-
Articles/Ads
Article THE TliUE MASON. ← Page 2 of 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Tliue Mason.
to avoid contact with their fellows , and think themselves nearer to heaven hy proclaiming their own holiness . For he knows that intolerance and bigotry have been infinitely greater curses to mankind than ignorance and error . He does not forget that Galileo was denied the free enjoyment of light and air because he averred that the earth moved , and that two centuries ago the rack and the stake would have been the reward of Agassiz
and Lyell . Better any error than persecution ! Better any belief or opinion , however irrational and absurd , than the thumbscrew and the mtto da ftI . And he knows also how unspeakably absurd it is for a creature , to whom himself and everything within and around him are mysteries , to torture and even slay others because they do not think as he does in regard to the profoundest of all those mysteries , the least of which is utterly heyond the comprehension of either to understand .
"We hold , " in the language of a wise writer , " " that virtue hy no means consists inthe thinkiug or believing—which is an accidental , inevitable matter , where the man is sincere—but in the doing , which depends solely on himself . Virtue is but heroic bravery to do the thing thought to be true , in spite of all enemies of fl ^ sh or spirit ^ of tern Mian is accountable for the uprightness of his doctrine , hut not for the tightness of it . Devout enthusiasm is for easier than a good action . The
end of thought is action , and the sole purpose of religion is ethical . It is right to require of a man that lie shall seek for the truth , hut not that he shall find it . A speculative error , engendered in that huge store-house of ignorance , human misunderstanding , ought not to annihilate in our minds the jfervent admiration which every just and right-minded man ought to feel , and knows he ought to feel , of a life of constant goodness and
continual self-sacrifice . All the actions of a man's life , harmonious in excellence as the planets are in their orbits , should weigh something more than feathers in the scale , even if he is so far unfortunate as to be unable "to solve the mystery of mysteries . It is not what we believe , but what we become , that is important to a man ; and religion is hut an instrument to ennoble the moral nature of man . " In his influences that survive him , man becomes immortal before the general resurrection . The thoughts of the past are the laws of the present and future . That which we say and do , if its effects last not beyond our lives , is of slight importance , That which shall live when we are dead , as part of the great body of law enacted by the dead , is the only act worth doing—the only thought worth uttering . The desire to do something , that shall benefit the world , when neither praise nor obloquy will reach us where we sleep soundly in the grave , is the noblest ambition entertained by man .
To sow , that others may reap ; to work and plant for those that are to occupy the earth when we are dead ; to project our good influences far into the future , and to live heyond our time ; to rule as the kings of thought over men who are yet unborn ; to hless with the glorious gifts of truth , and light , and liberty , those who may never know the name of the giver , nor care in what grave his unregarded ashes repose—is the true office of a Mason , and the proudest destiny of a man .
Pleasures of benevolence . —Never did any soul do good but it came readier to do the same again , with more enjoyment , Never was love or gratitude , or bounty practised , but with increasing joy ; which made the practiser still more in lote with the fair act . — Shaftesbury .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Tliue Mason.
to avoid contact with their fellows , and think themselves nearer to heaven hy proclaiming their own holiness . For he knows that intolerance and bigotry have been infinitely greater curses to mankind than ignorance and error . He does not forget that Galileo was denied the free enjoyment of light and air because he averred that the earth moved , and that two centuries ago the rack and the stake would have been the reward of Agassiz
and Lyell . Better any error than persecution ! Better any belief or opinion , however irrational and absurd , than the thumbscrew and the mtto da ftI . And he knows also how unspeakably absurd it is for a creature , to whom himself and everything within and around him are mysteries , to torture and even slay others because they do not think as he does in regard to the profoundest of all those mysteries , the least of which is utterly heyond the comprehension of either to understand .
"We hold , " in the language of a wise writer , " " that virtue hy no means consists inthe thinkiug or believing—which is an accidental , inevitable matter , where the man is sincere—but in the doing , which depends solely on himself . Virtue is but heroic bravery to do the thing thought to be true , in spite of all enemies of fl ^ sh or spirit ^ of tern Mian is accountable for the uprightness of his doctrine , hut not for the tightness of it . Devout enthusiasm is for easier than a good action . The
end of thought is action , and the sole purpose of religion is ethical . It is right to require of a man that lie shall seek for the truth , hut not that he shall find it . A speculative error , engendered in that huge store-house of ignorance , human misunderstanding , ought not to annihilate in our minds the jfervent admiration which every just and right-minded man ought to feel , and knows he ought to feel , of a life of constant goodness and
continual self-sacrifice . All the actions of a man's life , harmonious in excellence as the planets are in their orbits , should weigh something more than feathers in the scale , even if he is so far unfortunate as to be unable "to solve the mystery of mysteries . It is not what we believe , but what we become , that is important to a man ; and religion is hut an instrument to ennoble the moral nature of man . " In his influences that survive him , man becomes immortal before the general resurrection . The thoughts of the past are the laws of the present and future . That which we say and do , if its effects last not beyond our lives , is of slight importance , That which shall live when we are dead , as part of the great body of law enacted by the dead , is the only act worth doing—the only thought worth uttering . The desire to do something , that shall benefit the world , when neither praise nor obloquy will reach us where we sleep soundly in the grave , is the noblest ambition entertained by man .
To sow , that others may reap ; to work and plant for those that are to occupy the earth when we are dead ; to project our good influences far into the future , and to live heyond our time ; to rule as the kings of thought over men who are yet unborn ; to hless with the glorious gifts of truth , and light , and liberty , those who may never know the name of the giver , nor care in what grave his unregarded ashes repose—is the true office of a Mason , and the proudest destiny of a man .
Pleasures of benevolence . —Never did any soul do good but it came readier to do the same again , with more enjoyment , Never was love or gratitude , or bounty practised , but with increasing joy ; which made the practiser still more in lote with the fair act . — Shaftesbury .