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Article THE REVELATIONS OF A SQUARE. ← Page 12 of 19 →
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The Revelations Of A Square.
" At the next Lodge , when the R . W . M . made the customary inquiry , whether any Brother had anything to propose for the good of Masonry in general , or this Lodge in particular ? a young man named Franco , who attained the rank of President to the Board of Grand Stewards in 1780 , rose and said , that he had an observation to makewith permission of the
, Chair , which he trusted would neither be out of order , as coming within the category of religious disputes , —which was far from his intention , —nor uninteresting to the Brethren . " Leave being granted , Bro . Franco proceeded to express a doubt whether such a prayer as we now use at the initiation of a candidateconcluding with the words : ' Endue him with
, divine wisdom , that he may , with the secrets of Masonry , be able to unfold the mysteries of godliness and Christianity . This ice humbly beg in the name and for the sake of ' Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour , ' can be reasonably applied to an universal institution like Freemasonry , which deduces its
origin , not only from a period long anterior to the advent of Christ , but beyond the reach of all accredited history . He could not but conclude such an appropriation to be sectarian ; and he had been much surprised to hear the same doctrine publicly advocated from the pulpit by an eminent Christian minister . This observation produced a debate .
" The defence of the Order , " continued the Square , " was in good and sufficient hands . The R . W . M . immediately rose with great solemnity , and said : ' Brethren , in reply to our worthy Brother ' s observation , I will take this opportunity of explaining my views respecting the nature and character of Freemasonry as a religious and moral institution . You are
all aware that the revivers of our symbolical Order , at the beginning of the present century , applied themselves with great diligence to the collection of ancient documents and charges ; and , amongst the rest , they found the identical prayer that was used in the Lodges of those worthy and inimitable artists who built our noble ecclesiastical edifices ; and Brothers Desaguliers and Anderson exercised a sound
discretion in retaining it m oui * improved ceremonial as a landmark or beacon , to point out to succeeding ages the religious character of the institution . And for this reason I did not hesitate to affirm my belief from the pulpit that Freemasonry , as it is received in this country , is essentially—although perhaps not exclusively—Christian . I am not , indeed , ignorant that an adverse opinion , unknown in former times , has recently been started , on the assumption indicated by Bro .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Revelations Of A Square.
" At the next Lodge , when the R . W . M . made the customary inquiry , whether any Brother had anything to propose for the good of Masonry in general , or this Lodge in particular ? a young man named Franco , who attained the rank of President to the Board of Grand Stewards in 1780 , rose and said , that he had an observation to makewith permission of the
, Chair , which he trusted would neither be out of order , as coming within the category of religious disputes , —which was far from his intention , —nor uninteresting to the Brethren . " Leave being granted , Bro . Franco proceeded to express a doubt whether such a prayer as we now use at the initiation of a candidateconcluding with the words : ' Endue him with
, divine wisdom , that he may , with the secrets of Masonry , be able to unfold the mysteries of godliness and Christianity . This ice humbly beg in the name and for the sake of ' Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour , ' can be reasonably applied to an universal institution like Freemasonry , which deduces its
origin , not only from a period long anterior to the advent of Christ , but beyond the reach of all accredited history . He could not but conclude such an appropriation to be sectarian ; and he had been much surprised to hear the same doctrine publicly advocated from the pulpit by an eminent Christian minister . This observation produced a debate .
" The defence of the Order , " continued the Square , " was in good and sufficient hands . The R . W . M . immediately rose with great solemnity , and said : ' Brethren , in reply to our worthy Brother ' s observation , I will take this opportunity of explaining my views respecting the nature and character of Freemasonry as a religious and moral institution . You are
all aware that the revivers of our symbolical Order , at the beginning of the present century , applied themselves with great diligence to the collection of ancient documents and charges ; and , amongst the rest , they found the identical prayer that was used in the Lodges of those worthy and inimitable artists who built our noble ecclesiastical edifices ; and Brothers Desaguliers and Anderson exercised a sound
discretion in retaining it m oui * improved ceremonial as a landmark or beacon , to point out to succeeding ages the religious character of the institution . And for this reason I did not hesitate to affirm my belief from the pulpit that Freemasonry , as it is received in this country , is essentially—although perhaps not exclusively—Christian . I am not , indeed , ignorant that an adverse opinion , unknown in former times , has recently been started , on the assumption indicated by Bro .