MASONIC ANTHEMS and ODES, ODE II

Hail to the CRAFT! at whose serene command, The gentle ARTS in glad obedience stand: Hail, sacred MASONRY! of source divine, Unerring sov'reign of the unerring Line; Whose Plumb of Truth, with never failing sway, Makes the join'd parts of symmetry obey: Whose magic stroke bids fell confusion cease, And to the finish'd ORDERS give a place: Who rears vast structures from the womb of earth, And gives imperial cities glorious birth.

To works of art HER merit not confin'd, SHE regulates the morals, squares the mind: Corrects with care the sallies of the soul, And points the tide of passions where to roll; On Virtue's tablet marks HER moral rule, And forms her Lodge an Universal School; Where Nature's mystic laws unfolded stand, And Sense and Science join'd, go hand in hand.

O may HER social rules instructive spread, Till Trutin erect HER long neglected head! Till thro' deceitful night SHE darts HER ray, And beam full glorious in the blaze of day! Till men by virtuous maxims learn to move, Till all the peopled world HER laws approve, And Adam's race are bound in brothers' love.