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Article ROBISON ON FREEMASONRY: Page 1 of 3 →
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Robison On Freemasonry:
ROBISON ON FREEMASONRY :
A EETEOSPECT BEV 1 EW ; BY BRO . HXDE CLARKE , D . C . I ,. At the end of the last century , in the great rage of anti-Jacobinism , a sensation was made by the appearance of a work from the pen of Mr . John Robison , A . M ., professor of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh , and secretary of the Royal Society of that city . The title was stupendous enough , being " Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe , carried on in the secret meetings of Free-Masons , Illuminati , and
Reading Societies ; collected from good authorities by John Robison , " & c . This was published by Gadell and Davies , in the Strand ,
then leading booksellers in the metropolis , and by Mr . "W . Creech , in Edinburgh ; and in the course of the same year of 1797 it reached a second edition . Its motto is— " Nam tua res agitur , paries cum proximus ardet ;'' and , being dedicated to a member of the administration , the Right Hon . "Win . Wyndham , secretary at war , it impressed on him that England was indeed in danger from Masonry , when it was doing so much harm among our neighbours . "Wyndham was not a nominal patron , but , being an old college friend of
the author , he openly expressed his opinion that the information contained in the book would make a useful impression on the minds of the English public . In the temper of the public mind this book was indeed a heavy blow aimed at Masonry , for the writer had been himself a Mason , had worked abroad , and held a respectable position in the world as a
man of science . Robison was born in Glasgow , studied at Cambridge , had been a midshipman and surveyor in the English navy , teacher in the school of naval cadets at Cronstadfc , in Russia , with the rank of lieutenant-colonel , and then held a good standing in Edinburgh .
"What it was that led Robison to this step does not appear , further than his own statement of his dread of foreign political practices being introduced into England . According to his own account he had been initiated here , and was in early life a busy working Mason ; and he seems to have had some respect for what he calls " ¦ ¦ th e simple system of Free-Masonry which obtains in this country . "
He speaks , however , with some slight of the occupations of Masonry . Still , he allows that at home Masonry was less the object of set reflection and thought than he found it abroad . In England , among his acquaintances , he 'h ad seen a Masonic Lodge considered merely as a means of passing an hour or two in a sort of decent
conviviality , not altogether devoid , he allows , of some rational occupation . All this , so far as can be seen , offers no ground for an attack on English Masonry ; and it is to be feared that party zeal , the love of notoriety , or the hope of reward , led Robison into a course of conduct which , in the long run , whatever sensation it first excited ended
VOI « . IV . 2 t
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Robison On Freemasonry:
ROBISON ON FREEMASONRY :
A EETEOSPECT BEV 1 EW ; BY BRO . HXDE CLARKE , D . C . I ,. At the end of the last century , in the great rage of anti-Jacobinism , a sensation was made by the appearance of a work from the pen of Mr . John Robison , A . M ., professor of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh , and secretary of the Royal Society of that city . The title was stupendous enough , being " Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe , carried on in the secret meetings of Free-Masons , Illuminati , and
Reading Societies ; collected from good authorities by John Robison , " & c . This was published by Gadell and Davies , in the Strand ,
then leading booksellers in the metropolis , and by Mr . "W . Creech , in Edinburgh ; and in the course of the same year of 1797 it reached a second edition . Its motto is— " Nam tua res agitur , paries cum proximus ardet ;'' and , being dedicated to a member of the administration , the Right Hon . "Win . Wyndham , secretary at war , it impressed on him that England was indeed in danger from Masonry , when it was doing so much harm among our neighbours . "Wyndham was not a nominal patron , but , being an old college friend of
the author , he openly expressed his opinion that the information contained in the book would make a useful impression on the minds of the English public . In the temper of the public mind this book was indeed a heavy blow aimed at Masonry , for the writer had been himself a Mason , had worked abroad , and held a respectable position in the world as a
man of science . Robison was born in Glasgow , studied at Cambridge , had been a midshipman and surveyor in the English navy , teacher in the school of naval cadets at Cronstadfc , in Russia , with the rank of lieutenant-colonel , and then held a good standing in Edinburgh .
"What it was that led Robison to this step does not appear , further than his own statement of his dread of foreign political practices being introduced into England . According to his own account he had been initiated here , and was in early life a busy working Mason ; and he seems to have had some respect for what he calls " ¦ ¦ th e simple system of Free-Masonry which obtains in this country . "
He speaks , however , with some slight of the occupations of Masonry . Still , he allows that at home Masonry was less the object of set reflection and thought than he found it abroad . In England , among his acquaintances , he 'h ad seen a Masonic Lodge considered merely as a means of passing an hour or two in a sort of decent
conviviality , not altogether devoid , he allows , of some rational occupation . All this , so far as can be seen , offers no ground for an attack on English Masonry ; and it is to be feared that party zeal , the love of notoriety , or the hope of reward , led Robison into a course of conduct which , in the long run , whatever sensation it first excited ended
VOI « . IV . 2 t