Prejudice Against Freemasonry.*

against the Government of their nation and the peace of the world , * but also of aiming to . overthrow the religious establishment of their own country and of all others . ! Not only were there imputed to them practices that were dangerous , but principles that were unjust . So St . Paul intimates , in lhe passage selected as a text , that there were those who charged him ancl his fellow labourers in the propagation of the Gospel with holding tenets that he detested .

He says no more in confutation of the vile imputation than that those who profess ancl practice upon such a principle deserve and will receive the hi ghest condemnation ; but to attribute to him ancl his associates such a motive was a false ancl insidious charge . Thus we see that the best men and the worthiest conduct maybe misreiiresented and slanderously reported ; and that the purest purposes ancl the noblest

exertions in behalf of virtue , humanity , ancl peace have "been stigmatized by some ancl opposed by others . The most unfair and disingenions , need I add the most successful , mode of attack is to insinuate that the design , however plausible , is mischievous ; or that the end , however commendable , is effected by means reprehensible and unjust .

The base ancl vile doctrine of "doing evil that good may come , " or , in other words , " the end justifies the means , " has also been alleged against the Freemasons . Or , rather , it is expressly asserted of the Jesuits and Illumines J by authors who designedly implicate and involve our society with those corrupt associations ; declaring it to be formed upon the same plan , founded on the same principles , and furthering the same designs . § To be sure they make some reserves ancl abatements in favour of Freemasonry , but still assert it to be the fatal source to which all these bitter ancl destructive streams are to be traced . II

I doubt not , my brethren , but it will strike your minds with surprise ancl astonishment , not unmixed with indignation and horror , to be informed that our venerable and ancient fraternit y is implicated with the infidels , atheists , and disorganisers of the present day in a charge of no less atrocit y than a premature design , a long preconcerted plan , to destroy the religion of Christ , to subvert every established government upon earth , ancl to overthrow every system of civil society whicli the virtuous ingenuity of man has been able to

invent , with a view to improve ancl secure the happiness of the world ! ^ f Looking into yourselves , my brethren , and feeling conscious of the purit y of your own intentions ; referring , too , to the principles of our ancient and hitherto respected institution , yon are at a loss even to conjecture the motive for fabricating an allegation so unfounded , and bringing forward an imputation so undeserved ancl so unjust .