-
Articles/Ads
Article GLEANINGS FROM MASONRY. ← Page 3 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gleanings From Masonry.
of usefulness it is impossible to overrate . Were the whole human famil y thus united , passion would be subservient to the proper business of life , penury and despair would cease to wring the vitals of the poor , while philanthropy might revel in another golden age . Being all created by the same Almighty Being , to whom we all stand in the relation of children , partakers of the same promises , sharers of the same hope , and all awaiting that irrevocable hourwhen deaththe grand leveller of all human
, , distinctions , will reduce us to the same state—how unwise io place ( during the brief space which comprises mortal existence ) an impassible barrier between man and his fellow man ! to divide the whole world into classes , between whom there is no interchange of sympathy , and whose relationship to each other is founded merely upon mutual dependence . Man should be connected with man by other ties than those of self . Without the cement of Brotherl y Love , society will ever be a loose disjointed
structure , incapable of fulfilling its duties to itself or its Maker . The level must be passed over it : not to destroy rank and influence—not to level distinctions or encourage insubordination ; but to exorcise the phantoms of the mind , to remedy the alienation of the head and the heart , and the members of every-day life : to suppress the growling discontent of the poor and the selfish indifference of the rich . Not by the giving of alms without sympathy , or donations without charitybut b
; y the exercise of Brotherly Love : by a communion of feeling . The grand desideratum is sympathy . The world wants a heart , in addition to the hand and the purse : an open heart : a heart round whose chords are entwined the interests of all ; which would weep with those who weep , rejoice with those who rejoice , and hallow the gift of the hand with the
precious balm of charity . Labour plies the spade from morn till dewy eve , while Ease ' s gilded equipage rolls by his place of toil . Why should supercilious pride gnaw the heart of the one , while moody discontent preys upon the soul of the other ? The same gentle breath of heaven feeds the flame of life in the nostrils of either ; the great God of all things is equally the father of both , ancl condemns alike those who grind the faces of the poorancl those who nourish envy against the rich . It is brotherly love
, is wanting—love which might convert the cot of that poor son of toil into a home of peace , and the bed of that son of wealth into a place of vest . Such would be the happy effects of an exercise of that virtue so repeatedly urged upon us , under circumstances most calculated to leave an indelible impression upon our minds . Happy indeed is he who has it in his power to minister to the necessities of the poor and the unhappy ! And who of us has not some opportunities of affording
consolation ? How often may a kind word or a considerate act of forbearance accomplish more than the riches of princes : ancl who of us is not sometimes called upon for this little act of charity ? The weakness of man is continually calling upon others for forbearance or sympathy ; which they in their turn require , and it is from this mutual dependance that spring so many of the most delicious sensations which the heart of man can experience . We depend upon others for happiness from the first moment of
our being , until the clod of the valley of death closes over us . Who has not experienced the delight of making a friend acquainted with any occurrence which may have transpired agreeably to our wishes ; and felt almost as if our hopes were not fully realised until the congratulations of a friend reached our ears ! In the absence of his species man
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Gleanings From Masonry.
of usefulness it is impossible to overrate . Were the whole human famil y thus united , passion would be subservient to the proper business of life , penury and despair would cease to wring the vitals of the poor , while philanthropy might revel in another golden age . Being all created by the same Almighty Being , to whom we all stand in the relation of children , partakers of the same promises , sharers of the same hope , and all awaiting that irrevocable hourwhen deaththe grand leveller of all human
, , distinctions , will reduce us to the same state—how unwise io place ( during the brief space which comprises mortal existence ) an impassible barrier between man and his fellow man ! to divide the whole world into classes , between whom there is no interchange of sympathy , and whose relationship to each other is founded merely upon mutual dependence . Man should be connected with man by other ties than those of self . Without the cement of Brotherl y Love , society will ever be a loose disjointed
structure , incapable of fulfilling its duties to itself or its Maker . The level must be passed over it : not to destroy rank and influence—not to level distinctions or encourage insubordination ; but to exorcise the phantoms of the mind , to remedy the alienation of the head and the heart , and the members of every-day life : to suppress the growling discontent of the poor and the selfish indifference of the rich . Not by the giving of alms without sympathy , or donations without charitybut b
; y the exercise of Brotherly Love : by a communion of feeling . The grand desideratum is sympathy . The world wants a heart , in addition to the hand and the purse : an open heart : a heart round whose chords are entwined the interests of all ; which would weep with those who weep , rejoice with those who rejoice , and hallow the gift of the hand with the
precious balm of charity . Labour plies the spade from morn till dewy eve , while Ease ' s gilded equipage rolls by his place of toil . Why should supercilious pride gnaw the heart of the one , while moody discontent preys upon the soul of the other ? The same gentle breath of heaven feeds the flame of life in the nostrils of either ; the great God of all things is equally the father of both , ancl condemns alike those who grind the faces of the poorancl those who nourish envy against the rich . It is brotherly love
, is wanting—love which might convert the cot of that poor son of toil into a home of peace , and the bed of that son of wealth into a place of vest . Such would be the happy effects of an exercise of that virtue so repeatedly urged upon us , under circumstances most calculated to leave an indelible impression upon our minds . Happy indeed is he who has it in his power to minister to the necessities of the poor and the unhappy ! And who of us has not some opportunities of affording
consolation ? How often may a kind word or a considerate act of forbearance accomplish more than the riches of princes : ancl who of us is not sometimes called upon for this little act of charity ? The weakness of man is continually calling upon others for forbearance or sympathy ; which they in their turn require , and it is from this mutual dependance that spring so many of the most delicious sensations which the heart of man can experience . We depend upon others for happiness from the first moment of
our being , until the clod of the valley of death closes over us . Who has not experienced the delight of making a friend acquainted with any occurrence which may have transpired agreeably to our wishes ; and felt almost as if our hopes were not fully realised until the congratulations of a friend reached our ears ! In the absence of his species man