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Article FREEMASONRY VINDICATED, ← Page 2 of 8 →
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Freemasonry Vindicated,
and Vice . Yes , it is thus with Freemasons ; no disunion exists in our conclaves , —no schism agitates us , —no anathema brands our Lodges destined to the worship of Universal Toleration and Universal Benevolence . These are the first wants of man , so do they constitute the first duty of a Freemason ; for it is Tolerance
and Benevolence alone that can procure to the whole globe a perpetual and unalterable peace . All other schemes , experience tells it , have proved abortive . And with what front could we deprecate Intolerance and Fanaticism , were we fanatical and intolerant ourselves ? How could
we protest against the dire persecutions of which our brethren at various epochs and in various countries have been the victims , were not our princip les humanity and benevolence ? The sanguinary Tribunals of the Inquisition have kept immured ancl led to the slaughter many an unfortunate Freemason , for daring to seek Light , Science , and Truth , where Darkness ,
Ignorance , and Falsehood held an arbitrary sway ! The auto dafe , which , under Philip the Second , was almost quotidian , was instituted to indulge the fanaticism of a barbarous populace , or the
capricious ambition of despotic rulers . Not many years ago a Freemason of the name of Almortovar " was burnt in Seville , along with a young woman who had been convicted by the Holy Office of having earned on an intercourse with an evil spirit , and of knowing the future by heart . Both these hapless victims of Ignorance and Fanaticism breathed in
every feature the most perfect health , so that the hands of the executioner who threw them on the p ile trembled all the while . It was in a square destined to those horrible assassinations , that at the end of a pathetic sermon the two unfortunate beings were conveyed on assback . " lie missa est , " was the sign given to throw the wretched creatures on the burning pile .
Nothing was more iniquitous , or more abominably mysterious , than the mode in which the judgment was pronounced against that martyred Brother , the ill-fated Almodovar . Without examination , without witnesses , without any other evidence than that of the base informer , the wretched victim never knew why or wherefore he was thrown into a dreary dungeon , and then condemned
to be burned , until he was on the pile ! No friend or relative was permitted to see him , or even so much as to communicate with him in any way whatsoever during his confinement . His sentence
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Freemasonry Vindicated,
and Vice . Yes , it is thus with Freemasons ; no disunion exists in our conclaves , —no schism agitates us , —no anathema brands our Lodges destined to the worship of Universal Toleration and Universal Benevolence . These are the first wants of man , so do they constitute the first duty of a Freemason ; for it is Tolerance
and Benevolence alone that can procure to the whole globe a perpetual and unalterable peace . All other schemes , experience tells it , have proved abortive . And with what front could we deprecate Intolerance and Fanaticism , were we fanatical and intolerant ourselves ? How could
we protest against the dire persecutions of which our brethren at various epochs and in various countries have been the victims , were not our princip les humanity and benevolence ? The sanguinary Tribunals of the Inquisition have kept immured ancl led to the slaughter many an unfortunate Freemason , for daring to seek Light , Science , and Truth , where Darkness ,
Ignorance , and Falsehood held an arbitrary sway ! The auto dafe , which , under Philip the Second , was almost quotidian , was instituted to indulge the fanaticism of a barbarous populace , or the
capricious ambition of despotic rulers . Not many years ago a Freemason of the name of Almortovar " was burnt in Seville , along with a young woman who had been convicted by the Holy Office of having earned on an intercourse with an evil spirit , and of knowing the future by heart . Both these hapless victims of Ignorance and Fanaticism breathed in
every feature the most perfect health , so that the hands of the executioner who threw them on the p ile trembled all the while . It was in a square destined to those horrible assassinations , that at the end of a pathetic sermon the two unfortunate beings were conveyed on assback . " lie missa est , " was the sign given to throw the wretched creatures on the burning pile .
Nothing was more iniquitous , or more abominably mysterious , than the mode in which the judgment was pronounced against that martyred Brother , the ill-fated Almodovar . Without examination , without witnesses , without any other evidence than that of the base informer , the wretched victim never knew why or wherefore he was thrown into a dreary dungeon , and then condemned
to be burned , until he was on the pile ! No friend or relative was permitted to see him , or even so much as to communicate with him in any way whatsoever during his confinement . His sentence