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Article FREEMASONRY, PAST AND PRESENT. ← Page 3 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry, Past And Present.
" justified , accepted , and finally saved , " under the type of a ladder , * which is one of the most prominent figures in our Lodges , and by which ' •' we as Masons hope to arrive at tile summit of those celestial regions wherein our happiness is centered . " It pleased the Almighty , in process of time , to set apart " a peculiar people , " descended from the patriarch Jacob , to whom the Divine Oracles were committed , to teach them to their sons ancl their sons' sons for ever . Men of eminent iety were
p appointed of God as instructors of his " peculiar people , " and a series of ordinances were established as typical of that great event to which they were taught to look forward with patient hope . These were faithfully preserved by Moses and Aaron , and transmitted to posterity through a line of prophets to the time of the coming of the promised Messiah , whose advent was announced by an angel from heaven to some shepherds of Israel , " Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy , which
shall be to all people , For unto you is born this day in the city of David , a Saviour which is Christ Jehovah , " accompanying the announcement with a sign , followed by a multitude of the heavenly host proclaiming the Gospel Triad , which is the fundamental principle of pure unsullied Freemasonry , " Glory to God in the hi ghest , and on earth peace , goodwill towards men f . " In process of time John the Baptist , one of our Grand Parallelsand to whom our Lodges are dedicated %
, , embarked on his official career , as foretold by the prophets , he came forth in the spirit and power of Elias , ushering in the new dispensation , and , as declared by the angel to the priest Zacharias , turning many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God , who was about to be made manifest to them in the flesh , in the character of Immanuel ; and as the law and the prophets were until John , so the Old Testament dispensation was abolished by the ushering in of the New : ancl as that which
was perfect was come , that which was but in part was necessarily done away , ancl God ' s peculiar people no longer followed the shadow for the substance . The mysterious scheme of human redemption had , from the creation of the world , been " veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols ; " but the time had now arrived when the Day-spring from on high had visited mankind , enabling them to draw aside " that mysterious veil of darkness which the Eureka of human reason could not penetrate , unless assisted by that Light : " and such precisely is Masonry . It is a system "founded on the purest princi ples of piety and virtue ; " it is " veiled in allegory ancl illustrated by symbols , " and the professed object
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry, Past And Present.
" justified , accepted , and finally saved , " under the type of a ladder , * which is one of the most prominent figures in our Lodges , and by which ' •' we as Masons hope to arrive at tile summit of those celestial regions wherein our happiness is centered . " It pleased the Almighty , in process of time , to set apart " a peculiar people , " descended from the patriarch Jacob , to whom the Divine Oracles were committed , to teach them to their sons ancl their sons' sons for ever . Men of eminent iety were
p appointed of God as instructors of his " peculiar people , " and a series of ordinances were established as typical of that great event to which they were taught to look forward with patient hope . These were faithfully preserved by Moses and Aaron , and transmitted to posterity through a line of prophets to the time of the coming of the promised Messiah , whose advent was announced by an angel from heaven to some shepherds of Israel , " Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy , which
shall be to all people , For unto you is born this day in the city of David , a Saviour which is Christ Jehovah , " accompanying the announcement with a sign , followed by a multitude of the heavenly host proclaiming the Gospel Triad , which is the fundamental principle of pure unsullied Freemasonry , " Glory to God in the hi ghest , and on earth peace , goodwill towards men f . " In process of time John the Baptist , one of our Grand Parallelsand to whom our Lodges are dedicated %
, , embarked on his official career , as foretold by the prophets , he came forth in the spirit and power of Elias , ushering in the new dispensation , and , as declared by the angel to the priest Zacharias , turning many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God , who was about to be made manifest to them in the flesh , in the character of Immanuel ; and as the law and the prophets were until John , so the Old Testament dispensation was abolished by the ushering in of the New : ancl as that which
was perfect was come , that which was but in part was necessarily done away , ancl God ' s peculiar people no longer followed the shadow for the substance . The mysterious scheme of human redemption had , from the creation of the world , been " veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols ; " but the time had now arrived when the Day-spring from on high had visited mankind , enabling them to draw aside " that mysterious veil of darkness which the Eureka of human reason could not penetrate , unless assisted by that Light : " and such precisely is Masonry . It is a system "founded on the purest princi ples of piety and virtue ; " it is " veiled in allegory ancl illustrated by symbols , " and the professed object