REASONS why the Ladies have never been admitted to the Ode performed at the Dedication of Free Masons' Hall in THE FREE MASON'S MONITOR. ORIGIN OF MASONRY. To proclaim and encourage virtue, in whatever form it may appears, is truly laudable, and will always meet with the approbation of the good in this, and every other country. Such has been the endeavour of Free Masonry from the earliest period to the present day. When the wild savage leaped from his den, in all the horrors of barbarian ferocity, and men knew no rights but those of the strongest, Free Masonry, shackled, but not destroyed, exerted itself in filial tenderness, paternal regard, an adoration of the deity, and gratitude for benevolent actions. In the dark times of primeval history, when mad ambition rashly overrun the bounds of property, trod uncontrolled the barren wilds of savage freedom, it was then that the originals of our present order framed the rude but glorious superstructure of the moral world: and we plainly perceive that Masonry has in all ages been instrumental in ameliorating the condition of the human race. The disciples of Religion and Reason, have in all ages gone hand in hand: and we see the moral and divine precepts of the Scriptures have, from time immemorial, been introduced under the symbolic expressions of masonic art. Free Masonry (or Virtue, its true name) ventured to correct the ferocious manners of men, to tame their savage cruelty, convoke their synod, frame their laws, and, with a sort of magic power, convert the lawless robber into the peaceful citizen: it was the order of Philanthropy, or, to speak in more explicit language, of Free Masonry. The structures of humanity were often erased by the inroads of barbarian fury, mutilated by the ignorants in ancient times often prostituted to the service of an ecclesiastic council; where debate, rancour, and animosity, with daring projects were too often seen through the gilded veil of clerical dignity. The religious, it is well known, engrossed in the early ages of Christianity the whole stock of general knowledge, together with Christian learning; and whatever mankind might be possessed of, flowed through the channels, of intolerant zeal and religious prejudice. The ignorance of some of the ancient transcribers has been already very judiciously detected in a former masonic treatise, and I fear they have been less merciful, respecting the cardinal expression Philanthropy, erasing the first four letters, and substituting Mis, exposed to the world that horrid collection of letters Misanthropy. * From this mistake alone religious persecution raged, carnage strewed the plains with the mangled bodies of our noble ancestors, laid waste the ripening fields of golden harvest, and devastation raged, until the masonic spirit enlightened the reason. From that period the clouds of darkness began to disappear. Virtue travelled westerly, and meeting with patrons, has now fixed her seat with imperial greatness in the Grand and Subordinate Lodges of the United States of America. It is a public misfortune, that the purity of manners of * See annotations of Mr. Locke, under the name of Peter Gower, in Preston's Illustrations of Masonry, page 136. a society, which exceeds every other, should not be more generally known among all ranks. The people have too long been ignorant of our masonic principles. Virtue, when hunted from her abode on the continent of Europe, seems to have formed her only phalanx in this Society, to wipe the tear from the eye of distress, to cheer the heart of the unfortunate, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and prevent, by anticipation, the wants of the unfortunate, has always been the practice of masons. We may equal, but cannot surpass such actions: it is not here they can be excelled; and it is our fervent wish that people may no longer be ignorant of the true principles of our institution. Such a confession, indeed, reflects on themselves as men: nor should they perplex the mind in the minute investigation of the secret signs, when they reflect that the base of this order is Charity, the figurative and typical emblems are illustrations of a nobler subject. Buildings, however strong or noble, will decay; but Virtue, immortal Virtue! takes its flight from these to the celestial abodes, and is at last received into the bosom of its God. . Far different from the designs of many meetings of the day, whose features are excess, the Free Masons are a standing exception, they revel in Charity and riot in nobleness of heart. Free Masons are a public benefit to the world, uniting in the strongest ties people of all countries, and all religious. creeds; their language is as general as that of the eyes, and in all parts of the globe it is understood. By communicative signs it has become peculiarly valuable, and Free Masons possess, what the learned have sought in vain, an invariable cypher for universal communication; theirs is a sort of personal short hand. We now come to the operative part, called Masonry, which is distinct from the social aim of the institution, although the original cause of it. |
