Permit me however to observe, That the dictates of reason, of humanity, and of our holy religion, all concur to give a sanction to your efforts, and to excite you to persist in the well-meant undertaking, of spreading the blessings of benevolence and mutual love over the whole earth. Your society is not confined to parties and sects; it admits not of the local distinctions of nations and countries: Mankind is the object of its attention, their happiness the end of its pursuit; and this end it aims to accomplish, by the most reasonable means, the culture of the benign and friendly propensities of our nature; by promoting peace and unity, benevolence and affection among all the individuals of the human species.
This also is one grand design of the religion of the holy Jesus. His gospel proclaims peace and good will to mankind; and endeavours to promote their happiness by promoting unity, concord and benevolence among them. It confines not its attention to particular sects, and parties of men, to particular nations, countries, states or kingdoms. It aims to connect the whole human race together by love and benevolence, and to make them all happy in this world by the mutual intercourse of good will and affection; and by cultivating the tender, benign and amiable propensities of the human heart, to fit and prepare them for perfect, never-ceasing happiness in the kingdom of God our creator.
From -
A DISCOURSE ON BROTHERLY LOVE
Preached before the Honorable Fraternity
of Free and Accepted Masons, OF ZION LODGE, At ST. PAUL'S CHAPEL, In NEW-YORK, On the Festival of St. John the Baptist,
One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-seven.
By SAMUEL SEABURY, M.A.
Online Source: http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/seabury/masons1777.html
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