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Article MASONRY'S ASPIRATION. ← Page 2 of 3 Article MASONRY'S ASPIRATION. Page 2 of 3 →
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Masonry's Aspiration.
means something . It means that Masonry has taken its place as one of the dignitaries , as well as one of the utilities of human society . It has become one of the * representative interests of society—even as the forum , the university , and
the workshops are interests of society . And society , admitting the Masonic Order into the circle of its groat and mosfc important interests , may indeed look on this noble Order with grateful eyes . I will now speak of the
munificent benevolence of those merciful ministrations in which Freemasonry cheers and relieves the weak and suffering members of society .
These benefactions are known to all men , and need no sounding trumpet to proclaim them . I would prefer to call attention to a fact nofc so often heeded , viz .: the protection which Masonry affords society . Some of quick ear
are thinking that they detect the mutterings of social revolution beneath the surface of our republican life and manners . If there be such menace , and if it be a determined or a formidable one—let him who discerns its signs
or hears its curses—let such an one glance up at this Masonic Temple as he walks our streets , and read in its outlines of at least one antidote of Anarchy or Communism , or any other form of rampant and selfish
individualism . Masonry is a guardian interest in society . It calls together men , the heads , the rulers , the leaders—the bone , the brain , the sinew and the muscle of mankind , and trains them to realize the meaning and the purpose of life ,
and how to discharge duty in the spirit of responsibility to God and man . Any agency which does this is an agency for good—an agency for good order and fidelity . Such a
school of allegiance to law and constituted authority is the Masonic Fraternity . Such a school of obedience , and industry , and fraternal harmony and kindness is something
to be valued , and as such ought to be cherished by the world , which enjoys and appreciates its fruits . The perpetuity of Masonry is conditioned on its maintenance of its illustrious past—or rather on its loyalty to the spirit which has made thafc past illustrious . With its enduring influence before ifc—in its prominent position as an element of life , and with all the questions bearing on life , and thought , and character , and conduct , which this age is asking . Masonry has a mighty mission opening before it . If we would have the world outside our walls
understand and estimate us aright , we must properly understand and estimate ourselves . Let us try to comprehend the gravity of fche mission on which Masonry goes forth among men . She goes out in the name of God—as a
religious institution . We ought to realize this fact , and live as if ifc were something that we thoroughly believe , and as if ifc were something profoundly worth the living for and the believing in . God forbid that one should use the name
of God , as a form , as a convenient name to conjure with before the world , while we practically ignore it , and allow ifc no place or power in our thought or our affections . Let us use the Order in a high-minded way—as a missionary to
the lives , the immortal lives , of men . Masonry , even as the Church , suffers from the intrusion of unworthy motives , and of glaring inconsistencies . It is used as a means of acquiring worldly influence—for the accomplishment of
selfish ends , for the fading crown of a short-lived personal popularity . Let us not , my brothers , so degrade this sublime society . It is a society of men . Ifc is an apostle going out—sent ont from the Holy Church of God , to persuade men to love God and love each other more . Let us so perceive the mission of fche Masonic Order , and so labour in and for the love of God to win men—the manly nature—to God . Thafc , my brothers , I apprehend to be the real truth , the
fullest truth as to the mission of the Masonic Order . It is embarked upon a mission to men—to preach true manhood , not the counterfeits and imitiations of it , which pass for genuine in common circulation , but true manhood , that
manhood which deems its greatest glory to be measured by its fear and love of God . Be Masons for the good which you can do by being such . Be Masons for the love of God ,
which you may thereby spread abroad among your brother men , making them men of faith , men of devotion , men of honour , men of charity , men of good-will , to whom the peace of God came in the accents of a song from heaven .
The Masonic Order is again a loud rebuke , a protest and remonstrance against the hard , materializing spirit of the age . The whole Masonic system of teaching , the records of its whole career emphasise the fact that there is a soul in things and an inner meaning within life , and in all we
see and are , and have , and use—a higher lesson than the
Masonry's Aspiration.
most facile mechanism of being successful in the struggle for subsistence—and a happiness superior to the low , terrestrial enjoyment , after getting .
Masonry has spiritualised the common fact of work , and taught that life is not to " nourish a blind life within the brain , " bufc , " knowing God , and lifting hand of prayer , both for themselves and those who call them friends .
For so the whole ronnd earth ia every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God . Masonry had been suspected unjustly , and accused most falsely of hostility to the Church of God . Whatever
grounds men may have for forming such opinions , those grounds were formed in individuals , and not in any avowal or disposition of the Order . The Masonic Order is the ally and the handmaid of the Church . Only
in such a position can ifc do its work freely and as master workmen ought to do it . There is no rivalry between the two . There can be none . The Church is a society formed by God . Masonry is a society formed by men . When we
have said that we have uttered the best possible disclaimer of anything antagonistic to the Church . Masonry is not a religion , and whoever would attempt to substitute it for
the Church has misconceived its intention and its spirit , and will never rise into the strength and glory of its teachings .
