Section. 4 - Masonry considered under two denominations.
Masonry passes under two denominations, operative and speculative. By the
former, we allude to a proper application of the useful rules of architecture,
whence a structure derives figure, strength, and beauty, and whence result
a due proportion and a just correspondence in all its parts. By the latter
we learn to subdue patterns, act upon the square, keep a tongue of good report,
maintain secrecy, and practise charity.
Speculative Masonry is so far interwoven with religion, as to lay us under
the strongest obligations to pay that rational homage to the Deity, which
at once constitutes our duty and our happiness. It leads to the contemplative
to view with reverence and admiration the glorious works of creation, and
inspires them with the most exalted ideas of the perfection of the divine
Creator, Operative Masonry furnishes us with dwellings, and convenient shelters
from the inclemencies of seasons; and while it displays the effects of human
wisdom, as well in the choice as in the arrangement of the materials of which
an edifice is composed, it demonstrates what a fund of science and industry
is implanted inn man for the best, most salutary, and beneficent purposes.
The lapse of time, the ruthless hand of ignorance, and the devastations of
war, have laid waste and destroyed many valuable monuments of antiquity,
on which the utmost exertions of human genius have been employed. Even the
temple of Solomon, so spacious and magnificent, and constructed by so many
celebrated artists, escaped not the unsparing ravages of barbarous forces
force. Freemasonry, notwithstanding, has still survived. The attentive ear
receives the sound of the instructive tongue, and the sacred mysteries are
safely lodged in the repository of faithful breasts. Tools and implements
of architecture, symbols the most expressive, are selected by the fraternity,
to imprint on the memory serious truths; and thus the excellent tenets of
the institution are transmitted unimpaired, under circumstances precarious
and adverse, through the succession of aegs.