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Article ON THE INSTITUTION OF FREEMASONRY.* ← Page 12 of 13 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
delineated to a scale . This drawing , which is twelve feet or fourteen feet long , was discovered in a somewhat singular manner by the learned author of the " Memorials of German Gothic Architecture , " Hof-Bau-Director MoIIer ; by whom , having first made a copy , it was deposited in the library of his patron the Duke of Darmstadt . That many
similar documents have not been found is not because they have never existed , but that , from various causes , they have been since destroyed . The thick veil under which the Freemasons have ever desired to conceal their proceedings has naturally led them , whenever attacks made by reigning authorities on the power of the Craft induced them to fear
an attempt to wrench from them their secrets , to destroy all documents in anyway connected with their art ; among which , of course , would be included the various details and calculations with regard to construction ; the chief results of a knowledge so superior to that possessed by the general bodyand as suchthereforezealouslguarded bthem .
, , , y y These occasions , too , have not been seldom ; for , although for some time , when their skill was most wanted , they were protected by the Pope , met with encouragement on all sides , and were able to
sing—High honour to Masons the Craft daily brings : We ' re brothers of princes , and fellows of kings , " the pressing need for their services gradually was lessened ; the Pope withdrew his countenance ; ancl , as an associated body of men bound together by certain ancl secret ties , and acting , therefore , in concert , they were soon looked upon with suspicious eyes by the various despotic governors of
the time ; ancl were often persecuted with extreme rigour , under the pretence that their secret meetings were used to cover treachery . Even in the time of the Romans , Trajan , in answer to Pliny ' s epistle , already quoted , in which he advises him to establish a college of artificers , consisting only of one hundred ancl fifty menand assures him he
, will take care none but artificers are admitted , declines doing so , on the ground that the secrecy which attends their proceedings , and the consequent facility for plotting , woulcl always render them dangerous . In England the Freemasons have been seldom interfered with by the authoritiesexcept on account of their
disre-, gard for those ordinances which regulated the wages of labourers ; holding themselves , as we have seen , perfectly independent on that head , on the presumed authority of VOI ,. II . I ! n
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
delineated to a scale . This drawing , which is twelve feet or fourteen feet long , was discovered in a somewhat singular manner by the learned author of the " Memorials of German Gothic Architecture , " Hof-Bau-Director MoIIer ; by whom , having first made a copy , it was deposited in the library of his patron the Duke of Darmstadt . That many
similar documents have not been found is not because they have never existed , but that , from various causes , they have been since destroyed . The thick veil under which the Freemasons have ever desired to conceal their proceedings has naturally led them , whenever attacks made by reigning authorities on the power of the Craft induced them to fear
an attempt to wrench from them their secrets , to destroy all documents in anyway connected with their art ; among which , of course , would be included the various details and calculations with regard to construction ; the chief results of a knowledge so superior to that possessed by the general bodyand as suchthereforezealouslguarded bthem .
, , , y y These occasions , too , have not been seldom ; for , although for some time , when their skill was most wanted , they were protected by the Pope , met with encouragement on all sides , and were able to
sing—High honour to Masons the Craft daily brings : We ' re brothers of princes , and fellows of kings , " the pressing need for their services gradually was lessened ; the Pope withdrew his countenance ; ancl , as an associated body of men bound together by certain ancl secret ties , and acting , therefore , in concert , they were soon looked upon with suspicious eyes by the various despotic governors of
the time ; ancl were often persecuted with extreme rigour , under the pretence that their secret meetings were used to cover treachery . Even in the time of the Romans , Trajan , in answer to Pliny ' s epistle , already quoted , in which he advises him to establish a college of artificers , consisting only of one hundred ancl fifty menand assures him he
, will take care none but artificers are admitted , declines doing so , on the ground that the secrecy which attends their proceedings , and the consequent facility for plotting , woulcl always render them dangerous . In England the Freemasons have been seldom interfered with by the authoritiesexcept on account of their
disre-, gard for those ordinances which regulated the wages of labourers ; holding themselves , as we have seen , perfectly independent on that head , on the presumed authority of VOI ,. II . I ! n