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Article BENEVOLENCE: ITS EEWAED AND SGUECE. ← Page 4 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Benevolence: Its Eewaed And Sguece.
pared to encounter opposition , and often to find himself in th the few in his attempts to benefit his fellow-men . I have sometimes noticed that persons refuse to do good unless the fashion is set them , and set them too by persons of a higher rank in the social scale . Whenparties who move in the higher circles of life bestir themselves in this and the other benevolent scheme , then vou will see persons of lesser pretensions follow
the example . Brethren , we Irnve not in this way only learnt to do good ; but we are taught that every Mason , with a noble tod steady purpose of soul , must willingly undergo labours and privations , and be undeterred by example or fear in the prosecution of his noble work of philanthropy ; and it is much to the praise of Freemasonry that it has thus , single-handed almost , persevered in its principle of benevolence in the face of discouragement , misrepresentation , and even obloquy . Our . Order in some countries has beenunpatronized , neglected , reviled , and persecuted ; but even under these unfavourable circumstances there have been noble exceptions among men , who have b oriie testimony to its worth and courageously defended its principles . Well , then , may every Mason go on his way , fortifying himself with the conviction , that in his benevolent attempts to do good he is a co-worker with his God . Let him pursue a benevolent
course in the teeth of apathy , misrepresentation , and even animosity , hoping that by thus fighting his way back to paradise he may pass through the valley of the shadow of death in such a way as finally to arise from the tomb of transgression to shine as the stars for ever and ever . This was the principle which seems to have guided the course of Ebedmelech . Jeremiah , in all huma . n probability , w ould have starved and rotted in the dungeon had the eunuch waited till others of
greater influence had bestirred themselves in the prophet's behalf , or uad he lacked that moral courage which nerved him to take an opposite course to the numerous crowd around him . Let the king be angry , the princes ' plans be frustrated , the mouths of his enemies be opened against him , though he be a stranger in a strange land , and engaged in a strange work , his spirit fails not , his mind is made up , his fortitude sustains him , and so
he goes to the king and says , " My lord the king , these men have done evil in all that they have clone to Jeremiah the prophet . " What a gratification it must have been to his benevolent heart to hear his monarch reply , a Take from hence thirty men with thee , and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon , before he die . So Ebedmelech took the men with him ,
and went into the house of the king under the treasury , and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags , and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah . And Ebedmelecli the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah , Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine arm-holes under the cords . " Brethren , in this part of the narrative' I wish you to observe another feature in the conduct of the eunuch which characterizes true
benevolence . The dungeon into which Jeremiah was cast seems to have been , in reality , a great pit , like , it would seem , one of our common wells , and so deep that the assistance of thirty men seems to have been necessary to extricate the prophet . Raising him from such a depth with bare cords would be likely to incommode if not injure Jeremiah . Ebedmelecli , therefore , took old clouts and old worn-out rags , and desired him to put
them under his arm-holes under the cords , and thus he was drawn up out of the dungeon . Brethren , this apparently trifling circumstance in this history suggests to us that the truly benevolent mind will do a good action in the kindest possible way . You will sometimes see persons confer a benefit in such an ungracious manner that their kindness is scarcely appreciated by the recipient of their bounty * Whenever men do good to others
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Benevolence: Its Eewaed And Sguece.
pared to encounter opposition , and often to find himself in th the few in his attempts to benefit his fellow-men . I have sometimes noticed that persons refuse to do good unless the fashion is set them , and set them too by persons of a higher rank in the social scale . Whenparties who move in the higher circles of life bestir themselves in this and the other benevolent scheme , then vou will see persons of lesser pretensions follow
the example . Brethren , we Irnve not in this way only learnt to do good ; but we are taught that every Mason , with a noble tod steady purpose of soul , must willingly undergo labours and privations , and be undeterred by example or fear in the prosecution of his noble work of philanthropy ; and it is much to the praise of Freemasonry that it has thus , single-handed almost , persevered in its principle of benevolence in the face of discouragement , misrepresentation , and even obloquy . Our . Order in some countries has beenunpatronized , neglected , reviled , and persecuted ; but even under these unfavourable circumstances there have been noble exceptions among men , who have b oriie testimony to its worth and courageously defended its principles . Well , then , may every Mason go on his way , fortifying himself with the conviction , that in his benevolent attempts to do good he is a co-worker with his God . Let him pursue a benevolent
course in the teeth of apathy , misrepresentation , and even animosity , hoping that by thus fighting his way back to paradise he may pass through the valley of the shadow of death in such a way as finally to arise from the tomb of transgression to shine as the stars for ever and ever . This was the principle which seems to have guided the course of Ebedmelech . Jeremiah , in all huma . n probability , w ould have starved and rotted in the dungeon had the eunuch waited till others of
greater influence had bestirred themselves in the prophet's behalf , or uad he lacked that moral courage which nerved him to take an opposite course to the numerous crowd around him . Let the king be angry , the princes ' plans be frustrated , the mouths of his enemies be opened against him , though he be a stranger in a strange land , and engaged in a strange work , his spirit fails not , his mind is made up , his fortitude sustains him , and so
he goes to the king and says , " My lord the king , these men have done evil in all that they have clone to Jeremiah the prophet . " What a gratification it must have been to his benevolent heart to hear his monarch reply , a Take from hence thirty men with thee , and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon , before he die . So Ebedmelech took the men with him ,
and went into the house of the king under the treasury , and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags , and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah . And Ebedmelecli the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah , Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine arm-holes under the cords . " Brethren , in this part of the narrative' I wish you to observe another feature in the conduct of the eunuch which characterizes true
benevolence . The dungeon into which Jeremiah was cast seems to have been , in reality , a great pit , like , it would seem , one of our common wells , and so deep that the assistance of thirty men seems to have been necessary to extricate the prophet . Raising him from such a depth with bare cords would be likely to incommode if not injure Jeremiah . Ebedmelecli , therefore , took old clouts and old worn-out rags , and desired him to put
them under his arm-holes under the cords , and thus he was drawn up out of the dungeon . Brethren , this apparently trifling circumstance in this history suggests to us that the truly benevolent mind will do a good action in the kindest possible way . You will sometimes see persons confer a benefit in such an ungracious manner that their kindness is scarcely appreciated by the recipient of their bounty * Whenever men do good to others