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Article MASONIC MYSTERIES REVEALED. Page 1 of 2 Article MASONIC MYSTERIES REVEALED. Page 1 of 2 →
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Masonic Mysteries Revealed.
MASONIC MYSTERIES REVEALED .
THERE never has been a period in the history of modern Freemasonry in which some pretended revelations of oursecret mysteries has not been palmed off upon a credulous public . The books and pamphlets containing theso supposed revelations have been eagerly purchased , and a good
many honest souls have forthwith imagined themselves thoroughly well posted in our seci'ets . We do not know if any of these worthy people have presented themselves at onr Lodge doors with the view of testing the true worth of the knowledge they are supposed to have acquired . Dr .
Oliver , in his entertaining Revelations of a Square , relates that on one occasion a cowan actually found his way into a Lodge , but though he momentarily succeeded in deluding the Tyler , he had not had time to turn himself round when the ominous cry " It Rains ! " was heard , and the culprit
stood before the brethren a declared and admitted impostor . What followed has been recorded in these pages from the story as originally told , and need not therefore concern us further . The moral we deduce from the talewhich if untrue , is yet a capital fiction—is simple enough .
We will picture to ourselves a man who has acquired a complete knowledge of our mysteries as they are declared to be by those who are at the pains of publishing these so-called revelations , yet does this knowledge avail him nothing . If the Tyler is thrown off his guard , he is
certain of immediate detection in the Lodge . It is in the power of no man to proclaim aloud our secrets . He may be a perjured brother , and , unmindful of the solemn obligations he has voluntarily contracted , may endeavour to communicate what knowledge he may have acquired of our
art , but though he may let slip something he was bound to keep secret , he will never succeed in enlightening the outside public as to our real mysteries . A wink , a nod , a peculiar shake of the hand , this or that word ; in short , anything that may have about it an air of reality may be
proclaimed aloud from the housetops , and yet the man who has acquired a knowledge of these signs and words—Ave will assume , for t '^ e sake of argument , that he has been truly informed , though the chances are ten thousand to one that he has been imposed upon—will be just as far off
as he was before from the true knowledge of what constitutes Freemasonry . And this not because—as our enemies are pleased to declare—there is any mystery of mysteries which is never related to those outside a certain sacred circle , but because it is , humanly speaking ,
impossible to communicate them to outsiders in such a manner that they shall be able to evade detection at the hands of a true brother . Does any one imagine that if the secrecy of Freemasonry depended on the knowledge of a few signs and words , ancl it were known that these signs and words
had been made public , they would not have been changed the moment the fact of such publication was established ? What is the first act of the commandant of a military post , if he has reason to fear treachery on the part of any
under his command , and that some one among them has revealed the " pass word ? " Well , he immediately changes it , and so renders the treacherous revelation of none effect . Is the world so fatuous as to believe that if
Freemasonry had any cause to fear these supposed unveilings of its mysteries with which the public is occasionally entertained , it would not long ago have followed the prudent course of the military commandant ? Whatever else we may be , those who compose the bulk of our society are not arrant fools—our enemies fear us too much and misrepresent us
Masonic Mysteries Revealed.
too often for them to think so ; and yet the citadel of Freemasonry is as impregnable now as it was in the days gone by , when a man appeared before some magistrate and made oath that what he was then about to reveal was " the truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth " as to the
mysteries of our Craft . The number of books which are supposed to have laid bare our secrets is legion , and the world is still none the wiser . Many an attempt has been made by outside people to enter our Lodges , but there is no authentic instance of the attempt having been
successful . Indeed , it may seem a bold thing to say so , but we aro fully persuaded that if all our sis : ns and words , our ritunl and our ceremonies were made public to-morrow , it would in nowise help the non-Maeon to master onr scorers . He might perhaps be sufficiently clever not to betray himself
over the first word or two , but he would very quickly be detected , as in the story we have already alluded to . No written description could prevent this happening , so that the readers of these " Masonic Mysteries Unveiled , " or whatever else such works may be entitled , need net flatter
themselves they have acquired a true knowledge of the Masonic Art . This , we are persuaded , is the opinion of our readers , who know as well as we do , what , if any , degree of truth there is in these pretended revelations .
