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Article ON THE INSTITUTION OF FREEMASONRY.* ← Page 13 of 13
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On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
the Pope ' s bull ; but we find , in consequence of this , that in the reign of Henry VI ., although the king , four years afterwards , became a Mason himself , a statute was passed , enacting , that persons calling or holding chapters should be declared felons : and all other Masons assembling " soient ¦ puniz emprlsonement de lc et facentfyn et raunceon
par corps , a la voluntc du roi . "' ' ( ' '• Pownall ' sEssay Archggologia , " vol . ix . ) To go into this portion of their history , however ( which does not immediatel y concern our purpose ) , would too widel y extend the limits of this paper . Masonry , in the sixteenth century , hacl passed its
meridian , but continued to remain , the shadow of itself , until the end of the seventeenth ; when , a proposition having passed that its privileges should no longer be confined to operative Masons , but extend to men of all professions , it became immediatel y changed in its essential points , and is now hardly remembered other than as a convivial association ,
Here , then , I must conclude this present notice . There are , as it appears to me , few points in the history of the middle ages more p leasing to look back upon than the existence of the associated Masons : they arc the brig ht spot in the general darkness of that period ; the patch of verdure where all around is barren : we see the demand
for a particular skill instantl y creating a plentiful suppl y ; and watch the Fraternity toiling on resolutel y and successfull y in the perfecting of that skill , just so long as the demand continued : it is , in fact , a subject so rife with matter for instructive contemplation , so full of important lessons , that no one can sit down to its investigation without
advantage . In stud ying the works of the Freemasons , they become additionall y interesting if we have a knowledge of the men ; and the men , in like manner , are invested with greater importance when we reflect upon their wonderful productions . I need g ive no other reason for calling attention to the Freemasons . GEORGE GODWIN .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Institution Of Freemasonry.*
the Pope ' s bull ; but we find , in consequence of this , that in the reign of Henry VI ., although the king , four years afterwards , became a Mason himself , a statute was passed , enacting , that persons calling or holding chapters should be declared felons : and all other Masons assembling " soient ¦ puniz emprlsonement de lc et facentfyn et raunceon
par corps , a la voluntc du roi . "' ' ( ' '• Pownall ' sEssay Archggologia , " vol . ix . ) To go into this portion of their history , however ( which does not immediatel y concern our purpose ) , would too widel y extend the limits of this paper . Masonry , in the sixteenth century , hacl passed its
meridian , but continued to remain , the shadow of itself , until the end of the seventeenth ; when , a proposition having passed that its privileges should no longer be confined to operative Masons , but extend to men of all professions , it became immediatel y changed in its essential points , and is now hardly remembered other than as a convivial association ,
Here , then , I must conclude this present notice . There are , as it appears to me , few points in the history of the middle ages more p leasing to look back upon than the existence of the associated Masons : they arc the brig ht spot in the general darkness of that period ; the patch of verdure where all around is barren : we see the demand
for a particular skill instantl y creating a plentiful suppl y ; and watch the Fraternity toiling on resolutel y and successfull y in the perfecting of that skill , just so long as the demand continued : it is , in fact , a subject so rife with matter for instructive contemplation , so full of important lessons , that no one can sit down to its investigation without
advantage . In stud ying the works of the Freemasons , they become additionall y interesting if we have a knowledge of the men ; and the men , in like manner , are invested with greater importance when we reflect upon their wonderful productions . I need g ive no other reason for calling attention to the Freemasons . GEORGE GODWIN .