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Article COIRESPGNDENCE. ← Page 2 of 11 →
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Coirespgndence.
displease a few * professors of false systems of religion , and of trenching on its universality . Can such freethinkers flatter themselves that the Jew or Turk will thank them for thus repudiating their own belief out of respect to their prejudices ? On the contrary , it is to be feared that they will despise them as traitors
to their God , and , like the Brahmins of Hindostan , impute that feeling to pusillanimity , and the exercise of an absurd and uncalled for liberality ; praising them , perhaps , to their faces , but when their backs are turned spitting in contempt , and exclaiming to each other- — i ( The wretches ! Can they really believe in a God whom they thus practically deny— -or are they disguised hypocrites and atheists ?"
The Jews themselves are less tolerant and more consistent . M . Cotte informs us that in Morocco "They hate the Christians quite as much as the Mussulmans , although the little protection they enjoy at Tangier is due to the Christian con - suls . When a Christian enters the house of a protected Jew he is received with every mark of hospitality but no sooner is his back turned than the glass out of which he has drunk is broken to pieces , and everything he has touched is subjected to a rigorous purification , performed with many complicated ceremonies . A Jewish servant will not eat the meat she has cooked for a Christian ( although bought at a Jewish butcher ' s ) , because it has been cooked in Ghristian vessels . "
But while we hold that in Freemasonry Christianity ought to occupy a prominent and undisguised situation , we would not refuse admission to the Mahometan or Hindoo , or any other citizen of the world . Our Lodges should be open to them as are our churches ; but as in the case of the latter , the candidate ought to be previously made acquainted with the true character of the institution , and that ( which is really the case ) in becoming Masons ( they ' . become Christians , for an assent to the lectures of Masonry is accorded by their presence , in which they tacitly declare their belief in the leading doctrines of Christianity ^ including many
undisputed types of the Redeemer , which those lectures promulgate and enforce . It must be admitted , however , that such a result is considered altogether unde * sirable by the universalists ; for shortly after the Union in 1813 , the Lodge of Reconciliation , acting under the sanction of the Grand Master , took especial pains to expunge from the lectures all direct references to our holy religion , that the Order might be universally accessible to ail mankind , without subjecting them to hear the discussion of tenets which are revolting to their feelings , or alien to any preconceived notions which they might entertain respecting systems of religious worshi p *
Such was the admitted design of the Lodge of Reconciliation in its revision of the lectures ; and if I am not misinformed , the present Grand Lodge adheres steadily to the same principle , and virtually ignores Christianity so far as Freemasonry is concerned . But I am afraid such a practice will subject that body to the heavy charge of deviating from the ancient landmarks , which , as I have just observed , pronounce Christianity to be an indispensable element in the composition of Freemasonry ; and a new element ( unknown to the Order prior to the Union ) called Univeesality has been substituted in its stead , and is now used as a central landmark , from which all other attributes are supposed to radiate .
This is believed , by the party alluded to , to neutralise the teaching of Christianity , in common with all other religious systems , that Freemasonry may be altogether unshackled and at full liberty to pursue its own exclusive destination without reference to modes of faith . It is a neutrality that I am unable to approve , because I can find no authority for its existence . A genuine Christian will never consent to be neutral when his religion is in question . The author of that religion has himself pronounced the awful fiat— iC He that is not with me is
against me ! " a fatal blow to the doctrine and practice of neutrality , which indeed is only another word for proscription . And it is false policy as well as false religion to sacrifice our own convictions for the sake of expediency ; putting the faith of the majority under a bushel in the hope of satisfying the scruples , and confirming the prejudices of a very small and insignificant minority . The results of such a proceeding are sure to place us in the estimation of mankind between the horns of this dilemma—either wo are a society of infidels , or , as was predicated of the late Indian Government , on account of a similar abnegation
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Coirespgndence.
displease a few * professors of false systems of religion , and of trenching on its universality . Can such freethinkers flatter themselves that the Jew or Turk will thank them for thus repudiating their own belief out of respect to their prejudices ? On the contrary , it is to be feared that they will despise them as traitors
to their God , and , like the Brahmins of Hindostan , impute that feeling to pusillanimity , and the exercise of an absurd and uncalled for liberality ; praising them , perhaps , to their faces , but when their backs are turned spitting in contempt , and exclaiming to each other- — i ( The wretches ! Can they really believe in a God whom they thus practically deny— -or are they disguised hypocrites and atheists ?"
The Jews themselves are less tolerant and more consistent . M . Cotte informs us that in Morocco "They hate the Christians quite as much as the Mussulmans , although the little protection they enjoy at Tangier is due to the Christian con - suls . When a Christian enters the house of a protected Jew he is received with every mark of hospitality but no sooner is his back turned than the glass out of which he has drunk is broken to pieces , and everything he has touched is subjected to a rigorous purification , performed with many complicated ceremonies . A Jewish servant will not eat the meat she has cooked for a Christian ( although bought at a Jewish butcher ' s ) , because it has been cooked in Ghristian vessels . "
But while we hold that in Freemasonry Christianity ought to occupy a prominent and undisguised situation , we would not refuse admission to the Mahometan or Hindoo , or any other citizen of the world . Our Lodges should be open to them as are our churches ; but as in the case of the latter , the candidate ought to be previously made acquainted with the true character of the institution , and that ( which is really the case ) in becoming Masons ( they ' . become Christians , for an assent to the lectures of Masonry is accorded by their presence , in which they tacitly declare their belief in the leading doctrines of Christianity ^ including many
undisputed types of the Redeemer , which those lectures promulgate and enforce . It must be admitted , however , that such a result is considered altogether unde * sirable by the universalists ; for shortly after the Union in 1813 , the Lodge of Reconciliation , acting under the sanction of the Grand Master , took especial pains to expunge from the lectures all direct references to our holy religion , that the Order might be universally accessible to ail mankind , without subjecting them to hear the discussion of tenets which are revolting to their feelings , or alien to any preconceived notions which they might entertain respecting systems of religious worshi p *
Such was the admitted design of the Lodge of Reconciliation in its revision of the lectures ; and if I am not misinformed , the present Grand Lodge adheres steadily to the same principle , and virtually ignores Christianity so far as Freemasonry is concerned . But I am afraid such a practice will subject that body to the heavy charge of deviating from the ancient landmarks , which , as I have just observed , pronounce Christianity to be an indispensable element in the composition of Freemasonry ; and a new element ( unknown to the Order prior to the Union ) called Univeesality has been substituted in its stead , and is now used as a central landmark , from which all other attributes are supposed to radiate .
This is believed , by the party alluded to , to neutralise the teaching of Christianity , in common with all other religious systems , that Freemasonry may be altogether unshackled and at full liberty to pursue its own exclusive destination without reference to modes of faith . It is a neutrality that I am unable to approve , because I can find no authority for its existence . A genuine Christian will never consent to be neutral when his religion is in question . The author of that religion has himself pronounced the awful fiat— iC He that is not with me is
against me ! " a fatal blow to the doctrine and practice of neutrality , which indeed is only another word for proscription . And it is false policy as well as false religion to sacrifice our own convictions for the sake of expediency ; putting the faith of the majority under a bushel in the hope of satisfying the scruples , and confirming the prejudices of a very small and insignificant minority . The results of such a proceeding are sure to place us in the estimation of mankind between the horns of this dilemma—either wo are a society of infidels , or , as was predicated of the late Indian Government , on account of a similar abnegation