Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, Or General And Complete Library.
tecls , whose introduction into France he dates so low as the year 1784 , through the means of Ernest Frederic Walterstorff , chamberlain to the King of Denmark , are in the real secret of Freemasonry . On this head he points out the oaths which are taken in the different degrees , not only to conceal their respective secrets from the profanum vulgus , but also from their own brethren who are in a lower class than themselves .
Having given this imperfect analysis of the abovementioned author ' s celebrated work , the substance of which is also adopted by other writers of character , I wish to ascertain , if it be possible ( after making veiy great allowances for our author ' s enthusiasm for his system , in ascribing- to one cause an event which is evidently the result of many ) , 1 . Whether there is any thing in the original constitution of
Freemasonry which is calculated , or . has a tendency , to produce those changes in civil and religious affairs which have lately taken place in France ? 2 . Admitting that this first question is determined iu the negative , may not a considerable number of the Lodges in France have organized themselves of late years upon principles of Irreligion and Republicanism ? 3 . Was Freemasonry instituted by Socinus
and his immediate disciples , and introduced into England about the time of the Great Rebellion , and thence carried into France at the time of the Revolution ? Yours , & c . J . M .
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE .
SIR , IN the Gentleman ' s Magazine for June last I read a letter addressed to Mr . Urban from Winchester , with the initials J . M . annexed , stating that an opinion was prevalent on the continent , that the mysteries of Freemasonry had in a great measure contributed to those changes in sentiment and moralityno less than in governmentwhich
, , had brought about the French revolution . To corroborate-this opinion we are favoured with some account of the Freemasons , taken from a work printed at Paris , entitled , " The Veil withdrawn ; or , the Secret of the French Revolution explained by the help of Freemasonry . " A Mr . Le Franc , the late Superior of the Eudists at Caen , who was butchered at Paris on the famous 2 d of September , is said
to have been the author of this tract ; and the correspondent observes , that it is much esteemed by the honest part of the French nation , and has passed through two editions . In what part of the continent such an opinion as he states could prevail , I am at a loss to conceive , as the princi ples and tenets of the Masonic Institution are too well known to give it the least sanction
; and I can freel y declare , that , after a regular intercourse with the Fraternity of Masons , both , at home and abroad , above thirty , years , ! have not been able to discover the least similarity between their mysteries and the ceremonies recapitulated in this correspondent ' s
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Magazine, Or General And Complete Library.
tecls , whose introduction into France he dates so low as the year 1784 , through the means of Ernest Frederic Walterstorff , chamberlain to the King of Denmark , are in the real secret of Freemasonry . On this head he points out the oaths which are taken in the different degrees , not only to conceal their respective secrets from the profanum vulgus , but also from their own brethren who are in a lower class than themselves .
Having given this imperfect analysis of the abovementioned author ' s celebrated work , the substance of which is also adopted by other writers of character , I wish to ascertain , if it be possible ( after making veiy great allowances for our author ' s enthusiasm for his system , in ascribing- to one cause an event which is evidently the result of many ) , 1 . Whether there is any thing in the original constitution of
Freemasonry which is calculated , or . has a tendency , to produce those changes in civil and religious affairs which have lately taken place in France ? 2 . Admitting that this first question is determined iu the negative , may not a considerable number of the Lodges in France have organized themselves of late years upon principles of Irreligion and Republicanism ? 3 . Was Freemasonry instituted by Socinus
and his immediate disciples , and introduced into England about the time of the Great Rebellion , and thence carried into France at the time of the Revolution ? Yours , & c . J . M .
TO THE EDITOR OF THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE .
SIR , IN the Gentleman ' s Magazine for June last I read a letter addressed to Mr . Urban from Winchester , with the initials J . M . annexed , stating that an opinion was prevalent on the continent , that the mysteries of Freemasonry had in a great measure contributed to those changes in sentiment and moralityno less than in governmentwhich
, , had brought about the French revolution . To corroborate-this opinion we are favoured with some account of the Freemasons , taken from a work printed at Paris , entitled , " The Veil withdrawn ; or , the Secret of the French Revolution explained by the help of Freemasonry . " A Mr . Le Franc , the late Superior of the Eudists at Caen , who was butchered at Paris on the famous 2 d of September , is said
to have been the author of this tract ; and the correspondent observes , that it is much esteemed by the honest part of the French nation , and has passed through two editions . In what part of the continent such an opinion as he states could prevail , I am at a loss to conceive , as the princi ples and tenets of the Masonic Institution are too well known to give it the least sanction
; and I can freel y declare , that , after a regular intercourse with the Fraternity of Masons , both , at home and abroad , above thirty , years , ! have not been able to discover the least similarity between their mysteries and the ceremonies recapitulated in this correspondent ' s