Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
are the least calculated to understand the noble principles which he beneath this peculiar system of morality , which is veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols . As far as they are concerned , Ereemasonry might be only that which the popular world still think it to be , —a superior kind of
Benefit Society , —in which the education of the young , and the care of the old and infirm are made a matter of some moment , as a species of apology , as the cowan contends , for the eating and drinking , which , he asserts , are the invariable sequel of Lodge meetings .
It is clear , if the advancement of the noble and timehonoured Order of Freemasonry depended upon " men of like passions " to these , it would speedily not only bear all the characteristics which the cowan attributes to it , but would also rapidly decline in influence , respectability , and
prosperity . Its ritual would soon dwindle into a mere skeleton , leaving but the bones of the system without the muscle , sinew , and flesh with which it is clothed . It would ,
in a word , speedily be all " flat , stale , and unprofitable . " Happily , however , for the safety of the Order , and as a guarantee for its permanent security , such Brethren as these now form the exception , not the rule . Time was , in the recollection of most of us , —as we remarked in our
previous number , —when the Order seemed to be in a fair way of dying , not a natural death , but by a suicidal hand . Those , who were bound by their most solemn obligations to be its best friends , showed themselves by their misconduct to be its most bitter foes .
It was no easy task to revivify the dying body . It required more than an usual amount of moral courage to set one ' s self against pretended magnates of the Order , whose evil examples , as also their habits of life and conduct , were contagious . But men of uprightness of purpose and moral
rectitude were found , who did not shrink from the task , and they had their reward , for they crushed the evil influences which were paralysing the energies of a system which has held men of all climes ancl all creeds together in a solemn
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine And Review.
are the least calculated to understand the noble principles which he beneath this peculiar system of morality , which is veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols . As far as they are concerned , Ereemasonry might be only that which the popular world still think it to be , —a superior kind of
Benefit Society , —in which the education of the young , and the care of the old and infirm are made a matter of some moment , as a species of apology , as the cowan contends , for the eating and drinking , which , he asserts , are the invariable sequel of Lodge meetings .
It is clear , if the advancement of the noble and timehonoured Order of Freemasonry depended upon " men of like passions " to these , it would speedily not only bear all the characteristics which the cowan attributes to it , but would also rapidly decline in influence , respectability , and
prosperity . Its ritual would soon dwindle into a mere skeleton , leaving but the bones of the system without the muscle , sinew , and flesh with which it is clothed . It would ,
in a word , speedily be all " flat , stale , and unprofitable . " Happily , however , for the safety of the Order , and as a guarantee for its permanent security , such Brethren as these now form the exception , not the rule . Time was , in the recollection of most of us , —as we remarked in our
previous number , —when the Order seemed to be in a fair way of dying , not a natural death , but by a suicidal hand . Those , who were bound by their most solemn obligations to be its best friends , showed themselves by their misconduct to be its most bitter foes .
It was no easy task to revivify the dying body . It required more than an usual amount of moral courage to set one ' s self against pretended magnates of the Order , whose evil examples , as also their habits of life and conduct , were contagious . But men of uprightness of purpose and moral
rectitude were found , who did not shrink from the task , and they had their reward , for they crushed the evil influences which were paralysing the energies of a system which has held men of all climes ancl all creeds together in a solemn