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Article LECTURES ON FREEMASONRY , ← Page 6 of 8 →
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Lectures On Freemasonry ,
Rome , was at that period the resort of the pious , the rich , the learned , the unlearned pretender , and the celebrated artists . Freemasonry could never be propagated , and become universal , by the Jews , for they were never known to have wandered beyond the limits of their small territory , except when they were dragged into captivity , where it is evident they learned more of the principles of the then existing secret societies , than they were able to communicate to their
various oppressors . It is therefore , in my humble opinion , an unmasonic attempt to constitute , by a public enactment , and I may say by a command , Hebrew Freemasonry to be the standard , beginning , and end of our universal system . I , for one , never could , subscribe to such erroneous conceptions , and boldly propagated orders , and can only admit , what is universally accepted and practised , to form that circle around which true Masons cannot err . Freemasons never were indebted to the Israelites for their art . S .
T . and W . do not constitute Freemasonry , but are local marks whereby they know each other , and may be altered , or entirely done away , without the least injury to scientific Freemasonry . It is with many Freemasons too absurd a belief , and a still more absurd practice , to build our science upon so shallow a foundation as S . T . and W ., which I fear constitute with some the only attainment they look for in Freemasonry . That certain signals may be necessary , I do readily allow , but deny that
such a mechanism shall constitute a principal part of onr institution . The ancient Phoenicians , from whom the Israelites received the higher instructions in the mysteries of the secret societies , had their signs and ceremonials as far as outward forms were necessary , but it would be illjudged to suppose that those forms constituted the mysteries of their learned secret societies ; and this may also be said of the other secret societies of the East Indies , of Persia , Ethiopia , Egypt , and Greece , who were all in the pale of universality , although they might have greatly differed in their S . T . and W .
Freemasonry owes much to the Phoenicians , for , as a commercial nation , and by far more cultivated in the arts and sciences than were the Jews of their days , they carried on a most successful commerce ivith the then knoivn parts of the world . Thus , in exchanging their brass and copper vessels , their glass wares , and their purple , ivith the Britons , for tin , ivith the Spaniards for gold , with the borderers of the Baltic for amber , with the Swedes for iron , and with the Danes for furs , they
gradually communicated some of their secret arts and sciences to intelligent individuals of those nations , under certain obligations to secrecy , which served as a precaution against the operation of superstition and persecution amongst the then idolatrous bulk of the natives . This benevolent initiation of some of those barbarians into the secret societies of the East , soon made them acquainted with the adoration of one undivided . Deity , and paved the way for the subsequent heavenly
instructions by the missionaries ofthe Christian Faith . The arts and sciences , and commercial pursuits , now engaged their minds , instead of the chase and wild rovings in their gloomy forests . Civilization making rapid strides amongst them , became the safeguard of the arts and sciences imparted to them , which were left as a most valuable inheritance to future generations . Freemasonry having been thus planted in the north , and there successfully continued , the artists of Palestine , after the destruction of the second temple by Titus , dispersed , and no prospect being left them of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Lectures On Freemasonry ,
Rome , was at that period the resort of the pious , the rich , the learned , the unlearned pretender , and the celebrated artists . Freemasonry could never be propagated , and become universal , by the Jews , for they were never known to have wandered beyond the limits of their small territory , except when they were dragged into captivity , where it is evident they learned more of the principles of the then existing secret societies , than they were able to communicate to their
various oppressors . It is therefore , in my humble opinion , an unmasonic attempt to constitute , by a public enactment , and I may say by a command , Hebrew Freemasonry to be the standard , beginning , and end of our universal system . I , for one , never could , subscribe to such erroneous conceptions , and boldly propagated orders , and can only admit , what is universally accepted and practised , to form that circle around which true Masons cannot err . Freemasons never were indebted to the Israelites for their art . S .
T . and W . do not constitute Freemasonry , but are local marks whereby they know each other , and may be altered , or entirely done away , without the least injury to scientific Freemasonry . It is with many Freemasons too absurd a belief , and a still more absurd practice , to build our science upon so shallow a foundation as S . T . and W ., which I fear constitute with some the only attainment they look for in Freemasonry . That certain signals may be necessary , I do readily allow , but deny that
such a mechanism shall constitute a principal part of onr institution . The ancient Phoenicians , from whom the Israelites received the higher instructions in the mysteries of the secret societies , had their signs and ceremonials as far as outward forms were necessary , but it would be illjudged to suppose that those forms constituted the mysteries of their learned secret societies ; and this may also be said of the other secret societies of the East Indies , of Persia , Ethiopia , Egypt , and Greece , who were all in the pale of universality , although they might have greatly differed in their S . T . and W .
Freemasonry owes much to the Phoenicians , for , as a commercial nation , and by far more cultivated in the arts and sciences than were the Jews of their days , they carried on a most successful commerce ivith the then knoivn parts of the world . Thus , in exchanging their brass and copper vessels , their glass wares , and their purple , ivith the Britons , for tin , ivith the Spaniards for gold , with the borderers of the Baltic for amber , with the Swedes for iron , and with the Danes for furs , they
gradually communicated some of their secret arts and sciences to intelligent individuals of those nations , under certain obligations to secrecy , which served as a precaution against the operation of superstition and persecution amongst the then idolatrous bulk of the natives . This benevolent initiation of some of those barbarians into the secret societies of the East , soon made them acquainted with the adoration of one undivided . Deity , and paved the way for the subsequent heavenly
instructions by the missionaries ofthe Christian Faith . The arts and sciences , and commercial pursuits , now engaged their minds , instead of the chase and wild rovings in their gloomy forests . Civilization making rapid strides amongst them , became the safeguard of the arts and sciences imparted to them , which were left as a most valuable inheritance to future generations . Freemasonry having been thus planted in the north , and there successfully continued , the artists of Palestine , after the destruction of the second temple by Titus , dispersed , and no prospect being left them of