-
Articles/Ads
Article MASONIC ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 5 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities.
on that er & pty Bookcalled , The Constitutions 4 ic . of the Free-Masons , written as I am told , by a Presbyterian Teacher , and pompously recommended by a certain Orthodox , tho * Mathematical Divine . In themean time , I remain , " SIR , ¦ " Your very Humble Servant , " YERUS COMMODUS . "
POSTSCRIPT . * " P . S . Since the closing this Letter , I have had the Pleasure to receive an Account which I much desir'd , of the Delation of the Word GORMOGON ; and as it is very Curious and Significant , and is not made a Secret of , I could nob but inform you of it . It is , it seems , a Compound Word in the ¦ ¦ Chinese Tongue , signifying , A Person made Illustrious by Social Love , by the Excellency of his Genius and by the Antiquity of his Descent .-For GOR , in that most expressive Language ,
signifies Brother or Friend , the most valuable Title on Earth ; MO is a Word of Eminence , prefixYl to a Name or Thing , to distinguish its Excellency ; and GON , signifies Antiquity or Length of Continuance : And it is observable , That the Province of MO-GON in China , which was formerly the Residence , Birth-place , and Paternal Inheritance of the Great Chin-Quaiv-Ky-Po ( as its Name [ MO-GON ] denotes the most excellent and most Ancient Kingdom , ) is one of the most plentiful and flourishing Provincesofthat vast Empire .
" In short , Sir , I am so pleas'd with this Excellent Society , that I shall only wait for your Return from the Country , not doubting but you will join your Interest with me , that we may be recommended as Members ( however otherwise unworthy I may be !) of this Ancient Order . "By this Time you will Laugh with me at the Pretensions of the poor Masons , ( who I am told , now sculk about , and meet in Corners , ) since , as they pretend to derive their Anciently from Babel , they seem to confess , that they found their
Order on Confusion ; And indeed , I am much pleased with what I heard an ingenious GORMOGON express onihis Occasion , with which I shall conclude . 'We are not displeasVT said he ' That these Hewers of Stone , and Drawers of Water , these were Pretenders to nothing more than Labour and Mechaniclcs , who boast so much of their IIod-man ~ ship ) , should pretend to derive their originals from any Place , where they have happen ed to read of Buildings or Monuments of Antiquity , or from Babel , horn Noah , or even from Adam : We could even permit
them to go still higher , and deduce their Rise before the Earth itself was created , among the Infernal Founders of Pandemonium , for the erecting of which they might quote the Authority of the Great Milton ; and , as farfetched Antiquity is their only Pride , so might they , with equal Justice , and equal Reputation to themselves , derive their Original from that Infernal Capital , as from Babel . But let them / said he ' shew us once , That Merit , in the First Place , or ought tending to Edification , to Morals , to Improvement of those Arts and Sciences , which they lay
so proud a Claim to , are any Part of their Consideration ; or , secondly , that any Free-Mason , after his Commencement , became either a wiser , or a better Man j or Thirdly , that Cain , Nhnrod , Semiramis , and the Founders of Babel , are not rather the Examples which they follow ; and I'll give my Yote , that they shall be admitted Gormogons without Degradation , and be no longer the standing Jest of 7
the Vulgar , and the Derision of Men of Sense ! " He concluded with a severe Sting , ' That those Persons who saw the Masons go reeling Home , at unseasonable Hours , after a Meeting or a Lodge-Night , would not question the Example of Noah , in that Instance , at least , of his getting drunk with the Fruits of his own Plantation , and disgracing Him Sclf / before Shem , Ham , and Japhet . '
« FINIS / We have thus hrought to a conclusion this strange fictitious history of an evidently non-existent society . c : JDidce est desipcrc in loco ; " and many of our readers have douhtless like ourselves laughed at some of the quaint ahsurclities of the society of ' G OE-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Antiquities.
on that er & pty Bookcalled , The Constitutions 4 ic . of the Free-Masons , written as I am told , by a Presbyterian Teacher , and pompously recommended by a certain Orthodox , tho * Mathematical Divine . In themean time , I remain , " SIR , ¦ " Your very Humble Servant , " YERUS COMMODUS . "
POSTSCRIPT . * " P . S . Since the closing this Letter , I have had the Pleasure to receive an Account which I much desir'd , of the Delation of the Word GORMOGON ; and as it is very Curious and Significant , and is not made a Secret of , I could nob but inform you of it . It is , it seems , a Compound Word in the ¦ ¦ Chinese Tongue , signifying , A Person made Illustrious by Social Love , by the Excellency of his Genius and by the Antiquity of his Descent .-For GOR , in that most expressive Language ,
signifies Brother or Friend , the most valuable Title on Earth ; MO is a Word of Eminence , prefixYl to a Name or Thing , to distinguish its Excellency ; and GON , signifies Antiquity or Length of Continuance : And it is observable , That the Province of MO-GON in China , which was formerly the Residence , Birth-place , and Paternal Inheritance of the Great Chin-Quaiv-Ky-Po ( as its Name [ MO-GON ] denotes the most excellent and most Ancient Kingdom , ) is one of the most plentiful and flourishing Provincesofthat vast Empire .
" In short , Sir , I am so pleas'd with this Excellent Society , that I shall only wait for your Return from the Country , not doubting but you will join your Interest with me , that we may be recommended as Members ( however otherwise unworthy I may be !) of this Ancient Order . "By this Time you will Laugh with me at the Pretensions of the poor Masons , ( who I am told , now sculk about , and meet in Corners , ) since , as they pretend to derive their Anciently from Babel , they seem to confess , that they found their
Order on Confusion ; And indeed , I am much pleased with what I heard an ingenious GORMOGON express onihis Occasion , with which I shall conclude . 'We are not displeasVT said he ' That these Hewers of Stone , and Drawers of Water , these were Pretenders to nothing more than Labour and Mechaniclcs , who boast so much of their IIod-man ~ ship ) , should pretend to derive their originals from any Place , where they have happen ed to read of Buildings or Monuments of Antiquity , or from Babel , horn Noah , or even from Adam : We could even permit
them to go still higher , and deduce their Rise before the Earth itself was created , among the Infernal Founders of Pandemonium , for the erecting of which they might quote the Authority of the Great Milton ; and , as farfetched Antiquity is their only Pride , so might they , with equal Justice , and equal Reputation to themselves , derive their Original from that Infernal Capital , as from Babel . But let them / said he ' shew us once , That Merit , in the First Place , or ought tending to Edification , to Morals , to Improvement of those Arts and Sciences , which they lay
so proud a Claim to , are any Part of their Consideration ; or , secondly , that any Free-Mason , after his Commencement , became either a wiser , or a better Man j or Thirdly , that Cain , Nhnrod , Semiramis , and the Founders of Babel , are not rather the Examples which they follow ; and I'll give my Yote , that they shall be admitted Gormogons without Degradation , and be no longer the standing Jest of 7
the Vulgar , and the Derision of Men of Sense ! " He concluded with a severe Sting , ' That those Persons who saw the Masons go reeling Home , at unseasonable Hours , after a Meeting or a Lodge-Night , would not question the Example of Noah , in that Instance , at least , of his getting drunk with the Fruits of his own Plantation , and disgracing Him Sclf / before Shem , Ham , and Japhet . '
« FINIS / We have thus hrought to a conclusion this strange fictitious history of an evidently non-existent society . c : JDidce est desipcrc in loco ; " and many of our readers have douhtless like ourselves laughed at some of the quaint ahsurclities of the society of ' G OE-