A moment ' s thought will tell us that the Masonic Order can be strong , and deserve and receive confidence only as ifc works stedfastly with the Divine Society . It owes so much to the Church . The boast of Masonry is that it takes the Bible for its guide . It founds itself upon those oracles of God , the Law , the Prophets and the Gospel . The Bible is the central object , and the chief illumination of the duly constituted Lodge . Bufc what institution is the guardian and custodian of Holy Scripture ? Where can we find a witness old and
reliable enough to assure the Masonic Order that there is a Bible , and of what the Bible is ? There is no institution from whose custody the Masonic Order received fche Bible —there is no witness which can be brought as a reliable one , as to what the Bible is , and as to the certainty of its
inspiration , save the Immemorial Church of God—the keeper and witness of Holy Writ . Once again , the best writers upon Masonry tell us that
Masonry in its present form includes as one of its especial ideas the idea of Cosmopolitan Brotherhood , and that this fact alone is enough to show that Masonry , as ifc now is , could not have been of very remote antiquity , because thafc
idea of Cosmopolitan Brotherhood was unknown fco and impossible in the ancient world . When and where , my brothers , did the world acquire that idea of Cosmopolitan Brotherhood on whose broad reputation Masonry has
thriven r There is but one reply—on the day of Pentecost and from the Church of God . The idea of the Church , unlimited by race , or nature , or territory—the universal , Catholic body , embracing all the earth , and every creature ,
wherein was neither Greek nor Jew , circumcision nor uncircumcision , barbarian , Scythian , bond nor free . This idea is the teaching of the Christian faith which has levelled all barriers , and made the world to recognize itself as
one flesh and of one blood , as sharing a common humanity ; this idea , which the Church of God communicated to the world , has made the expansion of the Masonic Order a possibility and an actual fact .
My brothers , if the Masonic Order be true to itself—true to those influences which have made it great and goodif it continue to drink of that sacred fountain of its purest and sweetest inspiration , it will lose none of its beauty , its
magnetism , or its energy . Ifc ought to be a mighfcy influence for the things which are above . It depends for the present on us to see that it give no uncertain sound , and that it rise to and act in the true sense of what it is , of what it has been , and of what , please God , it shall-for ever VIA
One of the greatest traces of Masonry in architecture is , we are told , the pointed arch . The pointed arch , my brothers , you all know , at first sight , means aspiration . It points to heaven . It is the flaming upward of man's
heart and soul to reach his God . Let us keep that allegory of his Pointed Arch continually before us as the ever-to berepeated triumph of our art . The Pointed Arch
!—Aspiration—towards heaven and God . Aspiration toward that hope which He holds out , Who said , " 0 thou afflicted , tossed with tempest and not comforted , behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours , and lay thy foundations with
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonry's Aspiration.
means something . It means that Masonry has taken its place as one of the dignitaries , as well as one of the utilities of human society . It has become one of the * representative interests of society—even as the forum , the university , and
the workshops are interests of society . And society , admitting the Masonic Order into the circle of its groat and mosfc important interests , may indeed look on this noble Order with grateful eyes . I will now speak of the
munificent benevolence of those merciful ministrations in which Freemasonry cheers and relieves the weak and suffering members of society .
These benefactions are known to all men , and need no sounding trumpet to proclaim them . I would prefer to call attention to a fact nofc so often heeded , viz .: the protection which Masonry affords society . Some of quick ear
are thinking that they detect the mutterings of social revolution beneath the surface of our republican life and manners . If there be such menace , and if it be a determined or a formidable one—let him who discerns its signs
or hears its curses—let such an one glance up at this Masonic Temple as he walks our streets , and read in its outlines of at least one antidote of Anarchy or Communism , or any other form of rampant and selfish
individualism . Masonry is a guardian interest in society . It calls together men , the heads , the rulers , the leaders—the bone , the brain , the sinew and the muscle of mankind , and trains them to realize the meaning and the purpose of life ,
and how to discharge duty in the spirit of responsibility to God and man . Any agency which does this is an agency for good—an agency for good order and fidelity . Such a
school of allegiance to law and constituted authority is the Masonic Fraternity . Such a school of obedience , and industry , and fraternal harmony and kindness is something
to be valued , and as such ought to be cherished by the world , which enjoys and appreciates its fruits . The perpetuity of Masonry is conditioned on its maintenance of its illustrious past—or rather on its loyalty to the spirit which has made thafc past illustrious . With its enduring influence before ifc—in its prominent position as an element of life , and with all the questions bearing on life , and thought , and character , and conduct , which this age is asking . Masonry has a mighty mission opening before it . If we would have the world outside our walls
understand and estimate us aright , we must properly understand and estimate ourselves . Let us try to comprehend the gravity of fche mission on which Masonry goes forth among men . She goes out in the name of God—as a
religious institution . We ought to realize this fact , and live as if ifc were something that we thoroughly believe , and as if ifc were something profoundly worth the living for and the believing in . God forbid that one should use the name
of God , as a form , as a convenient name to conjure with before the world , while we practically ignore it , and allow ifc no place or power in our thought or our affections . Let us use the Order in a high-minded way—as a missionary to
the lives , the immortal lives , of men . Masonry , even as the Church , suffers from the intrusion of unworthy motives , and of glaring inconsistencies . It is used as a means of acquiring worldly influence—for the accomplishment of
selfish ends , for the fading crown of a short-lived personal popularity . Let us not , my brothers , so degrade this sublime society . It is a society of men . Ifc is an apostle going out—sent ont from the Holy Church of God , to persuade men to love God and love each other more . Let us so perceive the mission of fche Masonic Order , and so labour in and for the love of God to win men—the manly nature—to God . Thafc , my brothers , I apprehend to be the real truth , the
fullest truth as to the mission of the Masonic Order . It is embarked upon a mission to men—to preach true manhood , not the counterfeits and imitiations of it , which pass for genuine in common circulation , but true manhood , that
manhood which deems its greatest glory to be measured by its fear and love of God . Be Masons for the good which you can do by being such . Be Masons for the love of God ,
which you may thereby spread abroad among your brother men , making them men of faith , men of devotion , men of honour , men of charity , men of good-will , to whom the peace of God came in the accents of a song from heaven .