Let us now turn to the particular article which has elicited those remarks , and which was published by us in these columns hsb week . It was taken from a Liverpool paper , and emanated from the pen of one who signed himself " A NON-MASONIC CONTRIBUTOR . " He need not have been
at the pains of so subscribing himself , as he betrays himself as a non-Mason in the first sentence . He proclaims that he is not a Mason , and he has no intention of becoming ono , " no matter how the brethren may press me to join the body . " The book he has got hold of has not , at all events ,
told him this much , that brethren are not in the habit of inviting , indeed they are strictly forbidden to invite , any non-Masons to join the ranks of the Society . Therefore , if he were an admirer of our Fraternity , instead of being , as we are justified in believing he is , one of our most
strenuous opponents , he cei-tainly w ould never be initiated into our mysteries if he waited until he was asked to join us . People become members of our Society voluntarily , and without motives of self-interest , so that" A NONMASONIC CONTRIBUTOR" need not have been at such pains to
announce his true character . Our Liverpudlian brethren who are readers of the journal in which " Tbe Secrets of Freemasonry " are presumably made public have not , we believe , been in any way disconcerted by the publication . We do not anticipate that any of their Lodges will be
invaded , even should those who present themselves , not being true and genuine Masons , utter any or all of the words on the supposed magical efficacy of which the writer in our contemporary lays so much stress . Bat to proceed with our criticism of this writer ' s contribution . In these hard
times we , as a representative organ of Freemasonry , must be thankful for any small mercies which may be vouchsafed to the Craft , and , accordingly , we are thankful that in the past , at all events , he has regarded the Society of Freemasons as a harmless , albeit a genial body of men .
Similarly and commensurately we must regret that he should have shown any inclination to accept as a revelation of our secrets the contents of this work , which " has an air of truth about it , " nor do we despair of being able to point out
that , owing to the circumstances by which it is surrounded it is totally unworthy of acceptance by him or any other decent personage . We shall not concern ourselves about its precioxia contents , We hay © seen it—it waa only
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Mysteries Revealed.
MASONIC MYSTERIES REVEALED .
THERE never has been a period in the history of modern Freemasonry in which some pretended revelations of oursecret mysteries has not been palmed off upon a credulous public . The books and pamphlets containing theso supposed revelations have been eagerly purchased , and a good
many honest souls have forthwith imagined themselves thoroughly well posted in our seci'ets . We do not know if any of these worthy people have presented themselves at onr Lodge doors with the view of testing the true worth of the knowledge they are supposed to have acquired . Dr .
Oliver , in his entertaining Revelations of a Square , relates that on one occasion a cowan actually found his way into a Lodge , but though he momentarily succeeded in deluding the Tyler , he had not had time to turn himself round when the ominous cry " It Rains ! " was heard , and the culprit
stood before the brethren a declared and admitted impostor . What followed has been recorded in these pages from the story as originally told , and need not therefore concern us further . The moral we deduce from the talewhich if untrue , is yet a capital fiction—is simple enough .
We will picture to ourselves a man who has acquired a complete knowledge of our mysteries as they are declared to be by those who are at the pains of publishing these so-called revelations , yet does this knowledge avail him nothing . If the Tyler is thrown off his guard , he is
certain of immediate detection in the Lodge . It is in the power of no man to proclaim aloud our secrets . He may be a perjured brother , and , unmindful of the solemn obligations he has voluntarily contracted , may endeavour to communicate what knowledge he may have acquired of our
art , but though he may let slip something he was bound to keep secret , he will never succeed in enlightening the outside public as to our real mysteries . A wink , a nod , a peculiar shake of the hand , this or that word ; in short , anything that may have about it an air of reality may be
proclaimed aloud from the housetops , and yet the man who has acquired a knowledge of these signs and words—Ave will assume , for t '^ e sake of argument , that he has been truly informed , though the chances are ten thousand to one that he has been imposed upon—will be just as far off
as he was before from the true knowledge of what constitutes Freemasonry . And this not because—as our enemies are pleased to declare—there is any mystery of mysteries which is never related to those outside a certain sacred circle , but because it is , humanly speaking ,
impossible to communicate them to outsiders in such a manner that they shall be able to evade detection at the hands of a true brother . Does any one imagine that if the secrecy of Freemasonry depended on the knowledge of a few signs and words , ancl it were known that these signs and words
had been made public , they would not have been changed the moment the fact of such publication was established ? What is the first act of the commandant of a military post , if he has reason to fear treachery on the part of any
under his command , and that some one among them has revealed the " pass word ? " Well , he immediately changes it , and so renders the treacherous revelation of none effect . Is the world so fatuous as to believe that if
Freemasonry had any cause to fear these supposed unveilings of its mysteries with which the public is occasionally entertained , it would not long ago have followed the prudent course of the military commandant ? Whatever else we may be , those who compose the bulk of our society are not arrant fools—our enemies fear us too much and misrepresent us
Masonic Mysteries Revealed.
