Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Account Of The Vicissitudes Of The Neapolitan Masonry;
cruel instruments which this hellish tribunal made use of to torment the wretched beings who had committed perhaps no other crime than that of not consenting to be dishonoured , hy voluntarily delivering over their own sister , daughter , or even their wife , to the sordid lusts and fancies of a monk or of a prelate , or of having simply uttered a word which this diabolical tribunal did not sanction . The so-called bull , by means of which even a king found himself
excommunicated— -separated from his wife and family—deprived of his rights , even of that of his birth , a right , which was even admitted and required by the same holy mother the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church , of which the holy father is the chief ; this representative of Christ , who even forbids reading the Holy Scriptures , which is the word of God , who assumes the exclusive right of interpreting them to his fancy , of erasing some passages and entire chapters , and replacing them by others , forged hy his head ; taking upon himself the right and the power to modify , to change , and even to do away with that which Christ has told us in His word .
Although it be not my aim to speak of the popes and of their famous doings , yet I had to premise a few words in regard to them as they were the chief source and cause of all the evils , which weigh down humanity . The Pontiff Leo X . added to the bull , edited on the 15 th of June 1520 : " That the pope has the power of interpreting the Scriptures and of teaching them as he pleases ; " and in the 30 th article of the same bull he says : "The pope does not receive his authority , his dignity and his power ,
from the Scriptures , but the Scriptures receive it from the pope" ( horrib \ e ) . Moreover , Gregory VIII . says , in one of his writings , that no hook of the Holy Scriptures can be accepted as Canonical without his authority ; that the pope can change the nature of things , and can call forth from nothingness any quantity he likes ; that he can dispose in regard to the Gospel , to the Apostles , and to the old and new Testament , being beyond all of them , ancl that it is sacrilege to judge of the actions of the pope .
This will be sufficient to prove , that the evils of humanity proceed from the injustice of men who have ruled over us , and who unfortunately rule over us this day . After these few preliminary words , let me now introduce the reader to the object of my present discourse . Before 1793 , the Freemasons ofthe Kingdom of Naples consisted only of a small number , composed of men of the highest honour and
respectability , and part of the nobility . Their meetings were inaccessible , and even the court did not know that such a society existed . The choice of learned men formed its greatest part , and their labours had not the least political tendency . The people were not hurthened with heavy taxes ; tobacco did not pay any duty , and the literary men , who , on account of their close application to study , had most need of making use of it , could procure it at a small expense . Towards the end of 1783 , the
king being in want of a sum of money , alleging that it were required for an unforeseen emergency of the state , summoned his private councillor , and having communicated to him his wishes , was told , that there was nothing more easy , and that a small duty on tobacco , which was extremely cheap , would realize beyond that sum , and that neither the young people who were smoking , nor the small number of aged men who took snuff ' , would venture to complain about it . On the ground of this proposition , a duty was laid on tobacco ; and the treasury advanced the sum wanted by the sovereign . The snuff-takers , however , who had been
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Account Of The Vicissitudes Of The Neapolitan Masonry;
cruel instruments which this hellish tribunal made use of to torment the wretched beings who had committed perhaps no other crime than that of not consenting to be dishonoured , hy voluntarily delivering over their own sister , daughter , or even their wife , to the sordid lusts and fancies of a monk or of a prelate , or of having simply uttered a word which this diabolical tribunal did not sanction . The so-called bull , by means of which even a king found himself
excommunicated— -separated from his wife and family—deprived of his rights , even of that of his birth , a right , which was even admitted and required by the same holy mother the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church , of which the holy father is the chief ; this representative of Christ , who even forbids reading the Holy Scriptures , which is the word of God , who assumes the exclusive right of interpreting them to his fancy , of erasing some passages and entire chapters , and replacing them by others , forged hy his head ; taking upon himself the right and the power to modify , to change , and even to do away with that which Christ has told us in His word .
Although it be not my aim to speak of the popes and of their famous doings , yet I had to premise a few words in regard to them as they were the chief source and cause of all the evils , which weigh down humanity . The Pontiff Leo X . added to the bull , edited on the 15 th of June 1520 : " That the pope has the power of interpreting the Scriptures and of teaching them as he pleases ; " and in the 30 th article of the same bull he says : "The pope does not receive his authority , his dignity and his power ,
from the Scriptures , but the Scriptures receive it from the pope" ( horrib \ e ) . Moreover , Gregory VIII . says , in one of his writings , that no hook of the Holy Scriptures can be accepted as Canonical without his authority ; that the pope can change the nature of things , and can call forth from nothingness any quantity he likes ; that he can dispose in regard to the Gospel , to the Apostles , and to the old and new Testament , being beyond all of them , ancl that it is sacrilege to judge of the actions of the pope .
This will be sufficient to prove , that the evils of humanity proceed from the injustice of men who have ruled over us , and who unfortunately rule over us this day . After these few preliminary words , let me now introduce the reader to the object of my present discourse . Before 1793 , the Freemasons ofthe Kingdom of Naples consisted only of a small number , composed of men of the highest honour and
respectability , and part of the nobility . Their meetings were inaccessible , and even the court did not know that such a society existed . The choice of learned men formed its greatest part , and their labours had not the least political tendency . The people were not hurthened with heavy taxes ; tobacco did not pay any duty , and the literary men , who , on account of their close application to study , had most need of making use of it , could procure it at a small expense . Towards the end of 1783 , the
king being in want of a sum of money , alleging that it were required for an unforeseen emergency of the state , summoned his private councillor , and having communicated to him his wishes , was told , that there was nothing more easy , and that a small duty on tobacco , which was extremely cheap , would realize beyond that sum , and that neither the young people who were smoking , nor the small number of aged men who took snuff ' , would venture to complain about it . On the ground of this proposition , a duty was laid on tobacco ; and the treasury advanced the sum wanted by the sovereign . The snuff-takers , however , who had been