Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Professor Robertson On Freemasonry.
that men of most estimable character and exalted position had attached themselves to this society . " "Plow then , " the Professor pertinently asks , " could an institution apparently so praiseworthy , have drawn down the censures of the Church ?
How could it have aroused the suspicions and the hostility of so many different governments ?" We confess that we are inclined to ask these
questions too , and are most anxious to see what answers Mr . Robertson gives to them . They are as follows : — " In the first place , the Catholic Church condemns all societies which , like that of the
Freemasons , impose secret oaths . " The Scripture , " he says , " tells us , that our speech should be yea ,, yea , and nay , nay ; and that it is not lawful to swear . " He adds , however , that " both the Church and
the civil power can exact an oath from us . " Most undoubtedly rash and unnecessary oaths are to be condemned , aud such only . The 39 th Article of the Church of England seems to us to be quite in accordance with the teaching ; of the volume of the Sacred Law , on this point . We therefore venture to quote it : —
" Of a Christian Man ' s Oath . " As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ , and James His A . postle , so we judge , that Christian religion doth not prohibit , but that a man may
swear when the magistrate requireth , in a case of faith and charity , so it be done according to the prophet's teaching in justice , judgment , and truth . " ( To be continued ) .
On Love.
ON LOVE .
The Substance of a Sermon preached at the last Annual Provincial Grand Meeting of Suffolk , hj the S . ev . A . TIGUE GREGORY , M . A ., LL . B ., Provincial Grand Chaplain , Vicar ofBawdsey . " For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning , that wc should love one another . "—1 John ,
iii „ 11 . The foundation stone of the world , the Church , and our brotherhood is love . 1 . The foundation stone of the world is love . For " God is love , " and all things are of God .
Hence , the broad earth and its arching heavens , this goodly frame , the earth , and this o v erhanging firmament fretted with golden fire , may be
regarded as the floor and the roof of a structure intended for the development of love . The first heaven sufficed not for God ' s love : the earth was created as a supplement to Heaven : one common origin was conferred on the whole human race
that all we should be brethren ; that , each feeling related to the other , every heart should form a consecrated channel to receive God's love rejoicingly , and to distribute it benignantly . And as each separate section of this building of his
own love took definite shape beneath the Grand Designer's loving eye in Eden , God saw that ifc was good , and as the draught grew to completion before him , behold , it was very good , the Divine Architect saw of the travail of his soul , and was satisfied—and God blessed the day and sanctified it , in which he rested from all his work—a work
of love , and therefore good , for love worketh no ill . And had this design of God's love been carried out by man , what a glorious world would be exhibited to-day ! a whole race in family union ,
animated by one heart , a heart beating in harmony with heaven , aud sending in waves of sweetest music with every pulsation the fresh life of love to even the remotest members of the body coporate , blest in the reception of a Divine Spirit from God ,
and doubly blest iu the God-like prerogative of diffusing a Divine Spirit amongst men . But sin entered into the world , and , as a consequence , this glorious fabric fell . Sin entered into the world , and death by sin ; and as death
passed upon all , for that all have sinned , so love died —• But revived ae'ahi . For God ' s Counsel must
stand . The sinfulness of man must be overruled : the sentence of death must be remitted : the fallen fabric must be rebuilt : and so , in the very hour that all seemed lost , the decree was proclaimed that the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent's head , and God so loved the world , that he he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believethhihiinshouldnotperisb , but have everlasting life . Love died , but revived agaiu : a death in mortal shape—a resurrection in celestial spirit .
For where sin abounded , grace did much more abound , that as sin reigned unto death , even so might grace reign unto eternal life . And as witness to this—to the indestructibility of love , and the ultimate realisation of God ' s design—on the same foundation stone as the world , was the Church npreared .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Professor Robertson On Freemasonry.
that men of most estimable character and exalted position had attached themselves to this society . " "Plow then , " the Professor pertinently asks , " could an institution apparently so praiseworthy , have drawn down the censures of the Church ?
How could it have aroused the suspicions and the hostility of so many different governments ?" We confess that we are inclined to ask these
questions too , and are most anxious to see what answers Mr . Robertson gives to them . They are as follows : — " In the first place , the Catholic Church condemns all societies which , like that of the
Freemasons , impose secret oaths . " The Scripture , " he says , " tells us , that our speech should be yea ,, yea , and nay , nay ; and that it is not lawful to swear . " He adds , however , that " both the Church and
the civil power can exact an oath from us . " Most undoubtedly rash and unnecessary oaths are to be condemned , aud such only . The 39 th Article of the Church of England seems to us to be quite in accordance with the teaching ; of the volume of the Sacred Law , on this point . We therefore venture to quote it : —
" Of a Christian Man ' s Oath . " As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ , and James His A . postle , so we judge , that Christian religion doth not prohibit , but that a man may
swear when the magistrate requireth , in a case of faith and charity , so it be done according to the prophet's teaching in justice , judgment , and truth . " ( To be continued ) .
On Love.
ON LOVE .
The Substance of a Sermon preached at the last Annual Provincial Grand Meeting of Suffolk , hj the S . ev . A . TIGUE GREGORY , M . A ., LL . B ., Provincial Grand Chaplain , Vicar ofBawdsey . " For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning , that wc should love one another . "—1 John ,
iii „ 11 . The foundation stone of the world , the Church , and our brotherhood is love . 1 . The foundation stone of the world is love . For " God is love , " and all things are of God .
Hence , the broad earth and its arching heavens , this goodly frame , the earth , and this o v erhanging firmament fretted with golden fire , may be
regarded as the floor and the roof of a structure intended for the development of love . The first heaven sufficed not for God ' s love : the earth was created as a supplement to Heaven : one common origin was conferred on the whole human race
that all we should be brethren ; that , each feeling related to the other , every heart should form a consecrated channel to receive God's love rejoicingly , and to distribute it benignantly . And as each separate section of this building of his
own love took definite shape beneath the Grand Designer's loving eye in Eden , God saw that ifc was good , and as the draught grew to completion before him , behold , it was very good , the Divine Architect saw of the travail of his soul , and was satisfied—and God blessed the day and sanctified it , in which he rested from all his work—a work
of love , and therefore good , for love worketh no ill . And had this design of God's love been carried out by man , what a glorious world would be exhibited to-day ! a whole race in family union ,
animated by one heart , a heart beating in harmony with heaven , aud sending in waves of sweetest music with every pulsation the fresh life of love to even the remotest members of the body coporate , blest in the reception of a Divine Spirit from God ,
and doubly blest iu the God-like prerogative of diffusing a Divine Spirit amongst men . But sin entered into the world , and , as a consequence , this glorious fabric fell . Sin entered into the world , and death by sin ; and as death
passed upon all , for that all have sinned , so love died —• But revived ae'ahi . For God ' s Counsel must
stand . The sinfulness of man must be overruled : the sentence of death must be remitted : the fallen fabric must be rebuilt : and so , in the very hour that all seemed lost , the decree was proclaimed that the seed of the woman should bruise the
serpent's head , and God so loved the world , that he he gave his only begotten son , that whosoever believethhihiinshouldnotperisb , but have everlasting life . Love died , but revived agaiu : a death in mortal shape—a resurrection in celestial spirit .
For where sin abounded , grace did much more abound , that as sin reigned unto death , even so might grace reign unto eternal life . And as witness to this—to the indestructibility of love , and the ultimate realisation of God ' s design—on the same foundation stone as the world , was the Church npreared .