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Article TREVILIAN ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 20 of 34 →
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Trevilian On Freemasonry.
Rippon , followed to his grave by two hundred of the brethren , " is too tempting an opportunity to be neglected—even the humble occupation of the good Mason and respected man , is no protection against the flippant sneers of the aristocratic (!) Major . But let me tell Maurice Ceely Trevilian , that John Rippon was an honest man , whose " large heart" was charitably greater than Iris means , and
whose WORD was his BOND ; who would have rather severed his own right hand , than have given cause to a public journalist to impute to him any act to effect which " a solemn oath had to be violated "—one who deserved and received respect amongst those by whom honour and truth are prized above the external advantages of wealth and station . I here part with the Major ' s advertisementwhich is conceived
, in a spirit alike inconsistent with the dignity of a man , the feelings of a gentleman , and the humility of a Christian . I will now tell Major Trevilian that which he does not know ; without the violation of oath or promise I will tell him what Freemasonry is . I tell him that it is founded on the Divine Command given to mauto reverefearand humbly love the Name of God
, , , , and to keep His Commandments ; and , as a parallel to that Command , to love his neighbour as himself ; it teaches the Mason to know , as his neighbour , the whole family of mankind , to afford to every one relief and consolation in the hour of affliction , and to do
to every man as he would others should do by him . And , more ^ over , I assert , without the fear of contradiction or of doubt from any thorough Mason , that no man can entirely receive its principles , or entirely carry out its objects , unless he be , or become , a Christian . It is no answer to that assertion that Jews are good Masons- —they are so in numerous instances , —but where one man stopis at the outer thresholdanother may be supposed to pause at the inner
, porch , and both will be equally ignorant of what lies beyond . If the Jew , with the evidences of the Old Testament before him , fails to see the truths of the New , it is the fault of his own mind , but uo defect of those evidences or of their interpretation . So if the initiate Mason draws back because the whole system is not at once disclosed to himhis fear or cold heart is to be blamednot the curb
, , placed on his intemperate impatience . Masonry , in its progress , by imprinting on the minds and enforcing on the every day actions of men the first principles of Religion , may humbly strive to be accounted her lowly handmaid , but cannot justly be said to " set itself above her . " AgainI sayMasonry is CHARITYthat Charity of which the great
, , , Apostle of our Lord says , it " suffereth long and is kind , vaunteth not itself , is not puffed up , cloth not behave itself unseemly , seeketh not her own , is not easily provoked , THINKETH NO EVIL , rejoiceth not in iniquity , but rcjoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things , hopeth all things , bclieveth all things , endureth all things , — which never faileth . "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Trevilian On Freemasonry.
Rippon , followed to his grave by two hundred of the brethren , " is too tempting an opportunity to be neglected—even the humble occupation of the good Mason and respected man , is no protection against the flippant sneers of the aristocratic (!) Major . But let me tell Maurice Ceely Trevilian , that John Rippon was an honest man , whose " large heart" was charitably greater than Iris means , and
whose WORD was his BOND ; who would have rather severed his own right hand , than have given cause to a public journalist to impute to him any act to effect which " a solemn oath had to be violated "—one who deserved and received respect amongst those by whom honour and truth are prized above the external advantages of wealth and station . I here part with the Major ' s advertisementwhich is conceived
, in a spirit alike inconsistent with the dignity of a man , the feelings of a gentleman , and the humility of a Christian . I will now tell Major Trevilian that which he does not know ; without the violation of oath or promise I will tell him what Freemasonry is . I tell him that it is founded on the Divine Command given to mauto reverefearand humbly love the Name of God
, , , , and to keep His Commandments ; and , as a parallel to that Command , to love his neighbour as himself ; it teaches the Mason to know , as his neighbour , the whole family of mankind , to afford to every one relief and consolation in the hour of affliction , and to do
to every man as he would others should do by him . And , more ^ over , I assert , without the fear of contradiction or of doubt from any thorough Mason , that no man can entirely receive its principles , or entirely carry out its objects , unless he be , or become , a Christian . It is no answer to that assertion that Jews are good Masons- —they are so in numerous instances , —but where one man stopis at the outer thresholdanother may be supposed to pause at the inner
, porch , and both will be equally ignorant of what lies beyond . If the Jew , with the evidences of the Old Testament before him , fails to see the truths of the New , it is the fault of his own mind , but uo defect of those evidences or of their interpretation . So if the initiate Mason draws back because the whole system is not at once disclosed to himhis fear or cold heart is to be blamednot the curb
, , placed on his intemperate impatience . Masonry , in its progress , by imprinting on the minds and enforcing on the every day actions of men the first principles of Religion , may humbly strive to be accounted her lowly handmaid , but cannot justly be said to " set itself above her . " AgainI sayMasonry is CHARITYthat Charity of which the great
, , , Apostle of our Lord says , it " suffereth long and is kind , vaunteth not itself , is not puffed up , cloth not behave itself unseemly , seeketh not her own , is not easily provoked , THINKETH NO EVIL , rejoiceth not in iniquity , but rcjoiceth in the truth ; beareth all things , hopeth all things , bclieveth all things , endureth all things , — which never faileth . "