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Article THE FREEMASONS' REPOSITORY. ← Page 5 of 8 →
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The Freemasons' Repository.
sect itself , as though its radical principles lead to the injury of society . In the early part of the sixteenth century , the Anabaptists committed horrible crimes in Germany and the Low Countries ; but who would have the uncharitableness to charge upon other sectaries , who reject infant baptism , the same evil principles ? Many Quakers in our own country have been guilty of great extravagances and shocking blasphemies : yetGod forbid we should consider the sect itself as
dan-, gerous ! At the rise of the Methodists , and many years afterwards , these people were looked upon with a jealous eye by the zealous members of the establishment ; and to prejudice the public mind against them , if not to kindle an absolute persecution , books were published , in which the most shameful doctrines and practices were charged to their
account . Some of these assertions might be true enough , as relating to individuals ; but time has shewn that the church and state have neither sustained , nor are likely to suffer , any injury from them . Great caution , therefore , should be adopted in considering the character , conduct , and sentiments of any body of people . Our learned adversary , indeed , professes to make a distinction between the
Masonry of England and that of the Continent . The first is homely , the other is refined . If he means that the English system is not inimical to reli gion and government , he should have said so in express terms . But the plain fact is , he wishes to have it understood that MASONRY is the central point from whence the most malignant principles flow through society ; and , therefore , that it matters little whether it isat firsthomely pr otherwise .
, , What is really extraordinary is a declaration made by the Professor ( at page n ) that 'after fifty years experience , he had observed doctrines subversive of all our notions of morality gradually diffusing and mixing with all the different systems of Freemasonry ; till at last an Association has been formed for the express purpose of rooting out all tbe Reliious Establishmentsand overturning ail tbe Existing Governments
g , ef ' Europe . ' Now it is a question , which it will be proper for the Professor to answer , whether he has derived all this important information from his own experience , or from the aforementioned ' Religions Begcbenheitsn , ' and other German books ? In one p lace he speaks as if this last was the case , and then we know what sort of credit is due to the
declaration : but then soon afterwards he pronounces with such a determined air , and with so much confidence upon the subject , as implies that we are indebted solely to his own sagacity for the discovery . As , however , he speaks with diffidence of his translations , on the ground of ' the scantiness of his knowledge of the German language , it should seem that he is accountable onlfor his intentions ,
y and not for his assertions , these being only the reports of others . He has caught the spirit of horror which haunted the imagination of the philosophic Zimmermann , who literally fell a sacrifice to his dwad of ' the ' lllitminati . ' *
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Freemasons' Repository.
sect itself , as though its radical principles lead to the injury of society . In the early part of the sixteenth century , the Anabaptists committed horrible crimes in Germany and the Low Countries ; but who would have the uncharitableness to charge upon other sectaries , who reject infant baptism , the same evil principles ? Many Quakers in our own country have been guilty of great extravagances and shocking blasphemies : yetGod forbid we should consider the sect itself as
dan-, gerous ! At the rise of the Methodists , and many years afterwards , these people were looked upon with a jealous eye by the zealous members of the establishment ; and to prejudice the public mind against them , if not to kindle an absolute persecution , books were published , in which the most shameful doctrines and practices were charged to their
account . Some of these assertions might be true enough , as relating to individuals ; but time has shewn that the church and state have neither sustained , nor are likely to suffer , any injury from them . Great caution , therefore , should be adopted in considering the character , conduct , and sentiments of any body of people . Our learned adversary , indeed , professes to make a distinction between the
Masonry of England and that of the Continent . The first is homely , the other is refined . If he means that the English system is not inimical to reli gion and government , he should have said so in express terms . But the plain fact is , he wishes to have it understood that MASONRY is the central point from whence the most malignant principles flow through society ; and , therefore , that it matters little whether it isat firsthomely pr otherwise .
, , What is really extraordinary is a declaration made by the Professor ( at page n ) that 'after fifty years experience , he had observed doctrines subversive of all our notions of morality gradually diffusing and mixing with all the different systems of Freemasonry ; till at last an Association has been formed for the express purpose of rooting out all tbe Reliious Establishmentsand overturning ail tbe Existing Governments
g , ef ' Europe . ' Now it is a question , which it will be proper for the Professor to answer , whether he has derived all this important information from his own experience , or from the aforementioned ' Religions Begcbenheitsn , ' and other German books ? In one p lace he speaks as if this last was the case , and then we know what sort of credit is due to the
declaration : but then soon afterwards he pronounces with such a determined air , and with so much confidence upon the subject , as implies that we are indebted solely to his own sagacity for the discovery . As , however , he speaks with diffidence of his translations , on the ground of ' the scantiness of his knowledge of the German language , it should seem that he is accountable onlfor his intentions ,
y and not for his assertions , these being only the reports of others . He has caught the spirit of horror which haunted the imagination of the philosophic Zimmermann , who literally fell a sacrifice to his dwad of ' the ' lllitminati . ' *