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Article JOHN COUSTOS, FREEMASON. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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John Coustos, Freemason.
" who knew by sad experience how highly it concerns every one , that " values his ease , never to converse on relig ious subjects in certain " countries ; that my parents ( I say ) had advised me never to engage " in disputes of this kind , since they usually embittere ' cl the minds of " the contending parties , rather than reconciled them ; farther , that I " belonged to a society composed of persons of different relig ions , one
" of the laws of which society expresly forbids its members ever to dis" pute on those subjects upon a considerable penalty . " As the Inquisitors confounded the word Society with that of Reli g ion , I assured them , " That this society could be considered as a relig ious one no other" ways than as it obliged its several members to live together in Cha" ¦ rity and Brotherly Love , how widely soever they mig ht differ in re" li gious principles . "
They then enquired , "How this society was called ? I replied , ' That if they had ordered me to , be seized because I was one of its " members , I would readily tell them its name ; I thinking myself not " a little honoured in belonging to a society , which boasted several " Christian Kings , Princes , and persons of the hig hest quality among " its members ; and that I had been frequently'in company with some " of the latteras one of their Brethren . "
, Then one of the Inquisitors asked me , " Whether the name of this " society was secret ? " I answered , " That it was not ; that I could " tell it them in French , or English , but was not able to ' translate it " into Portugueze . " Then all of them at once fixing rheir eyes attentively on me , repeated , alternately , the words FREEMASON ; or , FRANC-MA CON . From this instant I was firmly persuaded , that I
had been imprisoned solely , on account of Masonry . They afterwards asked , " What were the institutions of this society ? " I then set before them , as well as I could , . " the ancient traditions relating to this " noble art , of which ( I told them ) James VI . King of Scotland * ,
" had declared himselr the protector , and encouraged ins subjects to " enter among the Freemasons : That it appeared from authentic ma" nuscripts , that the kings of Scotland had so great a regard for this " honourable society ,. on account of the strong proofs its members had " ever given of their fidelity and attachment , that those monarchs es" tablished the custom among the Brethren , of saying , whenever they " drank , God preserve the King and the Brotherhood :. That this
ex" ample was soon followed by the Scotch Nobility and the Clergy , " who had so high an esteem for the Brotherhood , that most of them . " entered into the society . " That it appeared from the traditions , that the Kings of Scotland " had frequently been Grand Masters of the Freemasons ; and that , " when the Kings were not such , the society were impoweredto elect , " as Grand Master , one of the nobles of the country , who had a pen" sion from the Sovereign , and received , at his election , a gift from " every Freemason in Scotland . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
John Coustos, Freemason.
" who knew by sad experience how highly it concerns every one , that " values his ease , never to converse on relig ious subjects in certain " countries ; that my parents ( I say ) had advised me never to engage " in disputes of this kind , since they usually embittere ' cl the minds of " the contending parties , rather than reconciled them ; farther , that I " belonged to a society composed of persons of different relig ions , one
" of the laws of which society expresly forbids its members ever to dis" pute on those subjects upon a considerable penalty . " As the Inquisitors confounded the word Society with that of Reli g ion , I assured them , " That this society could be considered as a relig ious one no other" ways than as it obliged its several members to live together in Cha" ¦ rity and Brotherly Love , how widely soever they mig ht differ in re" li gious principles . "
They then enquired , "How this society was called ? I replied , ' That if they had ordered me to , be seized because I was one of its " members , I would readily tell them its name ; I thinking myself not " a little honoured in belonging to a society , which boasted several " Christian Kings , Princes , and persons of the hig hest quality among " its members ; and that I had been frequently'in company with some " of the latteras one of their Brethren . "
, Then one of the Inquisitors asked me , " Whether the name of this " society was secret ? " I answered , " That it was not ; that I could " tell it them in French , or English , but was not able to ' translate it " into Portugueze . " Then all of them at once fixing rheir eyes attentively on me , repeated , alternately , the words FREEMASON ; or , FRANC-MA CON . From this instant I was firmly persuaded , that I
had been imprisoned solely , on account of Masonry . They afterwards asked , " What were the institutions of this society ? " I then set before them , as well as I could , . " the ancient traditions relating to this " noble art , of which ( I told them ) James VI . King of Scotland * ,
" had declared himselr the protector , and encouraged ins subjects to " enter among the Freemasons : That it appeared from authentic ma" nuscripts , that the kings of Scotland had so great a regard for this " honourable society ,. on account of the strong proofs its members had " ever given of their fidelity and attachment , that those monarchs es" tablished the custom among the Brethren , of saying , whenever they " drank , God preserve the King and the Brotherhood :. That this
ex" ample was soon followed by the Scotch Nobility and the Clergy , " who had so high an esteem for the Brotherhood , that most of them . " entered into the society . " That it appeared from the traditions , that the Kings of Scotland " had frequently been Grand Masters of the Freemasons ; and that , " when the Kings were not such , the society were impoweredto elect , " as Grand Master , one of the nobles of the country , who had a pen" sion from the Sovereign , and received , at his election , a gift from " every Freemason in Scotland . "