[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on The Holy St. John's and Freemasonry
The source of "the knightly orders" is traced to the "loftiness of virtue" and the courage of one of the Knights of St. John (the masonic patron saint) at the recapture of Jerusalem during the Crusades. Loyalty and constancy are once again invoked, as is freedom at the moment of an election. The laws of the ancient Egyptians are praised and compared to those of the masonic order. This is a theme that will recur, and it suggests an identification with the search for a civil religiosity. Cryptically in 1779 the minutes tell us that there are things beyond the control of the lodge that sometimes need its attention.
Once again the theme of utility emerges in the lodge's discourse, in particular the usefulness of the sciences. This was a common theme among Dutch reformers of the period, who believed, with considerable justification that the Republic had fallen into decline in part because of the superiority of its neighbors in applied mechanical science. Within the year the brothers are told that all useful societies need laws; at the new year of 1780 the master gave his blessing to the lodge and expressed his concern "in relation to the recent precarious epoch of our beloved Nation and its high government."
It seems reasonable to relate these remarks of the late 1770s to the deepening economic crisis in the Republic, to its quarrel with Britain because of Dutch trade with the American colonies and the impending Anglo-Dutch war. This was the moment when Dutch reformers began to sense that something had gone very wrong and to question the competence of the stadtholder and his government. Within a few months the orator will praise the brothers for being "Dutch [and] freedom loving." The themes of light and enlightenment are renewed in these discourses.......
This essay has the followings:
Total words: 2,664
Total reference: 6
Total price: £ 49.95
Click here to Order this essay!
Get Professionally written Essays that are:
• Written According to your Exact Requirements
• 100% Original and Non-Plagiarized
• Written by Expert
UK Writers
• Delivered to you before your deadline
Amazingly Low Prices - £9.95/page
