-
Articles/Ads
Article ON THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE GRAND MASONIC... ← Page 4 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Universality Of The Grand Masonic...
the Omniscient , who thus reveals to us a portion of the infinite truth . This revelation , to the human mind , of moral as well as intellectual truth s is the Word . This " Word" enables us to appreciate beauty , harmony , and truth ; and the Deity , considered in this point of view , assumes a person , capacity , character , or function , completely distinct from the for
Thirdly , ike spiritual relation of 0 od to man is His operation on the human soul , to influence it to act according to the laws of the Divine Creator . Under this aspect , we regard Grod as beneficently providing for His creatures , and as being in relation to us morally , through the medium of our feelings and passions .
Thus our ideas of the Deity are necessarily of a threefold character ; and each ingredient in our complete triple notion of Him is as indispensable as the other two . Hence the equiangular triangle is , of all emblems , the fittest to represent the Deity . But it is obvious that that triangle , being one and indivisible in its totality , although triple in its equ ^ l angles , and triple in its equal
sides symbolizes attributes or functions only ; and implies nothing that in thd least interferes with our conception of the absolute and inseparable unity of the G-odhead . In the article under examination , I took this view , and this alone—making complete logical abstraction of all sectarian interpretations or applications of the three essential principles acknowledged by all men to be'inherent in the nature of
the Divinity . In developing the properties and principles of the Masonic triangle , as symbolizing the three primary elements in our notion of the Deity , I advanced nothing contrary or derogatory to " the strict unity of-God . "" I took my stand on common ground , invading the religious opinions and insulting the faith , I am happy to say , of none !
The enumeration of the triplicity of the functions here spoken of , while not interfering with the Oneness of the Deity , only serves to make our conception of him complete . All intelligent nature , indeed , is triune , being at once physical , intellectual , and moral
Man himself , who has been felicitously called a microcosm , or epitome of the world , is himself triune . His nature is intellectual , spiritual , and physical . Yet man , like the Deity , whose image he is , is one and indivisible ; although the intellect and the passions animate his perishable frame .
This sacred triunity pervading all nature , characterizing the God of Nature , and extending to man himself , is no new-fangled notion . It was canvassed in subtle argumentation , by the followers of Plato , in the groves of Academus . It was reflected , or shadowed forth , among the philosophers of the Porch , in their analogous distribution
of the properties of human nature into the moral , the external , and the intellectual—equivalent , the firstio the passions of the soul ; the second to the relation of man to physical nature ; and the third to the divine faculty of reason , which , —according to their noble , but perhaps not fully practicable , theory—should exercise the sovereignty of an absolute king over the other two . The philosophy of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Universality Of The Grand Masonic...
the Omniscient , who thus reveals to us a portion of the infinite truth . This revelation , to the human mind , of moral as well as intellectual truth s is the Word . This " Word" enables us to appreciate beauty , harmony , and truth ; and the Deity , considered in this point of view , assumes a person , capacity , character , or function , completely distinct from the for
Thirdly , ike spiritual relation of 0 od to man is His operation on the human soul , to influence it to act according to the laws of the Divine Creator . Under this aspect , we regard Grod as beneficently providing for His creatures , and as being in relation to us morally , through the medium of our feelings and passions .
Thus our ideas of the Deity are necessarily of a threefold character ; and each ingredient in our complete triple notion of Him is as indispensable as the other two . Hence the equiangular triangle is , of all emblems , the fittest to represent the Deity . But it is obvious that that triangle , being one and indivisible in its totality , although triple in its equ ^ l angles , and triple in its equal
sides symbolizes attributes or functions only ; and implies nothing that in thd least interferes with our conception of the absolute and inseparable unity of the G-odhead . In the article under examination , I took this view , and this alone—making complete logical abstraction of all sectarian interpretations or applications of the three essential principles acknowledged by all men to be'inherent in the nature of
the Divinity . In developing the properties and principles of the Masonic triangle , as symbolizing the three primary elements in our notion of the Deity , I advanced nothing contrary or derogatory to " the strict unity of-God . "" I took my stand on common ground , invading the religious opinions and insulting the faith , I am happy to say , of none !
The enumeration of the triplicity of the functions here spoken of , while not interfering with the Oneness of the Deity , only serves to make our conception of him complete . All intelligent nature , indeed , is triune , being at once physical , intellectual , and moral
Man himself , who has been felicitously called a microcosm , or epitome of the world , is himself triune . His nature is intellectual , spiritual , and physical . Yet man , like the Deity , whose image he is , is one and indivisible ; although the intellect and the passions animate his perishable frame .
This sacred triunity pervading all nature , characterizing the God of Nature , and extending to man himself , is no new-fangled notion . It was canvassed in subtle argumentation , by the followers of Plato , in the groves of Academus . It was reflected , or shadowed forth , among the philosophers of the Porch , in their analogous distribution
of the properties of human nature into the moral , the external , and the intellectual—equivalent , the firstio the passions of the soul ; the second to the relation of man to physical nature ; and the third to the divine faculty of reason , which , —according to their noble , but perhaps not fully practicable , theory—should exercise the sovereignty of an absolute king over the other two . The philosophy of