Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
slaves nor foreigners could be admitted ; because the doctrines therein revealed were considered of too much value to be entrusted to the keeping of those who had no interest in the general welfare of the community . St . Austin , quoting Varro , says that such a communication mi g ht have been prejudicial to the state ; for slaves were not
tinfrequentl y p lotters of mischief , and fomenters of sedition ; and a suspicion whispered against the truth of the popular religion would have constituted a fearful engine in the hands of an artful and enterprising conspirator , by which the people mi g ht have been moved at p leasure . The vulgar were therefore kept in awe b y the supposition of some
hidden mystery , which it would be fatal to penetrate . By requiring virtue in every candidate , it was intended to prevent the commission of - public crime ; for it is well known
that , unlike the Freemasonry of which they vainl y imag ined themselves to be possessed , the indulgence of private vices was at least connived at in these institutions , if not openly encouraged . The Lesser Mysteries were accessible to all ranks and descriptions of people—even women and children were not
rejected . " Influunt turba ., " says Apuleius , " sacris divinis initiatne , viri fa * -mina _ que , omnis fetalis , et omnis dignitatis . " But these inferior celebrations consisted merely of a few simple Rites , which constituted the ceremony of admission to the practice of their reli g ious duties , like Jewish circumcision , or Christian baptism ; and all the information
communicated at that solemnity was limited to a few mytholog ical facts respecting the principal deities , which mi g ht tend to confirm the aspirant in his belief of the virtues which would arise from a stead y conformity to the current system of polytheism .
Uiseite justitiam moniti , et non temnere Divos . JEN . vi . 020 . But the Greater Mysteries , which contained thc doctrines so clearl y revealed in thc Mosaic history , and which appertain to the designs of Providence in the salvation ol man—veiled indeed , and often misunderstood—were of too
serious a nature to be thus freely exposed . They were communicated only to a select few , and even to them under the most awful sanctions . This will account for the silence of the earl y historians on most of these subjects . Cuvier
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry. The Spurious Freemasonry Of Ancient Times.
slaves nor foreigners could be admitted ; because the doctrines therein revealed were considered of too much value to be entrusted to the keeping of those who had no interest in the general welfare of the community . St . Austin , quoting Varro , says that such a communication mi g ht have been prejudicial to the state ; for slaves were not
tinfrequentl y p lotters of mischief , and fomenters of sedition ; and a suspicion whispered against the truth of the popular religion would have constituted a fearful engine in the hands of an artful and enterprising conspirator , by which the people mi g ht have been moved at p leasure . The vulgar were therefore kept in awe b y the supposition of some
hidden mystery , which it would be fatal to penetrate . By requiring virtue in every candidate , it was intended to prevent the commission of - public crime ; for it is well known
that , unlike the Freemasonry of which they vainl y imag ined themselves to be possessed , the indulgence of private vices was at least connived at in these institutions , if not openly encouraged . The Lesser Mysteries were accessible to all ranks and descriptions of people—even women and children were not
rejected . " Influunt turba ., " says Apuleius , " sacris divinis initiatne , viri fa * -mina _ que , omnis fetalis , et omnis dignitatis . " But these inferior celebrations consisted merely of a few simple Rites , which constituted the ceremony of admission to the practice of their reli g ious duties , like Jewish circumcision , or Christian baptism ; and all the information
communicated at that solemnity was limited to a few mytholog ical facts respecting the principal deities , which mi g ht tend to confirm the aspirant in his belief of the virtues which would arise from a stead y conformity to the current system of polytheism .
Uiseite justitiam moniti , et non temnere Divos . JEN . vi . 020 . But the Greater Mysteries , which contained thc doctrines so clearl y revealed in thc Mosaic history , and which appertain to the designs of Providence in the salvation ol man—veiled indeed , and often misunderstood—were of too
serious a nature to be thus freely exposed . They were communicated only to a select few , and even to them under the most awful sanctions . This will account for the silence of the earl y historians on most of these subjects . Cuvier