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Article THE PRINCIPLES OF FREE MASONRY EXPLAINED. ← Page 12 of 15 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Principles Of Free Masonry Explained.
The very bestthings may be misrepresented : and when an outcry is once made against them , few people have either the candour to examine them impartially , or the courage to appear in their defence , on finding them injured in the opinion of the public . They are afraid to patronize what is generally condemned , lest the singularity of their judgment should , be misconstrued into an affeCtion for the bad qualities tothe
imputed thing , whose worth and utility they would assert ; as a man who vindicates his nei ghbour from the imputation of drunkenness , for instance , runs some hazard of being accused of a propensity to that vice himself . Nothing ever suffered , or continues to suffer , more unjustly by misrepresentation than Freemasonry . Upon . this account , I shall endeavour Brethrento remove some of the
, my , objections that ignorance and prejudice usually throw out against it . It is objeded against Freemasonry , that all who are to be initiated into it , must swear to conceit ] certain secrets before they are communicated to them , or have it in their power to examine into their nature and tendency . This practice they condemn as unlawful . This objection would indeed be of forceif they were obliged btheir oath to
, y keep secrets or perform actions contrary to the great laws of piety , humanity , or temperance ; but the very reverse is the case . It has been already shewn , that the doClrincs and precepts of Freemasonry are agreeable to the _ reason of all men , and confirmed by the Christian reli gion ; and that , its words and signs are no more than marks b y which Freemasons may know one another , and hinder impostors from
imposing on their brotherly affeCtion . These marks are the only secrets they pretend to possess ; and , considering their importance , no body surely can with , justice condemn the Brethren for taking the utmost care to preserve them from being discovered . Now , an oath , or something equivalent to it , has been found the strongest method that mankind have been yet able to devise ,, for securing the honesty and fidelity of anotherand that method
one ; Freemasons have thought proper to follow : Besides , the practice is common , and prudence justi _ ies it , to obtain a promise of secrecy , before we reveal to any person a thing which we would keep from the knowledge of the world . It may be necessary upon many occasions that another , and no body besides , should know our secrets , either for our own sake or for his ; ' but if we opened them to . himwithout securing his ba promise or an
, secrecy y oath beforehand , _ he mi ght divulge them if he pleased , and involve us ; n ruin . Now , if it is lawful to convey a secret under the security of ft promise of secrecy , I can see no reason why it should be declared pnlawful to secure it under the obligation of an oath . 'Tis true , there is a difference between a simple promise and a solemn oath ; but tiiat difference isperhapsnot so great as it is commonlimaginedA
, , y . promise , like every other moral aCtion , supposes the existence of a God , to whom the promiser acknowledges himself accountable , whom he invokes as witness . of the honesty of his intentions , and whose w-rath he imprecates on himself , if he carelessly or fraudulently violates his engagement , fill these particulars seem to be implied in the nar ture of a promise ; but in an oath they tire all expressed , with the ad-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Principles Of Free Masonry Explained.
The very bestthings may be misrepresented : and when an outcry is once made against them , few people have either the candour to examine them impartially , or the courage to appear in their defence , on finding them injured in the opinion of the public . They are afraid to patronize what is generally condemned , lest the singularity of their judgment should , be misconstrued into an affeCtion for the bad qualities tothe
imputed thing , whose worth and utility they would assert ; as a man who vindicates his nei ghbour from the imputation of drunkenness , for instance , runs some hazard of being accused of a propensity to that vice himself . Nothing ever suffered , or continues to suffer , more unjustly by misrepresentation than Freemasonry . Upon . this account , I shall endeavour Brethrento remove some of the
, my , objections that ignorance and prejudice usually throw out against it . It is objeded against Freemasonry , that all who are to be initiated into it , must swear to conceit ] certain secrets before they are communicated to them , or have it in their power to examine into their nature and tendency . This practice they condemn as unlawful . This objection would indeed be of forceif they were obliged btheir oath to
, y keep secrets or perform actions contrary to the great laws of piety , humanity , or temperance ; but the very reverse is the case . It has been already shewn , that the doClrincs and precepts of Freemasonry are agreeable to the _ reason of all men , and confirmed by the Christian reli gion ; and that , its words and signs are no more than marks b y which Freemasons may know one another , and hinder impostors from
imposing on their brotherly affeCtion . These marks are the only secrets they pretend to possess ; and , considering their importance , no body surely can with , justice condemn the Brethren for taking the utmost care to preserve them from being discovered . Now , an oath , or something equivalent to it , has been found the strongest method that mankind have been yet able to devise ,, for securing the honesty and fidelity of anotherand that method
one ; Freemasons have thought proper to follow : Besides , the practice is common , and prudence justi _ ies it , to obtain a promise of secrecy , before we reveal to any person a thing which we would keep from the knowledge of the world . It may be necessary upon many occasions that another , and no body besides , should know our secrets , either for our own sake or for his ; ' but if we opened them to . himwithout securing his ba promise or an
, secrecy y oath beforehand , _ he mi ght divulge them if he pleased , and involve us ; n ruin . Now , if it is lawful to convey a secret under the security of ft promise of secrecy , I can see no reason why it should be declared pnlawful to secure it under the obligation of an oath . 'Tis true , there is a difference between a simple promise and a solemn oath ; but tiiat difference isperhapsnot so great as it is commonlimaginedA
, , y . promise , like every other moral aCtion , supposes the existence of a God , to whom the promiser acknowledges himself accountable , whom he invokes as witness . of the honesty of his intentions , and whose w-rath he imprecates on himself , if he carelessly or fraudulently violates his engagement , fill these particulars seem to be implied in the nar ture of a promise ; but in an oath they tire all expressed , with the ad-