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Article TREVILIAN ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 27 of 34 →
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Trevilian On Freemasonry.
the other . In answer to this requirement , the Major has permitted certain letters to be shown to me , and with amusing coolness gives me leave to publish them ; but the Major forgets they are part of his case . I shall only now remark that they fully bear out my anticipation . One of the Major's letters communicated to me , is of so extraordinary a character that I was almost induced to forbear
further comment out of mere compassion for the writer . Major Trevilian asks me how I defend the titles " Sacred Institution , " " Holy Brotherhood , "—assumed , as he says , by Freemasons . I reply that I know of no such assumed titles , but I could easily defend them , inasmuch as the institution is founded on principles of Piety , that it inculcates the practice of every moral aud social virtueand though it does not presume to set itself up as a reliion
, g or sect of a religion , all its precepts are founded on that sacred principle ; and no man enters the Order without the fullest assurance that it will bind him to nothing inconsistent with his moral , social , or religious obligations . As all its precepts are derived from the Bible , that is to say , the Old and New Testaments , I need not
tell Major Trevilian what I think of the " Sacred Law" of Masonry . This is little more than a reiteration of the latter portion of my former letter , as to which the Major wonders I should " so little know the temper of the age as to imagine Christian people will be satisfied with my general assurances of Masonry being worthy and excellent , —a handmaid to religion , & c . " Sis says it is not ; here then is the issuewhether / am entitled to creditwho speak from
, , my own knowledge , and who never made it my boast to have treated a solemn oath with " mock sanctity , " or the MAJOR , who to such an estimate of the value of his deliberate vows adds the most absolute ignorance of his subject . But passing by this personal comparison of authority , I am content to rely for public judgment on this one proposition , —is it to be believed for a moment , that a man of
talent , a man of education , a conscientious man , a Christian , and a Christian minister , such as Dr . Carwithen unquestionably was , could have continued for thirty years in the practice ancl promulgation of " Deistical , Impious , and Blasphemous" rites and principles ; and not only so , but at various periods in that time have initiated into such principles and such practices , three of his sons , all devoted to the service of the church ?
One word in my own defence . The Major applies to my former letter the terms "Scurrility" and " Ribaldry . " It were well , before he uses words , if he were to make himself acquainted with their meaning . Johnson would have instructed him that the first implies " grossness of reproach , lewdness of jocularity , mean buffoonery , " and the second , " mean , lewd , brutal language . " Now , Sir , I am in the judgment of your readers , whether one single sentence of my former letter is obnoxious to either of those epithets . The Major , with similar discrimination , imputes my defence of Masonry to my " love of false glory . " Now , in the first place , the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Trevilian On Freemasonry.
the other . In answer to this requirement , the Major has permitted certain letters to be shown to me , and with amusing coolness gives me leave to publish them ; but the Major forgets they are part of his case . I shall only now remark that they fully bear out my anticipation . One of the Major's letters communicated to me , is of so extraordinary a character that I was almost induced to forbear
further comment out of mere compassion for the writer . Major Trevilian asks me how I defend the titles " Sacred Institution , " " Holy Brotherhood , "—assumed , as he says , by Freemasons . I reply that I know of no such assumed titles , but I could easily defend them , inasmuch as the institution is founded on principles of Piety , that it inculcates the practice of every moral aud social virtueand though it does not presume to set itself up as a reliion
, g or sect of a religion , all its precepts are founded on that sacred principle ; and no man enters the Order without the fullest assurance that it will bind him to nothing inconsistent with his moral , social , or religious obligations . As all its precepts are derived from the Bible , that is to say , the Old and New Testaments , I need not
tell Major Trevilian what I think of the " Sacred Law" of Masonry . This is little more than a reiteration of the latter portion of my former letter , as to which the Major wonders I should " so little know the temper of the age as to imagine Christian people will be satisfied with my general assurances of Masonry being worthy and excellent , —a handmaid to religion , & c . " Sis says it is not ; here then is the issuewhether / am entitled to creditwho speak from
, , my own knowledge , and who never made it my boast to have treated a solemn oath with " mock sanctity , " or the MAJOR , who to such an estimate of the value of his deliberate vows adds the most absolute ignorance of his subject . But passing by this personal comparison of authority , I am content to rely for public judgment on this one proposition , —is it to be believed for a moment , that a man of
talent , a man of education , a conscientious man , a Christian , and a Christian minister , such as Dr . Carwithen unquestionably was , could have continued for thirty years in the practice ancl promulgation of " Deistical , Impious , and Blasphemous" rites and principles ; and not only so , but at various periods in that time have initiated into such principles and such practices , three of his sons , all devoted to the service of the church ?
One word in my own defence . The Major applies to my former letter the terms "Scurrility" and " Ribaldry . " It were well , before he uses words , if he were to make himself acquainted with their meaning . Johnson would have instructed him that the first implies " grossness of reproach , lewdness of jocularity , mean buffoonery , " and the second , " mean , lewd , brutal language . " Now , Sir , I am in the judgment of your readers , whether one single sentence of my former letter is obnoxious to either of those epithets . The Major , with similar discrimination , imputes my defence of Masonry to my " love of false glory . " Now , in the first place , the