded by the calm eye of reason , and in the light of Christian philosophy , happiness is not the offspring of time or its concomitants .
All that is comprised under the designation pleasure , may be reduced to mere conventional notions and artificial inventions , and therefore cannot make up happiness , as conveyed by the principles of nature , reason , and religion . There can be no question that nothing can rightly be styled happiness in this transitory world , unconnected with virtue . Indeed , with virtue even for its ground-ivork , happiness is not a permanent possession . It suffers
diminution in the general fluctuation of all temporalities ; so variable are the dispositions of mankind , and so strong the allurements they have to encounter in their progress through this " vale of tears . " Yet it may reasonably be said to be a singular anomaly in the benevolent dispensations of the Supreme Being , that He should confine the whole circle of happiness to the celestial regions . But is this strictly the case ? Our belief in the universal philanthropy of the grand Father of all will not allow of any such deduction . With more probability , may we impute the failure of our earthly dreams of bliss to our own prurient longings , or unthankful discontent . In truth , man is a strange com-