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Article ON FREEMASONRY, ← Page 3 of 5 →
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On Freemasonry,
for thc purpose of teaching the method of " salvation by grace . " Thus , abandoning every attempt to enlighten the understanding , and increase the sum of general knowledge , by which both the temporal and spiritual interests of mankind , have heen so greatly benefitted . This would be the consummation of the theory promulgated by Mr . E . C . Pryer . According to him , " one glimpse of Jesus" is all in all . * Nothing else is necessary . The Almighty no longer works by means . Nothing will do but " one glimpse of Jesus . " All other means are useless . The
sacraments are inefficacious—prayer and preaching a mockery—and siu ceases to be an evil . But the hypothesis is unsound ; it approaches too nearly to Spinozism . And , besides , if reduced to practice , it would throw us back into the darkness of ignorance ; we should resume the savage state of the first inhabitants of the earth , and , like them , liaving no solid groundwork of religion to fall back upon , we should be easily persuaded to embrace the worship of the creature instead of the Creator ; " the people would be destroyed for lack of knowledge ; " + and the ironical prophecy of the poet would be realized
' See seulking Truth to her old cavern fled , Mountains of casuistry heap'd o ' er her head Philosophy , that lean'd on heaven before , Shrinks to her second cause , and is no more . Physic of Metaphysie begs defence , Aud Metaphysie calls for aid on Sense ! See Mystery to Mathematics fly 1 In vain ! they gaze , turn giddy , rave , and die Religion , hlushing , veils her sacred ( ires ; And unawares Morality expires . No public flame , nor private , dares to shine ; No human spark is left , nor glimpse divine . ' Lo ! thy dread empire , Chaos , is restored ; LIGHT dies before thy unerenting word . Thy hand , greta Anarch 1 lets the curtain fall Antl universal darkness buries all !"
The opinions promulgated by Mr . E . C . Pryer , in the above production , are akin to the celebrated avowal of the Khalif Omar , when requested to spare that noble depository of all the collected literature of antiquity , the Alexandrian library— " It , " said the ignorant and bigotted tyrant , " if those books contain the same doctrines as the Koran , they can be of no use , since the Koran contains everything that is necessary for a man to know ; and if they contain anything contrary to that book , they must not be tolerated ; therefore destroy them all ! " Mr . E . C . Pryer would doubtless hold the
same language respecting all hooks except the New Testament . They must be rejected in toto , because they will " fail to quicken the sinner into life . "J Now , although I have the utmost veneration for that holy volume , which I esteem as the Book of Books , and think that it can never be sufficiently estimated by mortal man , yet I cannot consent to abandon my taste for other portions of polite literature , nor to withdraw my support from those scientific and charitable institutions which add charms to the practice of reli gion , when it is pure , and unsophisticated by the wild dreams of visionary
enthusiasts ; for our Grand Master Solomon assures us , that " there is a time for all things . " § And yet how very smoothly , and with what extreme unction Mr . E . C . Pryer accuses the writer of the article in question with ignorance of the very first principles of his religion , because , forsooth ! HE IS A MASON .
" Qui statuit aliquid , parte inaudita altera , j-Equum licet statuerit , hand aiquus est , " Mr . E . C . Pryer , I presume , thinks witb a writer about a century ago , that " Freemasonry is the way to Hell . " J | His words at least imply as much . Listen— " You will perhaps think me too severe upon your masonic studies ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry,
for thc purpose of teaching the method of " salvation by grace . " Thus , abandoning every attempt to enlighten the understanding , and increase the sum of general knowledge , by which both the temporal and spiritual interests of mankind , have heen so greatly benefitted . This would be the consummation of the theory promulgated by Mr . E . C . Pryer . According to him , " one glimpse of Jesus" is all in all . * Nothing else is necessary . The Almighty no longer works by means . Nothing will do but " one glimpse of Jesus . " All other means are useless . The
sacraments are inefficacious—prayer and preaching a mockery—and siu ceases to be an evil . But the hypothesis is unsound ; it approaches too nearly to Spinozism . And , besides , if reduced to practice , it would throw us back into the darkness of ignorance ; we should resume the savage state of the first inhabitants of the earth , and , like them , liaving no solid groundwork of religion to fall back upon , we should be easily persuaded to embrace the worship of the creature instead of the Creator ; " the people would be destroyed for lack of knowledge ; " + and the ironical prophecy of the poet would be realized
' See seulking Truth to her old cavern fled , Mountains of casuistry heap'd o ' er her head Philosophy , that lean'd on heaven before , Shrinks to her second cause , and is no more . Physic of Metaphysie begs defence , Aud Metaphysie calls for aid on Sense ! See Mystery to Mathematics fly 1 In vain ! they gaze , turn giddy , rave , and die Religion , hlushing , veils her sacred ( ires ; And unawares Morality expires . No public flame , nor private , dares to shine ; No human spark is left , nor glimpse divine . ' Lo ! thy dread empire , Chaos , is restored ; LIGHT dies before thy unerenting word . Thy hand , greta Anarch 1 lets the curtain fall Antl universal darkness buries all !"
The opinions promulgated by Mr . E . C . Pryer , in the above production , are akin to the celebrated avowal of the Khalif Omar , when requested to spare that noble depository of all the collected literature of antiquity , the Alexandrian library— " It , " said the ignorant and bigotted tyrant , " if those books contain the same doctrines as the Koran , they can be of no use , since the Koran contains everything that is necessary for a man to know ; and if they contain anything contrary to that book , they must not be tolerated ; therefore destroy them all ! " Mr . E . C . Pryer would doubtless hold the
same language respecting all hooks except the New Testament . They must be rejected in toto , because they will " fail to quicken the sinner into life . "J Now , although I have the utmost veneration for that holy volume , which I esteem as the Book of Books , and think that it can never be sufficiently estimated by mortal man , yet I cannot consent to abandon my taste for other portions of polite literature , nor to withdraw my support from those scientific and charitable institutions which add charms to the practice of reli gion , when it is pure , and unsophisticated by the wild dreams of visionary
enthusiasts ; for our Grand Master Solomon assures us , that " there is a time for all things . " § And yet how very smoothly , and with what extreme unction Mr . E . C . Pryer accuses the writer of the article in question with ignorance of the very first principles of his religion , because , forsooth ! HE IS A MASON .
" Qui statuit aliquid , parte inaudita altera , j-Equum licet statuerit , hand aiquus est , " Mr . E . C . Pryer , I presume , thinks witb a writer about a century ago , that " Freemasonry is the way to Hell . " J | His words at least imply as much . Listen— " You will perhaps think me too severe upon your masonic studies ,