too often for them to think so ; and yet the citadel of Freemasonry is as impregnable now as it was in the days gone by , when a man appeared before some magistrate and made oath that what he was then about to reveal was " the truth , the whole truth , and nothing but the truth " as to the
mysteries of our Craft . The number of books which are supposed to have laid bare our secrets is legion , and the world is still none the wiser . Many an attempt has been made by outside people to enter our Lodges , but there is no authentic instance of the attempt having been
successful . Indeed , it may seem a bold thing to say so , but we aro fully persuaded that if all our sis : ns and words , our ritunl and our ceremonies were made public to-morrow , it would in nowise help the non-Maeon to master onr scorers . He might perhaps be sufficiently clever not to betray himself
over the first word or two , but he would very quickly be detected , as in the story we have already alluded to . No written description could prevent this happening , so that the readers of these " Masonic Mysteries Unveiled , " or whatever else such works may be entitled , need net flatter
themselves they have acquired a true knowledge of the Masonic Art . This , we are persuaded , is the opinion of our readers , who know as well as we do , what , if any , degree of truth there is in these pretended revelations .
Let us now turn to the particular article which has elicited those remarks , and which was published by us in these columns hsb week . It was taken from a Liverpool paper , and emanated from the pen of one who signed himself " A NON-MASONIC CONTRIBUTOR . " He need not have been
at the pains of so subscribing himself , as he betrays himself as a non-Mason in the first sentence . He proclaims that he is not a Mason , and he has no intention of becoming ono , " no matter how the brethren may press me to join the body . " The book he has got hold of has not , at all events ,
told him this much , that brethren are not in the habit of inviting , indeed they are strictly forbidden to invite , any non-Masons to join the ranks of the Society . Therefore , if he were an admirer of our Fraternity , instead of being , as we are justified in believing he is , one of our most
strenuous opponents , he cei-tainly w ould never be initiated into our mysteries if he waited until he was asked to join us . People become members of our Society voluntarily , and without motives of self-interest , so that" A NONMASONIC CONTRIBUTOR" need not have been at such pains to
announce his true character . Our Liverpudlian brethren who are readers of the journal in which " Tbe Secrets of Freemasonry " are presumably made public have not , we believe , been in any way disconcerted by the publication . We do not anticipate that any of their Lodges will be
invaded , even should those who present themselves , not being true and genuine Masons , utter any or all of the words on the supposed magical efficacy of which the writer in our contemporary lays so much stress . Bat to proceed with our criticism of this writer ' s contribution . In these hard
times we , as a representative organ of Freemasonry , must be thankful for any small mercies which may be vouchsafed to the Craft , and , accordingly , we are thankful that in the past , at all events , he has regarded the Society of Freemasons as a harmless , albeit a genial body of men .
Similarly and commensurately we must regret that he should have shown any inclination to accept as a revelation of our secrets the contents of this work , which " has an air of truth about it , " nor do we despair of being able to point out
that , owing to the circumstances by which it is surrounded it is totally unworthy of acceptance by him or any other decent personage . We shall not concern ourselves about its precioxia contents , We hay © seen it—it waa only