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  • Dec. 1, 1855
  • Page 7
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Dec. 1, 1855: Page 7

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fibres run in ^ every direction , crossing and re-crossing in endless intersections . But selfishness so veils the human understanding that this marvellous interweaving of all interests and fortunes is but little recognised . The selfish man thinks he lives for himself , little dreaming that , whether he will or not , he is always living for others . He

looks upon society as a confused heap , out of which it is his business to rake up some little advantage for himself . He discerns not the exquisite structure of the vast machine so'contrived that not the smallest wheel can move without putting the whole into motion - But this dream of independence , which affects large masses of the

community , is perhaps , of all conceits , the most preposterous and the nearest allied to insanity . It proceeded originally from the father of lies when he promised our first parents they should be " as gods , ' and he appears to be able to suggest it now with equal success when men become at once rich and selfish and empty-headed .

There are many reasons for believing that the social evils which prevail at present are more than usually dependent on the unthinking selfishness which characterises every grade of society , from the mechanic to the peer . To what are we to attribute the unexampled disasters of the early period of war , but to the blind and desperate selfishness of the highest classes , who have actually seemed to believe

that their own interests were most safely to be secured by endangering the nation at large ! This base and baneful principle has filled the offices of State with noodles , and the camp with incapables . And , as if this were not enough to exasperate the people , it has been shown by a recent example , that if there be an exception to the rule of substituting family and rank and connection for talent and power and

wisdom , —if there be one moral qualification which entitles a scion of a noble family to especial patronage and promotion in the ranks , —it is vice , or profligacy , or violence , which would disgrace a scavenger and supersede a hangman . In all this folly and wickedness , the natural re-action and recoil ( which is as absolute a law as the rebound of an elastic ball ) , has been entirely overlooked . The very class thus unthinkingly and iniquitously honoured , will be the first to smart

under the consequences . Are we then political incendiaries , who would rouse the populace to rebellion by dilating on their wrongs ? By no means : —we proposed to show that there was no class exempt from this "blind devotion to self . We have shown how it exists in the higher classes , and we forbear to exhibit , as we might , the iniquities of embassies and the vices of diplomacy . These have already been sufficiently exposed *

Turn we to the lower orders . On what principle are these Sunday Hyde Park mobs collected ? "What motive instigates the misguided reptiles who spout their venom and malignity to the motley assemblage of vagabonds and idlers on these occasions ? Is it the public good ? Is yon orator in earnest when he declaims on the degeneracy and injustice of our rulers ? Believe it not . He is only

* " Embassies and Foreign Courts , " by "The Roving Englishman . "

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1855-12-01, Page 7” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 6 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_01121855/page/7/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
THE SIGNS OF ENGLAND. Article 16
GERMANY. Article 55
THE MACHINERY OF SOCIAL LIFE; Article 6
TRAVELS BY A FREEMASON. (Concluded from page 684.) Article 10
COLOURED LODGES IN AMERICA. Article 13
THE FREEMASONS MONTHLY MAGAZINE AND THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 1
MASONIC SONGS.-No. 5 Article 20
AUTUMN. Article 20
REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS. Article 21
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 29
MUSIC. Article 28
NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 32
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 33
METROPOLITAN Article 34
PROVINCIAL. Article 37
THE EDITOR OF THE MASONIC MIRROR TO THE CRAFT. Article 3
FRANCE. Article 52
SCOTLAND. Article 51
COLONIAL. Article 54
THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE Article 56
Obituary Article 56
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 56
SEVERANCE OF THE CANADIAN LODGES FROM THE GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND. Article 5
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Page 7

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Untitled Article

fibres run in ^ every direction , crossing and re-crossing in endless intersections . But selfishness so veils the human understanding that this marvellous interweaving of all interests and fortunes is but little recognised . The selfish man thinks he lives for himself , little dreaming that , whether he will or not , he is always living for others . He

looks upon society as a confused heap , out of which it is his business to rake up some little advantage for himself . He discerns not the exquisite structure of the vast machine so'contrived that not the smallest wheel can move without putting the whole into motion - But this dream of independence , which affects large masses of the

community , is perhaps , of all conceits , the most preposterous and the nearest allied to insanity . It proceeded originally from the father of lies when he promised our first parents they should be " as gods , ' and he appears to be able to suggest it now with equal success when men become at once rich and selfish and empty-headed .

There are many reasons for believing that the social evils which prevail at present are more than usually dependent on the unthinking selfishness which characterises every grade of society , from the mechanic to the peer . To what are we to attribute the unexampled disasters of the early period of war , but to the blind and desperate selfishness of the highest classes , who have actually seemed to believe

that their own interests were most safely to be secured by endangering the nation at large ! This base and baneful principle has filled the offices of State with noodles , and the camp with incapables . And , as if this were not enough to exasperate the people , it has been shown by a recent example , that if there be an exception to the rule of substituting family and rank and connection for talent and power and

wisdom , —if there be one moral qualification which entitles a scion of a noble family to especial patronage and promotion in the ranks , —it is vice , or profligacy , or violence , which would disgrace a scavenger and supersede a hangman . In all this folly and wickedness , the natural re-action and recoil ( which is as absolute a law as the rebound of an elastic ball ) , has been entirely overlooked . The very class thus unthinkingly and iniquitously honoured , will be the first to smart

under the consequences . Are we then political incendiaries , who would rouse the populace to rebellion by dilating on their wrongs ? By no means : —we proposed to show that there was no class exempt from this "blind devotion to self . We have shown how it exists in the higher classes , and we forbear to exhibit , as we might , the iniquities of embassies and the vices of diplomacy . These have already been sufficiently exposed *

Turn we to the lower orders . On what principle are these Sunday Hyde Park mobs collected ? "What motive instigates the misguided reptiles who spout their venom and malignity to the motley assemblage of vagabonds and idlers on these occasions ? Is it the public good ? Is yon orator in earnest when he declaims on the degeneracy and injustice of our rulers ? Believe it not . He is only

* " Embassies and Foreign Courts , " by "The Roving Englishman . "

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