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ANTHEMS
illustrations of masonry
william preston
Anthem I
Grant us, kind Heaven! what we request,
In masonry let us be blest;
Direct us to that happy place
Where Friendship smiles in every face:
Where Freedom and sweet Innocence
Enlarge the mind and cheer the sense.
Where sceptered Reason, from her throne,
Surveys, the Lodge, and makes us one;
And Harmony's delightful sway
For ever sheds ambrosial day:
Where we blest Eden's pleasures taste,
While balmy joys are our repast.
No prying eye can view us here;
No fool or knave disturb our cheer:
Our well-formed laws set mankind free,
And give relief to misery:
The poor, oppressed with woe and grief,
Gain form our bounteous hands relief.
Our Lodges the social Virtues grace,
And Wisdom's rules we fondly trace;
Whole Nature open to our view,
Points out the paths we should persue
Let us subsist in lasting peace,
And may our happiness increase!
Anthem II
By Mason's Art the aspiring dome
On stately columns shall arise,
All climates are their native home,
Their godlike actions reach the skies.
Heroes and kings revere their name
While poets sing their lasting fame.
Great, noble, generous, good, and brave;
All virtues they must justly claim;
Their deeds shall live beyond the grave,
And those unborn their praise proclaim,
Time shall their glorious acts enrol,
While live and friendship charm the soul.
Anthem II
Let there be light - the Almighty spoke,
Resulgent streams from chaos broke,
To illume the rising earth!
Well pleased the Great Johavah stood
The Power Supreme pronounced it good,
And gave the planets birth!
In choral numbers Masons join,
To bless and praise this light divine.
Parent of light! accept our praise!
Who sheddest on us thy brightest rays,
The light that fills his mind
By choice selected, lo! we stand.
By friendship joined, a social band!
That love, that aid mankind!
In choral numbers Masons join,
To bless and praise this light divine.
The widow's tear - the orphan's cry -
All wants our ready hands supply,
As far as power is given
The naked clothe - the prisoner free -
These are thy works, Sweet Charity!
Revealed to us from Heaven.
In choral numbers Masons join,
To bless and praise this light divine.
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