The Masonic Order is again a loud rebuke , a protest and remonstrance against the hard , materializing spirit of the age . The whole Masonic system of teaching , the records of its whole career emphasise the fact that there is a soul in things and an inner meaning within life , and in all we
see and are , and have , and use—a higher lesson than the
Masonry's Aspiration.
most facile mechanism of being successful in the struggle for subsistence—and a happiness superior to the low , terrestrial enjoyment , after getting .
Masonry has spiritualised the common fact of work , and taught that life is not to " nourish a blind life within the brain , " bufc , " knowing God , and lifting hand of prayer , both for themselves and those who call them friends .
For so the whole ronnd earth ia every way Bound by gold chains about the feet of God . Masonry had been suspected unjustly , and accused most falsely of hostility to the Church of God . Whatever
grounds men may have for forming such opinions , those grounds were formed in individuals , and not in any avowal or disposition of the Order . The Masonic Order is the ally and the handmaid of the Church . Only
in such a position can ifc do its work freely and as master workmen ought to do it . There is no rivalry between the two . There can be none . The Church is a society formed by God . Masonry is a society formed by men . When we
have said that we have uttered the best possible disclaimer of anything antagonistic to the Church . Masonry is not a religion , and whoever would attempt to substitute it for
the Church has misconceived its intention and its spirit , and will never rise into the strength and glory of its teachings .
A moment ' s thought will tell us that the Masonic Order can be strong , and deserve and receive confidence only as ifc works stedfastly with the Divine Society . It owes so much to the Church . The boast of Masonry is that it takes the Bible for its guide . It founds itself upon those oracles of God , the Law , the Prophets and the Gospel . The Bible is the central object , and the chief illumination of the duly constituted Lodge . Bufc what institution is the guardian and custodian of Holy Scripture ? Where can we find a witness old and
reliable enough to assure the Masonic Order that there is a Bible , and of what the Bible is ? There is no institution from whose custody the Masonic Order received fche Bible —there is no witness which can be brought as a reliable one , as to what the Bible is , and as to the certainty of its
inspiration , save the Immemorial Church of God—the keeper and witness of Holy Writ . Once again , the best writers upon Masonry tell us that
Masonry in its present form includes as one of its especial ideas the idea of Cosmopolitan Brotherhood , and that this fact alone is enough to show that Masonry , as ifc now is , could not have been of very remote antiquity , because thafc
idea of Cosmopolitan Brotherhood was unknown fco and impossible in the ancient world . When and where , my brothers , did the world acquire that idea of Cosmopolitan Brotherhood on whose broad reputation Masonry has
thriven r There is but one reply—on the day of Pentecost and from the Church of God . The idea of the Church , unlimited by race , or nature , or territory—the universal , Catholic body , embracing all the earth , and every creature ,
wherein was neither Greek nor Jew , circumcision nor uncircumcision , barbarian , Scythian , bond nor free . This idea is the teaching of the Christian faith which has levelled all barriers , and made the world to recognize itself as
one flesh and of one blood , as sharing a common humanity ; this idea , which the Church of God communicated to the world , has made the expansion of the Masonic Order a possibility and an actual fact .
My brothers , if the Masonic Order be true to itself—true to those influences which have made it great and goodif it continue to drink of that sacred fountain of its purest and sweetest inspiration , it will lose none of its beauty , its
magnetism , or its energy . Ifc ought to be a mighfcy influence for the things which are above . It depends for the present on us to see that it give no uncertain sound , and that it rise to and act in the true sense of what it is , of what it has been , and of what , please God , it shall-for ever VIA
One of the greatest traces of Masonry in architecture is , we are told , the pointed arch . The pointed arch , my brothers , you all know , at first sight , means aspiration . It points to heaven . It is the flaming upward of man's
heart and soul to reach his God . Let us keep that allegory of his Pointed Arch continually before us as the ever-to berepeated triumph of our art . The Pointed Arch
!—Aspiration—towards heaven and God . Aspiration toward that hope which He holds out , Who said , " 0 thou afflicted , tossed with tempest and not comforted , behold I will lay thy stones with fair colours , and lay thy foundations with