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Article HISTORICAL NOTES ON FREEMASONRY. Page 1 of 10 →
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Historical Notes On Freemasonry.
HISTORICAL NOTES ON FREEMASONRY .
BY EDWARD LEPEK , M . A . P . AI . OF TI 1 K FB 15 NCH LODGE LA TOLERANCE , 7 ! U ; HON . MEMBER OF THE YARHOROUCill LODGE , 111-2 . IT is to be lamented that very many persons who understand nothing about Freemasonry , should pretend to speak of it in terms ivhich induce others to think ill of its sacred mysteries . But it is even still more to
be regretted that , in the present age of bnoivledge and science , men who call themselves the servants of Almighty God should assume to themselves the prerogative of hurling the thunders of a vain anathema against the most ancient , the most honourable , and the most respectable of all institutions , which have ever existed in the world . We pity the blindness of pretension , whilst we despise the Avrath of prejudice . Although everything which is above the intelligence of vulgar men is , in their
estimation , either ridiculous , profane , or abominable , yet we forgive fhem their misconception and their slander , because it is our duty , not only to forgive but to forget injuries . If they will take the trouble to ask of the poor what Masonry effects for them , they will learn that it relieves them without ostentation ; that it does not iyait till they are reduced to the deepest misery , but that it anticipates their wants ; that their lvii-es , their children , and all that concerns them , are constant objects of its care . Humanity accomplishes sloivly and laboriously its great revolution around the brilliant axis of truth—a long march indeed , during which
many nations , and many civilizations have had , like time and seasons , their rise and fall ; but when this divine principle shall be stripped of symbol , and be presented to human intelligence adorned with its splendid attributes ; when the flambeau of truth shall have enlightened the world ; and when the Masonic doctrine has become the reli gion of all people , then will be realized the sublime ideal mysteriously contained in the symbols of Freemasonry . This time is progressively approaching ; it ivill arriveit is marked
; by the destiny and in the order of ages . Already , as it weighs events and circumstances in its sacred balance , Eternal Justice causes the mass of political errors to diminish every day , and knoivledge to increase from the elucidation of those great principles and self-evident truths ivhich are preparing its triumph , and ivhich will one day assure its reign . As time has advanced , so has Freemasonry progressed , as may be
apparent from the following facts , hastily thrown together . Freemasonry is supposed to have been instituted about 715 years before the Christian ajra , and has constantly preserved its primitive organization aud privileges . After Christianity had become established , its members devoted themselves to the construction of religions edifices . They had already been charged by the neiv apostles sent from Rome , in A . L . 257 , with the construction of the edifices that ivere building at Amiens , Beauvais , Soissons , Rheims , and Paris , in France . Those Christian Masons , guided by the ministers of religion , who inspired them with an horror for pagan temples , worked everywhere to adapt these edifices to
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Historical Notes On Freemasonry.
HISTORICAL NOTES ON FREEMASONRY .
BY EDWARD LEPEK , M . A . P . AI . OF TI 1 K FB 15 NCH LODGE LA TOLERANCE , 7 ! U ; HON . MEMBER OF THE YARHOROUCill LODGE , 111-2 . IT is to be lamented that very many persons who understand nothing about Freemasonry , should pretend to speak of it in terms ivhich induce others to think ill of its sacred mysteries . But it is even still more to
be regretted that , in the present age of bnoivledge and science , men who call themselves the servants of Almighty God should assume to themselves the prerogative of hurling the thunders of a vain anathema against the most ancient , the most honourable , and the most respectable of all institutions , which have ever existed in the world . We pity the blindness of pretension , whilst we despise the Avrath of prejudice . Although everything which is above the intelligence of vulgar men is , in their
estimation , either ridiculous , profane , or abominable , yet we forgive fhem their misconception and their slander , because it is our duty , not only to forgive but to forget injuries . If they will take the trouble to ask of the poor what Masonry effects for them , they will learn that it relieves them without ostentation ; that it does not iyait till they are reduced to the deepest misery , but that it anticipates their wants ; that their lvii-es , their children , and all that concerns them , are constant objects of its care . Humanity accomplishes sloivly and laboriously its great revolution around the brilliant axis of truth—a long march indeed , during which
many nations , and many civilizations have had , like time and seasons , their rise and fall ; but when this divine principle shall be stripped of symbol , and be presented to human intelligence adorned with its splendid attributes ; when the flambeau of truth shall have enlightened the world ; and when the Masonic doctrine has become the reli gion of all people , then will be realized the sublime ideal mysteriously contained in the symbols of Freemasonry . This time is progressively approaching ; it ivill arriveit is marked
; by the destiny and in the order of ages . Already , as it weighs events and circumstances in its sacred balance , Eternal Justice causes the mass of political errors to diminish every day , and knoivledge to increase from the elucidation of those great principles and self-evident truths ivhich are preparing its triumph , and ivhich will one day assure its reign . As time has advanced , so has Freemasonry progressed , as may be
apparent from the following facts , hastily thrown together . Freemasonry is supposed to have been instituted about 715 years before the Christian ajra , and has constantly preserved its primitive organization aud privileges . After Christianity had become established , its members devoted themselves to the construction of religions edifices . They had already been charged by the neiv apostles sent from Rome , in A . L . 257 , with the construction of the edifices that ivere building at Amiens , Beauvais , Soissons , Rheims , and Paris , in France . Those Christian Masons , guided by the ministers of religion , who inspired them with an horror for pagan temples , worked everywhere to adapt these edifices to