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Article TREVILIAN ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 8 of 9 →
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Trevilian On Freemasonry.
Masonry , having existed under the Jewish Law , and before the revelation of Christianity , the prayers still preserve the phraseology of the first dispensation , and to introduce that name would be to introduce a change which would and must sever from us all those whom the Order embraced before the new covenant . " And what if it did sever them ? The idea of their severence is not a new one . The Prussian Grand Lodge , two or three years ago , proposed to expel the Jews bodily . It would have been a redeeming measure for Masonry ; but it was opposed by the more liberal
Grand Lodge of England . With this avowal before him of the respectable parentage of modern Masonry—viz ., the debased Jews who would not receive the light of Truth when offered them ; and whose sin " remaineth" on the express ground that they still persist in saying , " we see , " ( John ix . 41 , )—the young Christian must judge for himself whether he can be justified before God in entering in a spiritual connection witli them , abating as a nuisance his Christian profession in their presenceadopting confessedly the ancient
, worship of a schismatical Jewish sect , and wearing the name of the Saviour about him only as a secret talisman . And all for what ? To obtain their friendship , and improve their morality ! But what says our Lord ? " He that gathereth not WITH ME scattereth . " I am , Sir , your obedient Servant , M . C . TREVILIAN . Newberry House , July 20 th , 1850 .
I beg now , sir , your permission to ask of your Masonic readers a few questions relating to matters of fact , which are suggested by the Review . First , I ask the all-important question , is Freemasonry deistical or is it not 1 The Review gives for answer—( p . 165 ) : " If it can be established that Freemasonry necessarily leads to deism , or even
if there be the slightest ground for supposing that anything connected with it has that tendency , there can be but one opinion as to the treatment it ought to receive at the hands of all Christian men . " Nothing can be fairer spoken than this . On the other hand , if at any time during the last twenty years a young person of the West of England , meditating the step of Masonry , had taken the precaution to appeal for information on this point to tbe
highest Masonic authority within his reach , viz ., the late D . P . G . M . for Devon , he would have been told , candidly and plainly , that Masonry is Deistical , for that there is a necessity for a " broad basis of worship . " On which , then , of these statements is a considerate Christian to rely , the testimony being as perfect as it can possibly be imagined on either side ?
Secondly , as to the clause of the oatb , " not to speak evil of Freemasonry , " i . e ., practically , of " Masonic principles ; does it or does it not find its place therein ? Tbe review says , " he ( i . e . myself ) never took any oath not to speak against the Order . " And it further says : " tbe whole of this fearful oath consists in this , that the candidate swears on the Holy Bible never to reveal the secrets of tbo Order . " This is a plain and decisive answer in the negative . On the other hand , a very young Mason ( I speak of four years ago ; and his youth is important as showing the practice of the present
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Trevilian On Freemasonry.
Masonry , having existed under the Jewish Law , and before the revelation of Christianity , the prayers still preserve the phraseology of the first dispensation , and to introduce that name would be to introduce a change which would and must sever from us all those whom the Order embraced before the new covenant . " And what if it did sever them ? The idea of their severence is not a new one . The Prussian Grand Lodge , two or three years ago , proposed to expel the Jews bodily . It would have been a redeeming measure for Masonry ; but it was opposed by the more liberal
Grand Lodge of England . With this avowal before him of the respectable parentage of modern Masonry—viz ., the debased Jews who would not receive the light of Truth when offered them ; and whose sin " remaineth" on the express ground that they still persist in saying , " we see , " ( John ix . 41 , )—the young Christian must judge for himself whether he can be justified before God in entering in a spiritual connection witli them , abating as a nuisance his Christian profession in their presenceadopting confessedly the ancient
, worship of a schismatical Jewish sect , and wearing the name of the Saviour about him only as a secret talisman . And all for what ? To obtain their friendship , and improve their morality ! But what says our Lord ? " He that gathereth not WITH ME scattereth . " I am , Sir , your obedient Servant , M . C . TREVILIAN . Newberry House , July 20 th , 1850 .
I beg now , sir , your permission to ask of your Masonic readers a few questions relating to matters of fact , which are suggested by the Review . First , I ask the all-important question , is Freemasonry deistical or is it not 1 The Review gives for answer—( p . 165 ) : " If it can be established that Freemasonry necessarily leads to deism , or even
if there be the slightest ground for supposing that anything connected with it has that tendency , there can be but one opinion as to the treatment it ought to receive at the hands of all Christian men . " Nothing can be fairer spoken than this . On the other hand , if at any time during the last twenty years a young person of the West of England , meditating the step of Masonry , had taken the precaution to appeal for information on this point to tbe
highest Masonic authority within his reach , viz ., the late D . P . G . M . for Devon , he would have been told , candidly and plainly , that Masonry is Deistical , for that there is a necessity for a " broad basis of worship . " On which , then , of these statements is a considerate Christian to rely , the testimony being as perfect as it can possibly be imagined on either side ?
Secondly , as to the clause of the oatb , " not to speak evil of Freemasonry , " i . e ., practically , of " Masonic principles ; does it or does it not find its place therein ? Tbe review says , " he ( i . e . myself ) never took any oath not to speak against the Order . " And it further says : " tbe whole of this fearful oath consists in this , that the candidate swears on the Holy Bible never to reveal the secrets of tbo Order . " This is a plain and decisive answer in the negative . On the other hand , a very young Mason ( I speak of four years ago ; and his youth is important as showing the practice of the present