OF MASONRY: AN ODE
BY JOHN BANCKS OF SUNNING
I.
GENIUS of MASONRY ! defcend,
In mystic Numbers while We fing:
Enlarge Our Souls; the Craft defend;
And hither all Thy Influence bring.
With focial Thoughts Our Bofoms fill,
And give Thy Turn to ev'ry Will!
II.
While grofs BATAVIA, wall'd with Mud,
Thy purer Joys delight no more;
And winding SEINE, a captive Flood,
Laments Thee wand'ring from his Shore;
Here fpread Thy Wings, and glad thefe Ifles,
Where ARTS refide, and FREEDOM fmiles.
III.
Behold the LODGE rife into View!
The Work of INDUSTRY and ART.
Tis grand, and regular, and true:
For fo is each good MASON'S Heart.
FRIENDSHIP cements it from the Ground,
And SECRESY fhall fense it round.
IV.
A STATELY DOME o'erlooks Our Eaft,
Like Orient PROEBUS in the Morn:
And TWO TALL PILLARS in the Weft
At once fupport Us, and adorn.
Upholden thus, the Structure ftands,
Untouch'd by facrilegious Hands.
V.
For Concord form's, Our Souls agree;
Nor Fate this Union fhall deftroy:
Our Toils and Sports alike are free;
And all is Harmony and Joy.
So SALEM'S Temple rofe by Rule,
Without the Noife of noxious Tool.
VI.
As when AMPHION tun'd his Song,
Ev'n rugged Rocks the Mufick knew;
Smooth'd into Form they glide along,
And to a THEBES the Defert grew.
So at the Sound of HIRAM'S Voice,
We rife, We join, and We rejoice.
VII.
Then may Our Vows to Virtue move!
To VIRTUE, own'd in all her Parts:
Come CANDOUR, INNOCENCE, and LOVE;
Come, and poffefs Our faithful Hearts!
MERCY, who feeds the hungry Poor,
And SILENCE, Guardian of the Door !
VIII.
And Thou ASTRAEA, (tho' from Earth,
When Men on Men began to prey,
Thou fled'st, to claim celeftial Birth;)
Down from OLYMPUS wing Thy Way!
And, mindful of Thy antient Seat,
Be prefent ftill where MASONS meet!
IX.
Immortal SCIENCE, too, be near !
(We own Thy Empire o'er the Mind)
Drefs'd in Thy radiant Robes appear,
With all Thy beauteous Train behind:
INVENTION, young and blooming, there;
Here GEOMETRY, with Rule and Square.
X.
In EGYPT'S Fabrick Learning dwelt,
And ROMAN Breafts could Virtue hide:
And VULCAN'S Rage the Building felt,
And BRUTUS, last of ROMANS, dy'd:
Since when, difpers’s the Sifters rove,
Or fill paternal Thrones above.
XI.
But, loft to half the human Race,
With Us the VIRTUES fhall revive;
And, driv'n no more from Place to Place,
Here SCIENCE fhall be kept alive:
And MANLY TASTE, the Child of SENSE,
Shall banifh VICE and DULNESS hence.
XII.
United thus, and for thefe Ends,
Let SCORN deride, and ENVY rail:
From Age to Age the CRAFT defcends;
And what We build fhall never fail:
Nor fhall the World Our Works furvey;
But ev'ry BROTHER keens the KEY.
From the Miscellaneous Works in Prose and Verse of John Bancks, (of Sunning, Berkshire, England), vol. 1, pages 33-39. London, 1738.