-
Articles/Ads
Article Untitled Article ← Page 3 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
« 7 - is quite another affair ; and we verily believe that if , by some extraordinary revulsion of mundane politics , Satan should rise to direct as overtly as he now does secretly the administration of honours and wealth , thousands of us would run the risk of being trampled to
death in the race for being first to pay our homage to him , to become his chaplain or prime minister , and be ready to swallow himself , hoofs , horns , and all . Yet we call ourselves a very noble , straightforward , and independent people—what a farce I Now Masonry ignores this pitiable spectacle , as a falsehood and
hypocritical delusion . She contemns the flimsy dress of pretended honour with which man conceals the skeleton of his infamy ; she spurns the magniloquent rhapsodies which the pseudo-hero of a thousand virtues sponts upon the public stage , who , behind the scenes , in private life , indulges in saturnalia which Silenus would
repudiate . Raiik has its duties as well as its privileges . It has no right to receive the honours of the one the moment it discards the obligation of the other . If a being , therefore , called man , disowning the glorious prerogative of his creation in the image of his Maker , casts himself down in the dust before a fellow-mortal , in order to
acquire title , wealth , or power , he deserves to receive the dirt the mean door-mat he has made himself is fitted for ; his titles , acquired by evil means , do but set forth and illustrate his turpitude , and present as ludicrous a contrast between the grandeur of his dignities and his own dishonour , as any long-eared Balaam who ever roared beneath
a lion ' s skin . Those who have made him great , ridicule their own work ; his superiors laugh at , while they consort with him ; and the ranks he has just quitted , of his previous equals , now his inferiors , hate while they flatter , and long for the fall of the successful humbug whose meanness they abjure , and yet , for half his fortune , would
—copy . The clown ' s part in the play is the most amusing to others , the most tiresome to himself . To think what pains in the back so much bowing and bowing on the " toady ' s" part must cause ! Whatrevoltings of the moral stomach must be produced by the perpetual demand on
its powers to act in direct opposition to their purport , to gorge vice , tyranny , and oppression , and to be compelled to hiccup forth falsehood , servility , adulation ! Eely upon it , the prevalence of sciatica and indigestion arises from this moral abasement , and not altogether from those infirmities which come strictly within the province of Parr ' s pills , or If olloway's ointment ! As far as rank conduces to the elevation of Masonry in a state
the question is capable of a modified estimation . We do not deny that the position of many Brethren as peers tends to impress the minds of the vulgar with a sort of respect for our fraternity , and that in some cases this rank may act beneficially in securing protection in states where popular liberty is insecure . But here , in England , we have no need of such protection ; hence rank , in this respect , is comparatively valueless , and more than valueless , becomes even detrimental if it checks the expansion of Masonic excellence in the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Untitled Article
« 7 - is quite another affair ; and we verily believe that if , by some extraordinary revulsion of mundane politics , Satan should rise to direct as overtly as he now does secretly the administration of honours and wealth , thousands of us would run the risk of being trampled to
death in the race for being first to pay our homage to him , to become his chaplain or prime minister , and be ready to swallow himself , hoofs , horns , and all . Yet we call ourselves a very noble , straightforward , and independent people—what a farce I Now Masonry ignores this pitiable spectacle , as a falsehood and
hypocritical delusion . She contemns the flimsy dress of pretended honour with which man conceals the skeleton of his infamy ; she spurns the magniloquent rhapsodies which the pseudo-hero of a thousand virtues sponts upon the public stage , who , behind the scenes , in private life , indulges in saturnalia which Silenus would
repudiate . Raiik has its duties as well as its privileges . It has no right to receive the honours of the one the moment it discards the obligation of the other . If a being , therefore , called man , disowning the glorious prerogative of his creation in the image of his Maker , casts himself down in the dust before a fellow-mortal , in order to
acquire title , wealth , or power , he deserves to receive the dirt the mean door-mat he has made himself is fitted for ; his titles , acquired by evil means , do but set forth and illustrate his turpitude , and present as ludicrous a contrast between the grandeur of his dignities and his own dishonour , as any long-eared Balaam who ever roared beneath
a lion ' s skin . Those who have made him great , ridicule their own work ; his superiors laugh at , while they consort with him ; and the ranks he has just quitted , of his previous equals , now his inferiors , hate while they flatter , and long for the fall of the successful humbug whose meanness they abjure , and yet , for half his fortune , would
—copy . The clown ' s part in the play is the most amusing to others , the most tiresome to himself . To think what pains in the back so much bowing and bowing on the " toady ' s" part must cause ! Whatrevoltings of the moral stomach must be produced by the perpetual demand on
its powers to act in direct opposition to their purport , to gorge vice , tyranny , and oppression , and to be compelled to hiccup forth falsehood , servility , adulation ! Eely upon it , the prevalence of sciatica and indigestion arises from this moral abasement , and not altogether from those infirmities which come strictly within the province of Parr ' s pills , or If olloway's ointment ! As far as rank conduces to the elevation of Masonry in a state
the question is capable of a modified estimation . We do not deny that the position of many Brethren as peers tends to impress the minds of the vulgar with a sort of respect for our fraternity , and that in some cases this rank may act beneficially in securing protection in states where popular liberty is insecure . But here , in England , we have no need of such protection ; hence rank , in this respect , is comparatively valueless , and more than valueless , becomes even detrimental if it checks the expansion of Masonic excellence in the