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Article CHAPTER II. ← Page 5 of 5 Article THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON. Page 1 of 8 →
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Chapter Ii.
to be neither indiscriminate , wasteful , nor heedless . We are to prefer the worthy brother , and to reject the worthless . And our warrant for so doing is His command who has said , ' thou shalt open thine hand wide to thy brother , and to the poor , and to the needy in thy land . '" " The latter remark none can gainsay , " said the vicar coldly ; " and thus , I believe , our interview terminates . " The deputation retired desperately chagrined . The church was closed against them . The new lodge was opened , but there was no public procession ancl no sermon . To me , lightly and carelessly as I then thought
of the fraternity , there seemed much that was inexplicable in the rebuff which it sustained . Here was Mr . Gresham , a conscientious and wellintentioned man , who lamented Sunday after Sunday , the prevalence of sorrow , care , and suffering around him ; who spoke , with tears in his eyes , of the apathy of the rich and the endurance of the poor ; who deplored the selfishness of the age ; who averred , bitterly and repeatedly , that all sought their own—here was he , withstanding to his utmost a brotherhood who declaredand none contradicted themthat their
lead-, , ing object was to relieve distress and sorrow . Of him they seek an audience ; when gained , they use it to request the use of his pulpit , with a view of making their principles better known ; of effacing some erroneous impressions afloat respecting them ; in other words , of strengthening their cause .
That cause they maintain to be identical with disinterested benevolence and brotherly love . And shall such a cause remain any longer a doubtful question of right ancl wrong ? Shall its light be hidden under a bushel ? Or shall that glorious moral force which , like the sun in the firmament of heaven enlightens and invigorates the nations of the earth—shall the real source of that noble principle by which society is so hihly exalted in our own
g times , still remain concealed—or shall " its light shine before men to the glory of our Father which is in heaven ? " These observations will aptly apply to the Masonry of the eighteenth century ; and the same may be said of the fraternity as was said by heathen nations about the primitive Christians— " See how these Masons love another !"
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON .
{ Continued from page 26 . ) Schropfer Johann . —John Schropfer was born at Nurnburg . In 1759 he came to Leipzic , and in 1768 established himself in a coffee-house , and procured a quantity of masonic , Rosicrucian , ancl magical books ; those works , which few men can understand , turned his brain entirel y , especially as he was quite destitute of scholastic knowledge ; nevertheless ,
sanguine in all his undertakings , he made such use of them as enabled him to form a so-called lodge , in which the highest degrees of wisdom and folly were thoroughly blended together . His only object by so doing was to make money to improve his financial condition . Ignorant travellers to the Leipzic mess , both Masons and non-Masons , were his principal dupes . In his assemblies his chief boast was , that he alone possessed the great secret of Freemasonry , and that , on the contrary ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Chapter Ii.
to be neither indiscriminate , wasteful , nor heedless . We are to prefer the worthy brother , and to reject the worthless . And our warrant for so doing is His command who has said , ' thou shalt open thine hand wide to thy brother , and to the poor , and to the needy in thy land . '" " The latter remark none can gainsay , " said the vicar coldly ; " and thus , I believe , our interview terminates . " The deputation retired desperately chagrined . The church was closed against them . The new lodge was opened , but there was no public procession ancl no sermon . To me , lightly and carelessly as I then thought
of the fraternity , there seemed much that was inexplicable in the rebuff which it sustained . Here was Mr . Gresham , a conscientious and wellintentioned man , who lamented Sunday after Sunday , the prevalence of sorrow , care , and suffering around him ; who spoke , with tears in his eyes , of the apathy of the rich and the endurance of the poor ; who deplored the selfishness of the age ; who averred , bitterly and repeatedly , that all sought their own—here was he , withstanding to his utmost a brotherhood who declaredand none contradicted themthat their
lead-, , ing object was to relieve distress and sorrow . Of him they seek an audience ; when gained , they use it to request the use of his pulpit , with a view of making their principles better known ; of effacing some erroneous impressions afloat respecting them ; in other words , of strengthening their cause .
That cause they maintain to be identical with disinterested benevolence and brotherly love . And shall such a cause remain any longer a doubtful question of right ancl wrong ? Shall its light be hidden under a bushel ? Or shall that glorious moral force which , like the sun in the firmament of heaven enlightens and invigorates the nations of the earth—shall the real source of that noble principle by which society is so hihly exalted in our own
g times , still remain concealed—or shall " its light shine before men to the glory of our Father which is in heaven ? " These observations will aptly apply to the Masonry of the eighteenth century ; and the same may be said of the fraternity as was said by heathen nations about the primitive Christians— " See how these Masons love another !"
The Freemasons' Lexicon.
THE FREEMASONS' LEXICON .
{ Continued from page 26 . ) Schropfer Johann . —John Schropfer was born at Nurnburg . In 1759 he came to Leipzic , and in 1768 established himself in a coffee-house , and procured a quantity of masonic , Rosicrucian , ancl magical books ; those works , which few men can understand , turned his brain entirel y , especially as he was quite destitute of scholastic knowledge ; nevertheless ,
sanguine in all his undertakings , he made such use of them as enabled him to form a so-called lodge , in which the highest degrees of wisdom and folly were thoroughly blended together . His only object by so doing was to make money to improve his financial condition . Ignorant travellers to the Leipzic mess , both Masons and non-Masons , were his principal dupes . In his assemblies his chief boast was , that he alone possessed the great secret of Freemasonry , and that , on the contrary ,