The depths to where rise
My brows to the skies,
Be thine, from circumf'rence to centre. Select for thy throne,
Whate'er I have shown,
And Envy perforce shall content her."
The goddess surveyed
The riches displayed,
And gladly embraced the occasion. "My choice," she exclaimed,
"With pride be it named,
Is the heart of an accepted Mason."
LIV. A FRAGMENT.
(By Bro. W. Snewing.)
Ye beautiful! ye holy
Hieroglyphics bright!
Whose mystic rays are wholly
The birth of teeming Light.
Not Light whose rising giveth
Its tints to rosy day,
But Light whose lustre liveth
In Truth's eternal ray.
I feel thy mighty teaching
In nature's erring hour,
All solemnly beseeching
With silent voiceless pow'r,
My heart with chastened feeling
Attentive bows, while through
Its chords, like music stealing,
Thy language breathes anew.
As a mother interposing
Her form 'tween me and ill,
Is the honied truth that flows in
The lore thou dost instil.
And stripped of gloom and terror
Appears the flow'ry way,
Whose portals lead from error
To Wisdoms rising day.
While science. yields a tl.ousand gems
To dignify the mind,
Let us that noblest art pursue
Which elevates mankind.
So to Masonry, huzza!
So to Masonry, huzza!
Whose art and mystery coincide
With gospel and with law.
The pompous dome, the gorgeous hall,
The temple's cloud-cap't tower,*
The Mason's glory shall proclaim,
Till time's remotest hour.
Then to Masonry, &c.
Yet he who thinks our art confined
To mere domestic laws,
As well might judge great Nature's works
Sprung up without a cause.
* Alluding to the following well-known inscription on Shakspeare's monument:
"The cloud-cap't Tow'rs,
The gorgeous Palaces,
The solemn Temples,
The great Globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit,
Shall dissolve,
And, like the baseless fabric of a vision,
Leave not a wreck behind."
Ideal fabrics to uprear,
Some fools think all our art;
But little dream what plans we draw
To form an upright heart.
Then to Masonry, &c.
The plumb we poise, and cleanse the dust
Which hangs about the string;
And each unruly passion's flight
Within due compass bring.
Then to Masonry, &c.
Religion's all-enlightened page
We spread before our eyes;
By which we're taught those steps to trace,
Which lead us to the skies.
Then to Masonry, &c.
The "summum bonum" then we learn,
To which Masonry tends,
Our brethren as ourselves to love,
And all mankind, as friends.
Then to Masonry, &c.
The good Samaritan to prove
To all and everywhere;
Upon the level still to meet,
And part upon the square.
Then to Masonry, &c.
Upon this rock we'll stand, when worlds
To chaos are consign'd,
And this world's baseless fabrics all,
Leave not a wreck behind,
Then to Masonry, &c.
While princes and heroes promiscuously fight, And for the world's empire exert all their might, We sit in our lodges from danger secure,
No hardships we meet with, no pains we endure;
But each brother cheerfully joins in a song;
Our rites we renew,
Our pleasures pursue;
Thus we waft time along.
To restless ambition we never give way,
Our friends and our secrets we never betray:
Henceforth, O ye heroes, your ravages cease,
And the laurels ye wear, to Free-masons release;
Tho' ye won them by warfare, we claim them by
They are ours, they are still ours;
Tho' ye won them by warfare, we claim them by
Behold a cloud breaks, and Urania descends,
The sky-mantled nymph our Convention attends,
It is for the Craft that she sweeps the loud strings,
And science attunes her sweet notes as she sings.
All the arts inform'd by me,
Bow to thee, blest Masonry,
Creation spreads her charms to thee,
And thou immortal e'er shall be.
Elated, all own that thy source is divine,
The Bible thy standard, thy square, and thy line; That truth is thy handmaid, and reason thy soul, And justice thy guide to the farthermost pole.
Sense, truth, with good humour, and harmony join,
By Masonry warm'd, they uuite and combine:
To the bower of friendship she leads them along,
To taste of her banquets and chorus her song.
Then the arts, &c.
Behold the Freemason, how glorious his plan!
It enlarges the mind, and ennobles the man,
It teaches the hand and the heart how to bless,
And melts e'en the miser to soften distress.
To time's latest period the Craft so divine,
With the rays of the art shall diffusedly shine,
Those laws, rules, and orders, all other excel,
And we e'er stand foremost their virtues to tell.
While the arts, &c.
In all your dealings take good care,
Instructed by the friendly square,
To be true, upright, just, and fair,
And thou a fellow-craft shalt be.
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