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Article ANCIENT WRITERS AND MODERN PRACTICES. ← Page 8 of 9 →
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Ancient Writers And Modern Practices.
seek our origin among the Persians and Chaldaeans no more than our opponent himself Fourth : He says that the pretensions of the Dervishes and Brahmins of Asia , especially of Hindostan , to be the fathers of the two Orders need no examination , as they are still more groundless than those which have thus been noticed—in which we quite agree with him . It
is , however , a little singular , that one who boasts in after years , that he " shattered the bubble of Freemasonry , " should have spent so much labour on an object which must have appeared to him so trivial ; should have even attempted to trace to sources so abounding in learning , the origin of a society which he held in such quiet contempt .
Fifth : The J & s < 2 W 0 s and ^ the possible origin sought for—the former of which sects looked upon practical religion and morality ( says our author ) , as the main business of life , while the latter attached themselves more to philosophic speculations , and placed the essence of religion in the contemplation and reverence of the Deity . They dwelt in seclusion , and with them
arose the idea of the monastic life . To them has been traced the origin of the two societies . The following principles , however , says De Quincey , common to both societies , are sufficient to disprove any connection . ] N " ot that we want to establish any , but here , let us again remind our readers , our object is to show that the writer on whom we are commenting could not , himself being ignorant as is evident
from his writings ( except when by an accident something which he did not intend for our Craft , happens to apply to it ) both of our principles and our customs , draw a parallel between our own and any other society , however well he might be acquainted with the other , for to draw a parallel or trace a conviction , requires a knowledge of both . The principles alluded to
are—The rejection , as morally unlawful , of all distinction of ranks in civil society . The absence of mystery in their doctrines . The admission of persons of either sex . The advocacy ( though not the peremptory enforcement ) of celibacy , which they held to be a more holy state than that of
marriage . The disallowing of oaths . The absence of symbolism in their worship or ritual . Now without our going into these questions , our Brethren can
easily see for themselves how far these principles accord with , or differ from the tenets of our Order , and can therefore judge how far De Quincey is right or wrong on this point , and consequently how far he may be so on others . His remarks on the rebuilding of the Temple , seems to be inserted here without the slightest reference
to that which precedes them , and are to us utterly unintelligible . Sixth : The Arabs , he says , who step forth upon the stage of history in the seventh century after Christ , have as little concern with the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Ancient Writers And Modern Practices.
seek our origin among the Persians and Chaldaeans no more than our opponent himself Fourth : He says that the pretensions of the Dervishes and Brahmins of Asia , especially of Hindostan , to be the fathers of the two Orders need no examination , as they are still more groundless than those which have thus been noticed—in which we quite agree with him . It
is , however , a little singular , that one who boasts in after years , that he " shattered the bubble of Freemasonry , " should have spent so much labour on an object which must have appeared to him so trivial ; should have even attempted to trace to sources so abounding in learning , the origin of a society which he held in such quiet contempt .
Fifth : The J & s < 2 W 0 s and ^ the possible origin sought for—the former of which sects looked upon practical religion and morality ( says our author ) , as the main business of life , while the latter attached themselves more to philosophic speculations , and placed the essence of religion in the contemplation and reverence of the Deity . They dwelt in seclusion , and with them
arose the idea of the monastic life . To them has been traced the origin of the two societies . The following principles , however , says De Quincey , common to both societies , are sufficient to disprove any connection . ] N " ot that we want to establish any , but here , let us again remind our readers , our object is to show that the writer on whom we are commenting could not , himself being ignorant as is evident
from his writings ( except when by an accident something which he did not intend for our Craft , happens to apply to it ) both of our principles and our customs , draw a parallel between our own and any other society , however well he might be acquainted with the other , for to draw a parallel or trace a conviction , requires a knowledge of both . The principles alluded to
are—The rejection , as morally unlawful , of all distinction of ranks in civil society . The absence of mystery in their doctrines . The admission of persons of either sex . The advocacy ( though not the peremptory enforcement ) of celibacy , which they held to be a more holy state than that of
marriage . The disallowing of oaths . The absence of symbolism in their worship or ritual . Now without our going into these questions , our Brethren can
easily see for themselves how far these principles accord with , or differ from the tenets of our Order , and can therefore judge how far De Quincey is right or wrong on this point , and consequently how far he may be so on others . His remarks on the rebuilding of the Temple , seems to be inserted here without the slightest reference
to that which precedes them , and are to us utterly unintelligible . Sixth : The Arabs , he says , who step forth upon the stage of history in the seventh century after Christ , have as little concern with the