Funeral Oration for the Obsequies of Karl von Hund

Book Collection

GEORG KLOSS.

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Manuscript
No. of the catalog VI - 670.
Stiller No.

German united lodges! and what a leader! Crowned with laurels, the hero Ferdinand steps out of the bloody battlefield, savior of Germany, and dons the philosophical garment of the Freemason's apron. He lays aside the shining sword, and takes up the trowel and the hammer for the building of virtue and human happiness. He, who was otherwise in the glory of victory a fearsome avenger of the subjugated fatherland, now shines like Apollo among the shepherds, in a gentler glory: as a friend of man, as a wise man, as a brother. And when he stood up and raised the hammer, and showed not only the brothers but also the people that the hero and the wise man could still lead the hammer without blushing, just as kings and heroes have led it before—then many noble princes of Germany rose from their thrones and princely chairs, stepped to the altar of virtue and kindness, and swore: The golden age shall come again! Astrea the goddess of justice shall bring equality and nobility back to the scattered people! A noble thirst for science and truth shall inflame the wise of the earth! We want to go ahead, the path that leads to virtue, we want

to not remember that we are princes, but rather that we deserve to be, and our example shall inflame others to great, gentle acts of humanity, just as our sword would inflame them if we were to draw it, for the sake of the faith and the fatherland, at the head of an army!

Without blushing, you too, most worshipful Master and members of this lodge, can raise your head among the Masons and see the hungry fed by you, the sick healed, the troubled comforted—see how your brothers, upon whom need weighed heavily, stand relieved of the yoke that pressed upon them, and look up in blessing to you, who spread comfort and protection and help upon them—And what tasks do not still lie before you, noble Masons on the battlement of the temple? From step to step, the horizon around you expands, showing you a field full of sciences that smiles upon your cultivation and invites you to bring man to his first inherent happiness: to think and to do good.

1800
Volume III.

Treatises

miscellaneous essays.