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Article A MASONIC HEEO: ← Page 5 of 8 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Masonic Heeo:
the iron grate . 'Xvvas then that , struck with all the horrors of a place of which I had pad and heard such baleful descriptions , I sank into the blackest irielancholy , picturing to an excited fancy all the ties that might hereafter be associated with my imprisonment . "Hy first day ' s ' -. incarceration passed in these anxious terrors , aggrayated by the dismal moans of other captives , my neighbours . And night ,
usually associated with solemn silence , brought no intermission . The shrieks of men and , if I may judge from the voices , of women , undergoing the punishment of scourging for a violation of the command to speak not —so vehemently urged on me- —forbid all sleep . I rose to pace iny cell Dawn at length broke through the lofty grated lattice , and full wearily it came . Time seemed no longer to revolve . These twenty-four hours succeeding my capture , had for me the duration of years .
"In three days' time , a lay brother whom I had not yet seen entered my prison , and without one word uttered or sign made , began to crop my hair . Bareheaded , and with naked feet , he then in arched me into the presence of my abhorred judges , viz . the president and four junior inquisitors . u Iininediately on my entrance they instructed me to kneel , lay my right hand on a Bible , and swear in the name of Almighty God , that I would truly answer all questions demanded of me . My own and my
parents christian and surname , the place of my birth ; my profession , religious faith , and how long I had resided at Lisbon , were then entered in a book . This done , the chief inquisitor spoke thus : / Son , you liave heinously offended in aspersing the Holy Office , as we know of a certainty . Now , therefore , we exhort you to confession ^ and to accuse yourself of all and several the crimes committed from the earliest moment at which you could discern betwixt good and evil , to the present hour . Thus doing , you may excite the compassion of our holy tribunal , ever merciful and kind to such as love and speak the truth . '
" They then thought proper to tell me that the diamond transaction mentioned above , was merely a device to gain a convenient opportunity of arresting me . On this , I besought them to let me know the real cause of my imprisonment ; that I had never in my life spoken evil of the Romish religion ; having so demeaned myself during my sojourn in Lisbon / that I could not be justly accused of saying or doing aught contrary to the laws spiritual or temporal , of his Portuguese majesty ' s dominions . That I belonged to a society comprising individuals ' professing various religious
tenets , one of whose laws expressly forbade all disputation on matters of doctrine , under a severe penalty . When I perceived the inquisitors confounded the word society with ' religion , I assured them nty society could be considered a religious one only as it obliged its members to live in charity and brotherly love , however widely they differed on matters of faith . They then asked how this society was called . I replied , that I could tell them its . name in English and French , but was unable to translate it into
Portuguese . Keenly fixing their eyes on me , they all pronounced alternately the words ' Freemason / c Francma <; on ! ' ' The true cause of my imprisonment was now revealed . After a pause of silence , during which they conferred apart , they suddenly demanded what was the constitution of Freemasonry . I set before thein as well as I could our ancient traditions . That James VI . of Scotland had declared himself its protector , and encouraged his subjects to enrol themselves therein . That besides , the ancient kings of Scotland so esteemed this honourable Craft for its
devoted loyalty , that they promoted among its members the use of a special toast ; and ' God preserve the king and brotherhood' precedes the goblet at all their feasts . That those monarchs were often Grand Masters of
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Masonic Heeo:
the iron grate . 'Xvvas then that , struck with all the horrors of a place of which I had pad and heard such baleful descriptions , I sank into the blackest irielancholy , picturing to an excited fancy all the ties that might hereafter be associated with my imprisonment . "Hy first day ' s ' -. incarceration passed in these anxious terrors , aggrayated by the dismal moans of other captives , my neighbours . And night ,
usually associated with solemn silence , brought no intermission . The shrieks of men and , if I may judge from the voices , of women , undergoing the punishment of scourging for a violation of the command to speak not —so vehemently urged on me- —forbid all sleep . I rose to pace iny cell Dawn at length broke through the lofty grated lattice , and full wearily it came . Time seemed no longer to revolve . These twenty-four hours succeeding my capture , had for me the duration of years .
"In three days' time , a lay brother whom I had not yet seen entered my prison , and without one word uttered or sign made , began to crop my hair . Bareheaded , and with naked feet , he then in arched me into the presence of my abhorred judges , viz . the president and four junior inquisitors . u Iininediately on my entrance they instructed me to kneel , lay my right hand on a Bible , and swear in the name of Almighty God , that I would truly answer all questions demanded of me . My own and my
parents christian and surname , the place of my birth ; my profession , religious faith , and how long I had resided at Lisbon , were then entered in a book . This done , the chief inquisitor spoke thus : / Son , you liave heinously offended in aspersing the Holy Office , as we know of a certainty . Now , therefore , we exhort you to confession ^ and to accuse yourself of all and several the crimes committed from the earliest moment at which you could discern betwixt good and evil , to the present hour . Thus doing , you may excite the compassion of our holy tribunal , ever merciful and kind to such as love and speak the truth . '
" They then thought proper to tell me that the diamond transaction mentioned above , was merely a device to gain a convenient opportunity of arresting me . On this , I besought them to let me know the real cause of my imprisonment ; that I had never in my life spoken evil of the Romish religion ; having so demeaned myself during my sojourn in Lisbon / that I could not be justly accused of saying or doing aught contrary to the laws spiritual or temporal , of his Portuguese majesty ' s dominions . That I belonged to a society comprising individuals ' professing various religious
tenets , one of whose laws expressly forbade all disputation on matters of doctrine , under a severe penalty . When I perceived the inquisitors confounded the word society with ' religion , I assured them nty society could be considered a religious one only as it obliged its members to live in charity and brotherly love , however widely they differed on matters of faith . They then asked how this society was called . I replied , that I could tell them its . name in English and French , but was unable to translate it into
Portuguese . Keenly fixing their eyes on me , they all pronounced alternately the words ' Freemason / c Francma <; on ! ' ' The true cause of my imprisonment was now revealed . After a pause of silence , during which they conferred apart , they suddenly demanded what was the constitution of Freemasonry . I set before thein as well as I could our ancient traditions . That James VI . of Scotland had declared himself its protector , and encouraged his subjects to enrol themselves therein . That besides , the ancient kings of Scotland so esteemed this honourable Craft for its
devoted loyalty , that they promoted among its members the use of a special toast ; and ' God preserve the king and brotherhood' precedes the goblet at all their feasts . That those monarchs were often Grand Masters of