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Article LONDON AND ITS MASONS. Page 1 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
London And Its Masons.
LONDON AND ITS MASONS .
I : f observation , like an honest collector , took toll of the thoughts upon the mind ' s highway , there would be fewer vagrants and disorderly passengers about it , but men satisfy themselves as to both
individual and social ill , with the meagre contemplation of results ; they do not take the trouble of analyzing processes , much less of investigating principles . Thus thought becomes act ; act , habit ; habit , disposition ; without inquiry into the subtle relation subsisting between each , until the mind becomes absolutely a public road , a common thoroughfare to all travellers !
Hence it happens , also , that the small wheels of this complicated machine , the world , escape notice , and that from our grosser perceptions , being occupied only with salient portions—large joints and axles , —the importance of the finer details is overlooked . Yet , for all our carelessness , without the lesser processes the greater would
stand still ; nay , the most minute are often those of chief significance . You discover their value either when they are suddenly removed ; or when great contrasts to their action are presented ; or when , like a subtle test , they are skilfully dropped into the deceptive
distillations of unseen yet ubiquitous mischief , and at once detecting the elements of human ill , decompose , and cause them to exhale into annihilation ; or as they fall before its searching scrutiny , condense them into the murky precipitate of vice !
Bearing these ideas in mind , it is not remarkable that the value of Freemasonry , especially in dense populations , is disparaged , chiefly because it possesses one constituent characteristic of excellencesilence . It does its work with no noise , its charity ignores
trumpeters , printed lists , and showmen . Moreover it turns upon a small but most powerful fulcrum , fidelity to an oath , so powerful indeed , that Polybius attributes the whole success of the Bomans in keeping tot ,, i . 2 o
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
London And Its Masons.
LONDON AND ITS MASONS .
I : f observation , like an honest collector , took toll of the thoughts upon the mind ' s highway , there would be fewer vagrants and disorderly passengers about it , but men satisfy themselves as to both
individual and social ill , with the meagre contemplation of results ; they do not take the trouble of analyzing processes , much less of investigating principles . Thus thought becomes act ; act , habit ; habit , disposition ; without inquiry into the subtle relation subsisting between each , until the mind becomes absolutely a public road , a common thoroughfare to all travellers !
Hence it happens , also , that the small wheels of this complicated machine , the world , escape notice , and that from our grosser perceptions , being occupied only with salient portions—large joints and axles , —the importance of the finer details is overlooked . Yet , for all our carelessness , without the lesser processes the greater would
stand still ; nay , the most minute are often those of chief significance . You discover their value either when they are suddenly removed ; or when great contrasts to their action are presented ; or when , like a subtle test , they are skilfully dropped into the deceptive
distillations of unseen yet ubiquitous mischief , and at once detecting the elements of human ill , decompose , and cause them to exhale into annihilation ; or as they fall before its searching scrutiny , condense them into the murky precipitate of vice !
Bearing these ideas in mind , it is not remarkable that the value of Freemasonry , especially in dense populations , is disparaged , chiefly because it possesses one constituent characteristic of excellencesilence . It does its work with no noise , its charity ignores
trumpeters , printed lists , and showmen . Moreover it turns upon a small but most powerful fulcrum , fidelity to an oath , so powerful indeed , that Polybius attributes the whole success of the Bomans in keeping tot ,, i . 2 o