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Article THE ARMAGH BELLS. Page 1 of 1 Article GODFREY HIGGINS ON FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Armagh Bells.
THE ARMAGH BELLS .
T HOSE Armagh bells , how sweet and clear They sound on the air of night ; Now floating away on the rising breeze , Now swelling in tones of might . AVhat thoughts they bring of my childhood days , Of friends that have long been gone To the silent grave or some distant land , And yet those bells ring on .
They have sounded out from that old church tower , For many a long , long year ; They have swelled the chorus of hope and j ° y . And told of sorrow and fear ;
They have rung for the birth of the lordly heir , They have gladden'd the bridal day , And mornfully knelled when the corse was borne , To mix with its kindred clay .
And , though I am far from my childhood ' s home , I dream of those silvery chimes , And again on my ears their tones cloth come , As they used in the happy times
, AVhen at the evening ' s close I heard Them sounding the curfew knell ; Or in merry pieals on the summer air , 'Mid the scenes I loved so well .
Or on the Sabbath of holy rest , When they sweetly called to prayer . As if angel harps and voices swept Down through the echoing air , And summoned the sinful sons of men To join with the choir above , And humbly and gratefully sing the praise Of Him whose name is love .
Sweet Armagh bells , your thrilling tones Are lingering on the air , And hovering ' round on viewless wings , Like spirits pure and fair . Ah , though I roam the world around , Your memory o ' er my heart Shall Huger still in living thoughts
And but with life depart . T . A . MENAKY . Gold Hill , Nev ., Dec . 2 nd , 1875 .
Godfrey Higgins On Freemasonry.
GODFREY HIGGINS ON FREEMASONRY .
BY WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAtf , ( Continued from page 200 . ) IN a noto to page 517 ( Vol . 1 ) , Bro . Higg ins thus remarks of an able masonic author :
" Some years ago a treatise was written on Masonry , by a gentleman [ of the name of Preston . It contains much useful information : but has he had not the least susp icion of the real origin of Masonry , and as his book is merely a party performance
to claim for the London Grand Lodge a priority over the lodges of Scotland and York , to which it had originally no pretension whatever , except the possession of power , I need take no more notice of it than to observe that it is very well done and is very creditable to its author , who , probably , was sincere in what he wrote . The Masons of Southern England , until
amalgamated with those of York , were in fact , only a modern offset of some other lodge . A few Masons of other lodges associated formed a lodge . The reason was this—the Druids of Stonehenge , Abury , etc ., etc ., were all killed or
banished to the northern countries or AYales , by the Romans . Thus , we have no Culclees in the South . " The foregoing quotations cover a deal of ground and must be carefully examined , because important . If true , they upset
much of our ( so-called ) facts , and if false , then the sooner they are exploded the better . Bro . Higgins' strange patronage of AA illiam Preston , author of the wellknown " Illustrations of Masonry " is certainly amusing , and his affectation of superior knowledge is ludicrous , especially when we remember how few were the
opportunities of Hi gg ins compared with Preston to understand the facts , and how purely visionary many of the statements are in the " Anacalypsis" on Freemasonry , though mentioned as actual occurrences fully authenticated . Preston ' s " Illustrations" are not free from error , but making all clue allowances for the times in which the work was
written , we are still of tne opinion that the book , " take it for all iii all , " has never been surpassed .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Armagh Bells.
THE ARMAGH BELLS .
T HOSE Armagh bells , how sweet and clear They sound on the air of night ; Now floating away on the rising breeze , Now swelling in tones of might . AVhat thoughts they bring of my childhood days , Of friends that have long been gone To the silent grave or some distant land , And yet those bells ring on .
They have sounded out from that old church tower , For many a long , long year ; They have swelled the chorus of hope and j ° y . And told of sorrow and fear ;
They have rung for the birth of the lordly heir , They have gladden'd the bridal day , And mornfully knelled when the corse was borne , To mix with its kindred clay .
And , though I am far from my childhood ' s home , I dream of those silvery chimes , And again on my ears their tones cloth come , As they used in the happy times
, AVhen at the evening ' s close I heard Them sounding the curfew knell ; Or in merry pieals on the summer air , 'Mid the scenes I loved so well .
Or on the Sabbath of holy rest , When they sweetly called to prayer . As if angel harps and voices swept Down through the echoing air , And summoned the sinful sons of men To join with the choir above , And humbly and gratefully sing the praise Of Him whose name is love .
Sweet Armagh bells , your thrilling tones Are lingering on the air , And hovering ' round on viewless wings , Like spirits pure and fair . Ah , though I roam the world around , Your memory o ' er my heart Shall Huger still in living thoughts
And but with life depart . T . A . MENAKY . Gold Hill , Nev ., Dec . 2 nd , 1875 .
Godfrey Higgins On Freemasonry.
GODFREY HIGGINS ON FREEMASONRY .
BY WILLIAM JAMES HUGHAtf , ( Continued from page 200 . ) IN a noto to page 517 ( Vol . 1 ) , Bro . Higg ins thus remarks of an able masonic author :
" Some years ago a treatise was written on Masonry , by a gentleman [ of the name of Preston . It contains much useful information : but has he had not the least susp icion of the real origin of Masonry , and as his book is merely a party performance
to claim for the London Grand Lodge a priority over the lodges of Scotland and York , to which it had originally no pretension whatever , except the possession of power , I need take no more notice of it than to observe that it is very well done and is very creditable to its author , who , probably , was sincere in what he wrote . The Masons of Southern England , until
amalgamated with those of York , were in fact , only a modern offset of some other lodge . A few Masons of other lodges associated formed a lodge . The reason was this—the Druids of Stonehenge , Abury , etc ., etc ., were all killed or
banished to the northern countries or AYales , by the Romans . Thus , we have no Culclees in the South . " The foregoing quotations cover a deal of ground and must be carefully examined , because important . If true , they upset
much of our ( so-called ) facts , and if false , then the sooner they are exploded the better . Bro . Higgins' strange patronage of AA illiam Preston , author of the wellknown " Illustrations of Masonry " is certainly amusing , and his affectation of superior knowledge is ludicrous , especially when we remember how few were the
opportunities of Hi gg ins compared with Preston to understand the facts , and how purely visionary many of the statements are in the " Anacalypsis" on Freemasonry , though mentioned as actual occurrences fully authenticated . Preston ' s " Illustrations" are not free from error , but making all clue allowances for the times in which the work was
written , we are still of tne opinion that the book , " take it for all iii all , " has never been surpassed .