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Article MASONRY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonry In The Middle Ages.
MASONRY IN THE MIDDLE AGES .
One of the most interesting chapters in the history of Ereeinasonry is the record of its existence and progress during what is termed the Mediaeval period . It was at this period that , by mingling the culture of the imagination with productive industry , it gave a poetic vesture to the prosaic arts of civihzation . It addressed itself to the higher faculties of man , and thus elevated the practical by conecting them with the spiritual endowments of his nature . In nothing is this more manifest , and no more convincing proof of its truth can
be required , than those glorious and venerable monuments , of the past , the religious structures of the times to which we refer . "It was only , '' says ail intelligent foreign brother * "by devoting the noblest gifts to the highest purposes , by the union of art with , religion , which formed the spirit of Masonry in the middle ages , that such wonderful works could be produced . Let us ever honour the men who have left such inheritances . I have wandered in * the wide
area , and climbed the thousand-year'd arches of the Coliseum ; I have stood under the graceful dome of the Pantheon ; and , wonderful though the effect of these buildings be , yet the impression they make on the mind cannob at all be compared with that of the socalled Grothic cathedrals . I can only explain this , if explained it can be , by the spirit which raised those different edifices ; which spirit is most singularly embodied and illustrated in the distinctive character
of their styles : I mean the round and the pointed arch . The one wide-stretching , solid , and massive , clings strongly to the earth , and guides the eye horizontally to . what is about us . The other slender , high , serial , strives and points upward to what is above us , and leads the thoughts to higher things . Truly masonic , it symbolizes and spiritualizes , till it has transformed the most material of thingsheavy , ponderous stone— -into a permanent melody . That is what our ancestors in Masonry did . In their times Masonry was a reality , by which men , wise men , lived and worked , and did well . It is still
good that we honour it ; it is still right and proper that we erect new temples wherein its traditions may be duly honoured and faithfully preserved , that it may be handed down pure and undefiled , as we have received it from those who went before us , to the brethren of future generations , and that it thus may fulfil its destiny . Nor will we complain that Masonry is no more what it has been . The High Hand which guides the destinies of this world , knows best what
instruments to employ : and for us , therefore , it will also be best , still , as worthy Masons , to ascribe all gratitude to the Most High ; still to do faithfully the work appointed us , each in his different station ; conscious that—be it ; high , be it low—it is equally honourable ,, if honourably filled ; equally a necessary link in the great chain of social existence . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonry In The Middle Ages.
MASONRY IN THE MIDDLE AGES .
One of the most interesting chapters in the history of Ereeinasonry is the record of its existence and progress during what is termed the Mediaeval period . It was at this period that , by mingling the culture of the imagination with productive industry , it gave a poetic vesture to the prosaic arts of civihzation . It addressed itself to the higher faculties of man , and thus elevated the practical by conecting them with the spiritual endowments of his nature . In nothing is this more manifest , and no more convincing proof of its truth can
be required , than those glorious and venerable monuments , of the past , the religious structures of the times to which we refer . "It was only , '' says ail intelligent foreign brother * "by devoting the noblest gifts to the highest purposes , by the union of art with , religion , which formed the spirit of Masonry in the middle ages , that such wonderful works could be produced . Let us ever honour the men who have left such inheritances . I have wandered in * the wide
area , and climbed the thousand-year'd arches of the Coliseum ; I have stood under the graceful dome of the Pantheon ; and , wonderful though the effect of these buildings be , yet the impression they make on the mind cannob at all be compared with that of the socalled Grothic cathedrals . I can only explain this , if explained it can be , by the spirit which raised those different edifices ; which spirit is most singularly embodied and illustrated in the distinctive character
of their styles : I mean the round and the pointed arch . The one wide-stretching , solid , and massive , clings strongly to the earth , and guides the eye horizontally to . what is about us . The other slender , high , serial , strives and points upward to what is above us , and leads the thoughts to higher things . Truly masonic , it symbolizes and spiritualizes , till it has transformed the most material of thingsheavy , ponderous stone— -into a permanent melody . That is what our ancestors in Masonry did . In their times Masonry was a reality , by which men , wise men , lived and worked , and did well . It is still
good that we honour it ; it is still right and proper that we erect new temples wherein its traditions may be duly honoured and faithfully preserved , that it may be handed down pure and undefiled , as we have received it from those who went before us , to the brethren of future generations , and that it thus may fulfil its destiny . Nor will we complain that Masonry is no more what it has been . The High Hand which guides the destinies of this world , knows best what
instruments to employ : and for us , therefore , it will also be best , still , as worthy Masons , to ascribe all gratitude to the Most High ; still to do faithfully the work appointed us , each in his different station ; conscious that—be it ; high , be it low—it is equally honourable ,, if honourably filled ; equally a necessary link in the great chain of social existence . "