Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Repository.
institution , by the most convincing arguments , drawn from our practice ; and let us support the character of our society for charity and benevolence to distress , in whatever manner it may solicit our assistance , whether to the unfortunate _ . > life , —to the industrious poor , who are forced to . yield to the accumulated load of poverty and disorder , _ -to the tcidciu , left desolate , and deprived of the means of
subsistence , —and the helpless orphan , still in a more pitiable state;—or , lastly , to the aged , who has every ch-. im to our compassion , when his spirits and strength are exhausted from a load of years , and his lamp is nearly burnt out . In short , in every case where distress , real ' and undisguised , presents itself , the feelings of the benevolent heart are instantly called forth , and we are bound by every tie of duty ,, sympathy , and affection , to hold out the hand of Charity . Indeed , ' ( as a learned Brother expressses it ) the very key-stone of our mystical fabric is—Charity .
Let , then , the spirit of Masonic kindness to the afflided be this day exemplified , in a manner to evince to the world , that the benevolence of a Mason is the benevolence of a Christian . Let us liberally contribute to the support of the charitable work for which wc are principally convened ; and which , in every point of view , is calculated to afford comfort to extreme affliction . Surely , in the whole compass ofbenevolent actions , it were hardly possible to devise a scheme more truly gratifying to a Christian ' s heart , or more truly praise-worthy to
its honourable projectors , than the one for which I am to request your contributions this day . Ifever relief were seasonable , it must be here . The tenderest affe & ions of the heart , the sweetest sympathy of soul , which one being can enjoy by lessening the burthen of accumulated pain in a fellow-creature , are here called forth , under every circumstance of the most pleasing gratification . No language , indeed , can do
justice to the comforts which this Charity supplies ! Nature , imperious Nature ! calls loudly upon usXo give it our best support . In the commonest relations of life , we are all as one great family , connected and knit together by the strong ties of affection and mutual wants ; like the-working of an arch of stone , all would fall tu the ground , if one piece did not support another . All are equally useful , —the poorest as well as the richest , —the peasant up to the prince ;
* --ana the whole community make up , like our several members , but one bod y : and if one member suffer , as the Apostle has wisely observed , every member must suffer with it . * Such , indeed , is the necessary dependence of every part of human life upon each other , that no one ' , even in solitude , can be said to live to himself alone . The eye cannot say to the hand , I have no need of thee ; nor , again , the head to the no need f t Let the union be
V , ° y ° - once destroyed , Which preserves a connection between the extremest parts of any body , and you instantl y derange the whole . In like manner , if you separate r unconneift the different gradations of society , or once stop the Mrent of natural affection , which should pervade , unite , and in'gorate every stage of it , —from that moment you endanger the pre-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Repository.
institution , by the most convincing arguments , drawn from our practice ; and let us support the character of our society for charity and benevolence to distress , in whatever manner it may solicit our assistance , whether to the unfortunate _ . > life , —to the industrious poor , who are forced to . yield to the accumulated load of poverty and disorder , _ -to the tcidciu , left desolate , and deprived of the means of
subsistence , —and the helpless orphan , still in a more pitiable state;—or , lastly , to the aged , who has every ch-. im to our compassion , when his spirits and strength are exhausted from a load of years , and his lamp is nearly burnt out . In short , in every case where distress , real ' and undisguised , presents itself , the feelings of the benevolent heart are instantly called forth , and we are bound by every tie of duty ,, sympathy , and affection , to hold out the hand of Charity . Indeed , ' ( as a learned Brother expressses it ) the very key-stone of our mystical fabric is—Charity .
Let , then , the spirit of Masonic kindness to the afflided be this day exemplified , in a manner to evince to the world , that the benevolence of a Mason is the benevolence of a Christian . Let us liberally contribute to the support of the charitable work for which wc are principally convened ; and which , in every point of view , is calculated to afford comfort to extreme affliction . Surely , in the whole compass ofbenevolent actions , it were hardly possible to devise a scheme more truly gratifying to a Christian ' s heart , or more truly praise-worthy to
its honourable projectors , than the one for which I am to request your contributions this day . Ifever relief were seasonable , it must be here . The tenderest affe & ions of the heart , the sweetest sympathy of soul , which one being can enjoy by lessening the burthen of accumulated pain in a fellow-creature , are here called forth , under every circumstance of the most pleasing gratification . No language , indeed , can do
justice to the comforts which this Charity supplies ! Nature , imperious Nature ! calls loudly upon usXo give it our best support . In the commonest relations of life , we are all as one great family , connected and knit together by the strong ties of affection and mutual wants ; like the-working of an arch of stone , all would fall tu the ground , if one piece did not support another . All are equally useful , —the poorest as well as the richest , —the peasant up to the prince ;
* --ana the whole community make up , like our several members , but one bod y : and if one member suffer , as the Apostle has wisely observed , every member must suffer with it . * Such , indeed , is the necessary dependence of every part of human life upon each other , that no one ' , even in solitude , can be said to live to himself alone . The eye cannot say to the hand , I have no need of thee ; nor , again , the head to the no need f t Let the union be
V , ° y ° - once destroyed , Which preserves a connection between the extremest parts of any body , and you instantl y derange the whole . In like manner , if you separate r unconneift the different gradations of society , or once stop the Mrent of natural affection , which should pervade , unite , and in'gorate every stage of it , —from that moment you endanger the pre-