Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Strictures Upon Past And Present Freemasonry By Sit Lux.
to conclude . For myself , I confess to have sought initiation into the mysteries of Freemasonry , ancl to have comprehended from its peculiar constitution , and the light thereby diffused into my understanding , a sense , purport , and object , utterly dissimilar to what Sit Lux propounds . I found the Christian religion did not extend its divine tenets and doctrines throughout every habitable region of the globe , whatever it may ultimately do when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled .
Meanwhile , its precepts taught me universal love and benevolence of mind ; that they who knew not ancl yet had done things worthy of stripes , should be beaten with few stripes ; and that they who sinned without law should perish without law ; and a thousand similar benignant principles . I therefore eagerly seized hold of the opportunity to ioin a societv whicli
professed , as a pervading fundamental institute , to bring me into closer contact with my fellow-man , separated from me by a diversity of creed , by a difference of race , government , and station , in order that the attributes of Jesus might exercise their influence over the human heart , even where His name was not yet known , or not acknowledged to the extent of my belief . Now reduce Freemasonry to the limits of particular reliious
any g institution , and you de facto annihilate its usefulness as a common bond of humanity . Declare it to be in its maxims , rites , and ceremonies , exclusive in its character , and you a priori debase it to that anti-social position wherein the most rancorous passions of the human heart have raged , to enkindle wrath , envy , hatred , and discord among mankind . Christianity is essentially , and for all moral practical beneficence , Freemasonry , but Freemasonry , in a dogmatical sense , is not Christianity :
and whenever she encroaches upon , or assumes that designation , her destiny will be suicidal . Ecclesiastical history developes no such pretensions . The traditions of the Craft give a very different construction to her polity ancl origin . If the bitter acrimony of the Greek towards the Latin or Roman church , is to be a type of the results of these new-fangled notions of Freemasonry , then away with such an addition to the already multiplied moral and social
pestilences on the earth . If the anathematising spirit of the Roman towards the English church , is to be inoculated into the system of Freemasonry , then begone all simulated assumption of genuine brotherly love . If the prejudices , piques , and jealousies , which avowedly exist even among the various Protestant denominations , are to be introduced among the divine elements of concord admitted to prevail on all religious and
political points ancl distinctions within our Lodges , then farewell the harmony , peace , and rational order which pre-eminently distinguish Brother Masons from all other sections of the human family . 1 could assign an infinitely better reason why our secret Order is
obnoxious to certain divines , as well as certain potentates , than the one given by Sit Lux . Where on earth has the man been living , not to know the species et hoc genus omne ? Surely he is but a neophyte . The objections about the prayers of our Lodge invocations not ending with the mediation is insupportable , in defence of those clergymen who do not choose to come among us . It is perfectly frivolous . If ever the customary mediation used in Christian forms of devotion were employed in our Masonic rites , I both doubt its accuracy and propriety . If Freemasonry be what is represented in the constitutions , vor ,. iv .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Strictures Upon Past And Present Freemasonry By Sit Lux.
to conclude . For myself , I confess to have sought initiation into the mysteries of Freemasonry , ancl to have comprehended from its peculiar constitution , and the light thereby diffused into my understanding , a sense , purport , and object , utterly dissimilar to what Sit Lux propounds . I found the Christian religion did not extend its divine tenets and doctrines throughout every habitable region of the globe , whatever it may ultimately do when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled .
Meanwhile , its precepts taught me universal love and benevolence of mind ; that they who knew not ancl yet had done things worthy of stripes , should be beaten with few stripes ; and that they who sinned without law should perish without law ; and a thousand similar benignant principles . I therefore eagerly seized hold of the opportunity to ioin a societv whicli
professed , as a pervading fundamental institute , to bring me into closer contact with my fellow-man , separated from me by a diversity of creed , by a difference of race , government , and station , in order that the attributes of Jesus might exercise their influence over the human heart , even where His name was not yet known , or not acknowledged to the extent of my belief . Now reduce Freemasonry to the limits of particular reliious
any g institution , and you de facto annihilate its usefulness as a common bond of humanity . Declare it to be in its maxims , rites , and ceremonies , exclusive in its character , and you a priori debase it to that anti-social position wherein the most rancorous passions of the human heart have raged , to enkindle wrath , envy , hatred , and discord among mankind . Christianity is essentially , and for all moral practical beneficence , Freemasonry , but Freemasonry , in a dogmatical sense , is not Christianity :
and whenever she encroaches upon , or assumes that designation , her destiny will be suicidal . Ecclesiastical history developes no such pretensions . The traditions of the Craft give a very different construction to her polity ancl origin . If the bitter acrimony of the Greek towards the Latin or Roman church , is to be a type of the results of these new-fangled notions of Freemasonry , then away with such an addition to the already multiplied moral and social
pestilences on the earth . If the anathematising spirit of the Roman towards the English church , is to be inoculated into the system of Freemasonry , then begone all simulated assumption of genuine brotherly love . If the prejudices , piques , and jealousies , which avowedly exist even among the various Protestant denominations , are to be introduced among the divine elements of concord admitted to prevail on all religious and
political points ancl distinctions within our Lodges , then farewell the harmony , peace , and rational order which pre-eminently distinguish Brother Masons from all other sections of the human family . 1 could assign an infinitely better reason why our secret Order is
obnoxious to certain divines , as well as certain potentates , than the one given by Sit Lux . Where on earth has the man been living , not to know the species et hoc genus omne ? Surely he is but a neophyte . The objections about the prayers of our Lodge invocations not ending with the mediation is insupportable , in defence of those clergymen who do not choose to come among us . It is perfectly frivolous . If ever the customary mediation used in Christian forms of devotion were employed in our Masonic rites , I both doubt its accuracy and propriety . If Freemasonry be what is represented in the constitutions , vor ,. iv .