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Article ON FREEMASONRY. ← Page 8 of 9 →
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On Freemasonry.
philosophers ; or if it did , that they would feel any peculiar interest in its contents . I am glad to be able to strengthen my argument by an authority so good as Bishop Stillingfleet . This learned writer says , " I do not see any reason to aver with so much hers who
confidence as some do , that those philosop spake anything consonantly to Moses , must presently converse with the Jews , transcribe their opinions out of the Scriptures , or have them conveyed to them in some secret cabala of the creation , as it is affirmed of Pythagoras and Plato , and may , with no less reason , of Thales . But this I
suppose may be made evident to any considerative person , that the p hilosophers of Greece , who conversed most abroad in the world , did speak far more agreeably to the true account of things , than such who only endeavoured by their own wits to improve or correct those princip les which were delivered bthe other hilosophers . Which I imputenot
y p , so much to their converse with the Mosaic writings , as to that universal tradition of the first ages of ihe world , which was preserved far better among the Phenicians , Egyptians , Chaldeans , and others , than among the Greeks . " *
It is clear then , from the general history of ancient nations , as well as from the testimonies already adduced , that the heathen had some imperfect knowledge of all the main facts connected with true religion ; and consequently their systems were founded upon the model of Primitive Freemasonry , which , in all ages , had preserved those facts ,
and to which , at their first institution , they bore some resemblance . But if the above suppositions be untenable—if neither the Christian system emanated from heathenism , nor idolatry was derived from the Jewish writings , how did the Gentile nations gain possession of these facts ? Lord Bacon answers the question . They were delivered and
related , he says , " as things formerly believed and received , and not as newly invented , and offered to us . Besides , seeing they are diversely related by writers that lived nearly about one and the same time , we may easily perceive that they were common things , derived from precedent memorials ; and that they became various by reason of the divers
ornaments bestowed on them by particular relations . And the consideration of this must needs increase in us agreat opinion of them , as not being accounted either the effects of the times , or inventions of the poets , but as sacred relics and
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry.
philosophers ; or if it did , that they would feel any peculiar interest in its contents . I am glad to be able to strengthen my argument by an authority so good as Bishop Stillingfleet . This learned writer says , " I do not see any reason to aver with so much hers who
confidence as some do , that those philosop spake anything consonantly to Moses , must presently converse with the Jews , transcribe their opinions out of the Scriptures , or have them conveyed to them in some secret cabala of the creation , as it is affirmed of Pythagoras and Plato , and may , with no less reason , of Thales . But this I
suppose may be made evident to any considerative person , that the p hilosophers of Greece , who conversed most abroad in the world , did speak far more agreeably to the true account of things , than such who only endeavoured by their own wits to improve or correct those princip les which were delivered bthe other hilosophers . Which I imputenot
y p , so much to their converse with the Mosaic writings , as to that universal tradition of the first ages of ihe world , which was preserved far better among the Phenicians , Egyptians , Chaldeans , and others , than among the Greeks . " *
It is clear then , from the general history of ancient nations , as well as from the testimonies already adduced , that the heathen had some imperfect knowledge of all the main facts connected with true religion ; and consequently their systems were founded upon the model of Primitive Freemasonry , which , in all ages , had preserved those facts ,
and to which , at their first institution , they bore some resemblance . But if the above suppositions be untenable—if neither the Christian system emanated from heathenism , nor idolatry was derived from the Jewish writings , how did the Gentile nations gain possession of these facts ? Lord Bacon answers the question . They were delivered and
related , he says , " as things formerly believed and received , and not as newly invented , and offered to us . Besides , seeing they are diversely related by writers that lived nearly about one and the same time , we may easily perceive that they were common things , derived from precedent memorials ; and that they became various by reason of the divers
ornaments bestowed on them by particular relations . And the consideration of this must needs increase in us agreat opinion of them , as not being accounted either the effects of the times , or inventions of the poets , but as sacred relics and