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Article ¦ UMFOBMITY OE WORKING. ← Page 5 of 6 →
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¦ Umfobmity Oe Working.
of the windows be darkened , arid the doors to when the sound of the grinding is low , and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird , and all the daught ^ they ; shall be afraid of that wliich is high , and fears shall be in the way , and the almond-tree shall flourish , ajid the grasshopper sh ^ ^ arid desire shall fail : because man goeth to his long home , and the mourners go about the streets : or ever the silver cord be loosed , or the golden howl be broken , or the pitcher be broken at the fountain , or the wheel hroken at the cistern .
" Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was : and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it . " We know not whether Bro . Preston has touched upon this in his lecture , but it cannot be denied that the admirable lesson taught in the verses we have quoted is worthy of being irideliby iiripressed upon the mind of every man , and i ^ in every way consistent with the tenets taught bv the Master Mason ' s decree .
Hutchinson in his " Spirit of Masonry , " Lecture IX ., says" Under the ( Draftsmen I have shown the mosaic legation and the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem , together with the light which men received for the discovery of the divine wisdom , by geometrical solutions . I now proceed to the third stage , the most sacred and solemn Order of Masons , the Master Mason ' s Order ; " and having pointed out how the Jewish law became corrupted after the time of Solomon until ¦¦ " her tomb was in the rubbish and filth cast forth of
the temple , and acacia wove its branches over her monument , " goes on to speak of the doctrine of redemption ; and proceeds" Thus the master Mason represents a man under the Christian doctrine , saved from the grave of iniquity , and raised to the faith of salvation / 5 Now as Hutchinson ' s work was published under the sanction of
the then Grand Master Lord Petre , the Deputy Grand Master Holt , the Grand Wardens , Grand Treasurer and Grand Secretary , there can be no doubt that he truly represented Ereemasonry as it was understood and practised in 1769—and an examination of Preston ' s "Illustrations" will prove how closely he followed in the footsteps of Hutchinson in his idea of the position and practice of our institution .
In the arrangement for the future working of our ceremonies we should be sorry were anything introduced to militate in the slightest degree against the universality of tho Order as now established in Ungland , and as we could wish it established throughout the world —but if we are to have Prestonian lectures let us have Preston in his
integrity . If , however , it is determined by competent authorities that the Masonry as taught by Preston was not that ancient Masonry to perpetuate which our institution was established—let it be so declared ; and let future lecturers be called upon to illustrate and teach only those doctrines by which the Craft is to be bound and governed , without being tied down to a slavish parrot-like repetition of the exact words laid down for their guidance in any particular
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
¦ Umfobmity Oe Working.
of the windows be darkened , arid the doors to when the sound of the grinding is low , and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird , and all the daught ^ they ; shall be afraid of that wliich is high , and fears shall be in the way , and the almond-tree shall flourish , ajid the grasshopper sh ^ ^ arid desire shall fail : because man goeth to his long home , and the mourners go about the streets : or ever the silver cord be loosed , or the golden howl be broken , or the pitcher be broken at the fountain , or the wheel hroken at the cistern .
" Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was : and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it . " We know not whether Bro . Preston has touched upon this in his lecture , but it cannot be denied that the admirable lesson taught in the verses we have quoted is worthy of being irideliby iiripressed upon the mind of every man , and i ^ in every way consistent with the tenets taught bv the Master Mason ' s decree .
Hutchinson in his " Spirit of Masonry , " Lecture IX ., says" Under the ( Draftsmen I have shown the mosaic legation and the Jewish Temple at Jerusalem , together with the light which men received for the discovery of the divine wisdom , by geometrical solutions . I now proceed to the third stage , the most sacred and solemn Order of Masons , the Master Mason ' s Order ; " and having pointed out how the Jewish law became corrupted after the time of Solomon until ¦¦ " her tomb was in the rubbish and filth cast forth of
the temple , and acacia wove its branches over her monument , " goes on to speak of the doctrine of redemption ; and proceeds" Thus the master Mason represents a man under the Christian doctrine , saved from the grave of iniquity , and raised to the faith of salvation / 5 Now as Hutchinson ' s work was published under the sanction of
the then Grand Master Lord Petre , the Deputy Grand Master Holt , the Grand Wardens , Grand Treasurer and Grand Secretary , there can be no doubt that he truly represented Ereemasonry as it was understood and practised in 1769—and an examination of Preston ' s "Illustrations" will prove how closely he followed in the footsteps of Hutchinson in his idea of the position and practice of our institution .
In the arrangement for the future working of our ceremonies we should be sorry were anything introduced to militate in the slightest degree against the universality of tho Order as now established in Ungland , and as we could wish it established throughout the world —but if we are to have Prestonian lectures let us have Preston in his
integrity . If , however , it is determined by competent authorities that the Masonry as taught by Preston was not that ancient Masonry to perpetuate which our institution was established—let it be so declared ; and let future lecturers be called upon to illustrate and teach only those doctrines by which the Craft is to be bound and governed , without being tied down to a slavish parrot-like repetition of the exact words laid down for their guidance in any particular