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Article ON FREEMASONRY, ← Page 2 of 6 →
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On Freemasonry,
despisable matter . To this , however , maybe attributed your denunciations of Freemasonry . Enormous feeding produces repletion ; repletion generates bile ; and bile must be thrown off , if the system be worth preserving ; and what is so perfectly natural and safe , as to discharge it against an adversary who is hound hand and foot b y the restrictions of a secret institution , and , consequently , incapable of making any effectual defence , or of retaliating by an attack on the enemy's camp ? We are lost in admiration at your judgmentand the astute policy of
, your tactics , although we cannot admire your courage . The chivalrous adventurers of old always considered that , course to be most honourable which selected as an opponent in the lists , like Ivanhoe at Ashby , a champion armed to the teeth ; and esteemed themselves less disgraced by defeat against such an adversary , than by conquest over a feeble or unarmed foe . But , alas , times are changed with us ; we now attack the weak and trample on the defenceless . The bold and stalwart knight , who defied all the world in a fair and open fieldis degenerated into the cunning savagewho shoots his
, , enemy from behind a tree , or surprises him when asleep in his peaceful cabin . After all , there is much personal security in the plan , and we recommend you to persevere . Who knows but you may , in the end , batter down the outworks of Masonry and surprise , the citadel ! Who can tell what effect a series of insidious aspersions , judiciously selected and cunningly applied , may have upon a system of secrecy , whose strongest and most unanswerable points cannot be publicly adduced in reply to your plausible , and oft-repeated
allusions , how pernicious soever their real tendency may be ? Foil may venture , therefore , to proceed with impunity , for we are not cannibals ; we may , in our secret conclaves , devour young children , as some of your ancient anti-mnsonie confreres would have the world believe , but we shall not eat you ; we have too much interest in your pursuits to wish you any evil . There is another recommendation which we would strongly urge upon you , as it is a ruse which appears to have escaped your attention ; but it is intended for own rivate ear aloneand of course will consider it
your p , you strictly confidential . On all future occasions , when you may vouchsafe to honour us with your notice , we think it would be prudent to write anonymously . It is an awful thing to scribble nonsense , and authenticate it by your proper name and address . Therefore , dear friends , let us conjure yoii to avoid this fatal error in future ; for you cannot believe how much your character , as right-minded men , is compromised by persisting in a course which is known to be at variance with the common dictates of humanity and truth .
freemasonry is a system of Charity . It relieves the distressed , cherishes the orphan , and makes the widow's heart to sing for joy . And every time you raise the slogan of "down with it , down with it , even to the ground I " you have the credit of trying to drive the orphan children away from the retreat where Freemasonry clothes , and feeds , and educates them , to encounter all the evils of poverty , despair , and crime . To ' you this result would probably be milk and honey ; but to us it would be gall and wormwood . Write anonymously then in future , or your character may sutler , which would be and matter of to
a great pity regret your dearest friends . But have you really such an aversion to benevolent institutions ? Are you such bitter enemies to the orphan , the destitute , and the widow , as to be desirous of stopping up the sources of those charities by which the latterare supported , and the former trained to act their part creditably on the great theatre of the-worW ? Gracious heaven ! if this be the case , you will care little what the end may be , providing you can but gain celebrity by the means . The heavy responsibility must be risked ; to be consistent you must recklessly proceed , though the course be rather crooked ; for there is no knowing what wonderful things you may effect in time . Who can tell
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry,
despisable matter . To this , however , maybe attributed your denunciations of Freemasonry . Enormous feeding produces repletion ; repletion generates bile ; and bile must be thrown off , if the system be worth preserving ; and what is so perfectly natural and safe , as to discharge it against an adversary who is hound hand and foot b y the restrictions of a secret institution , and , consequently , incapable of making any effectual defence , or of retaliating by an attack on the enemy's camp ? We are lost in admiration at your judgmentand the astute policy of
, your tactics , although we cannot admire your courage . The chivalrous adventurers of old always considered that , course to be most honourable which selected as an opponent in the lists , like Ivanhoe at Ashby , a champion armed to the teeth ; and esteemed themselves less disgraced by defeat against such an adversary , than by conquest over a feeble or unarmed foe . But , alas , times are changed with us ; we now attack the weak and trample on the defenceless . The bold and stalwart knight , who defied all the world in a fair and open fieldis degenerated into the cunning savagewho shoots his
, , enemy from behind a tree , or surprises him when asleep in his peaceful cabin . After all , there is much personal security in the plan , and we recommend you to persevere . Who knows but you may , in the end , batter down the outworks of Masonry and surprise , the citadel ! Who can tell what effect a series of insidious aspersions , judiciously selected and cunningly applied , may have upon a system of secrecy , whose strongest and most unanswerable points cannot be publicly adduced in reply to your plausible , and oft-repeated
allusions , how pernicious soever their real tendency may be ? Foil may venture , therefore , to proceed with impunity , for we are not cannibals ; we may , in our secret conclaves , devour young children , as some of your ancient anti-mnsonie confreres would have the world believe , but we shall not eat you ; we have too much interest in your pursuits to wish you any evil . There is another recommendation which we would strongly urge upon you , as it is a ruse which appears to have escaped your attention ; but it is intended for own rivate ear aloneand of course will consider it
your p , you strictly confidential . On all future occasions , when you may vouchsafe to honour us with your notice , we think it would be prudent to write anonymously . It is an awful thing to scribble nonsense , and authenticate it by your proper name and address . Therefore , dear friends , let us conjure yoii to avoid this fatal error in future ; for you cannot believe how much your character , as right-minded men , is compromised by persisting in a course which is known to be at variance with the common dictates of humanity and truth .
freemasonry is a system of Charity . It relieves the distressed , cherishes the orphan , and makes the widow's heart to sing for joy . And every time you raise the slogan of "down with it , down with it , even to the ground I " you have the credit of trying to drive the orphan children away from the retreat where Freemasonry clothes , and feeds , and educates them , to encounter all the evils of poverty , despair , and crime . To ' you this result would probably be milk and honey ; but to us it would be gall and wormwood . Write anonymously then in future , or your character may sutler , which would be and matter of to
a great pity regret your dearest friends . But have you really such an aversion to benevolent institutions ? Are you such bitter enemies to the orphan , the destitute , and the widow , as to be desirous of stopping up the sources of those charities by which the latterare supported , and the former trained to act their part creditably on the great theatre of the-worW ? Gracious heaven ! if this be the case , you will care little what the end may be , providing you can but gain celebrity by the means . The heavy responsibility must be risked ; to be consistent you must recklessly proceed , though the course be rather crooked ; for there is no knowing what wonderful things you may effect in time . Who can tell