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Article ON FREEMASONRY, ← Page 2 of 5 →
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On Freemasonry,
"Dear friend , " we replied , "I do mean fro say so . As a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump , so , I sincerely believe that the benign principles of Freemasonry—invisible though they may he—are sufficiently active to penetrate through every phasis of society , and hy an universal infusion of its animating ingredients , is producing and toill produce , the general amelioration of our species . " " Butsir "
, " But , me no buts . The assertion is a tangible one , and will , no doubt , startle many a cowan to hear it . I have made it deliberately , and deliberately it shall be proved . " B looked rather crest-fallen , and hastily interrupted me hy saying , " But , my dear sir , the public voice is against you . It was only the other day I was at a dinner-party , where "
" Aye , " we replied , interrupting him in our turn , " where , I suppose , a coterie of respectable old ladies , habited in male attire , having met together for a gossip , the old theme was brought on the tapis—a condemnation of our glorious Order ; and when they had talked quantum suff . of unmitigated nonsense , they no doubt complacently blew their noses , and sagaciously exclaimed—See how we apples swim ! thus getting rid of what Theodore Hook denominated ' a troublesome complaint in the chest . ' Ha ! ha ! why you are not surely arrived at such a pitch of scepticism as to believe Freemasonry an evil institution , because they abuse it who have had no opportunity of ascertaining whether it be good or bad . " " And yet , " continued our pertinacious companion , " every one talks so
knowingly about it ! " And think themselves very clever . But the basis being ignorance , what is the fabric ? They may be likened to a cobbler undertaking to solve a difficult problem in Euclid , or a Cantab sitting quietly down on a ball of wax , or other pollution , to manufacture a pair of Wellingtons . Each may expose his own folly , hut will fail to accomplish the task . And we may dismiss all such absurd reasoners in the words of the well-known epigram . Friend , at your sad attempt , I ' m grieved , much is said
So very ; One half will never be believed , The other never read ! " My friend turned quickly round , and looking me full in the face , as if he were determined not to lose the slightest expression of the triumph which he was sure his words would produce , said slowly and deliberately" Have you read the Tablet ? " " Yes . " " The Christian Remembrancer ? " " Yes . " " The Entrlish Churchman ?"
" Yes . *' " The Book of the Months ? " " Yes . " " Well ?" » Well . " A long pause succeeded ; and B at length added , with his eyes wide open— " And still you are not inclined to abandon the Order ? " " Certainly not . All these attempts are puerile and ineffective , because
they are aimed at the most impregnable quarter of the citadel . And only think of the Christian Remembrancer and the English Churchman making common cause with the Roman Catholic Tablet , in an attempt to injure the credit of our noble institution ! " My friend admitted , with a smile , that " the coalition , to say the least of it , is extraordinary , if not unnatural . " " Unnatural ! you say right . Men , opposed on all other points , can unite
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Freemasonry,
"Dear friend , " we replied , "I do mean fro say so . As a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump , so , I sincerely believe that the benign principles of Freemasonry—invisible though they may he—are sufficiently active to penetrate through every phasis of society , and hy an universal infusion of its animating ingredients , is producing and toill produce , the general amelioration of our species . " " Butsir "
, " But , me no buts . The assertion is a tangible one , and will , no doubt , startle many a cowan to hear it . I have made it deliberately , and deliberately it shall be proved . " B looked rather crest-fallen , and hastily interrupted me hy saying , " But , my dear sir , the public voice is against you . It was only the other day I was at a dinner-party , where "
" Aye , " we replied , interrupting him in our turn , " where , I suppose , a coterie of respectable old ladies , habited in male attire , having met together for a gossip , the old theme was brought on the tapis—a condemnation of our glorious Order ; and when they had talked quantum suff . of unmitigated nonsense , they no doubt complacently blew their noses , and sagaciously exclaimed—See how we apples swim ! thus getting rid of what Theodore Hook denominated ' a troublesome complaint in the chest . ' Ha ! ha ! why you are not surely arrived at such a pitch of scepticism as to believe Freemasonry an evil institution , because they abuse it who have had no opportunity of ascertaining whether it be good or bad . " " And yet , " continued our pertinacious companion , " every one talks so
knowingly about it ! " And think themselves very clever . But the basis being ignorance , what is the fabric ? They may be likened to a cobbler undertaking to solve a difficult problem in Euclid , or a Cantab sitting quietly down on a ball of wax , or other pollution , to manufacture a pair of Wellingtons . Each may expose his own folly , hut will fail to accomplish the task . And we may dismiss all such absurd reasoners in the words of the well-known epigram . Friend , at your sad attempt , I ' m grieved , much is said
So very ; One half will never be believed , The other never read ! " My friend turned quickly round , and looking me full in the face , as if he were determined not to lose the slightest expression of the triumph which he was sure his words would produce , said slowly and deliberately" Have you read the Tablet ? " " Yes . " " The Christian Remembrancer ? " " Yes . " " The Entrlish Churchman ?"
" Yes . *' " The Book of the Months ? " " Yes . " " Well ?" » Well . " A long pause succeeded ; and B at length added , with his eyes wide open— " And still you are not inclined to abandon the Order ? " " Certainly not . All these attempts are puerile and ineffective , because
they are aimed at the most impregnable quarter of the citadel . And only think of the Christian Remembrancer and the English Churchman making common cause with the Roman Catholic Tablet , in an attempt to injure the credit of our noble institution ! " My friend admitted , with a smile , that " the coalition , to say the least of it , is extraordinary , if not unnatural . " " Unnatural ! you say right . Men , opposed on all other points , can unite