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Article CGREE8P0NDENGE. ← Page 2 of 4 →
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Cgree8p0ndenge.
( jod forbid , that such darkness as would veil from our sight some of the noblest qualities of Freemasonry should I honour and love the Craft , if I believed ( which I do not ) that <<; Sit Lux " expresses the ideas of Masons in general on the points on which he writes —nay , if I believed ( which I do not ) that he expresses the ideas of more than a small minority amongst us , I could never enter a Mason ' s Lodge
again . Your correspondent has quoted with much emphasis and effect Lord Mansfield ' s celebrated apothegm ; but as I venture to think that justice has not been completely done , I must claim from your indulgence space for a few lines to answer a portion of your correspondent ' s letter . A portion only : for to answer it all as it should be answered , would require about half a number of the Magazine . I therefore pass over his sophistries ( is the word Masonic ? - ^ -at any rate it is true ) about the
universality of Freeniasonry . He must know that he is employing the word in a different sense from those who bold Masonry to be universal , and that they simply mean that it is universal quoad hoc : i . e . as regards matters of religion or of religious opinion . I also pass by for the present , without expressing any opinion , what he says as to " Pagans and Heathens , Mahomedans and Jews , " arid confine my remarks to what he says after assuming that Freemasonry is Christian , leaving to abler and more powerful pens the task of showing th at there may be Mahommedan and Je wish as well as Christian Freemasons .
In the first place , however , it seems fair to ask—Does your correspondent accept the definition of Freemasonry as laid down in the ceremonies ?—and if so , how does he make a system of morality into a system of dogmatic theology ? " Sit Lux" is not satisfied with making Freemasonry exclude at once three-fourths and more of the inhabitants of the earth , by limiting
Freemasonry to Christianity : he proceeds to exclude five-sixths and more of the Christians of the world , by limiting it to a sect of Christianity—Anglicanism ; and he blames universalists for considering this sectarian . Sure this is being sectarian . The Church of England , though numerous and important in England , is only a sect , and a small sect too , among Christians—having its origin in the incidental and totally irrelevant fact ,
that a certain pope refused to divorce a certain king from his wife . To attempt to connect Freemasonry with the Church of England as such is therefore utterly unreasonable . It is sufficiently connected with the Church of England , as the official representative of Christianity in this country , by the attendance of the Brethren at worship , without the introduction of the liturgy or Articles among the Lodge furniture . Sit makes it matter of laint the Lod of
" Lux " comp against ge Reconciliation in 1813 , that they " expunged all direct references to our holy religion . " Will you allow me to trespass here so far , in the way of digression , as to put this matter in a little clearer light . During the Roman Catholic period of English history , and whilst the Church of Rome fostered the craft , it was natural to expect that Masonry should be formally Christian , and therefore Roman Catholic ; not that Roman Catholicism was the only form of Christianity , but the only form then recognised and
tolerated . We might expect to find , therefore , during that period in the history of English Masonry , Catholic symbols interwoven with the older signs , and older symbols interpreted according to the prevailing form of Christianity ; wrongly , no doubt , but naturally . When the circumstances alluded to above substituted the Anglican for the Roman Catholic Church in England , it might be expected , to a greater or less degree , that the same result would follow—and , doubtless it did , as your correspondent says—2 it 2
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Cgree8p0ndenge.
( jod forbid , that such darkness as would veil from our sight some of the noblest qualities of Freemasonry should I honour and love the Craft , if I believed ( which I do not ) that <<; Sit Lux " expresses the ideas of Masons in general on the points on which he writes —nay , if I believed ( which I do not ) that he expresses the ideas of more than a small minority amongst us , I could never enter a Mason ' s Lodge
again . Your correspondent has quoted with much emphasis and effect Lord Mansfield ' s celebrated apothegm ; but as I venture to think that justice has not been completely done , I must claim from your indulgence space for a few lines to answer a portion of your correspondent ' s letter . A portion only : for to answer it all as it should be answered , would require about half a number of the Magazine . I therefore pass over his sophistries ( is the word Masonic ? - ^ -at any rate it is true ) about the
universality of Freeniasonry . He must know that he is employing the word in a different sense from those who bold Masonry to be universal , and that they simply mean that it is universal quoad hoc : i . e . as regards matters of religion or of religious opinion . I also pass by for the present , without expressing any opinion , what he says as to " Pagans and Heathens , Mahomedans and Jews , " arid confine my remarks to what he says after assuming that Freemasonry is Christian , leaving to abler and more powerful pens the task of showing th at there may be Mahommedan and Je wish as well as Christian Freemasons .
In the first place , however , it seems fair to ask—Does your correspondent accept the definition of Freemasonry as laid down in the ceremonies ?—and if so , how does he make a system of morality into a system of dogmatic theology ? " Sit Lux" is not satisfied with making Freemasonry exclude at once three-fourths and more of the inhabitants of the earth , by limiting
Freemasonry to Christianity : he proceeds to exclude five-sixths and more of the Christians of the world , by limiting it to a sect of Christianity—Anglicanism ; and he blames universalists for considering this sectarian . Sure this is being sectarian . The Church of England , though numerous and important in England , is only a sect , and a small sect too , among Christians—having its origin in the incidental and totally irrelevant fact ,
that a certain pope refused to divorce a certain king from his wife . To attempt to connect Freemasonry with the Church of England as such is therefore utterly unreasonable . It is sufficiently connected with the Church of England , as the official representative of Christianity in this country , by the attendance of the Brethren at worship , without the introduction of the liturgy or Articles among the Lodge furniture . Sit makes it matter of laint the Lod of
" Lux " comp against ge Reconciliation in 1813 , that they " expunged all direct references to our holy religion . " Will you allow me to trespass here so far , in the way of digression , as to put this matter in a little clearer light . During the Roman Catholic period of English history , and whilst the Church of Rome fostered the craft , it was natural to expect that Masonry should be formally Christian , and therefore Roman Catholic ; not that Roman Catholicism was the only form of Christianity , but the only form then recognised and
tolerated . We might expect to find , therefore , during that period in the history of English Masonry , Catholic symbols interwoven with the older signs , and older symbols interpreted according to the prevailing form of Christianity ; wrongly , no doubt , but naturally . When the circumstances alluded to above substituted the Anglican for the Roman Catholic Church in England , it might be expected , to a greater or less degree , that the same result would follow—and , doubtless it did , as your correspondent says—2 it 2