-
Articles/Ads
Article THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. Page 1 of 4 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Repository.
THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY .
AN IMPARTIAL EXAMINATION OF PROFESSOR ROBISON ' s BOOK AGAINST FREEMASONRY , & c BY DR . WATKINS . j * CON * CLUDF . D FROM PACE 3 § . _ J
- SECTION" v ; IT would be a tedious , and I apprehend an unprofitable employment , to follow the learned professor minutely through the whole of his heterogeneous volume , There are many parts with which the apologist for Freemasonry has no concern . Were we , indeed , to stri p the work of all its declamation and its conjeftures , the remainder would
he too insignificant an objeft to require a serious encounter . Of the rise and progress of scepticism in France he affefts to give an account , which agrees in the main with that of the Abbe Barruel . That numbers of the order of Masonry might be of this unhappy description , and very zealous in propagating the wretched delusion , no one is inclined to question . But it remains to he proved that even these men
, with all their anti-reli g ious notions , ever proceeded to the length of making Masonry the regular vehicle ofinfidelity . Because these learned writers have discovered that several of the most ingenious and indefatigable unbelievers were also active Freemasons , they have wisely concluded that there is a natural relationship between the two
characters , and have most sagaciously determined that the Masonic meeting were , therefore , schools for the regular formation of infidels . A candid examiner will be dissatisfied with this mode of reasoning . He will allow for much natural and unavoidable corruption in a society made up of men of all countries ancl of all persuasions , who are associated not for relig ious or political , but for social and benevolent purposes .
If he sees that many of those have , in their private and individual capacities , adopted notions dangerous to the welfare of society at large , he will draw a line of . distinction between those notions and the prevailing principles of the community to which these men belong . But , perhaps , it may be remarked , that the invention of new degrees and orders in Freemasonry , such as those described by thc pre
sent adversaries of that institution , proves the charge of its evil , tendency , when those degrees and orders are perceived to inculcate sceptical and levelling principles . To this it may be replied , that such inventions are in general innovations , arid are quite opposite to the VOL . x , H h
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Repository.
THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY .
AN IMPARTIAL EXAMINATION OF PROFESSOR ROBISON ' s BOOK AGAINST FREEMASONRY , & c BY DR . WATKINS . j * CON * CLUDF . D FROM PACE 3 § . _ J
- SECTION" v ; IT would be a tedious , and I apprehend an unprofitable employment , to follow the learned professor minutely through the whole of his heterogeneous volume , There are many parts with which the apologist for Freemasonry has no concern . Were we , indeed , to stri p the work of all its declamation and its conjeftures , the remainder would
he too insignificant an objeft to require a serious encounter . Of the rise and progress of scepticism in France he affefts to give an account , which agrees in the main with that of the Abbe Barruel . That numbers of the order of Masonry might be of this unhappy description , and very zealous in propagating the wretched delusion , no one is inclined to question . But it remains to he proved that even these men
, with all their anti-reli g ious notions , ever proceeded to the length of making Masonry the regular vehicle ofinfidelity . Because these learned writers have discovered that several of the most ingenious and indefatigable unbelievers were also active Freemasons , they have wisely concluded that there is a natural relationship between the two
characters , and have most sagaciously determined that the Masonic meeting were , therefore , schools for the regular formation of infidels . A candid examiner will be dissatisfied with this mode of reasoning . He will allow for much natural and unavoidable corruption in a society made up of men of all countries ancl of all persuasions , who are associated not for relig ious or political , but for social and benevolent purposes .
If he sees that many of those have , in their private and individual capacities , adopted notions dangerous to the welfare of society at large , he will draw a line of . distinction between those notions and the prevailing principles of the community to which these men belong . But , perhaps , it may be remarked , that the invention of new degrees and orders in Freemasonry , such as those described by thc pre
sent adversaries of that institution , proves the charge of its evil , tendency , when those degrees and orders are perceived to inculcate sceptical and levelling principles . To this it may be replied , that such inventions are in general innovations , arid are quite opposite to the VOL . x , H h