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Article THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON. ← Page 7 of 11 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
vered and printed , and our Chiefs and Rulers must expect that this will also be the case with respect to Freemasonry ; but those ceremonies and symbols cannot be the true secrets of Freemasonry ; they bear in themselves sufficient proofs of their insufficiency to bind mankind to tho Order , especially that class of mankind whom we find most devotedly attached to it ; viz . the most liberal , the most enlightened , the most wiseand the most trul ious amongst the familof mankind . The
, y p y Christian religion hath also its symbols ; viz . the bull is an emblem of strength , and the lamb of patience ; but the man whose knowledge of the Christian religion extends no further than to be able to state the names of the various emblems which are used ancl what those emblems represent , has no great reason to pride himself upon his knowledge of the Christian religion , and much less claim has he to the comforts and hopes held forth to the true disciles of the meek and lowlJesus .
p y Even so is it with a knowledge of the ceremonies of Freemasonry , ancl of the symbols used in those ceremonies : the SI . CRCT is of a more exalted and refined nature . Old members of the Order have been excluded for unmasouic conduct , and never more permitted to enter a Lodge , and yet they have never betrayed the secret , for they never comprehended it ; if they had , they would never have acted so unworthily as to be excluded . The most zealous Roman Catholicthe man who considers
, himself bound by all his hopes of heaven to withhold nothing from his father confessor , has been silent with regard to the secrets of Freemasonry . If we believe the Secret to be of such a nature that every one cannot comprehend it , then it must be admitted that our Chiefs of Rulers have done wrong by allowing so many men to be initiated into
the Order , whose powers of comprehension are so small that they cannot understand its mysteries ; or the secret must be of such a nature as to be understood by every man whose intellectual faculties have been duly cultivated , ancl whose heart is not corrupted . We have many examples of men who have been elevated to the dignity of M . W . G . M . ' s , and of W . M ' s ., without any great learning or knowledge ; and yet you must conclude that those men , filling the highest offices in the Craft , must
have known well in what the mysteries consisted . Let us consider as follows : In every age there have been men whose powers of comprehension and whose mental faculties were far in advance of their contemporaries ; that which may have been in ancient times the secret of the mysteries of the Egyptians and Romans , has now become the common property of every civilized nation , as the belief in the unity of the Godhead ancl in the immortality of the soul . But our own day has
its idols , to which the wise must bow their knee if they wish to escape the danger of being stoned , banished , imprisoned , disgraced , or killed . Our age hath also its philosophers , who , though they are in spirit elevated above their contemporaries , yet , at the same time , they do not insult the religious prejudices , or it may be , the solemn mummeries of their fellow subjects , but arc most willingly associated with their kindred spirits . The initiatedwhile in thc ; Lod labour to perfect their own mental
, ge , faculties , as well as those of the whole human race . Here let us seek the SECRETS of Masonry , in themselves unpronounceable ; neither are they to be communicated by the laying on of hands , in a few short fleeting hours . Thoughts , the indulgence in which a few short years ago would have been punished by the sword , the stake , or banishment ] are , in our days , loved as philanthropic ; ami princes now do things for ' ivhich but a few short years ago misunderstood philosophers were ctin-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
vered and printed , and our Chiefs and Rulers must expect that this will also be the case with respect to Freemasonry ; but those ceremonies and symbols cannot be the true secrets of Freemasonry ; they bear in themselves sufficient proofs of their insufficiency to bind mankind to tho Order , especially that class of mankind whom we find most devotedly attached to it ; viz . the most liberal , the most enlightened , the most wiseand the most trul ious amongst the familof mankind . The
, y p y Christian religion hath also its symbols ; viz . the bull is an emblem of strength , and the lamb of patience ; but the man whose knowledge of the Christian religion extends no further than to be able to state the names of the various emblems which are used ancl what those emblems represent , has no great reason to pride himself upon his knowledge of the Christian religion , and much less claim has he to the comforts and hopes held forth to the true disciles of the meek and lowlJesus .
p y Even so is it with a knowledge of the ceremonies of Freemasonry , ancl of the symbols used in those ceremonies : the SI . CRCT is of a more exalted and refined nature . Old members of the Order have been excluded for unmasouic conduct , and never more permitted to enter a Lodge , and yet they have never betrayed the secret , for they never comprehended it ; if they had , they would never have acted so unworthily as to be excluded . The most zealous Roman Catholicthe man who considers
, himself bound by all his hopes of heaven to withhold nothing from his father confessor , has been silent with regard to the secrets of Freemasonry . If we believe the Secret to be of such a nature that every one cannot comprehend it , then it must be admitted that our Chiefs of Rulers have done wrong by allowing so many men to be initiated into
the Order , whose powers of comprehension are so small that they cannot understand its mysteries ; or the secret must be of such a nature as to be understood by every man whose intellectual faculties have been duly cultivated , ancl whose heart is not corrupted . We have many examples of men who have been elevated to the dignity of M . W . G . M . ' s , and of W . M ' s ., without any great learning or knowledge ; and yet you must conclude that those men , filling the highest offices in the Craft , must
have known well in what the mysteries consisted . Let us consider as follows : In every age there have been men whose powers of comprehension and whose mental faculties were far in advance of their contemporaries ; that which may have been in ancient times the secret of the mysteries of the Egyptians and Romans , has now become the common property of every civilized nation , as the belief in the unity of the Godhead ancl in the immortality of the soul . But our own day has
its idols , to which the wise must bow their knee if they wish to escape the danger of being stoned , banished , imprisoned , disgraced , or killed . Our age hath also its philosophers , who , though they are in spirit elevated above their contemporaries , yet , at the same time , they do not insult the religious prejudices , or it may be , the solemn mummeries of their fellow subjects , but arc most willingly associated with their kindred spirits . The initiatedwhile in thc ; Lod labour to perfect their own mental
, ge , faculties , as well as those of the whole human race . Here let us seek the SECRETS of Masonry , in themselves unpronounceable ; neither are they to be communicated by the laying on of hands , in a few short fleeting hours . Thoughts , the indulgence in which a few short years ago would have been punished by the sword , the stake , or banishment ] are , in our days , loved as philanthropic ; ami princes now do things for ' ivhich but a few short years ago misunderstood philosophers were ctin-